Samsung, LG to jockey for android heavyweight title

On February 21 the two Korean heavyweights Samsung and LG put everything on the line at the Mobile World Congress.

Samsung's Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge smartphones will be released in Australia on April 10, 2015.

If you are an Android watcher then circle February 21 on your calendar. On that date at the ­Mobile World Congress the two Korean heavyweights Samsung and LG announce their 2016 flagship smartphones — the Samsung Galaxy S7 and the LG G5.

A host of new bendable and foldable phones to entice us are also likely to make an appearance, but the focus is going to be on the flagships.

Samsung comes to MWC with a disappointing balance sheet. The success of the S7, S7 Edge and any other variant is vital to its future in the premium smartphone market, but with a reported 12 per cent cut in shipments this year, and an increased emphasis on mid-range phones, it might invest more of its energy down-market.

Let’s not forget too that with the dollar below US70c, more Australians might buy mid-range phones, a market where Samsung needs to compete against Chinese manufacturers Huawei, OnePlus, Oppo and Xiaomi.

An avalanche of leaks gives us a fair idea of what to expect from the S7. The microSD card slot might be restored given that not being able to expand storage disappointed many S6 users. There’s another reason this might happen. Android Marshmallow has a feature called “adoptable storage” that can seamlessly increase the phone’s internal storage by integrating microSD card memory.

The S7 is likely to have a USB Type-C connector. Google included USB-C on the recent Nexus 5x and 6p. It’s becoming a common feature of Android. There are also suggestions that Samsung might introduce retina scanning for signing in. A pressure sensitive display might also be in the mix given Samsung’s stated ambition to implement its version of Apple’s 3D Touch.

The good money is on an S7 and S7 Edge with a 5.1-inch or 5.2-inch screen and a larger 5.7-inch S7 Edge + models, and a QuadHD rather than 4K display, with 64GB the standard for internal storage. The S7 might ship with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 ­processor or Samsung custom-built Exynos 8990 processor, and there are conflicting reports on whether the camera will have a new smaller-pixel sensor or a Sony sensor. The phone will run Android 6 Marshmallow.

So what would lure me to the S7? I like new features that add practicality. Of the ones listed, a retina scanner for signing in, and expanded storage through a ­microSD card sound good. Buying USB Type-C connectors will annoy many, but it brings faster charging with a claim of 0 to 100 per cent in 30 minutes — we’ll wait and see. There’s been talk of Samsung implementing its ­version of Apple Live Photos, but it’s a take-it-or-leave-it proposition for me. I have never lost sleep over still photos not moving.

There are also reports of Samsung launching its Project Valley foldable display smartphone at MWC. If it does it will be the talk of the town, but Australia is not among a leaked list of countries where apparently it will be trialled.

Meanwhile, LG is prepping its G5 and with Samsung feeling the pinch, 2016 is an opportunity for it to recapture lost ground.

Rumours are that the G5 will opt for a metal chassis rather than last year’s leather finish. The main display is likely to be about 5.3 inches with a QuadHD display. The G5 is believed to have a second display, a ticker across the top of the phone that operates even when the main display is black.

LG will no doubt persist with its power button/fingerprint ­sensor on the back; its placement has been a trend setter with ­Google introducing its Imprint sensor on the back of the Nexus 5p and 6x last year. LG also had its volume keys on the back; they might move to the side.

Again there’s talk of a biometric scanner, here an iris scanner, and of the G5 having two camera lenses on the back that will allow for 135-degree wide angle shots. There are also reports of a “magic slot”, an ability of selected pieces of hardware to automatically pair with the phone. A 360-degree camera is believed to be one of them. Like the S7 the G5 may have a Snapdragon 820 processor. But unlike it, the G5 may have a removable battery — maybe it’s my pipe dream but I’d prefer to swap in a battery than have a super thin phone you can’t recharge out and about.

Where Samsung intends to fold screens, LG might again be tempted to flex them, and maybe fold them too. That’s if it introduces a G Flex 3 upgrade to last year’s Flex 2. The Flex range is known for its bendable screen and “self-healing back”. But as I found out last year, scratch too hard and there’s no self-healing. If it makes an appearance, the Flex 3 is tipped to have very potent specs such as a 6-inch screen, a big 20MP camera and 8-core processor.

There will be other handsets as well. HTC might follow up last year’s HTC One M9 with an M10 but it’s believed it will be announced in Taiwan in March and not at WMC. If Sony is a creature of habit, it will announce an ­Xperia Z6 tablet to match the Z5 Xperia handsets it released.