This wonderful Geek-Christmas time of the year is back once more, promising a lot of exciting reveals from big manufacturers such as HTC and Samsung, but also some pretty gems teased by other smaller OEMs. What kind of exciting products will we see? While we’ve got a lot of leaked information from the highly expected S6 and M9, there is still a lot to learn about both – and about everything else that will be shown. What kind of trends will we see in this show, and what can we expect?
Below are some of our predictions and expectations, but feel free to share your own with us down below!
1. Emphasis on UI customization
Manufacturers like Samsung and HTC do some radical skinning on their phones, some of which yield better results than others. The aesthetic changes brought by Material Design meant a needed re-adjustment of every element of their forks, and thus it is expected that the next iterations might see big software re-designs. But despite this, I believe OEMs are becoming increasingly aware of how important customization is to the user experience, and personal interfaces can further expand their consumer base by not alienating those who dislike their aesthetic choices. With the immense success of custom theming engines such as the one found in CyanogenMod, OEMs are probably taking notice. The leaked HTC video confirms that there are built-in theming options, and there’s also been numerous leaks regarding an expanded theme system for the future Galaxy phone. Sony contributed to the cause too but don’t expect much.
2. Smartwatches, again
We’ve talked plenty about smartwatches recently, with the figures from Canalys revealing that once again sales disappointed analysts and the recent announcements of enticing devices such as the luxurious LG Watch Urbane and the practical Pebble Time. There’s also been exciting rumors about new OEMs jumping into the game, and those with Wear devices are looking to expand onto other software alternatives as well; Asus is definitely a contender and should be followed closely, as they’ve been teasing a week-long battery life smartwatch. Others like Alcatel hold promising and cheap alternatives, such as the minimally named “Watch” for a great bang-per-buck, and we are now hearing about Huawei’s classy-looking offering. We might also hear news about WebOS-based smartwatches, and perhaps a new watch by Samsung and the fervently rumored HTC smartwatch that never came.
3. Cheaper alternatives
With cheaper phones like Moto E and Moto G having gone through successful second refreshes (the former one having just been unveiled to very good reviews), and emerging markets like India increasing the demand for budget phones, we might see new incursions into the mid-range and low-range by big and small players alike. The ZenFone 2 by Asus, for example, offers a tremendous package with a blazing-fast Intel processor and up to 4GB of RAM for much less than what the Galaxy S6 is rumored to cost. We might also hear news from OnePlus regarding the OnePlus One successor and their new ROM. Samsung’s latest A series’ was cheaper but not enough to attract customers – perhaps we’ll get hints of a new pricing strategy from the Korean giant. I’d also love to see more flagship-ish cheaper alternatives from HTC like last year.
4. More Ara goodness
In the latest Ara Dev Conference 2, we learned a lot of juicy new details regarding the future of the platform and its modules. Despite this, a lot of mystery surrounds the project and we can’t wait to hear more about what the future of smartphones could bring. There’s been plenty of reports of new manufacturers jumping into the module creation wagon, including some aiming for the visual customization. Ara will definitely need to stay afloat and offer unique designs for every user that wants one. Moreover, details on the new technical specifications and options could arise which would most certainly entice many of those looking to know more about what kind of hardware we’ll be looking at when release comes. Endless possibilities here!
5. More “Internet of Things”
The growing integration of our ecosystem of electronics is only going to accelerate from now on, and smartphones (perhaps watches too) are unquestionably going to be a huge part of it – acting as our remotes and monitors. With the improvements in sensor technology and projects like Google Nest, the infrastructure of a connected world seems to grow in scope. I am definitely expecting a lot of focus on how devices will interconnect with each other. I expect Samsung to pay great attention to this on their event, given their transition to “smart” household electronics which reportedly will cover all of their future technological developments. The event “Innovation City” will also focus entirely on how our future devices’ inter-connectivity will enhance our lives, highlighting virtual reality among others.
As for my particular OEM predictions, I expect Samsung to focus their conference heavily on the changes they’ve made to the S6 from both hardware and software perspectives. The new processor, revamped ROM and memory optimizations will probably yield good performance that they will talk to great lengths about, or at least make it a key aspect of their device – if they manage to pull of the optimization they wanted. I believe HTC will focus on the new software features they’ll be adding to their latest Sense version, and showcase the revamped camera capabilities of their new phone(s). When it comes to their talked-about design, they’ll probably call it an “evolution” and try to justify their few changes. If it turns out that they show something revolutionary, we’ll see quite the social media explosion. If OnePlus reveals a new device, we might see immense buzz as to how it compares to other reveals – particularly in the price department. There’s many more we hope to hear about, but haven’t gathered much speculation to form a prediction on.
This Mobile World Congress is shaping up to be promising, full of new hardware and software to make our lives a little bit more futuristic. We’ll cover the events as they arrive, so stay tuned with us at XDA for more news and reports on the latest and greatest of the tech world.
What are YOUR predictions for Mobile World Congress 2015? We are eager to read them below!
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source: xdadevelopers
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