2013: The Year of The Android?

          This year’s generation of Android phones show a lot of promise, but the big challenge now for phone manufacturers is to produce the true jaw-dropper that deviates from the classic candy-bar design. It may not happen in 2013, but it’s safe to say that Android phones are hitting their stride and even more great design is on the horizon.

         While the bulk of the CES 2013 announcements were mainly focused on bigger and better Ultra HD televisions, we believe that full-HD smartphones will be the next big thing.

Face it, not everyone can afford a US$20,000 television set, but it's likely most people will be able to get a full-HD smartphone after operator subsidies.

           These new full-HD, quad-core processor-equipped handsets are all but superphones in name, and it's not hard to see why. Who would have figured that since Apple shook up the market with a 412MHz single-core processor and HVGA (480 x 320 pixels) iPhone, newer smartphones these days are able to hit clock speeds of 2GHz or more and have resolutions comparable to the HDTVs while still being able to fit in the pocket of your jeans.

          There's no doubt in our minds that while 2012 was a great year for smartphones especially with the wide variety of Android devices, 2013 will be the year where these handsets finally shine. The Android platform happens to be the hotbed of innovations so far, but Windows Phone devices such as the Nokia Lumia 920 and the HTC Windows Phone 8X both impressed in their own way.

            Meanwhile, Apple seems to be stuck in a rut with its latest iPhone 5--the handset got marginally larger while packing almost the same battery capacity, which meant that users looking for something different would almost certainly be looking towards Android manufacturers such as Samsung, HTC or Sony.

So what defines an Android superphone? 

          A superphone should have the best hardware specifications in the form of a large capacity battery, a 5 to 6 inch full-HD display, quad-core processor and possibly a high-megapixel BSI camera. We're undecided on the last part, as we've yet to be impressed by these sensors. However, Sony's Xperia Z may change that--early samples from our hands-on with prototype sets reveal a camera that's definitely much sharper and better than previous Xperia handsets.

            What seems to be missing from Android smartphones are cameras comparable with Nokia's Lumia 920 PureView technology. There doesn't seem to be a lot of talk about this--Sony, however, has included its Z with HDR video recording capabilities, though Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) technology similar to Nokia's has yet to be introduced in Android handsets.

            But are these specs overkill? Do we really need a 5-inch 1080p display in our pocket? Perhaps not. The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 was considered huge at 5.5-inches. With most of the new smartphones approaching 5-inch as a standard, the Galaxy Note 2 may become irrelevant in the future--perhaps Samsung will merge its features (such as the stylus) into its Galaxy S4 handset, or as rumors suggest, increase the Note 3's display to 6 inches or more.

             Another thing to note is that while it sounds great on paper, a 1080p display isn't going to make much of a difference compared with the 720p HD screens of current handsets. Your eyes most likely 

              won't be able to discern the pixels on these displays especially on smaller screens. Furthermore, 1080p content takes more processing power to render, while also taking up a lot of the limited storage space on the handset.

             Then there's the quad-core processor. The big news at CES was the launch of Nvidia's Tegra 4and Qualcomm's Snapdragon 600 and 800 processors and Samsung's octa-core Exynos 5, your superphone is likely to be powered by one of these chips in the near future. Benchmarks will be needed to determine which chipset delivers the best performance and battery life, which will likely be done once handsets get released. Our bet is on Qualcomm's solutions for now (given the impressive quad-core S4), but Nvidia may yet surprise.

                  A superphone should also not be easily damaged, and Corning's Gorillas Glass 3 should have that covered. Sony's smartphones come water- and dust-resistant, but there's always Liquipel to protect your handset from accidental immersion. Liquipel ought to become the de facto standard in any smartphone, and we can but wish. A cool but gimmicky foldable screen phone from Samsung also made an appearance at CES, but we doubt that it will be in smartphones until there's really a good reason (and lower costs) for doing so. Superphones will also like work with your TV through NFC, something iOS lacks.

                While there are some downsides, the idea of an Android superphone with such specs are no longer a dream. They are real, but are they an automatic buy then?

To buy or not to buy?

                Last year's quad-core 720p handsets were all the rage, and with quad-core likely the pinnacle of what you'll see in smartphones for a while (Samsung's Exynos 5 octa-cores won't likely hit the market on devices until later this year), it's definitely a no brainer to grab one of these superphones when they debut.

               Of course, if being an early adopter is something you rather avoid, then it may be a good plan to hold back to see what other options become available. With RIM finally launching its BB 10 OS handsets at the end of the month, specs may not be what you need as the operating system could be the battleground when it comes to the hearts (and wallets) of consumers.

               Microsoft is likely to introduce an update to its Windows Phone OS in the later half of the year, though we don't think this will affect the market share of Android superphones. Android will continue to dominate the landscape unless Apple radically changes its iOS design with features that make Android handsets look obsolete.

Our dream superphone, for now

               While everyone has their own versions of what they would want in a smartphone, here are what we would love to see in our handsets. Of course, bear in mind that some of these ideas could be a little far-fetched and will likely make a smartphone a little too thick (compared with the lithe handsets of today). Feel free to share your version of the dream superphone in our comments, of course.