Upcoming phones to look for – March 2012

Post MWC 2012 (Mobile World Congress), the mobile world is getting ready for some seriously hardcore entries at all levels of the budget spectrum. The tech world was taken by storm as new smartphone entries made their debut this year in the form of high-end and heavily powered devices in all new shapes and sizes. Here are just a few of the recently unveiled devices that we’re most looking forward to seeing in our labs.  

Samsung Galaxy Beam 

Samsung’s Galaxy Beam with its built-in projector

There has been an influx of projector-infused mobile handsets in India, over the last year or so. Although, some that were more innovative than the others managed to fare quite well, they all lacked a certain refinement, that and the fact that they all ran on the Java platform didn’t make them overly appealing. Samsung’s previous iteration of the Beam didn’t quite make a big enough impact, but this latest edition with its Dual Core Cortex A9 1GHz processor and built-in nHD (640 x 360) projector should offer a significant amount of drool value. Like most other Samsung smartphones, this handset will be pre-equipped to handle popular video codecs and FLAC support for audio. It’ll come running Gingerbread but could also get a possible upgrade to ICS (yet to be confirmed).

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The all new Samsung Beam will feature - 

• a 4.0-inch capacitive touchscreen with a 480 x 800 pixel resolution
• 3G, EDGE, Wi-Fi with DLNA support and hotspot functionality
• Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP, USB 2.0
• GPS with A-GPS Support
• 5MP AF camera with 720p video recording and an LED flash
• Secondary 1.3MP Camera
• 8GB internal memory plus microSD card support up to 32GB

Nokia Pureview 808 

Featuring an impressive 41MP camera

Although it may not have been the very best idea to have introduced this device with their ‘not-faring-too-well’ Belle OS, at the moment WP7 is nowhere near to having the capabilities to offer the kind of goodies this handset will feature. First off, the 1.3HGz processor should be more than adequate to run things smoothly, Nokia bringing back the Xenon flash to mobile cameras is definitely a good thing with Carl Zeiss optics for this fascinating camera phone and the resolution prescribed, we’re expecting image quality to be off the charts. The all new camera tech installed into this handset, includes 3x lossless digital amongst an array of other handy features. Nokia has pretty much loaded up the 808 with as much functionality as possible, and we’re very curious to see just how it all works out. 

The Pureview 808 will come with - 

• a 4.0-inch capacitive touchscreen with a 360 x 640 pixel resolution
• 3G, EDGE, Wi-Fi with DLNA support 
• Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP, USB 2.0 with USB-on-the-go
• GPS with A-GPS Support
• 41MP AF camera with 1080p video recording and a Xenon flash
• Secondary VGA Camera
• FM radio with an FM transmitter
• 16GB internal memory plus microSD card support up to 32GB
• HDMI out

Huawei Ascend D Quad 

Huawei’s quad-core device - the Ascend D Quad

The dual Core ‘engine’ has been further upgraded to the all new mobile edition of Quad Core processors. Huawei, who might have been one of the background players, is now taking centre stage at most of the big mobile events and quite enjoying the limelight. With this their upcoming Ascend D, ICS running Quad Core (1.2GHz Huawei K3V2 chip) smartphone, Huawei is planning on bringing the big guns out blazing. Active noise cancellation for better audio on calls is also provisioned for and Dolby has also contributed their Mobile 3.0 Plus engine for sound enhancement. 

The specs of the Ascend D include - 

• a 4.5-inch capacitive (IPS) touchscreen with a 720 x 1280 pixel resolution
• 3G, EDGE, Wi-Fi with DLNA support and hotspot functionality
• Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP, USB 2.0 
• GPS with A-GPS Support
• 8MP AF camera with 1080p video recording and Dual LED flash
• Secondary 1.3MP video calling camera
• 8GB internal memory plus microSD card support up to 32GB
• MHL (Mobile HD link)

LG’s Tegra 3 powered monster - the Optimus 4x HD P880

LG’s also dishing out the heavy hitters this season and the next big thing from the Korean company is the P880 or the Optimus 4X HD. Featuring a 720p display and a 1.5GHz Quad Core processor coupled with Nvidia’s Tegra 3 chipset, we’re looking at a seriously hardcore handset with all the trimmings. Multiple video codec support is built-in and LG is also going with an MHL option for video out. The 4X HD should be released running ICS, which will only ‘sweeten’ the deal. Active noise cancellation is also thrown in. 

The 4X HD’s spec sheet showcases the following feature set - 

• a 4.7-inch capacitive (HD-IPS) touchscreen with a 720 x 1280 pixel resolution
• 3G, EDGE, Wi-Fi with DLNA support and hotspot functionality
• Bluetooth with A2DP, USB 2.0 
• GPS with A-GPS Support
• 8MP AF camera with 1080p video recording and LED flash
• Secondary 1.3MP video calling camera
• 16GB internal memory plus microSD card support up to 32GB
• MHL (Mobile HD link)

HTC One X 

Full of features and performance - the HTC One X

To give the Koreans a run for their ‘won’, Taiwan’s HTC has also thrown their hat into the ring with their One X smartphone. Also equipped with an Nvidia Tegra 3 chipset and a 1.5GHz Quad Core processor, the One X could fare just as well as the 4X HD. Also, it would come down to is the user experience with either HTC’s Sense UI on top of ICS or ICS’s stock offering should be included on the 4X as is. The One X will also feature MHL. Beats Audio engine could be a big score jumper for HTC in the high-end segment. 

The One X will also come with - 

• a 4.7-inch capacitive (Super IPS LCD) touchscreen with a 720 x 1280 pixel resolution
• 3G, EDGE, Wi-Fi with DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct support and hotspot functionality
• Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP, USB 2.0 
• GPS with A-GPS Support
• 8MP AF camera with 1080p video recording and LED flash
• Secondary 1.3MP video calling camera with 720p video recording
• FM Radio
• 32GB internal memory no microSD card support
• MHL (Mobile HD link)

Samsung Galaxy S III

The much awaited Galaxy S III

Finally, one of the highly anticipated mobile handsets of the year, aside from whatever Apple is cooking up behind closed doors is from their arch rival, Samsung in the form of the Glalaxy S III. Although the handset is yet to be announced or even unveiled in an official capacity, rumours and leaks are rampant about this powerhouse of a handset. The SGS III is set to take the world by storm. Although Samsung just loves their TouchWiz UI, we’re hoping they decide to offer us users the option of switching to ICS’s stock option. 

The spec sheet has not yet been revealed, but if we’re to believe the news coming through the grapevine then this is what we can expect from the Galaxy S III -

• a 4.7-inch capacitive (Super AMOLED) touchscreen with full HD pixel resolution
• LTE support, 3G, WiFi hopefully with DLNA and Wi-Fi Direct support 
• 1.5 GHz Quad Core Exynos 4412 chip with 2GB RAM
• Wirless charging capabilities for the 2250mAh battery
• a 12MP camera

That’s our list, but it’s in no way complete. There are a slew of new devices heading our way and naturally, this being the best part of our chosen careers; we’re looking to getting our hands on each and every one of them. What are you most looking forward to buying this year? Let us know.