The year in smartphones: Apple breaks records, Samsung surprises and Nokia bets on Windows Phone
A tale of revamps, upgrades and partnerships
Smartphones have been the biggest success story of 2011 in the tech world, and have all but rendered the feature phone market dead in Western Europe and the US.
Apple and Samsung continued to dominate the market, and HTC had a very successful year and became more valuable than Nokia.
The first half of 2011 was taken up with talk of Apple's plans for the market. However, there were some very competent Android devices, and 2011 also marked the first birthday of Microsoft's Windows Phone platform, which got a whole host of upgrades.
Nokia ditches Intel for Microsoft
Despite being the market leader for a decade, Nokia visibly struggled in the smartphone market as it haemorrhaged market share. The firm ditched the Symbian ^3 operating system after handsets like the Nokia N8 met with a lukewarm reception.
Nokia made a dramatic U-turn after signing a deal with Intel to develop the MeeGo operating system, announcing in February that it would instead use Microsoft's Windows Phone. Many analysts saw this as a positive move, as the market was flooded with Android and iOS devices and retailers were crying out for another option, which Nokia would provide.
Nokia tried valiantly to get its first Windows Phone device to market as quickly as possible, and the Lumia 800 arrived in mid-November, a month behind the iPhone 4S. It was a competent smartphone, but sales are rumoured to have been tepid, and it will be the middle of next year before we really see whether the partnership with Microsoft has been successful.
Microsoft updates Windows Phone
The long awaited Windows Phone 7.5 Mango update was finally rolled out almost a year after Microsoft debuted the platform.
Among the 500-odd new features were some gems including the ability to view threaded messages, create groups and, of course, multi-task. Microsoft also improved the Live Tiles, and enhanced the internet experience by adding the IE9 browser and HTML5 support.
The year in smartphones: Apple breaks records, Samsung surprises and Nokia bets on Windows Phone
A tale of revamps, upgrades and partnerships
Samsung Galaxy S II flies off the shelves Samsung had a bumper year in terms of sales, overtaking Apple to become the top smartphone vendor. Despite being subjected to lawsuits from Apple, the Galaxy S II was the star performer for Samsung, shifting millions of units and establishing itself as the main alternative to the iPhone.
The Android device packed impressive specifications, including a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 8-megapixel camera and a brilliant 4.3in Super Amoled screen.
Samsung has gone on record as saying that it expects to have sold over 300 million mobiles by the end of 2011, and the Galaxy S II is likely to make up a good chunk of this.
IPhone 4S breaks records
Everybody was expecting Apple to make major updates to the iPhone, but there was a collective groan of disappointment on Twitter, even from some Apple fans, when new chief executive Tim Cook took to the stage to unveil the iPhone 4S instead of the iPhone 5.
Despite incorporating an A5 processor, which essentially doubled the speed of the device over its predecessor, adding an 8-megapixel HD camera, upgrading the operating system to iOS 5 and including a personal voice recognition assistant in the form of Siri, some people wanted more.
However, despite the lukewarm reception from critics, Apple sold four million iPhone 4S handsets in three days, breaking its own records and showing that the smartphone is a bona fide hit with customers.
Even the subsequent battery problems have not stopped the iPhone 4S being one of the most widely sought after pieces of kit in 2011. It appears that Apple can do no wrong for now, and it will be interesting to see what improvements the firm makes in 2012.
The year in smartphones: Apple breaks records, Samsung surprises and Nokia bets on Windows Phone
A tale of revamps, upgrades and partnerships
Ice Cream Sandwich unifies Android
Google continued to tinker with the Android operating system, debuting Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.
Android 4.0 is generally seen as a mashup between the Gingerbread and Honeycomb operating systems, and was a complete revamp of Android designed to counter the launch of Apple's iOS 5. Google changed a lot of features, including the font, and added face recognition software and the ability to share content via near-field communications (NFC).
ICS is designed to work across smartphones and tablets, and will reduce the fragmentation between Android devices which has been the biggest criticism of the platform.
2012 and beyond
Google/Motorola
Google made a shock $12.5bn swoop for Motorola's smartphone and tablet division in August, and it seems that patent acquisitions was the main reason behind the purchase.
Google has said that Motorola will be run as an independent unit to keep other partners happy, although it remains to be seen how impartial Google will be during 2012. Analysts are predicting that the Google/Motorola deal may play into Microsoft's hands as vendors increasingly look to use Windows Phone.
3D and NFC to take off?
It's safe to say that 2011 was not the year of the 3D smartphone or NFC. HTC and LG were the pick of the major manufacturers that tried their luck with 3D handsets, but the LG Optimus 3D and HTC Evo 3D failed to attract buyers.
It is likely that companies such as Samsung will join the 3D party in 2012, but we think the technology in phones will remain a niche area - unless Apple decides to enter the market.
Similarly, NFC has been included in many high-end Android devices, but the infrastructure is simply not yet in place in the UK to make use of it. Apple left out NFC in the iPhone 4S, despite rumours suggesting that it was seriously considering implementing the technology. We expect 2012 to be the year of NFC, however, as the infrastructure is developed to support the technology.