Top 5 key mobile trends for 2014

Joe Minihane channels his inner H G Wells to bring us the shape of tech to come.

With 2013 now consigned to history, we’ve taken the chance to dig out our crystal ball and peer in to see what the next 12 months hold for the world of mobile.
Will phones and tablets still look the same at the end of 2014? Mostly, yes. Will what they do change as the year goes on? Certainly.
Need specifics? Well, here we’ve picked out five key trends which we think will dominate in the next year. Read on and see if you agree with our choices.

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HTC One Two / M8: more specs leak online

Fuller picture emerging of HTC’s make-or-break smartphone.

More key specs for the successor to the HTC One have sneaked their way on to the internet, ahead of the handset’s anticipated emergence at Mobile World Congress (MWC).
According to a Tweet from rock-solid leaker @Evleaks, preliminary specs for the handset take in a mighty Snapdragon MSM8974 processor, as well as the five-inch screen that tech-site rumours have assured us will be on board since November.

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Samsung Galaxy Gear 2 to land at CES, hints official blog

Can they get it right this time, though?

Tech-site chatter that a sequel to the Galaxy Gear could land from Samsung at this month’s CES tech expo looks a bit more credible today, after the gadget-maker’s official blog dropped some heavy hints about its plans for the event.
In a heads-up post about CES to the Samsung faithful, the phone-maker initially alludes to the Galaxy Gear smartwatch’s arrival at IFA in Berlin late last year.

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Samsung Galaxy S5 metal build confirmed by Vice President?

VP gets loose-lipped at cocktail party.

Rumours that Samsung will opt for a premium metal build for the Galaxy S5 looked a smidgeon more nailed-on today, with the news that the company’s Vice President has been spilling the beans about its plans at what sounds like a boozy soiree.
A report in the Korean press claims that Dong-hoon Chang, Samsung’s Vice President and Head of Design Strategy, revealed (almost) all at a New Year’s Eve party at Seoul’s Shilla Hotel.

According to the site, Dong-hoon told the great and good assembled that the Galaxy S5 will indeed be made out of “new material”. That chimes with long-standing rumours that the next-gen Galaxy S smartphone will ditch the range’s plastic construction for a metal frame.

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Samsung backing wrong horse with flexible Galaxy phone, suggests survey

Punters won’t bend to whims of phone-maker, it seems.

Samsung may want to reconsider pinning its hopes on flexible phones or reserve the tech for devices other than its flagship handsets, after a study revealed strong levels of antipathy towards the nascent technology among punters.
After years of speculation, the handset-maker brought the first-ever curved screen smartphone to market earlier this year in the form of the Galaxy Round.

Samsung, which has shown off bendy smartphone prototypes at trade shows for some time now, is expected to make good on its tentative foray into the flexi-phone market by following up the Round with a bendable smartphone later this year.

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