With CES just around the corner and MWC also very close, some of us hardcore tech enthusiasts can certainly say the holiday season is only beginning. There will be lots of treats from most of the important players in the mobile game brought to light in the next following weeks, but for now we have to quench our thirst of improved gadgets with speculations and rumors.

But that’s no reason to be down, because sometimes the anticipation at the beginning of a year is far more exciting than the reality unwrapped throughout 12 months. HTC for example has just had a pretty serious internal security breach, allowing us to take a look at no less than 35 smartphone codenames.

Although many of these have come to light before and some are even of already released devices, there is enough intel in this leak for a real speculation-fest. First off, let’s see the entire list of codenames, and then we’ll take the most intriguing ones for a quick spin:

APOLLO_TD

CP3DCG

CP3DTG

CP3DUG

DELUXE_R

DELUXE_UL

DELUXE_TW

DLXP_WL

ERA_U

EVITA_UTL

IMPRESSION_J

JET

K2_CL

K2_WL

K2_PLC_CL

KNIGHT

M7_U

M7_WL

M7_WLJ

M7_WLV

M7DCG

M7DTG

M7DUG

M7C_DTU

MONACO_TDU

MONACO_U

MONACO_UL

OPERA_UL

PDLU

PRIMOMINIU

PULSE_TD PUE_TD

QUATTROF

QUATTROU

VENUS_CL

VERDI_LTE

Exciting stuff, eh? Well, how can it not be when it again confirms the existence of the M7, the 2013 flagship we’ve heard about so much lately? There are no less than 8 different variations of this M7 device on the above list, which not only tells us the phone is going to be huge, but also that it’ll probably take the entire world by storm.

A much more inconspicuous device we’ve heard about before is the OPERA_UL, rumored to be the “Facebook phone”. This doesn’t have any variations to its codename, but if it is real it should be a global handheld as well.

But let’s move on to the juiciest part of our report – the codenames that haven’t been previously revealed. These are the Monaco, Primominiu and Impression_J, three very mysterious phones. We actually don’t know anything about the first and last of this trio, while the Primominiu will most likely be a successor of the Primo (aka HTC One V).

There are other names that don’t ring any bells there, but for the most part these are devices that have been abandoned while in development. The Quattro and Verdi were thought to be tablets, while the Venus was most likely an entry-level smartphone.

Meanwhile, you’re probably already familiar with codenames such as Deluxe (released as the Butterfly), Evita (aka One XL) or K2 (One SV). These have seen daylight in various parts of the world, but it’s very likely they’ll be spreading around in some extra territories soon.

So, how about all those codenames? Which ones are the most confusing and why? Will the M7 be one of the hottest Android smartphones of 2013? How about the Opera UL?