Mobile World Congress officially kicked off today and already several brands are impressing attendees with their products.  Here are just some of the items that made attendees do a double-take.

Nokia

The Finnish phone maker teased audiences from around the world with their crisp video clip featuring snow covered terrain.  And today, the Nokia 808 PureView was unveiled to the public.

The Nokia 808 PureView features a large, high-resolution 41-megapixel sensor with high-performance Carl Zeiss optics and new pixel oversampling technology.  It has the ability to zoom without loss of clarity, and captures seven pixels of information condensed into one pixel for the sharpest images imaginable.  At high-resolution (38 megapixel maximum) it has the ability to capture an image, then zoom, reframe, crop and resize afterwards to expose previously unseen levels of detail.  It works very well in low-light, and has the ability to save in compact file sizes for sharing in email, MMS, and on social networks.  The new Nokia 808 PureView promises professional-looking photographs in any condition, everytime.

The Nokia 808 PureView also features full HD 1080p video recording and playback with 4X lossless zoom, and the world’s first use of Nokia Rich Recording – a feature that enables audio recording at CD level quality, previously only possible with external microphones, and it features exclusive Dolby Headphone technology, transforming stereo content into a personal surround sound experience over any headphones and Dolby Digital Plus for 5.1 channel surround sound playback.

“Nokia PureView imaging technology sets a new industry standard by whatever measure you use,” said Jo Harlow, executive vice president of Nokia Smart Devices.  “People will inevitably focus on the 41 megapixel sensor, but the real quantum leap is how the pixels are used to deliver breath-taking image quality at any resolution and the freedom it provides to choose the story you want to tell.”

Nokia also announced that they will be selling Windows Phone smartphones priced at 189 euros ($254) in the second quarter, targeting first-time smartphone users.  The goal is to compete with Android-powered devices priced similarly.

“The new Nokia Lumia 610 is the perfect introduction of Windows to a younger audience,” said Harlow. “We are now able to cover a range of needs and a range of price points.”

HTC

On Sunday night HTC unveiled a series of devices, but the HTC One X takes the top spot in their updated product line.  HTC CEO Peter Chou described the HTC One X as a “superphone” that features a 1.5GHz quad-core Tegra 3 CPU, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, 4.7 inches of 720p Super LCD 2 non-PenTile gorgeousness, Ice Cream Sandwich with HTC Sense 4.0 on top, 8MP rear camera with f/2.0 lens and 1080p HD video, and the first with free access to 25GB of Dropbox cloud storage.

Sony

Sony unveiled the Xperia P featuring a brushed aluminum unibody design, a 4-inch qHD display packed with a 1GHz dual-core processor, a fast 8-megapixel camera, and comes built-in with NFC.  But what Sony is boasting about is the  “WhiteMagic” display that supposedly makes the screen so bright that users can comfortably view the screen even in direct sunlight.  Unfortunately, with every phone maker packing their devices with quad-core, the Xperia P is not that aesthetically appealing.

Samsung

Samsung announced the Galaxy Note 10.1, a tablet that is the same size with the Galaxy Tab 10.1 added that comes with the S-Pen of the Galaxy Note.  It runs Touchwiz-infused Android 4.0 on a 1.4GHz dual-core CPU with 1GB of RAM, access to HSPA+, WiFi and Bluetooth 3.0 but can’t be used as a phone, 10.1-inch WXGA (1280 x 800) display, 3-megapixel rear-facing camera, 2-megapixel front-facing camera, and comes in 16, 32 and 64GB variations.

“GALAXY Note 10.1 takes productivity on a Note to a whole new level. With a larger, fully utilizable screen and superior performance, it combines the intuitiveness of handwriting with all the versatility of digital content to let users be more productive across all of life’s demanding tasks-whether working, learning, or simply creating their own stories,” said JK Shin, President of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics.

“With GALAXY Note 10.1 we are demonstrating Samsung’s commitment to extend the mobile category and are working with key partners like Adobe to provide extraordinary experiences for users that enable them to be more productive, express themselves creatively and add a touch of fulfillment to their lives.”

Huawei

The Chinese manufacturing company announced devices that they describe as faster than competitors since it contains their own chips.  One of the devices they showed off is the Ascend D Quad that features four central processor unit chip cores and 16 graphics cores and claims that it is the first 64-bit smartphone, able to compete with modern computers, 49% faster in normal operation than its rivals, and can last up to three days of normal usage on a single charge.

“Migrating from feature phone to smartphone is the strong trend of the whole industry – but the speed is not so good. And the screen is getting as large as possible – but your hand is not so large,” said Huawei chairman Richard Yu.  “How can you handle it? And a smartphone is not just for voice to make a phone call – people thing the big headache is the battery life.”

Telefonica Digital

Carlos Domingo, Telefonica Digital’s director of product development and innovation, announced at MWC that they have partnered with Mozilla to bring the latter’s new browser-based operating system, B2G, to create phones 10 times cheaper than the iPhone.

“What we’re selling the most in these countries is feature phones, which is ridiculous, said Domingo.  “We think we can bring smartphones to the masses in developing countries with this approach.”

The Open Web Device, that’s what they’ll be calling the B2G device when it goes on sale some time this year, features a 480×320 pixel screen that is able to allow a user to perform a number of mobile phone tasks with its browser-based interface such as put a call through to another phone, send and receive text messages, play two lightweight games, and read an e-book.