Smartphones are getting smarter with every passing year. 2011 was the year of dual-core processors. Basically, faster smartphones for faster Applications. From dual-core, processors are moving to quad core & many experts in the field believe 2012 will see a complete move over from dual to quad. In some phones, the speeds have said to dramatically increase five-fold.
Speeds apart, I think three things are going to dominate the smartphone sector in 2012, not necessarily in the order I am stating: 4G LTE modems, Siri clones & the continuing battle between Google's Android & Apple's iOS systems.
The last year was an experimental one
for 4G LTE, which offers dramatic speed increases over 3G networks. But before I get into the thick of things, let me pause here to explain what 4G LTE is for those who consider themselves "technologically challenged". You may read up this backgrounder by TechnoBuffalo which explains 4G in a simple manner. Quickly though, 4G first surfaced around 2009, and is the fourth generation of cellular wireless standards, a successor to what all of us are familiar with these days - 3G.
In the US, mobile service provider, Verizon was one of the early operators to introduce 4G in that market. But its first LTE
phones--the HTC ThunderBolt and the Samsung Droid Charge--got slammed for poor tech specs. Another complaint was the draining of the handsets' batteries.
In 2012, two phone companies were off the block where 4G is concerned. Nokia and
Microsoft's first flagship smartphone for the U.S., the Lumia 900, made
an official debut at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
Electronics giant LG, too, introduced the Spectrum, a high-end smartphone at the same show. For the tech guys, while the Spectrum features a 4.5-inch scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass touchscreen with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels (yes, that's a high-definition display) and a pixel density of 329 pixels per inch, the Nokia Lumia 900 as of now will run only on AT&T's 4G LTE network in the US. It has an attractive rounded polycarbonate body and a flat, sliced-off-looking top and bottom.
Another entrant in the US markets, according to a report in Phone Scoop is the Huawei M920. The
Federal Communications Commission recently approved this phone which supports LTE
in the 1700/1900MHz bands. This is
Huawei's first LTE handset for the U.S. market. But the M920 also includes
tri-band CDMA support.
The other area which will dominate smartphones this year is Voice activated virtual personal assistants on the phones like iPhone 4S' Siri. While certain Android Apps do exist that are similar to Siri, Google and Microsoft are already trying to get out their own Siri versions to their respective smartphone platforms.
And then of course, there is the on-going tussle between Android & iPhone Apps.....but that is a story which will continue to play out throughout 2012 to go into 2013.
(*Amy is an occasional contributor to this Website & follows smartphones on a regular basis)
