The mobile device that thinks it’s a Russian doll

Editor’s Note: Will Findlater is editor of Stuff, one of the world’s best-selling gadget magazines. Follow @stufftv on Twitter.

Story highlights

Stuff magazine rounds up highlights of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona

High speed tablets and hybrid padphones among newest gadgets

Samsung and Toyota reveal a phone-controlled car

Barcelona, Spain CNN  — 

Day two of Barcelona’s mobile extravaganza brings an app to control your car, a phone that becomes a laptop and better call quality for the older generation. Stuff Magazine brings us the lowdown.

A phone that’s also a tablet
Asus has been giving demos of its long-awaited Padfone – the Russian doll of the mobile world. It’s a smartphone that slots into a screen (making it a tablet), which then slots into a keyboard (making it a feasible laptop replacement). The phone itself is no slouch, with a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED display running on a 1.5GHz Snapdragon processor.

Top end tablet from Huawei
Huawei’s MediaPad 10 FHD is a 10-inch tablet that will gain fans not only because it’s up with the fastest quad-core tablets thanks to its K3 1.5GHz chip, but also because it has an industry-leading 1920 x 1200 IPS display. All that and it’s running on the latest version of Google’s Android operating system called Ice Cream Sandwich. Superfast 4G connectivity and an 8-megapixel camera complete the package which comes in at just 600g and 8.8mm thick.

Alcatel’s cost-conscious offerings
At the budget end of the smartphone spectrum, the Alcatel One Touch Ultra 995 leads the charge with a 4.3-inch display but running the older Gingerbread version of Android on a 1.4GHz processor. It’s set to be closely followed by the One Touch TAB 20 – a 7-inch Wi-Fi-equipped tablet.

Phone-controlled cars
Samsung smartphones will soon be able to connect with Toyota’s In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) system using a new Car Mode app. The app will let drivers add voice control, multimedia capabilities and internet services to their Toyota motor. Compatible cars will be launching in summer.

Fujitsu intelligent phone prototype
This speedy quad-core smartphone prototype has a 13.1-megapixel camera on board and is waterproof like its Japanese compatriot the Panasonic Eluga. A host of intelligent features are promised, including a fingerprint scanner and compatibility with health devices such as blood pressure monitors. For a more enjoyable calling experience it also uses age-specific frequency adjustment and real-time speech slowing to help make calls crystal clear.

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