While you’re out of town, with your family opening up Christmas presents tomorrow morning and enjoying time with your family, the manufacturers and carriers will be frantically working to get their devices they plan to show off at CES ready to go. After all CES is only a few weeks away. In fact the fun begins 2 weeks from tomorrow, but we all know that the real show is the weekend before in Las Vegas. So what are we expecting to see at CES?
Samsung
I don’t expect to see to much from big Sammy. Although there have been a few low-end devices rumored to be shown off at CES by the Korean manufacturer. But I think the major thing Samsung will be showing off is their Flexible displays. They’ve been rumored to be getting a 5.5-inch flexible display ready for CES. Now whether that’s true or not, we’ll leave that up to Samsung. But don’t expect the Galaxy S IV or the Galaxy Note III to be shown off next month.
HTC
HTC is another one we aren’t to sure about. They’ve had that rumored HTC M7 which looks to be a smaller Droid DNA/J Butterfly. But that one I’m not to sure will be shown off at CES as it’s probably a device that’ll be launched on AT&T or T-Mobile here in the US and hit the European markets as well. I’d expect the M7 to be introduced at Mobile World Congress in February. It’d be nice for HTC to show off some pretty amazing devices at CES with 1080p displays in a variety of sizes with removable batteries and expandable storage.
Motorola
Well 2012 has been an interesting year for Motorola. Their acquisition by Google was finally finalized, and they only released a handful of devices. Most of them in the second half of the year. They’ve also really turned around their OTA times, at least so far. The new Motorola has tried its best to clean up what the old exec’s left behind, and in my opinion they’ve done pretty well with it. Now here comes the tricky part. What are they doing at CES? Well there was that rumor of Google and Motorola working on that “X Phone” and tablet. I think it might be to soon for it to be announced and shown off at CES, but it would be nice to see in Vegas.
Sony
Now Sony is another one that’s tricky. We haven’t seen to much from Sony in the US. But it looks like in 2013, Sony is looking to change that. But only if the carriers support them. We’ve seen rumors of a few different devices from Sony including a couple 5-inch 1080p devices and one or two smaller, mid-range devices. It’ll be interesting to see what carriers they come to in the US and how updates roll out for their devices. But definitely keep your eyes on the Yuga and Odin.
LG
The makers of what some are calling the worst Nexus device to date. LG manufactured the Nexus 4, which has had it’s problems especially with supply and demand. But the Optimus G was a pretty good looking and performing device I think. While we haven’t heard much in the rumor mill from LG for CES or even Mobile World Congress yet, I do think they’ll bring something to the table. But it might be a low end device. Something you’d probably see on carriers like Boost Mobile, Metro PCS, Virgin Mobile, etc.
Huawei
2013 might just be Huawei’s year in the US. Just this past weekend, the 6.1-inch Huawei device was confirmed. And it looks like it’ll be a Galaxy Note 2 competitor, so watch out Samsung. In the past, Huawei has had trouble making it in the US. Typically they’ve only been found on pre-paid carriers or low-end devices on T-Mobile. But if the rumors hold true, we might see some pretty interesting and great devices from Huawei at CES and in 2013.
ZTE
ZTE is another one that is trying to make a splash in the US market. We’ve also seen a few leaks and rumors for ZTE devices including the Grand S which was leaked over the weekend for a CES debut. ZTE has been in the US market before, and haven’t been able to compete with the likes of Samsung, HTC, and Motorola. But the Grand S might be able to change that.
1080p displays, Flexible displays, Quad-Core and More
So what are we going to see in general in the next year from Android? Probably quite a bit. Right now it seems like all the leaked specs are “5-inch 1080p display, and quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor”, I really hope these change. If not all you’ll be concerned with is the look of the device. Now these flexible displays. They probably won’t be available in phones anytime soon. But they should allow for the screen to become unbreakable, which would be good for those of us always dropping our phones or tablets. Only downside is the whole device won’t be flexible. Sure we’ll see more technology surface in 2013, what do you think we’ll see?
Final Thoughts?
This year’s CES may not be as big as year’s past, but we will see some great new phones and technology from the manufacturers listed above and many more. The year of 2013 is going to be a very exciting year, and I can’t wait to see what Google, and the rest of the Android family has in store for us. What are you most looking forward to next year?