Mobile World Congress 2013 rumors, expectations

I'm ready to head to beautiful Barcelona for the Mobile World Congress 2013 trade show next week and this is the largest mobile-only show in the world. Along with loads of Spanish ham, we're expecting multiple new handsets and tablets, so let's look at all the rumors coming from MWC 2013. 

Nokia 

Nokia has a press conference scheduled for next Monday and we're not expecting anything too crazy from the Finnish company. Reports suggested it may have a Windows 8 tablet to show off but recent rumors have said that it won't be showing that off during MWC 2013. 

I'd expect to see the new lineup of Asha feature phones, as the emerging markets are still vitally important for Nokia. Last year, we saw the introduction of the PureView 808, so I think this could be a great opportunity for it to show off a new Lumia phone with the PureView technology. 

Samsung 

As much as we'd love to see the Galaxy S4 at MWC 2013, we believe Samsung will hold its own event for that in the middle of March. Samsung won't have a large presence at MWC 2013 but it will probably introduce the Galaxy Note 8.0 tablet. 

The Galaxy Note 8 is all but confirmed and, as the name implies, it should have an 8-inch display. Look for it to have at least a quad-core processor, be compatible with the S Pen, have multiple cameras and it will have custom Samsung software on it. Other than the Galaxy Note 8, I'm not expecting much from Samsung at MWC 2013. 

LG 

LG will likely use MWC 2013 as an opportunity to show off the powerhouse Optimus G Pro, which was introduced a few days ago. This beastly smartphone sports a 5.5-inch full HD screen with 400 pixels per inch, 2GB of RAM, a 13-megapixel camera and Android Jelly Bean. We can't wait to play with this and see how it feels in your hand. 

LG has also released this teaser video below which indicates we may see a spate of new phones. These may be more mid-range and should be in the L, F, G and V series. Remember, the L Series that was introduced has already sold more than 15 million units. 

Asus

I'm not really sure what the teaser video above means but Asus is pushing the fact taht it will be showing off a "metallic miracle" at Mobile World Congress 2013, so I guess we know what the material will be.

We can surmise that this will be a powerful Android handset, probably with a 1080p HD screen and a good camera. We'll be on hand during Asus' press conference Feb. 25, so we'll have more for you then. 

The Others

HTC has already shown off its major handset, the HTC One, so don't expect too much out of it at MWC. Acer's Liquid E1, Z2 Android smartphones have also leaked already. Fujitsu or Panasonic may have something to show but we're not expecting any breakout devices from them. 

Basically, it looks like handset makers are moving toward a model where they introduce their flagship handsets on their own schedule, at their own press conferences. That doesn't mean that we still won't see some really cool stuff from MWC 2013 but it may not have as much sizzle as previous versions.