As of now, smartphones powered by Windows Phone 7.5 Mango are doing exceedingly well in the market. As a matter of fact, the OS has come as a much needed breath of fresh air with its clean interface, Live Tiles, integration with Facebook etc. To sum things up, Windows 7.5 Mango has managed to impress one and all with the simplicty of design and techinical efficiency. So, if you are looking for a new smartphone, you might want to check out the range of Windows smartphones.

1. Nokia Lumia 900- We are not surprised that Nokia Lumia 900 was the flagship model of Nokia when it came out with its range of Windows smartphones. Truth be told, Nokia outdid itself with the stunning design, clever interface and impressive performance. The Nokia Lumia 900 comes with a 4.3 inch touchscreen, AMOLED display, 1.4 GHz processor and Windows 7.5 Mango processor. Even as the phone has its problem areas in the form of non-expandable 16 GB memory storage and a not-so-impressive camera, it is definitely groundbreaking for a phone powered by a first generation OS.

2. Nokia Lumia 800- The Nokia Lumia 8oo has much in common with the above mentioned smartphone- both of these have AMOLED display, 1.4 GHz Snapdragon processor and of course, Windows 7.5 Mango. However, the screen size of the Lumia 800 is smaller and the physical built quite resembles that of Nokia N9. In terms of user experience, the Lumia 800 is just as impressive as its higher model.

Clearly then, Nokia has established has a sort of monopoly in the domain of high performing Windows smartphones. Having said that, other companies have also forayed into this new and exciting territory yielding some very satisfactory results. HTC, for instance, came out with HTC Radar and HTC Titan II, both of which use the Windows OS. In the same vein, Samsung also produced the Samsung Focus Flash and Samsung Focus 2. These Windows smartphones are rated among the best ones available in the market as of now. If you are looking for something that departs from the iOS and Android without compromising on the quality and performance, Windows 7.5 Mango is the ideal choice for you. Except that there is one tiny glitch.

So, what exactly is the problem?

Luckily, the problem with buying a Windows smartphone is temporary. A couple of months ago, Windows announced a new upgrade, the Windows Phone 8, which will be released in the market later this year. This upgraded version will have multi-core processor support, NFC wireless sharing, bigger screen and the much talked about Wallet feature which will allow you to make payments through your cell phone. So far, so good. However, Microsoft also announced that this upgrade will not be available for phones running on Windows 7.5 Mango. Instead, these phones will be upgraded to an intermediary Windows 7.8 version which will have some new features. Honestly, this just sounds like a feeble image of what the Windows 8 promises to be. To  make matters worse, apps which would be built for Windows 8 will not be compatible with Windows 7.5. And this precisely is the problem. As of now, it simply doesn’t make sense to invest in a phone running on Mango 7.5 when a better version will be available in a few months. In spite of this, Windows Phone has the makings of a great smartphone OS, one that should be able to challenge the like of Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S3 in the future.

Microsoft’s Windows Announcement

Windows 8 has been in the works for quite a while over in the secret labs of Microsoft, but rumor has it that we’ll get to peak behind the curtain. Microsoft has plans to release a “Consumer Preview” version following its presentation at MWC. And considering that this is a conference for mobile technology, there’s a good chance we’ll be seeing a lot about Windows Phone 8 as well; however, a Windows Phone 8 launch is surely still a while off. Any official announcements will likely be about the WP7 “Tango” update.

Samsung Galaxy S III

Ineterestingly, some of the biggest news so far is actually news about a smartphone that won’t be there – the Samsung Galaxy S III. It would seem Samsung will be opting to host their own product launch event for the successor to the popular Galaxy S II, and possibly even as early as March 22^nd. Not a lot is known about the SIII, but rumors are that it will sport a quad-core Exynos 4412 processor with unrivaled graphics capabilities as well as a 12MP camera.

Qualcomm’s Quad-Core Chips

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor rocketed smartphones like the Nexus One and EVO 4G into the future with unheard-of performance at the time. Snapdragon S2 saw even more performance gains as well as major reductions in power draw. The S3 generation brought us dual-core, but at this point Nvidia had stepped in with Tegra 2. Once again, Nvidia has been first to the punch with its quad-core Tegra 3 processor, but Qualcomm has big plans for MWC this year. The next generation Snapdragon S4 will be grabbing a lot of attention this year. So far, we only know of dual-core S4 processor, but their performance actually competes with Nvidia’s Tegra 3. There’s a good chance MWC will give a glimpse at a few quad-core S4 behemoths.

HTC, Sony, and LG

With the exception of Apple, virtually every big mobile phone manufacturer will be attending MWC this year.

HTC in particular is expected to make a couple of big announcements. Not only do we expect to hear some official details on the upcoming Ville, a smartphone said to be only 8mm thick with some very attractive styling as well as power, but also the Endeavor, which is expected to be HTC’s latest flagship device, sporting a 4.7-inch 720p display and quad-core processor.

Sony should be busting out the Xperia U, which looks to be a slightly smaller version of the Xperia S. Its scaled down specs aren’t likely to steal the show, but Sony is also expected to showcase its updated User Interface for Android 4.0.

LG will likely be showcasing its new Optimus 4X HD smartphone. Like many other smartphones we expect to see at MWC, the Optimus 4X HD has a large 720p screen as well as a speedy quad-core Tegra 3 processor. It’ll also be showing the Optimus Vu, a 5-inch phone to compete with Samsung’s Galaxy Note, and the Optimus 3D Cube, an improved successor to the Optimus 3D.