Top 5 upcoming smartphones to look forward to

The launch of new smartphones is a never ending cycle and at times it can be really hard to keep up with the ton of variants and models released in quick succession by a single manufacturer. 2012 so far has been a great year for smartphones, especially Android phones as ICS has really changed the game for Google and have taken their mobile OS one notch higher and closer (or perhaps level) to Apple’s iOS. While there are plenty of phones on the horizon, we’ve narrowed down five of the favourite picks that we feel are worth waiting for.

Apple iPhone 5
No phone wish list is complete without Apple’s iPhone and this year, we hope to see a completely revamped iPhone unlike last year’s 4S. As of now, all the information we have is purely speculative but if it were to be true, then we may see Apple break away from the 3.5-inch screen for a larger one. The phone needn’t be bigger as the current iPhone has quite a thick bezel all round so even if they just shave it off like Samsung did, they can fit a larger screen in the same form factor. There’s also talk about the phone having a quad-core Exynos SoC from Samsung, although Apple will put their branding like A6 or something. We may also see Apple return to a metallic chassis for the iPhone 5 instead of the glass back.

Will it really change the game?

This is a rough estimate of what the iPhone 5 could look like in terms of specs:

• 4-inch capacity touchscreen display with a 1280 x 720 pixel resolution (364ppi)
• LTE, 3G, EDGE/GPRS, NFC and Wi-Fi capabilities for net access
• GPS, GLONASS with A-GPS support for Maps
• Bluetooth with A2DP and proprietary dock connector
• 8MP BSI camera sensor with LED flash and secondary camera up front for FaceTime
• 16/32/64GB internal

Sony Xperia Mint LT30
The Mint will be Sony’s next flagship offering after the Xperia S. Based on what we know about it so far, it could very well be a renamed Xperia GX, that Sony released for the Japanese market back in May 2012. The GX features a curved arc-like design and from the looks of it, doesn’t have any physical buttons. It will also sport a 13MP camera so photography will the USP of the Mint. Besides being slim and light weight, it will also have the usual set of smartphone goodies like NFC, Wi-Fi, powerful SoC , 1080p recording, etc.

Their next flagship

Here are some of the specifications of the Xperi Mint that we know of so far:   

• 4.6-inch capacity touchscreen display with a 1280 x 720 pixel resolution
• 3G, EDGE/GPRS and Wi-Fi capabilities for net access
• GPS with A-GPS support for Google Maps
• Bluetooth with A2DP and USB 2.0 (Micro)
• 13MP camera with LED flash and secondary camera up front
• FM radio
• 16 or 32GB internal memory, expandable via microSD card slot