New smartphones, more powerful hardware, and updated OS versions

Mar 2, 2014 21:45 GMT  ·  By

This week in Barcelona, we had the chance to see some of the latest advancements in the mobile industry being showcased during the 2014 edition of the Mobile World Congress, yet our overall feeling was that more was actually possible.

Leading mobile phone makers gathered in Barcelona to announce or display their latest products, including HTC, LG, Nokia, Samsung, Sony, and many others, and we had the chance to see a good share of innovation.

However, some might feel that not all launches were as impressive as previously expected, mainly because features and hardware capabilities that might have been included in new devices were nowhere to be seen.

On Monday morning, Nokia announced the availability of no less than three smartphones based on Google's Android operating system, namely the Nokia X, Nokia X+, and Nokia XL, some of the most anticipated devices out there.

In a way, the move came as a surprise (info on Nokia X actually leaked online several months ago), especially given the company's focus on the building of devices running under Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system.

However, as Stephen Elop, former Nokia CEO, said during the launch event, it was a natural step in the evolution of the mobile phone maker, after it managed to secure a foothold on the market with its Lumia smartphones.

Sony Xperia Z2
Sony Xperia Z2
Also on Monday, Sony unveiled a new Android-based flagship handset, in the form of Xperia Z2, which packs about the same design and capabilities as Xperia Z1, but a bit higher hardware specifications.

Chinese phone maker Lenovo announced three new smartphones at MWC 2014, namely the S860, S850, and S660, but they are only mid-range devices.

Alcatel brought a bunch of new smartphones to the show, including the OneTouch Idol 2 and Idol 2 mini, as well as brand new Firefox OS-based phones, namely OneTouch Fire C, Fire E, and Fire S.

Others also announced new handsets on the first day of the congress, including HTC (the Desire 816), ZTE (Grand Memo II LTE), and LG. And there are also the Huawei Ascend G6, Nokia 220, BlackBerry Z3, and many others.

One of the events that, as expected, caught a great deal of attention at MWC this year was the launch of Samsung Galaxy S5, which came in with a nice range of hardware and software improvements when compared to last year's flagship, the Galaxy S4.

Samsung Galaxy S5
Samsung Galaxy S5
Unfortunately, in my opinion, this launch was not as impressive as it could have been, and the Galaxy S5 that I was expecting to become official never showed up on stage.

The phone did not come with a 2K screen, as previously rumord, and a 64-bit processor was nowhere to be seen inside it. Instead, Samsung included a larger screen on it, a larger battery, and an improved camera on the back.

While these are great advancements and the phone itself looks highly appealing, especially when considering that it sports a dust and water-proof design, things could have been better, that's for sure.

Apparently, they will be better, though we'll have to wait a bit longer. And I'm not referring here only to a new Samsung Galaxy S5 model, which might soon be launched with said 2K screen and a metal case, supposedly aimed at giving it a more premium feel.

Also, there is a great chance that Samsung will include a 64-bit processor inside it. The company has already confirmed that it is working on such a chip, and the launch of Qualcomm's octa-core 64-bit CPU might speed up an official release.

The one thing that I'm sure of is the fact that other mobile phone makers out there will also adopt the technology for their flagship devices.

In fact, despite the lack of high-end smartphones with such very high-end capabilities at MWC, I believe that we might see a great deal of them made official before the end of this year. LG, HTC, Sony, and others might go for it, and it would not come as a surprise if Nokia was one of them.

HTC Desire 816
HTC Desire 816
Phones with 2K screens have already been said to sell by the millions this year, with 4K ones expected to land on shelves no later than next year. The same might happen with devices powered by 64-bit processors, and even with those that would be able to record videos in 4K resolution.

Clearly, these will be very high-end smartphones, most probably priced premium, which means that not all of us will afford one. Some will be more accessible, though spec'd lower.

The next several months should bring other novelties to the market as well, in addition to these impressive devices, as phone makers such as HTC and Nokia still have some yet unannounced handsets in the pipeline.

Later this month, the Taiwanese vendor is expected to announce the launch of the All New HTC One, a successor for last year's flagship, featuring a larger screen, a more powerful processor inside, and two 5-megapixel cameras on the back.

Nokia, soon to become part of Microsoft, is expected to make official more Lumia devices in March or April, and it should load the Windows Phone 8.1 operating system on top of them, should previous reports pan out.

Microsoft did announce at MWC plans to release an update to its mobile operating system, yet it did not offer a specific availability date for it as of now. Rumor has it, however, that it could officially introduce the update at the BUILD conference in early April.

New Windows Phone devices will arrive from other mobile phone makers out there as well, following the signing of new partnerships that Microsoft confirmed a week ago.

The platform is expected to receive a great deal of new features in the forthcoming update, such as dual-SIM support, on-screen navigation keys, a voice-enabled personal assistant, a better Internet Explorer version, and a great deal of other enhancements as well.

However, Android and Windows Phone are not the only two mobile platforms that will soon be loaded on more devices out there.

Nokia XL
Nokia XL
Also at the MWC, Mozilla confirmed plans to expand the reach of its Firefox OS beyond the mobile space, into larger screens. Samsung has launched Tizen OS-based smartwatches and should release smartphones based on the platform as well.

Microsoft is aiming at bringing Windows Phone and Windows closer to one another to power all types of devices and screen sizes with a unified operating system, something that it has been speaking of for a few years now, and others appear set to make similar moves.

In the end, although MWC 2014 might have not brought to the spotlight the devices and features that we were expecting it to, the next several months might actually do so, it seems.

And, if the first half of the year doesn't provide us with the possibility to enjoy impressive new smartphones, the second half of the year will undoubtedly offer us such a chance.

Photo Gallery (5 Images)

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