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This year doesn't hold many surprises in Olympus' Tough range, the moniker the company uses for its waterproof, dustproof, freezeproof and shockproof compact cameras. Three mid-range compacts (the TG-630, TG-2 and TG-830) have come to replace last year's entry-level models.


Taking the place of the TG-620, the TG-630 features the same 12-Megapixel BSI CMOS sensor and 28-140mm f/3.9-5.9 lens. But there are some changes. The most notable is a TruePic VI processor, which is Olympus' new "thing" this year: putting its latest image processing engines in its entry-level cameras.

> Read the full review: Olympus TG-630

> See more compact camera reviews

Chinese manufacturer Oppo was one of the first phone-makers to unveil a 5" Full HD Android smartphone with the Find 5. This handset has been on sale for a few weeks now in China, and is currently on show in Europe at the Mobile World Congress. In all, the Find 5 looks like a nice surprise. Eager customers may be interested to know that a limited number of handsets will be going on sale internationally from 27 February. 


Although relatively unknown just three months ago, Oppo has managed to get itself out there on the smartphone scene by presenting the Find 5. Note that this Chinese phone-maker is no way related to the "Oppo" brand of Blu-ray players and Hi-Fi systems.

The Find 5 has a Full HD IPS screen with 1920 x 1080 pixels. The display uses One Glass Solution technology (OGS), which makes the IPS panel and its touchscreen layer into a slimmer package.


> Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2013: See all news

Set on not letting Qualcomm and Samsung take the lead in 2013, Intel has announced its own range of high-end mobile chips, which it's releasing sometime this year.

The name of Intel's new platform is Clover Trail+. We already mentioned the high-end model, the Atom Z2580, which will be equipping the Lenovo K900 smartphone, earlier this month. Now we have more details about the technical specs and the other chips in the range.

The Clover Trail+ series comprises three chips, the Z2580, Z2560 and Z2520. What sets them apart are their CPU and iGPU frequencies. Everything else is the same across the range: a dual-core processor with hyper threading support (the system recognises four 'cores'), a Turbo mode that modulates the cores' frequencies depending on the workload (all three have a default rate of 933 MHz, which increases by varying degrees) and a PowerVR SGX 544MP2 GPU.


The highest resolution each SoC can support is 1920 x 1200 pixels (WUXGA), which is plenty for a high-end smartphone in 2013, as most have Full HD displays. Like Qualcomm and Samsung's competing chips, Intel's range supports advanced camera functions, such as HDR, burst mode and continuous focus.

The biggest question with these systems-on-chip is their power consumption, which 'Trails' a bit behind the competition. The transistors use a 32 nm process at a time when the competing companies are focusing by-and-large on 28 nm (this is because the smaller the transistor, the less it tends to overheat and the more efficient is its overall use of energy).

Of course, power consumption doesn't only depend on how fine the engraving process is, and the Clover Trail+ range includes a 'low consumption' rate, set at 800 MHz (where, again, the default is 933 MHz). This reduced frequency lowers the amount of energy the chip uses when performing tasks that require less computation, as well as when the device is on standby or lock.

As soon as early 2014, Intel will be launching the next generation of Atoms with the Merrifield and Bay Trail platforms, which use a 22 nm process. There will be a dual-core version (the Tangier) and a quad-core version (the Valley View), both of which will have a Series 6 Power VR iGPU.

> Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2013: See all news

Furtively revealed late last year, the ZTE Grand S is now out in the open at the Chinese brand's stand at MWC. The Grand S is ZTE's first 5-inch Full HD smartphone.


This year ZTE is putting its money on the plus-size smartphone market. Yesterday we showed you the Grand Memo, now here's the Grand S in all its splendour, with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, Full HD (1920 x 1080) IPS display and Gorilla Glass anti-scratch, anti-shock coating.


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While some camera-makers are already on their twelfth generation of expert compacts (e.g. Canon's G series, launched in 2000), Pentax has finally got round to outing its first advanced compact snapper in 2013.


The MX-1 is based on the same lens unit and sensor as the Olympus XZ-2 but comes loaded with Pentax's own image processing system and with a 60s style retro casing. So how can you be sure to stand out from the likes of the Olympus ZX-2, Panasonic LX7, Sony RX100, Samsung EX2F, Fuji X10 and Canon G15 when you're a latecomer to the market?  Find out in our review.

> Read The Full Review: Pentax MX-1

> Digital Camera Reviews: Choose the Best Compact Camera

Asus CEO Johnny Shih took to the stage at the firm's MWC 2013 conference yesterday to present the PadFone Infinity smartphone with tablet-style docking station, as well as the 7" FonePad phablet.
 
The newly unveiled PadFone Infinity is based on the same "smartphone and docking station" concept as the original PadFone. Here, you get a 5" handset that slots into a 10.1" touchscreen tablet dock.

The PadFone Infinity smartphone boasts an aluminium finish and weighs 141 grammes. It runs on a 1.7 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor, 2 GB of RAM, and will be available with 32 or 64 GB of memory. You also get 50 GB of cloud-based storage.

The smartphone is loaded with a Full HD display with 1920 x 1080 pixels—that makes 441 pixels per inch. Plus, its 5" screen has been treated to an anti-fingerprint coating. The PadFone Infinity Station has a 10.1" screen, again boasting Full HD resolution (1920 x 1200 pixels).

The Infinity has a 13-Megapixel camera and a 2-Megapixel front-facing webcam. Aperture is announced at f/2.0 and video is filmed in 1080p Full HD. Connectivity is covered by 4G LTE, Wi-Fi a/g/b/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, and a GPS. The whole lot runs on Android 4.2.

The PadFone Infinity smartphone has a 2400 mAh battery promising up to 19 hours of talk time over 3G. The PadFone Infinity Station has a 5000 mAh battery, boosting that to 57 hours of talk time or 20 hours of web browsing.

The PadFone is expected to launch at £799 when it lands in Europe in April.

Asus then went on to present the 7" FonePad tablet with phone functionality. This phablet has an IPS display with 1280 x 800 pixels, a 1.2 GHz Intel Atom Z2420 processor, 1 GB of RAM, a Power VR SGX540 GPU and 8 GB of internal memory. The FonePad has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and a GPS, as well as call capabilities.

The FonePad has a microSD card slot for boosting storage and can be loaded with a micro-SIM card. It runs on Android Jelly Bean 4.1, and has a 3-Megapixel rear-facing camera and a 1.2-Megapixel front-facing webcam.

The FonePad will be launching at the end of Q2 with prices starting at £179.

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