Smartphone Rumours So Far

Another year means another round of smartphones that are coming out to dazzle us again with each coming out with the latest hardware and software that would raise the level of technology in smartphones to even higher levels.

As always before the launches of smartphones are rumours running wild! Some can be trusted, some that we have to take in with a pinch of salt. The most anticipated smartphones in the first quarter of 2015 would of course be the continuation of the popular Samsung Galaxy S Series ,not to forget the smartphone that brought HTC back into the competition, the successor to the HTC One M8, the HTC One M9 and Sony’s next flagship in-line the Sony Xperia Z4.

Without further ado, let’s start with HTC!

SAMSUNG GALAXY S6

So far the company that has been teasing much about its newest flagship phone would be none other than the King of Android.  They have been releasing several teasers on their social media depicting that the new Galaxy might feature things such as better improved camera, faster (and even wireless) charging, and a metal body/frame so far.

Codenamed internally as Project Zero, Samsung was said to redesign the S6 completely, for example scraping plastic in favour of metal. This is in part due to decreasing profits and market share probably caused by competition from up and coming manufacturers from China that are taking over the low and middle end of the market while also being threatened on the high-end of the market by Apple with their latest bigger sized smartphones. Not to forget, the S5 didn’t turn out to be the a sale-out that they planned.

Update: New leaks now show that the S6 won't be coming alone. It will be accompanied by an "Edge" version much like the Note 4 but this time featuring displays that bends slightly on both edges. And Samsung pretty much confirmed it with the pre-registration.

The rumoured specifications are:

·        16-megapixel camera (Sony IMX240 Sensor): Similar to the one found in the Note 4 and no complains about it. This camera has been proven to on par in terms of performance with the iPhone’s camera. Though they say software wise it’ll be better with new additions such as better HDR.  Staying with the same camera module might be a wise move.  Like they say, more megapixels   don’t always mean better pictures.

·        Exynos 7420 (Samsung’s first 64-bit processor): With rumours spreading about the overheating issues affecting the Snapdragon 810, it seems that Samsung has decided to go away with it and proceed with their in-house built processor. No complains though as test and benchmarks apparently shows that its performance is better than the 810.

·        5.1-inch Super AMOLED Display, possibly Quad HD Display (2K) similar to the Note 4.

·        Storage: 32 GB

Expected Release Date: MWC, 1^st of March 2015.
 Source: phonearena.com , nowhereelse.fr

HTC ONE M9 (HIMA)

Codenamed Hima, the successor to the One M8, the HTC One M9 is expected to be launched with these specifications.

·        20-megapixel camera with dual-tone and dual-LED flash (Toshiba T4KA7 sensor, 1/2.4-inch, pixel size of 1.12 µm: bearing complains from users on its ultrapixel camera, HTC is said to be replacing its much hyped camera technology with a more stable and assured camera. Though there are rumours that point to the front camera using a 4Mp ultrapixel camera.

·        Snapdragon 810 (Octa –core processor, 4 Cortex A57 cores at 2.0 Ghz and 4 Cortex A53 Cores at 1.5Ghz

·        5-inch Full HD screen (1080p) Super LCD3

·        3GB of RAM

·        Battery: 2840 mAh

·        Expected storage options of: 16, 32 and 64 GB. (history suggest that’ll be no 16GB)

Expected Release Date: 1st March 2015

Source: http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/new-product/mobile-phone/3531339/htc-one-m9-uk-release-date-price-specs-uk-one-life-1080p-software/ , @upleaks

SONY XPERIA Z4

Sales have not been quite what Sony expected but it’s certainly on the rise, however slow it is but take nothing away from the fact that the Xperia Z3 was a solid, beautiful and powerful device. One of the first smartphones that included a water and dust resistant feature. Other than that, the Xperia Z3 has an amazing battery life that is supposedly able to last for two days, a rarity nowadays. Maybe the marketing power of Samsung is just too strong. The design of the Xperia Z Series has not changed much since the first Xperia Z and the same is not expected with the Xperia Z4. The rumoured specifications are:

·        21 Megapixel (IMX230) sensor:

·        Snapdragon 810

·        5.5-inch Quad HD Display, it is also rumoured to be Full HD instead as to improve battery life. Other rumours points to the screen being a smaller 5.4 or even 5.2-inch display.

·        4GB of RAM

·        3420 mAh battery life.

Expected Release Date: At MWC, 2^nd March 2015.

Souce: knowyourmobile.com, techaradar.com, androidpit.com

Motorola Droid Turbo (@Maxx)

Smartphones just gets better and better. Almost every month you would hear one that is said to be the new champion of the market, one that would revolutionize your world, one that would make you wonder how you ever lived your pitiful life without it. So here's another one.

 

Launched by the company that has recently been bought by Lenovo, the Moto Droid Turbo (international version is named Moto Maxx) impresses in almost all categories.

So let’s start with the usual aspect, the feature that you are going to look at most of the time (literally), the display! The Moto Droid is equipped with a 5.2-inch Quad HD display (2560 x 1440) powering a high ppi of 565 (iPhone 6: 326, iPhone 6 Plus: 401). It seems that 2K display is starting to be the standards in new flagship smartphones, a boy do you really see the difference.

What is the use of a powerful power hungry display if you had to recharge it every few hours? Well here, my friends, is another surprise. The device comes with a GIGANTIC 3,900 mAh battery that Motorola touted to last 48 hours. To put this in comparison to the iPhone 6 Plus and Note 4 that has battery capacities of 2915 mAh and 3220 mAh respectively. All of this thus makes the ‘droid’ a bit on thick side but hey, I’m willing to have a thicker smartphone than a thin one that forces me to constantly find a power socket. Well for the ‘droid’ you don’t even need to plug it in, just place in on its charging pad and watch it refuels itself (Wireless charging capabilities). A common feature in big smartphones nowadays is the Turbo Charging, Motorola’s own version of fast charging. It is said to be able to charge the smartphone from 0 to 60 % in just 30 minutes.

 

Onto the camera, surprise surprise! It has a 21 megapixels shooter that can take 4K videos! Need I elaborate more? J It also comes with the usual dual- LED flash and auto focus. So far no complains can be found about it. To the front, it has a 2MP camera.

The ‘Droid’ is powered by the latest processor by Qualcomm, a 2.7 Ghz Quad core Snapdragon 805. On par with the Note 4. This is coupled with a 3 GB RAM. For storage capacity of it has an internal storage of 64GB.

Other notable features are the Motorola gestures that allows you to command/use the phone with the need of touching it, it’s water resistant coated so you don’t have to worry about accidentally spilling water on it (or rain), and  it does have LTE (though not sure if the band is usable in Malaysia).

Finally the phone does seem to be every tech enthusiast’s wildest dream and can seem to be surreal but I assure you the phone really exists. Fingers crossed that it won’t take long to reach Malaysia. As Motorola was previously under google, they have been manufacturing smartphones that delivers one of the cleanest and pure versions of android and the promise continues with the Moto ‘Droid’ Maxx. This would also ensure that software updates to the phone won’t take too long (as of the time of writing, it comes out of the box with Android KitKat 4.4). An extra reason to own this beast. ^_^  

Maybe this could be the smartphone that going to push me towards Android.

*So far no news on when this would come to Malaysia. In the USA, it's sold exclusively through the Verizon carrier.

Sources: Motorola.com, soyacincau.com