The mobile phones of 2011 – all the latest rumours in one place

With Christmas behind us and the New Year just around the corner, it’s time for another peek into the crystal ball to see what’s coming for mobile phones in 2011. We already know some of the big new phones that are about to drop in CES in January and MWC in February, but by piecing together the rumours from across the Web, we can start to see what to expect this time next year!

So grab a coffee and settle back for this big run down of all the rumours of the major mobile players, and stand by to see what 2011 has in store for you!

Apple in 2011 – an incremental improvement

Apple will, inevitably, release the iPhone 5. Since the launch of the original iPhone, each successive versions has just been an incremental improvement over its predecessor, and 2011 should be no different.

We can expect FaceTime to work over 3G connections as well as WiFi (which, let’s face it, would make it much more useful!), and there’s even rumour that the iPhone 5 will work with 3G and 4G networks for super-fast download speeds.

The camera should be uprated to 8 megapixels, the processor speed upped to around 15.GHz, and memory increased to 64GB. It might even be able to make phone calls properly without dropping them!

These features are all very well, but they’re not exactly new. What will be new, however, is the iPhone 5’s use of NFC technology, which enables contactless payment for small purchases such as coffee and train tickets.

The Phone 5 should be announced in June 2011, and should cost around the same as the iPhone 4.

LG in 2011 – back at the cutting edge

LG were surprisingly quiet throughout 2010, and their fortunes reflected their lack of innovation. 2011, by contrast, should see a completely revitalised company releasing a raft of new cutting edge phones.

Current talk of the mobile phone world is LG’s big push into the Android market, with a new dual-core Tegra2 based phone that should be announced at the start of the year at CES 2011. Called the LG Optimus 2X, the new Android phone will be blisteringly fast, and capable of 1080p video playback and recording.

The company also has a mysterious unannounced phone that’s been leaked that’s currently codenamed the LG B, which features a screen that’s 50% brighter than any other phone on the market.

LG are clearly going after Samsung in 2011, and are aiming to take the crown of best Android phone of the year.

Samsung in 2011 – maintaining the momentum

Samsung had a cracking 2010, with the Galaxy S narrowly missing out on being crowned the best Android phone, and being chosen by Google to create the second “pure” Android phone, the Samsung Nexus S. The Korean company is determined to keep the momentum going throughout 2011 with a raft of bold new phones that match cutting edge hardware to Android, Windows Phone 7 and its own Bada software platforms.

Samsung has a new flagship phone that will be announced at MWC 2011 in February that aims to beat the LG Optimus 2X. The new Samsung Android phone will feature a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 8 megapixel camera with flash, full 1080p video capture and playback, and Samsung’s new 4.3″ Super AMOLED2 screen, which should really make the phone stand out against the competition.

Sony Ericsson in 2011 – a PlayStation phone at last!

Sony Ericsson had a great start to 2010, but the momentum behind the company kind of fizzled out, with all of their best phones being released in the first half of the year. We might see a repeat performance for 2011, but at least the phones that are currently rumoured for MWC 2011 look pretty sexy.

Most notable is the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, a new Android phone that lets you play PlayStation games. Yes, at long last, the PlayStation phone is coming, complete with slide-out dedicated gaming controls! There’s huge anticipation for this phone, so it should be a huge seller for the company.

Other Xperia phones that we’re expecting include the Xperia Arc, Xperia Duo and Xperia Neo. The Neo is rumoured to be the Xperia X12 (either name could be used at launch) and will be Sony Ericsson’s brand new flagship Android phone. It’ll feature a 4.3″ screen, an HDMI output, 8.1 megapixel camera, large battery and Android Gingerbread.

If small is your thing, then you can look forward to a new Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro. Not only does it retain the cute looks of the original, but as you’d expect, it’s been considerably beefed up in the hardware stakes. The new X10 Mini Pro will feature Android 2.3 Gingerbread, a 1GHz processor and an Adreno 205 GPU for hardware-accelerated graphics processing. It’s grown a bit, with a new 3″ screen, but that only serves to make it more usable while still being cute!

Then there are a couple of mysterious photos that surfaced two days ago, and which show a new, unnamed Android phone with a huge front-facing camera. If Apple isn’t planning 1080p FaceTime for 2011, it seems Sony Ericsson certainly is! This new phone is rumoured to be the Sony Ericsson Hallon, which is basically an uprated Vivaz but using Android instead of Symbian.

One thing we shouldn’t expect is a Windows Phone 7-based Sony Ericsson device. After previously releasing phones based on Windows mobile and Symbian, Sony Ericsson is now, apparently, putting all its eggs in the Android basket, a strategy that seems to have served it well throughout 2010. There won’t be any Sony Ericsson tablets, either, as Sony Ericsson will focus firmly on the smartphone market.

We’ll know more about Sony Ericsson’s new line-up of phones for 2011 when they’re officially unveiled on February 13th, a day before the start of MWC 2011

One final rumour regarding Sony Ericsson: the company doesn’t have much in the way of resources, and is finding the mobile phone market increasingly difficult to compete in. Sony is rumoured (and I stress, this is just a rumour!) to be looking at the possibility of leaving the mobile phone market altogether, and selling the copmpany.

The question then will be: to whom?!

HTC in 2011 – pushing for 300% growth

HTC had the best 2010 of any mobile manufacturer, at least in terms of praise and awards! The company began the year on a high with the Google Nexus 1 and the original HTC Desire, both of which set the benchmark for Android devices, before topping them both and running away with the title of best smartphone of 2010 with the HTC Desire HD at the end of the year.

HTC also threw their weight behind Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 7 mobile OS, with the launch of the HTC HD7 and the HTC Mozart 7, again to critical acclaim.

So what of 2011? The company should start the year with some announcements at CES 2011 next week, with the HTC Thunderbolt being the most prominent. The Thunderbolt is basically a Desire HD for the US, but upgraded to use Verizon’s shiny new 4G (and very fast!) network.

Also being announced at CES 2011 will be the HTC EVO Shift 4G (which is basically the Desire Z for the US), and the HTC 7 Pro, which is HTC’s first Windows Phone 7 device with a physical QWERTY keyboard.

But it’s the company’s phenomenal growth that’s most impressive. Having sold 20 million phones in 2010, it’s planning on selling 60 million devices (phones and tablets) in 2011, with the first smartphones with dual-core processors coming in the second half of 2011.

HTC have been reported as saying they’re convinced that Android will make a further breakthrough in 2011, and it will be big enough to enable them to increase their sales by 300%. That’s huge, and should see some stunning new devices from the company throughout the year that will see off the intense competition, even if we don’t yet know what those devices are (very frustrating!).

Motorola in 2011 – dual-core to the max

Motorola had a much better 2010 than previous years, with its Droid range of Android phones selling respectably well, especially in the US. 2011 should see the company retain its strategy of pushing ahead with high-end Andoird phones, with the first of these being announced at CES 2011.

The Motorola Olympus and Motorola Etna are basically the same phone on two different networks (AT&T and Verizon, respectively), and should feature the same super-fast dual-core Tegra2 chip that LG are using in their Optimus 2X. Just like LG’s new phone, The Motorola Olympus and Etna should be capable of 1080p video capture and playback, a huge speed boost, and better battery life to boot.

It’ll be interesting to see how well the Olypus compares to the Optimus 2X, as these will be the first dual core phones on the market. It’ll also be extremely interesting to see how they compare to existing single-core high-end phones such as the Desire HD, as these are the current benchmarks and it’ll be good to see just how much of a benefit dual-core wll provide both in terms of power and battery life.

Nokia in 2011 – is there any hope?

Nokia had an awful 2010. Despite the Nokia N8 actually selling rather well, the company saw horrific sales figures and curmbling market share, matched only by the amount of negative press it received for its poorly conceived new range of phones.

Its odd entry into the laptop market, the Booklet 3G, has ended as the laptop has been discontinued, as has the warmly received but not terribly popular Nokia N900.

For 2011, the company needs to do something drastic, and quickly. However, given that it’s not revealed what that something is, all manner of rumours have rushed in to fill the void. Everything from a Nokia Windows Phone 7 phone (given greater credence now an ex-Microsoftie is the new head man) to a new Android tablet have been suggested, while Nokia sticks resolutely to the “business as usual” plan of focusing on its own mobile OSes, the ageing Symbian and the unfinished MeeGo.

As far as hardware is concerned, the company has promised its first smartphone with a 1GHz processor will ship in 2011 (18 months later than the competition, and just as everyone else is releasing dual-core processors, with each of the two cores running in the 1 – 1.5GHz range)

Long term, we’ve no idea what the future holds for Nokia, and we’re not entirely convinced the company does either! Short term, we know it’ll be announcing the new Nokia X7 probably around MWC in February, and there’s been rumours of a Nokia N9 floating around for months now, but without any news confirming it.

More worryingly, the company laid off 1,800 Symbian developers recently, and then fired 800 developers who worked on the latest Symbian^3. By getting rid of its software developers, the company is sending out a signal that it can no longer develop its own mobile OS and needs outside help. It’s apparently been in close talks with Microsoft who are themselves desperate to improve the chances of Windows Phone 7.

With such little concrete rumours to go on, and with the company in such a mess at the moment, the only thing I’d like to predict is that drastic change desperately has to happen sometime in 2011! My money is on the company producing an Android tablet (which won’t compete with its handsets) and a Windows Phone 7 device, before merging with Microsoft sometime in 2012. This sounds drastic, but Nokia is running out of time.

Summary

So it’s the dying days of 2010 and already 2011 is looking like it’s going to be a watershed year for mobile phone innovations! But this post has only touched the surface, revealing what we know and what we can speculate about the mobile phones that are just around the corner.

What’s far more fun is the amazing new technologies that will be released in 2011 and beyond. Technologies such as T-Mobile’s 43Mbps data network, Samsung’s curved screens and Sony’s unbelievable new tiny cameras.

But that’s for another post – tune in tomorrow for more fortune telling!