Expected new trends at Mobile World Congress 2012

The world's largest exhibition for the mobile industry is around the corner, with all the promised goodies for the year of 2012. However, before greedily delving into the products, we should remember that it is the crucial trend of our thriving electronic realm, which would set the standards for the year (or even years) to come. So, without wasting anymore of precious time, let us gleefully check out the innovative, advanced and new conventions expected from this year's iteration of Mobile World Congress.

Expected new trends at Mobile World Congress 2012

Quad-Core Tegra 3 Phones:

We have been harping about the quad core Tegra 3 processor for quite sometime now. Unfortunately, CES 2012 gravely disappointed us in this regard, when it came to quad core smartphones. But now, with at least two big companies: LG and HTC proclaiming their desire to get hold of this next generation, robust chip set from Nvidia (in the form of LG X3 and One X respectively), we think we are on for a 'high-end processing' ride in this year's MWC. And, as for tablets, we already have witnessed the exalted Transformer Prime.

Augmented Reality Applications:

Augmented Reality entails the view of a physical, real-world environment whose components are 'enhanced' by computer generated elements ranging from graphics, video to GPS. In relation to this, there have been some innovative applications (some were showcased at CES) that insinuated haptics and tactile feedback. Following along this trend, we do hope to see more of such special interactive systems, which would improve upon the core physical essence of user-machine interaction.

Intel’s Medfield platform:

Intel touts Medfield as the ultimate stable package when it comes to high-end mobile device oriented processing. Comprising of the SoC, radio, camera, SGX540 GPU and other assorted components, the Medfield comes in various model numbers, each with different clocked speed. Till now, we have not seen much of Intel's darling, except for Lenovo's smartphone K800 and tablet IdeaTab K2110. However, in this year's MWC, we could have the opportunity to see the 'big guns' showcasing their Medfield powered devices.

4G LTE Phones

With the LTE technology fast becoming the dominant force in wireless infrastructure, many of our celebrated mobile hand sets are bound to take the super fast internet connectivity route sooner than later. As a matter of fact, the majority of the devices to be showcased in this year's MWC (like the Optimus Vu) should be 4G enabled.

Abundance of Pen based devices:

It was in last year's MWC that we came across the stylus armed HTC Flyer, the very first Android tablet with a pen. Since then, we have come across other similar contraptions, with Samsung's Galaxy Note phablet being the latest. And now, things are about to come to full circle with LG Optimus Vu and possibly Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet making their splash in 2012 MWC.

Windows 8 running Tablets:

Forget the Lumia; now, we want to see the Windows working its magic on bigger screens like tablets. Of course, it has to be Windows 8, and it has to do with all those colorful live tiles ingrained on a vivacious Metro interface. In this respect, we did hear rumors about electronic giants like Samsung, Nokia and HP all trying their best to come up with Windows 8 tablet systems. The only question remains: will Window 8 tablet consumers be satisfied with the ARM version OS being non-compatible with older apps of Windows 7?

HTC Sense 4.0 User Interface:

Among all the manufacturer modified UIs, HTC's Sense has been perhaps criticized the most, especially because of its battery intensive nature. So, it's high time they developed a newer and more efficient version. In this regard, we have witnessed a few of those sneak peeks, where the new Sense 4.0 will make some changes. These include a homescreen that functions in landscape mode, a lockscreen with more accessible notifications, an improved browser with reader and page saving modes and a built-in Dropbox support.

High resolution HD Screens:

Without any doubt, this is going to be one of those mobile device 'races' for the years to come. Apple's iPad 3 is supposed to flaunt a newer Retina Display equivalent to a whopping 2048 x 1536 pixel resolution. In fact, the Galaxy Nexus screen already sports a well-to-do 1280 by 720 pixels. So, in allusion to this progressive convention, even Android devices can make their mark in this year's MWC, with at least 920 x 1200 or higher screen resolutions.