The Ultimate Android Smartphone clearly has to be ahead of the class with outstanding features and longevity to boot. Hopefully this phone is the new Nexus device due out this holiday season. Most notably it would ship with Android Ice Cream Sandwich which will combine Honeycomb with the Gingerbread OS into what should be a stunning offering once released. Like all Nexus devices it will have a pure Android experience and the latest and greatest of what the OS has to offer.
The ultimate phone has to be simply amazing in every way, and for the purpose of this feature I am going to stick to items coming in the immediate future. So no hexa core or 3D video calling. Just the best that is reasonable to be released along with Android Ice Cream Sandwich, the best that we can expect from the next Nexus device.
Hardware
In terms of hardware the SoC of choice is a 1.5 Ghz quad-core SoC such as the Nvidia Tegra 3, which should have more than enough power for the foreseeable future. The processor should be capable of running 1280×720 fluidly whether during 3D gameplay or full screen 1080P recording as well as playback.
In terms of space 2 GB of RAM. With that amount of memory the slight lag often associated with Android will be a thing of past, there should be no limits to what the Holographic UI can achieve. On board memory space would come in a 32 GB and a 64 GB versions with an accessible micro-SD card. Which will be easily enough space to store HD movies from the Android market, your own collection, and ones that you record.
Construction should be almost entirely of aluminum expect for the front display similar to the HTC Sensation. It should be thinner than the Samsung Galaxy S II around 8.5mm to offset the size of the large display and keep weight light but substantial. The in hand feel should be more HTC than Samsung. The battery included in the aluminum shell should be 3000 mAh allowing even the heaviest of users at the very least one full day of usage and much more to moderate users.
Display
The display can easily make or break a device no matter how powerful the other hardware may be. For the ultimate phone you are going to need a fair amount of screen real estate and with the expected removal of hardware buttons a 4.5″ Gorilla Glass display should be the sweet spot.
The best display rumored to arrive within the year is the Super AMOLED HD. While current devices have the ability to record in up to 1080p the displays do not have the capability to playback in HD resolutions. The new display will have a 1280 X 720 resolution allowing for real 720p on your mobile device.
Cameras
A 12 megapixel rear camera will be the default shooter, however simply raising the megapixels will not be enough in this case. The sensor needs to be greatly enhanced and the quality should not just be great for a phone, but great in general. There should no longer be a need to carry another camera with this phone in your pocket. It will be capable of recording in 1080p without any of the lag or problems associated with movement that many of the current phones suffer from. It will feature an Xenon flash, HDR with panorama modes, and a continuous recording shutter so zero shutter lag is present. It should be the fastest and most capable camera on any mobile device.
The front facing camera should be 5 megapixels and allow for true 720p HD video calling for use on the increased screen resolution. The cameras on this device should be more along the lines of the cameras on the newer Nokia devices.
Software
The OS will be a pure version Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Meaning it will have no UI overlays, an unlocked bootloader, and receive updates first just as any flagship Nexus device. Along with the latest and greatest software release the device needs to be secure and enterprise ready. With protection from malware and a secure enterprise ready software connection suite.
Another major software piece that needs to integrated into the ultimate Android device is a dedicated Gaming Network. A phone with this amount of power under the hood will be powerhouse when it comes to gaming performance and it would be a shame to let that power go to waste without a proper gaming network in which to utilize it.
The cloud will also be a major piece woven into the makings of the ultimate smartphone. Not only will there be support for Google’s cloud music service, but other types of media, along with data storage should all be easily accessible and designed to work with the device seamlessly.
It is also about time that the Chrome browser be brought over to the Android platform in full. All of the tabs, extensions, and themes need to be ported also. We should be able to seamlessly go from browsing on the Chrome computer browser to the mobile chrome browser in the same state in which we left off. Essentially Chrome to phone on steroids.
Connectivity
The perfect phone would need to work across all major carriers, so support for the 3G/4G capabilities from Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile is a must. It must also have NFC support a long with built-in Google Wallet functionality. It should be a world phone and have access to all of the different Bluetooth and WiFi standards available.
Google@Home should also be a key connectivity point for the device allowing it to easily integrate with your home electronics and be a mobile controller for many of the functions you would like to control from music, to lighting, and security.
Docking
At this point Motorola is the one manufacturer taking the capabilities of docking seriously. This phone will without a doubt have an available lap top dock with the Chrome browser instead of Firefox. It will have full phone functionality while docked and contain all the work ability of the Chromebooks coming out soon.
Along with the lap top dock a multimedia dock will also be available with the ability to connect to your home entertainment center, HD T.V., and have almost all of the functionality of the upgraded Google T.V. due out later this year.
Wrap-UP
The Ultimate Android Smartphone needs to encompass a technological advantage in multitude of categories, while bringing enhanced functionality to the consumer in an attractive and long-lasting device. The super phone discussed attempts to do just that while staying in the time frame of whats possible in 2011. Hopefully the next Nexus device from Google includes many of the features written about here and leave the competition like the upcoming iPhone 5 in its wake.
From the quad-core SoC to the 4.5″ 720p display this phone is simply the ultimate of what one could expect this year. HD video calling, a Chromebook, and Google T.V. all from your smartphone just makes sense. Imagine plugging your Android device into your T.V. playing a game in full1080p HD with a controller connected to your multimedia dock. This is the ultimate smartphone.
What else would you include in your Ultimate Android Smartphone?
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