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Mobile World Congress is not all about handsets this year, with most of the discussion focusing on the thornier issues of apps platforms, and how to make operators networks work efficiently and deliver a profit. But this wouldn't be Barcelona without some phones. Samsung's Wave got the most profile, but the LG Mini attracted some buzz too, with its '3-way sync' functionality. And HTC was busy on both Android and Windows fronts.

The Taiwanese vendor promised a "whole portfolio" of handsets running the new Windows Phone7, and said it was also interested in tablet formats. Reluctant to wait so long, its closest carrier ally, T-Mobile USA, hinted it would position the new HD2, HTC's high end Windows device, as a competitor to the iPad from AT&T/Apple - using its gigahertz processor and Sense user interface as a full content platform.

At MWC, HTC was also focusing on keeping its headstart in Android a reality, with many observers feeling confident that its latest high end model, the Desire, has outdone the Nexus One that it made for Google. It also announced the Legend and the HD Mini, and promised the inevitable app store in future.

All three new handsets run an upgraded version of HTC's cross-platform user interface, Sense, which focuses on ease of navigation, particularly with a feature called Leap. This handles multitasking smoothly, in a manner that many compared to the Palm Pre's 'deck of cards' design. Pinching the homescreen takes user to seven thumbnails of open pages to enter apps.

The new Sense is also jumping on the aggregated social networking trend with a new widget called Friend Stream, which brings together Facebook, Twitter and others in a unified view.

Unsurprisingly, the Desire is very similar to Nexus One, with a 3.7-inch AMOLED display, a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and slim full touchscreen design. The main differences are an optical trackpad instead of a trackball, and the addition of FM radio. It has four physical keys instead of Nexus' four touch keys, and is slightly heavier at 4.76 ounces. And of course it has Sense rather than the vanilla Android interface, a significant improvement on the Google phone.

While the Desire is the big bitter, the Legend is an update for HTC Hero, though more rugged, shaped from a single smooth block of aluminium. It has an optical trackpad like the new BlackBerries and a good 3.2-inch AMOLED display, replacing the Hero's LCD screen. It also updates to the latest Android release, 2.1, with the same 5-mp camera. It will be launched in April as a Vodafone exclusive.

The HD Mini follows in the trend for vendors to launch 'diffusion lines' for their top phones, slimming down the feature set to achieve a more mass market price point. The HD Mini is the small brother of the HD2, and has a 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen (as opposed to the HD 2's monolithic 4.2-inch display). Like Palm Pre and Pixi, HD Mini can turn into a portable Wi-Fi hotspot. It will be offered in Europe and Asia by various carriers starting in March but the HD2's US partner T-Mobile has not announced plans as yet.

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