Top 5 smartphones at MWC 2013

As expected, Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is bringing us a big batch of powerful and interesting new phones.

And below are the 5 best smartphone shown on MWC 2013

1. Asus PadFone Infinity

Announced less than 6 months after the Asus PadFone 2 launch, the PadFone Infinity is the next version of the Asus phone and tablet combo solution. While the concept remains mostly the same, it does have improvements over the older model.

For a start, the PadFone Infinity does away with the sloped edges of the older PadFones, opting for a flatter look instead. It packs a 5-inch full-HD display and comes with a quad-core 1.7GHz processor from Qualcomm.

Asus has also done away with the cheap plastic build, instead using a brushed metal finish that has a curve somewhat similar to the recently announced HTC One. We quite like how the phone feels in our hands--there are no sharp edges to dig into your palm.

If you're expecting a radical new design, look somewhere else. Asus has been refining the design elements of its PadFones since the first model and the Infinity is a testament to that. It builds on the PadFone 2 design to deliver a sleeker overall package.

2. HTC One

Instead of just focusing on a higher megapixel count in your camera, HTC has gone for larger pixels on the CMOS sensor (about 4 square microns) instead of the 1.96 square micron pixels on the One X's 8-megapixel sensor). There's also optical image stabilization built-in, which should help with video taking.

Design-wise, the metal chassis is a nice return to the days of the HTC Sensation and the metal unibody builds of HTC's previous smartphones. We're fans of both the black and silver models and the handset feels nice in our hands. It also frames the 4.7-inch full-HD display nicely.

The new Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 1.7GHz quad-core processor should also help to keep things zipping along together with the smartphone's 2GB of RAM. It also has 32GB of onboard storage (though less after you factor in the space the Android OS takes up).

3. Huawei Ascend P2

Like the Ascend P1, the P2 is quite the looker. Clad in a white plastic shell, Huawei has taken pains to make the handset look stylish, especially with the chrome edges. The handset also moves away from the Galaxy S II-like design aesthetic of the P1 and loses the "chin" found at the bottom half of the handset.

Hardware-wise, the smartphone packs a 1.5GHz quad-core processor and, as with most high-end devices running Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean), we didn't feel any of the sluggishness that usually happens with Huawei's handsets. The 4.7-inch "infinity edge" display sports a 1,280 x 720-pixel resolution, and colors looked vibrant on the screen. There's also a large 2,420mAh battery that should keep the phone chugging along the entire day.

4. LG Optimus G Pro

LG's Optimus G Pro seems targeted at a very specific market: Fans of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2.

Like its competitor handset, the G Pro comes packing a 5.5-inch 1080p display, but goes with an IPS screen instead of the AMOLED version found on the Galaxy Note 2. It also sports a higher resolution, but let's be honest here, our tests with the HTC Butterfly show that there's really no visible difference.

As a high-end device meant to compete with the Note 2, the LG phablet packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core 1.7GHz processor, which seems to deliver quite a snappy experience when we tried it out.

It also packs 32GB of onboard storage, and has a microSD card for more space should you run out.

5. NEC Medias W N-05E

Announced for the Japanese market last month, NEC's Medias W N-05E is the odd phone out in our roundup. Instead of just one display, the Android 4.1-powered Medias W sports twin 4.3-inch qHD (960 x 540 pixels) displays. (We're reminded of the YotaPhone, which has one LCD screen and an e-ink display on the other side.) The handset folds outward in half, so that it keeps a compact form factor.

To save power, one display turns off when the other is in use. The panels work in either mirror or dual-display mode, depending on the app. For example, you can share videos with a friend by folding the phone into a tent (like the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga), or use one screen as a giant QWERTY keyboard when composing emails.

The NEC Medias W packs a dual-core 1.5GHz processor and 1GB of RAM, and also sports an 8.1-megapixel camera. It runs on a 2,100mAh battery, which may not be able to last through the day if you're connected to LTE and using both displays all the time.

Reference: Top 5 smartphones at MWC 2013