ANDROID: ATOMIC

SAMSUNG TO GO THERMONUCLEAR 
GOOGLE TO GO MEGATON
HTC ONE X 5

I tell ya, Samsung is gonna make Apple pay! Hahahahaha! I guess the best way to exact revenge is to outclass the competition! Well, we know that Google are planning something to commemorate Android’s second birthday on November 5! There’s speculation that Google are planning on releasing 5 devices by 5 different manufacturers – including Samsung! One thing is for sure… …a new Nexus handset is due and it appears as though Samsung are close to announcing Galaxy Nexus II GT-i9260… Or is that The Nexus Premier?  What? There’s the Galaxy SIV to premiere at the Mobile World Congress in February 2013????

Read on…

ONE STEP BEYOND
From my experience the Nexus models have always been a little underpowered compared to the manufacturing party’s flagship model! I mean, did you bypass the Galaxy Nexus for the Galaxy SIII? Yes, a vanilla Android handset was a wonderful prospect, but after the true iPhone slayer that is the Galaxy SII I wondered what the SIII would bring! I was right to wait! So, the question has to be – now that the iPhone 5 is out – what will Google’s Samsung realized Nexus will bring this time around?

Here’s some spec floating around:

4.65” Super AMOLED HD display
1.5 GHz dual-core Cortex-A9 processor
8MP camera
1.9MP front-facing camera
16 GB expandable storage

or

4.65” HD display
MSM7227A 1-GHz single-core Cortex-A5 processor
8MP
2MP front-facing camera
8 GB / 16 GB expandable storage

Hmmm, I can’t see how such a spec could be called “Premier”… Usually, when a Galaxy product is “leaked” the spec is quite accurate – unlike the look! This time I have a feeling that this “leak” is a ruse and that the actual spec is a little better. There again, that said, the spec is better than the current Galaxy Nexus! The grey area at the moment is the processor!  Let me predict the Galaxy Nexus II…

4.8” HD display
Dual-core Qualcom S4 1.5 GHz processor or Quad-core Exynos 4412 1.4GHz
Definitely an 8MP camera
1.9MP front facing camera
8 GB / 16 GB expandable storage
1 GB internal memory
Of course, it should be running Android 4.1 or a possible surprise Key Lime Pie 5 – 5 November being Android’s second year ‘n’ all!

That’s my prediction! Apparently, LG and Sony will be releasing respective Nexus models too! It’ll be interesting to see where they all slot in with each other! My guess is that either LG or Sony will be the leader of the pack and the Galaxy Nexus II will be the level entry model to not take away from their SIII and I hear (SIII +) and Note II! Samsung should be content!

Releasing multiple Nexus models from Google looks like overkill! Do you think there could be a danger of oversaturation? Would that cause market confusion? On the other hand people do love their brands: Samsung, Sony, LG and so on! Then the question is: How will the different Nexus models stand out – aside from the hardware? As far as I can see it’s Samsung that add the extras! Hardware, I can see that Sony and LG putting out a better camera than what Samsung is offering! LG will probably do the 13MP camera and if Sony is the premium Nexus handset then I see Sony upping the ante with 14 or 16MP!

It’s going to be fever pitch come 5 November!

SAMSUNG RUMOUR II: SIV
I can’t believe that there’s any truth in Samsung showing off the Galaxy SIV in February 2013! The SIII came out May this year, so it wouldn’t be a year… …surely to release the SIV would be at the expense of the already popular SIII???? There again, it could be anger burning in the Samsung headquarters to prove that they are superior over their main rival in terms of technology and design! We might just see preview of the much talked about flexible unbreakable screen technology and I think we’re most likely to see the SIII + instead! If it is the SIV… …wow! That would be some gauntlet! The tech-media have gotten Samsung releases wrong in the past; I doubt that they will have a major release at the Mobile World Congress next year simply because Samsung have chosen to create events all to themselves of late – the SIII in May, Galaxy Note II, 10.1 tablet, ATIV 8, ATIV tablets and Series 9 Notebook in August. Whatever it is they are going to show in Feb 2013 I suspect it’ll be a taster! I for one hope to learn more about their flexible display technology and what the implications are for future handsets!

The SIV rumour is that the handset features a 5” display! If there is some truth in the rumour I can only speculate that it is to bring a device that will, for the first time, work around the globe because the UK is getting 4G LTE at last! As a result Samsung can hit the worldwide marketplace at one time! This move can save Samsung considerably as they have had to release different versions of their handsets to different markets abroad! It would be great for them to be more like Apple in that they can release just the one flagship model! By having one flagship model they can afford to put a better camera on it! Roll on February 2013! 

HTC ONE X 5
HTC is at it again and it looks like they will have another hit on their hands if the Flyer tablet was anything to go by! I thought the Flyer tablet was quite good, but too expensive for the market at the time of release! Now that the market has expanded HTC could have that big hit that they’ve always wanted! I am relieved that they haven’t called it something else to confuse people more! I think the One X is their signature device name!

It does look good! I want to try it out! I can’t wait!

2012 is the year of Android for sure!  

Thank you so much for reading!

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Best wishes!