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What's in store for 2011 in the mobile industry?

Cod3rror

Cod3rror

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Apr 18, 2010
1,834
192
Hey guys, since 2011 is approaching, I wanted to list my info collected all over the net of what's in store for 2011.

SoCs

Samsung Orion - Cortex-A9 Dual Core 1GHz, ARM Mali 400 GPU

ST Ericsson U8500 - Cortex-A9 Dual Core 1.2GHz, ARM Mali 400 GPU

OMAP4 - Cortex-A9 Dual Core, SGX540 GPU - OMAP4430 1.0GHz / OMAP4440 1.5GHz

Qualcomm Snapdragon - Gen II 1.3GHz Cortex-A8, Adreno 205 - Gen III 1.2GHz Cortex-A9 Dual Core, Adreno 220 / 1.5GHz Cortex-A9 Dual Core, Adreno 220

Tegra 2 - Cortex-A9 Dual Core, nVidia GPU

Notes: SGX540 is twice as fast as Adreno 205(41M tri/sec), Adreno 220 is slightly slower than SGX540(88M vs 90M tri/sec), Samsung claims ARM Mali to be 5 times faster than SGX540. SGX540, Mali and Adreno 220 are capable of 1080p video encode/decode, Adreno 205 720p.

Software
Symbian PR2(Portrait KB, Browser, Swype, Overlay KB, 50+ Improvements) - Q1
Symbian PR3(Big S^4 Update, Qt UI) - Q2/Q3
MeeGo/Harmattan - Q2
Android 2.4 Honeycomb - February
Android 3.0 Icecream - May, Google I/O
iOS5 - June

Hardware
LG Optimus 2X
Motorola Droid T2
Motorola Olympus (AT&T) / Motorola Etna (Verizon)

Nokia N8-00 32GB - February
Nokia N9-00 - Q2
Nokia N9-01
Nokia N8-01

Samsung I9100 Galaxy S2 - February
Samsung I9200 ?????? ??

HTC EVO 2/HD
HTC Nexus Two - Snapdragon 1.2GHz Dual Core, 1GB RAM, High res screen

Apple iPhone 4G/5 - June

General Specs
HD 1080p Encode/Decode, HDMI output
32-64GB
768-1GB RAM
Wi-Fi b/g/n
BT3.0
Click to expand...

2011, looking really, really exciting with much more updates, devices and deliveries of software and hardware than 2010.

If you know something that should be added, please post it and I'll update.
 
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I expect a flood of 4G phones being released.

Also, the benefits of 4G over 3G will be aggressively promoted to us. Lending our friends some of our mobile phone bandwidth will be the new craze lol.
 
the qualcomm snapdragon processors are Cortex-A9 as well. There are no Cortex-A8 processors that are dual core.

Please add Motorola Olympus (AT&T) and Motorola Etna (Verizon) as well. The Motorola T2 is the Olympus/Etna.

roadmap.jpg
 
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I would love to see 4G implemented on a larger scale next year as well. As it is, I have to drive about 40 minutes to get to anywhere that has 4G on ANY carriers. But it wouldn't stop me from making sure my future devices were 4G compliant. My rural farm community I am from got 3G 2 or 3 YEARS before several of the nearby municipalities. No doubt AT&T was seizing the opportunity to sign people up for tethering plans, since Dial Up and arguably worse Sattelite internet are the only alternatives. Until I moved to one of said municipalities, I was using an AirCard as my primary ISP. I'm not kidding guys, this one gas station (that was 20 minutes from my house) and nothing else town, where I was a mile from any other house, on 40 acres, my neighbor farming 500 acres, I got 3 megs down 1 meg up and a full 3G signal 2 years before the nearby town I did my shopping in (and was right off of the interstate) got it.

So there is hope for me :)

-John
 
Androids get major horsepower upgrades and there is STILL no software written to exploit it or make much use of it.

Apple phones get minor tweaks and the crowd goes wild!
 
QuarterSwede said:
I'm betting battery life will be considerably worse than on 3G though.
Click to expand...

Oh good point, but it could also go the other way. I don't know much about 4G as it isn't relevant to me at this point, but it could be MORE efficient, and use LESS energy, just as much as it could follow suit with the jump from 2G to 3G using MORE energy!
 
No one is mentioning...

tiered pricing for wireless. With net neutrality dead for wireless tiers for service is almost certain to start showing up. All the posts are focusing on hardware issues and such, but the elephant in the corner is no net neutrality.
 
old-wiz said:
tiered pricing for wireless. With net neutrality dead for wireless tiers for service is almost certain to start showing up. All the posts are focusing on hardware issues and such, but the elephant in the corner is no net neutrality.
Click to expand...

There's no need for a lack of net neutrality to have tiers - I wouldn't tie those together at the hip. I know of several operators that have been toying with the idea of tiers for a long time, it's just that the competitive landscape wouldn't let them get away with it.

Once a major operator goes to tiers, they all will.

Again, not a net neutrality issue.

But yes, I agree the lack of NN for wireless could be an issue. The operators are coming from the (technically correct) standpoint that they have a very scarce resource in wireless, so they should be able to protect that. OK, with that I agree, but the devil's in the details.
 
smithrh said:
There's no need for a lack of net neutrality to have tiers - I wouldn't tie those together at the hip. I know of several operators that have been toying with the idea of tiers for a long time, it's just that the competitive landscape wouldn't let them get away with it.

Once a major operator goes to tiers, they all will.

Again, not a net neutrality issue.

But yes, I agree the lack of NN for wireless could be an issue. The operators are coming from the (technically correct) standpoint that they have a very scarce resource in wireless, so they should be able to protect that. OK, with that I agree, but the devil's in the details.
Click to expand...

Speaking of scarce resource, I was out "people watching" at the malls and stuff in St.Louis (Didn't have anything to do, my Christmas shopping is done, I was window shopping) on the Saturday before Christmas. It was CROWDED, of course, and my 3G with FULL bars was pulling in a whole 200-300kbps, lol. All day, it was TERRIBLE until I got farther from St.Louis and it started to pick up speed. I've never seen anything like that before, it's like the network was FLOODED with 3G users. I would like to see THAT in 2011, as the companies start upgrading their networks, being able to handle peak times better would be nice
 
I'm hoping NFC is going to be a big feature in phones next year, hopefully in the iPhone too if some of the rumours are to be believed. The new Nexus S has NFC built in. It would open up all kinds of possibilities for mobile payments etc. I'd love for my phone to replace my wallet.

A link for those who aren't too familiar with NFC: http://www.androidng.com/android-nfc-device
 
Random predictions:
- Android fragmentation starts to take its toll (witness Samsung's recent problems trying to upgrade to FroYo). Users defect to iOS or WP7.
- RIM continues to decline. Playbook is a flop.
- 4G iPhone 5
- phone core processing internals become increasingly irrelevant. Look at what can be done with an A4 in the iPhone 4 (e.g., Infinity Blade). For the common user, the hardware exceeds what 90% of the software requires. How much power does Angry Birds really need?
 
Alot of you are predicting a 4G iPhone. Considering it will PROBABLY be ready by June which means it's PROBABLY mostly finished right now, AND AT&T doesn't yet HAVE 4g... and the smoking Gun, being the first gen iPhone only having 2G (EDGE), capabilities. What makes us think realistically, that Apple would suddenly go from being the very-last-phone-smart-or-otherwise-to-have-3G, to jumping AHEAD of the curve and being one of the first on AT&T to offer it?

I don't think we will see 4G on the iPhone until 2012, my humble opinion anyway.
 
el-John-o said:
Alot of you are predicting a 4G iPhone. Considering it will PROBABLY be ready by June which means it's PROBABLY mostly finished right now, AND AT&T doesn't yet HAVE 4g... and the smoking Gun, being the first gen iPhone only having 2G (EDGE), capabilities. What makes us think realistically, that Apple would suddenly go from being the very-last-phone-smart-or-otherwise-to-have-3G, to jumping AHEAD of the curve and being one of the first on AT&T to offer it?

I don't think we will see 4G on the iPhone until 2012, my humble opinion anyway.
Click to expand...

To compete with other top tier handsets that may have it in 2011. I wouldn't think that because the original iPhone didn't have 3G even though it was available at the time means that the ip5 won't have it is set in stone. 1 time isn't even enough to make any kind of pattern. There could have been a lot of reasons the original iPhone didn't have it. There was no real smart phone competition when the original iPhone came out, apple pretty much re defined what we think of as smart phones, so they may not have needed to " up the ante" any. Now it's about to be 2011, and competition is a lot more fierce, and apple is going to need to at least be on par with other smart phone manufactures. Also, if the verizon iPhone rumors are true, I doubt Steve would have his iPhone only be able to run 3G when the network supports 4g and other android handsets are able to run it. How would that look for apple?
 
el-John-o said:
Alot of you are predicting a 4G iPhone. Considering it will PROBABLY be ready by June which means it's PROBABLY mostly finished right now, AND AT&T doesn't yet HAVE 4g... and the smoking Gun, being the first gen iPhone only having 2G (EDGE), capabilities.
Click to expand...

I don't think we should compare 2007 Apple to 2010 Apple. In 2007, Apple was new to the mobile industry. They now have a much larger, experienced engineering staff.
 
Jollins said:
I don't think we should compare 2007 Apple to 2010 Apple. In 2007, Apple was new to the mobile industry. They now have a much larger, experienced engineering staff.
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Good point (and the comment above as well.) Still, it has always been Apples "style" to be slow to adopt CERTAIN technologies, and very very fast to adopt others. For example, 802.11n they have made standard across the board (and have for some time), and they are in a rare group of mobile devices that support the standard, not the only ones, but one of just a few. On the other hand, of course, the original iPhone lacked 3G radios, the iPod not supporting FM radio even when it became an "industry standard". (And like 4G, it seems senseless NOT to include it. But Apple always has it's reasons.)

I am still worried that Apple will find SOME reason not to implement 4G. Whether it's because it adds cost to benefit a currently small group, or whatever. Personally, I'm still doubting it. For one, the reason they don't use OLED screens (I've heard) is simply the lack of availability, they simply make too much iJunk and if they used OLED, they wouldn't be able to produce them fast enough. Could the same be true of 4G radios? (Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't broadcom make the 3G/WiFi/Bluetooth radio on the iPhone?)

-John
 
Either way would be ok with me. 4g would be sweet, but I would trade 4g for more 3G coverage nationwide. 3G is pleanty fast, and rather have that nationwide as opposed to a few cities that have 4g. It seems like att is trying to make some really big strides with thier network, and I hope it all comes together in 2011, or at least a lot of it. I was reading they have been over hauling the network, and they hope to have most of it done in mid 2012 if iirc.
 
I foresee thousands of people telling other people that their phone of choice is stupid. Also, "should i wait for the iPhone 6?" threads. Heard it here first
 
Rooftop voter said:
Either way would be ok with me. 4g would be sweet, but I would trade 4g for more 3G coverage nationwide. 3G is pleanty fast, and rather have that nationwide as opposed to a few cities that have 4g. It seems like att is trying to make some really big strides with thier network, and I hope it all comes together in 2011, or at least a lot of it. I was reading they have been over hauling the network, and they hope to have most of it done in mid 2012 if iirc.
Click to expand...

Same here, instead of upgrading existing 3G towers to 4G, I'd rather see the 2G (EDGE) towers go 3G, and the current 3G towers gain whatever it takes for them to be consistently fast. ATT also seems to have bandwidth issues. If I'm in a major populated area (like St.Louis) I get 500k down and 500k up, in contrast to my rural home town with 5 megs down and 1 meg up, same full 3G signal! But it also comes down to competition, and they need 4G to stay competitive.
 
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