Huawei at MWC 2013
Huawei isn't messing around - it's rocked up with what's apparently the world's fastest smartphone, the Ascend P2. It's the first smartphone to feature LTE CAT 4, which Hauwei claims will enable the Ascend P2 to deliver some blistering web browsing speeds, faster than the CAT 3-toting Samsung Galaxy S3 LTE and iPhone 5.
Breaking into the smartphone market hasn't been easy, admitted Huawei, saying "We're an ambitious young brand which plans to be one of the top 100 companies in the world in the coming years."
So what did we make of the Ascend P2 when we got our hands on it? TechRadar phones and tablets writer John McCann found it to be "a solid mid to high-end smartphone with some decent features and a pleasing array of specs", though he felt that it doesn't have the build quality of the iPhone 5 or HTC One, nor the same snappiness as the Galaxy S3.
Read our Hands on: Huawei Ascend P2 review for the full lowdown.
Huawei also showed up with the Ascend G350, making a little less noise about this mid- to low-end handset.
As we wrote in our Hands on: Huawei Ascend G350 review, this rugged, waterproof phone is "a decent durable device with a strong feature list for a handset that will likely sport an affordable price tag."
Launched with even less fanfare than the Ascend G350 was the Ascend Y300, which quietly appeared in the Chinese manufacturer's booth. It's similar spec-wise to the Ascend G330, but it sports a slightly different design, battery boost, a newer version of Android and a fresh overlay.
See what we thought of it in our Hands on: Huawei Ascend Y300 review.
Stepping up from the Y300, we've got the Ascend G510, sharing the same design ethos, but upping the processor to a 1.2GHz dual-core one.
"If it sticks with its attractively low price point, the Huawei Ascend G510 could be a winner at the budget end of the market," John McCann writes in our Hands on: Huawei Ascend G510 review.
Lenovo at MWC 2013
Lenovo continues with its product naming convention of stringing together some random numbers and letters, with three new tablets on show at MWC.
There's the top-end IdeaTab S6000, the mid-range A3000 and, at the bottom of the spec pile, the A1000. As Kate Solomon points out, they're fairly uninspiring but probably fine.
LG at MWC 2013
Bizarrely, LG didn't bring any phones to MWC but instead used the venue to launch a range of washing machines.
Actually, that's a lie. What it did bring was the LG Optimus L3 2, the successor to the original Optimus L3 which launched at MWC last year.
It's a dinky little phone, which TechRadar's John McCann got his dinky little hands onto. "The LG Optimus L3 2 seems to be a well equipped smartphone for its bargain basement price, and could well prove to be a popular choice for parents looking for a first handset for their little ones," he wrote in our Hands on: LG Optimus L3 2 review.
We also got our hands on LG's mid-range Android handset, the LG Optimus L5 2. Sitting just above the Optimus L3 2, the L5 2 has an improved screen and battery when compared with its predecessor, the L5.
There's no doubt that this is a budget phone, but it's stylish, well equipped and affordable.
Get more of our thoughts on this phone in our Hands on: LG Optimus L5 2 review.
The top of the mid-range L-Series 2 collection (yeah, we're getting rather confused by these names, too) is the LG Optimus L7 2. Still with us? Good.
This is a smart handset that could be mistaken for a premium phone - until you pick it up and feel the cheap plastic, as John McCann noted in our Hands on: LG Optimus L7 2 review.
