Chinese manufacturer Huawei's flagship Ascend P2 smartphone can be operated by users wearing gloves.
It's just one of the innovations on display at year's Mobile World Congress -- a showcase of gadgets and gizmos that will allow us to wave goodbye to dying batteries, water damage and a whole range of perilous situations that dare to threaten the lives of our beloved mobile phones.
Barcelona, CNN (CNN) -- There were no major announcements and no breathtaking new gadgets, but this year's Mobile World Congress did offer up more than its fair share of unexpected uses for digital technology.
Here are a few of the stranger sights that were creating a buzz around this year's event in Barcelona.
GPS-enabled walking stick
Clearly aimed at the elderly, or anyone with walking difficulties, this prototype from Japan's Fujitsu is a stick fitted with GPS navigation features, health monitoring sensors and Bluetooth and wireless connectivity.
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The stick, known as Generation, allows relatives, carers or perhaps medics to track the user's real time movements while also recording heart rate. The stick also has the potential to summon emergency services.
While the stick is some way off launch, Fujitsu has clearly been putting a great deal of thought about how its technology can benefit senior citizens -- a shrewd move given Japan's aging population. It has also created a phone specifically aimed at the elderly, featuring a large keypad and sound enhancement.
YotaPhone
Paddy Smith from Stuff drew our attention to this quirky two-faced device. Here's what he had to say:
A smartphone running Google's Android operating system and a 4.3-inch touchscreen on the front? You might be thinking there's no shortage of those around, and you'd be right, but the YotaPhone offers something none of the others can: a second screen, on the back of the phone.
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This screen uses the monochrome e-ink technology seen in Amazon's Kindle and other e-readers, and uses very little battery power. The screen can be customized to show whatever image you please, but more interesting are the apps that allow it to display Twitter, Facebook and RSS feeds, or a clock or weather report.
Sensirion micro temperature sensor
This tiny speck of technology will give mobiles the ability to measure temperature and humidity, opening the door to a whole new realm of applications.
Sensiron says its device will give your mobile the ability to "feel," offering all kinds of biofeedback possibilities.
At the very least it should enable it to accurately read the weather conditions around you. It could also prove an invaluable healthcare or sports monitoring tool.
Next, presumably, we will get phones that can smell and taste.
Glove-friendly touch screens
Forget its claims to being the world's fastest phone. Ignore the brilliant touch screen and the powerful 13 megapixel camera. Disregard its slender 8.4mm side profile.
What sets Chinese manufacturer Huawei's flagship Ascend P2 smartphone apart is the fact that it can be operated by users wearing gloves.
Read more: Gadget show goes soft on hardware
Mitten-ready mobiles aren't new -- Nokia's Lumia 920 also responds to fingers cloaked in fabric -- but for anyone who regularly checks their phone in freezing conditions, any fresh addition is a great leap forward.
Robotic balls
A popular attraction in one corner of MWC were robotic Sphero balls that can be controlled using a Bluetooth-equipped smartphone.
Sphero's manufacturer, US-based Orbotix, was in Barcelona to launch a new range of augmented reality games, including one in which the robotic ball becomes, in Orbotox's own words, "a cupcake-munching beaver."
Running, jumping and standing still
Taiwan's HTC, having nothing new to promote beyond last year's showstopping One X, instead decided to offer up a troupe of Parkour athletes who wowed congress-goers with their acrobatics. Why? We have no idea.
Barry Neild contributed to this story from London, England.
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Fujitsu's Generation walking stick features GPS technology to track and monitor users
YotaPhone features both a color touch screen and a screen using low-power monochome e-ink
Sensirion's tiny temperature and humidity sensors will put a weather station in the palm of your hand.
Spheron's robotic balls, which can be controlled by Bluetooth-enabled mobile devices, were a hit at the Mobile World Congress
In the absence of any new phones, HTC offered acrobatic Parkour displays.
Sony's Xperia Tablet Z is waterproof, making it ideal for using in the bath or outdoors in bad weather.
The new Qualcomm Snapdragon processor comes with the ability to replicate a 7.1 surround sound speaker system via your mobile -- even through a pair of standard headphones.
Paddle is a shopping system that tries to make shopping online easier and safer. The idea is that e-commerce sites add a "buy with Paddle" button at the checkout, simplifying the payment process.
Nokia's 105 is a no-frills phone that just makes calls but boasts a 35-day battery life on standby. Sometimes it works just to keep things simple.
Nvidia has been showing off real-time High Dynamic Range photography capabilities that automatically adjust a picture for light and dark areas on the fly.
Ford has teamed up with Spotify to bring the music-streaming service to its Ford Sync AppLink cars in Europe. It's Ford SYNC AppLink allows drivers to control smartphone apps from the driver's seat, using voice control.
FonePad, Phablet, call it what you will -- the phone-tablet hybrid is the next step in the evolution of mobile technology.
French start-up Wysips has developed a transparent film (costing just over one dollar to make) that could bring an end to the dreaded dead-battery message forever. A photovoltaic display will let you charge your phone in the sun or even indoors via ambient light.
Chinese tech giant Huawei exhibits its water-resistant Ascend D2 smartphone in a fishbowl at their stand at the Mobile World Congress.
Nokia's wireless charging device is a pillow for your phone to rest on so that "it will wake refreshed and recharged". It is co-branded with Fatboy designer furniture and comes in a range of colors.
LG introduced the world's smallest wireless charger at the show -- just 6.9cm in diameter.
There's no need to worry about somebody sneakily reading your private messages ever again. Fujitsu's new flagship smartphone, the Arrows V F-04E, has "biometric security", which requires your fingerprint to unlock the phone.
The 'phablet' seems to be MWC 2013's must-have item. Samsung's Galaxy Note 8.0 is an eight inch tablet with phone capabilities.
Asus' phablet is the PadFone Infinity: A five inch smartphone that, once slotted into a dock, becomes a 10.1 inch tablet.
The Olloclip is the iPhone photographer's dream gadget: A quick-connect lens for the iPhone and iPod touch that includes fisheye, wide-angle and macro lenses in one.
A flamenco dancer performs for visitors at the Mobile World Congress to demonstrate the imaging capabilities of Intel's latest smartphone design.
Two men test a new Samsung 3D device during the first day of the Mobile World Congress.
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