Samsung’s next Galaxy

Samsung is all but guaranteed to unveil the new Galaxy smartphone at their Mobile Unpacked event in London next week.

The successor to the super successful Galaxy S2 has been eagerly anticipated, with all sorts of leaks and rumours. So, with that in mind, we predict what new features would appear.

 

Internals

The Galaxy S2 took things up a notch upon its launch, featuring a 1.2Ghz dual-core chipset – an improvement over the first Galaxy S and its single-core 1Ghz chip.

A quad-core processor is pretty much a lock for the new Galaxy, multiple websites reported, but Samsung, an experienced chipset manufacturer, will be making custom chips rather than choosing a Tegra 3 from Nvidia.

When it comes to RAM however, we should probably expect a slight increase if anything at all. Very few, if any Android phones are equipped with more than 1GB of RAM. 

 

Camera and display

The Galaxy S2 was equipped with a pretty excellent 8-megapixel camera, featuring 1080p video-recording. A 12 or 16MP shooter seems like the obvious next step, making the device look like a big upgrade in the eyes of casual consumers.

While a bump in megapixel count looks great on paper, there’s more to a camera’s quality than that though. So we won’t be surprised to see an improved 8MP shooter instead.

Almost all top-shelf smartphones are sporting high-resolution screens, with 720p seen on the Galaxy Nexus, while the Galaxy Note features a gigantic 1280×800 screen.

Some reports suggest that we’ll be seeing a 1080p display, a tough task even for Samsung when you consider that the 2048×1536 screen on the larger iPad already pushes the limit of current tech. If I had to put money on it, I’d go with Samsung using a 720p display instead.

 

Software

One certainty is that the new device will run Android 4.0, aka Ice Cream Sandwich. The update hasn’t experienced widespread adoption, with less than five percent of all Android users running it, according to official statistics. Thus, we can expect the new phone to significantly contribute to ICS’s uptake.

But what about Android 5.0, also known as Jellybean? This update is unlikely to be launching with the S3 considering the lack of news and leaks about it. Additionally, a new software update released this soon would only contribute to the much-maligned fragmentation issue.

We should also expect TouchWiz, Samsung’s Android theme/skin, to be featured. While we aren’t big fans of manufacturer skins, TouchWiz is competent nonetheless.

 

Connectivity

One feature well within the realm of possibility is near-field communications (seen on a few S2 models), which has floundered over the past year.

The technology, which appeared in the Nexus S, a few Nokia smartphones and some BlackBerries too, hasn’t struck a chord with consumers. So Samsung will need to use NFC in an innovative way in order to make it stand out from the usual payment options.

Another feature that we’re bound to see is LTE connectivity, being featured on selected S2 models as well. Of course, there are no commercial LTE networks in South Africa just yet, so this doesn’t make a difference to us.

Other features bound to be in the new handset include a microSD slot, Bluetooth, WiFi and HDMI output.

 

Exotic possibilities?

Then there’s all the talk of exotic technologies, as is the case with high-profile gadgets, with one of the more prominent rumours being wireless (or inductive) charging.

The technology has already been rolled out by third-party manufacturers, while Palm’s Pre smartphone supported it out of the box. In the standard way of doing things, users place their phone on a “mat” to charge it.

However, wireless charging by simply placing their phone near a dock would be a genius move. Nevertheless, this isn’t something we’d hold our breath for…

The casing of the device has also been the subject of speculation, with websites claiming it would be of a ceramic design. Theoretically, this should be better for the cellphone’s signal than a metallic casing.

 

Only one way to find out…

However, all will be revealed on 3 May 2012 when Samsung hosts the Mobile Unpacked event in London.

We’ll be there (visa pending!) so make sure to follow our Twitter account for live updates!

Article source: http://technology.iafrica.com/features/791110.html. Creative Commons (CC)