BARCELONA, Spain – Activity at the Nokia booth here at Mobile World Congress shows how much momentum is building for new products – especially the Nokia 808 PureView and the new Nokia Lumia 610.

Compared to Nokia World, back in October, and CES last month, the atmosphere yesterday had moved from excitement and huge interest at the previous shows, to something like the First Day of a major sale at a big department store.

People had the same eagerness, almost anxiety to get in and have a look at the products, as they do about getting into a shop to grab a “50 per cent off” bargain.

The staff, all dressed in distinctive bobble hats and jaunty blue-hooped matelot tops, were run off their feet.

“It is so busy today,” one told me. “I’m so glad I have tomorrow off. But it’s been great, the buzz is so huge here.”

People happily queued for a hands-on of the new Ashas, the Nokia Lumia 610, and 900, but the Nokia PureView 808 was star of the show. At times you could hardly move in the display area as people surged forward to get a hands on with the stunning new phone.

“I’m loving this little Lumia 610,” one woman told me. “I love the mix of metallic trim and softer back. And it’s so compact and nippy to navigate.”

The Nokia Asha 302, 203 and 202 were creating a lot of interest too. “I can’t believe that this isn’t a smartphone,” one man said, looking at the 302. “I mean you can even use Exchange on this. It is such a useful phone.”

The booth covered all areas of Nokia, from business to developers, accessories and future stuff, which was housed up in a tree pod.

Talking to people who had just had a hands on with the Nokia 808 PureView was most interesting. As with any revolutionary technology, people couldn’t really get their heads around it, but they were smitten nevertheless.

“You have to see that phone,” said one man. “The picture quality is amazing. I don’t know how it does what it does, but I love it. I have to have one, as soon as possible.”