It’s pretty tough to stay positive in this day and age, what with the economy and the Tories and the continued success of ironically titled shows like Britain’s Got Talent. Ahem.
But I’ve donned the metaphorical Cap of Optimism and come up with five reasons to soldier on; five reasons not to give up and lie on the floor in the fetal position, crying like a demented baby.
We’ve already had the iPad 3/new iPad/iPad (third generation) this year, and the Samsung Galaxy S III has finally been unveiled. But there are still a handful of other biggies set to drop later in 2012.
Behold, in no particular order:
1. BlackBerry 10
I’m not sure how much more RIM-related depression I can take. Have we written anything even vaguely positive about the Canadians in the past year? It certainly doesn’t feel like it.
With a penchant for QWERTY-based enterprise goodness, it’s interesting to hear that RIM is (probably) focusing more on touchscreens with BlackBerry 10. Of course, streetwise kids will presumably still lap it up for BBM, innit?
I’m not entirely convinced that BlackBerry 10 will be enough to save RIM. There’s still a prevailing sense that the manufacturer is floundering desperately, but forging ahead with a spanking new OS has to be better than sitting around doing nothing.
2. Windows Phone 8 – Apollo
Windows Phone 8, or Apollo, is tipped to bring handsets with sexier specs, specifically – wait for it – multi-core processors. At last! Of course, Microsoft maintains that it’s all about performance as opposed to figures on a spec sheet.
Samsung and HTC appear to have backed off since Nokia swaggered onto the Windows Phone scene last year, but both are said to be interested in Apollo action.
Love or hate Windows Phone, we’re getting a tad bored with the current two horse race. But is there really room for a “third ecosystem”?
3. Windows 8 tablets
Yes, another entry for Microsoft. Is it abhorrently obvious that I’ve been paid $20 million to pen this feature? Tell it to my gold Jacuzzi.
The tablet world is horrifically stale. There’s the iPad and the Amazon Kindle Fire and, er, a few other decent Android beasts like the Asus Transformer Prime. Time for someone to come along and shake things up a bit. Enter: Windows 8.
Unlike Windows 7, Microsoft has developed Windows 8 with touchscreens in mind, and various manufacturers – including Nokia and Samsung – are said to be aroused at the prospect. Bring ‘em on.
4. The Asian invasion
The Huawei Ascend D1 Quad was one of the stars of Mobile World Congress, with impressive specs (indeed, it claims to be the “world’s fastest smartphone”) and decent build quality.
But the best part is: Huawei is expected to undercut the big boys’ price tags by around 20%. And we can expect similar tactics from fellow Chinese manufacturer ZTE, also out to make a name for itself after casting off the shackles of network branding.
While we’re casting our eyes out east, let’s give a nod to Fujitsu and Panasonic too. It’d only be polite.
5. The iPhone 5
There’s no getting away from it: the iPhone 5 launch will be the biggest thing to happen in the world of smartphones this year. Probably.
It’ll be interesting to see if Apple pushes the boat out with a game-changing quad-core iPhone 5, or perhaps it’ll be a minor upgrade of the iPhone 4S, with a dual-core A5X processor. And will Apple finally move away from the 3.5in mark? And what's next for iOS? So many questions!
In any case, you just know the iPhone 5 will sell by the proverbial bucketload. And that’s not a slight aimed at Apple fans; I’ve been quite open about my fondness for the new iPad. So there.
