Last week Samsung announced its first smartphone running on Windows Phone 7.5 operating system. Samsung Omnia M is a entry-level smartphone based on 1GHz processor. The device is equipped with 4-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen, 384MB RAM, 4GB internal storage, 5MP camera, 1500mAh battery, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi. The device measures 121x64x10.5mm and weights 119g. In next few weeks the smartphone will become available in Europe.

In the run-up to CTIA 2012 exhibition Kyocera showed some new devices. One of them is Kyocera Hydro. This is a waterproof smartphone running on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. In spite of the rugged body this device Kyocera Hydro looks compact and quite stylish. The device is based on 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8655 processor and is equipped with 3.5-inch 480x320px IPS touchscreen, 512MB RAM, 2GB internal storage, MicroSD card slot, 3.2MP camera, 1500mAh battery, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS. No word about price and release date.

Huawei has just disclosed its plans for Ascend P1 that was announced at CES 2012. In next two weeks this ultrathin smartphone will be released in China, the price will be about $475. Some days later it will appear in Australia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. In Europe it will become available in the beginning of June.

Huawei Ascend P1 features 4.3-inch AMOLED 960x540px touchscreen, 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 8MP camera, 1.3MP front-facing camera for video calls, 1GB RAM, 4GB internal storage, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0. The device measures 127x65x7.7mm and weights 140g. The operating system is Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

Today Chinese Meizu announced its next generation smartphone. In June it will release upgraded version of Meizu MX based on quad-core Exynos 4412 chip. Due to new central and graphic processors the smartphone is 60% faster than first the MX device. The operating system is Flyme OS – a modification of Android 4.0 ICS. New Meizu MX also has 4-inch 1024x600px touchscreen with 292dpi, 2GB RAM, 1700mAh battery. Quad-core version of Meizu MX with 32GB internal storage will be sold for $480, the same device with 64GB memory will cost $635.

Recently Sony (without Ericsson anymore) announced its new smartphone – Xperia sola. This device is said to feature Floating Touch technology support – it allows the user to highlight apps and icons by hovering their finger above where they would touch, a kind of pre-aiming mechanism to make sure you never miss your intended on-screen target. Special sensor picks up signals up to 22mm away from the screen.

Sony Xperia sola is based on 1GHz dual-core ST-Ericsson U8500 processor and runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread that soon will be updated to Android Ice Cream Sandwich. The smartphones has 3.7-inch 854x480px touchscreen, 5MP AF camera, MicroSD card slot, 8GB internal storage, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC.

The dimensions are 116x59x9.9mm, the weight is 107g. Sony Xperia sola will be released in the Q2, 2012. It will be available in three colors – red, black, and white.

As it had been expected Huawei showed its new flagship smartphone positioned as the world’s most high-powered smartphone. Huawei Ascend D quad features a quad-core ARM processor with 1.5GHz clock. It is surprising that the platform is not Tegra 3 but own Huawei’s product – K3V2. Moreover due to power consumption reducing technology this device has 30% longer battery life than other quad-core devices have. Huawei Ascend D quad has 4.5-inch touchscreen with 720x1280px resolution, 8MP camera, front-facing 1.3MP camera for video calls, Wi-Fi. Bluetooth, GPS, MicroSD card slot, 3.5mm headphones jack, 1800mAh batter. The thickness of the device is only 8.9mm. There will be also a version of the device – Ascend D quad XL. It will have 2500mAh battery and 10.9mm body. Huawei Ascend D quad will become available till the end of the second quarter of 2012.

Yesterday Panasonic announced its new smartphone designed for Europe and US – Panasonic ELUGA. In spite of the fact that it is rugged device (its body is water, dust and shock resistant) the smartphone is very thin – 7.8mm and looks very stylish. The device is based on 1GHz dual-core TI OMAP4430 processor and runs on Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread that will be soon updated to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Panasonic ELUGA has 4.3-inch aHD (540x960px) OLED touchscreen, 1GB RAM, 8GB internal storage, 8MP AF camera with LED flash, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, NFC chip, 3.5mm headphones jack, 1150mAh battery. Supported network standards are 3G/WCDMA/HSPA (14.4/5.76 Mbps), HSPA+ (21 Mbps), GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900MHz. The dimensions of the device are 62х123х7.8mm, the weight is 103g. In Europe Panasonic ELUGA will become available in April.

LG’s marketers decided not to wait until Mobile World Congress 2012 exhibition and yesterday LG announced LG Optimus Vu. The device seems to be a rival of Samsung Galaxy Note. This smartphone features 5-inch IPS touchscreen with 1024x768px resolution and 1.5GHz dual-core processor. LG Optimus Vu has 8MP AF camera with LED flash, 32GB internal storage, Wi-Fi, HDMI output, 2080mAh battery. The device supports LTE networks, Wi-Fi Direct and DNLA technologies. The dimensions are 140x90x8.5mm, the weight is 168g. At present moment the device runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread but LG promises to release Android 4.0 ICS update in next few months. LG Optimus Vu will be released in March.

ZTE decided not to wait for Mobile World Congress 2012 and today announced its two new smartphones featuring Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system and LTE networks support.

ZTE PF200 is based on 1.2GHz dual-core processor and has 4.3-inch touchscreen with 640x960px resolution, 8MP camera supporting Full HD video recording, Bluetooth 2.1, GPS, Wi-Fi with DNLA support, A-GPS, NFC chip.

ZTE N910 has 1.5GHz chip, 4-inch 480х800px touchscreen, and 5MP camera. There are also such usual for present-day smartphones modules as GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, MicroSD external memory card slot, 3.5mm headphones jack.

GSMArena has just published a list of specifications and some pictures of coming Sony Ericsson Arc HD smartphone that is also known as Sony Ericsson Nozomi. The device features 4.3-inch touchscreen with 1280x720px resolution and 12MP camera supporting Full HD video recording. Sony Ericsson Arc HD is based on 1.5GHz dual-core processor and runs on Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread that will soon be updated to Android 4.0 ICS. The smartphone also has Adreno 220 graphics accelerator, 1GB RAM, 16GB or 32GB internal storage, HDMI output. It is expected that Sony Ericsson will officially announce this smartphone at CES 2012 exhibition.