The International Consumer Electronics Show is underway in Las Vegas and offers the perfect introduction to the hottest handsets of 2012. The latest handset from Sony, The Sony Xperia S has stunned audiences with its powerful specifications. After dropping the Ericsson tag from their brand name, the Xperia S boasts a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor with 1 GB RAM; supercharged hardware that will help the Android 2.3 device operate smoothly upon it’s dazzling 4.3 inch display. Sony representatives have confirmed the device will be upgradable to Android Ice Cream Sandwich in the near future.

This increased power is perfect for gamers. In addition to the Android Market, users will be excited for exclusive privileges as the PlayStation Certified smartphone will host a whole library of classic PS1 games.
The camera specifications are also dazzling. Boasting a 12 megapixel rear facing camera with LED flash, capable of 1080p video record, the Sony Xperia S will take great photography. For your video calls, the front facing 720p video camera is perfect for keeping in touch.

With so much to offer within the Sony Xperia S, we just can’t wait for the expected March UK release date. We predict this will easily be one of the top 5 handsets of 2012.

Amazon report their latest tablet, the Kindle Fire, has sold “millions” of units since its American launch on 15th November. Such high opening sales figures could be attributed to “Black Friday” (The final payday before Christmas) where customers purchased four times as many Kindle devices than in 2010. The 7 inch, Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS tablet appears to be a firm favourite with audiences due to its access to rich downloadable content and obscenely low price tag of $199. To put it in perspective, the price of a Kindle Fire is more than half the price of an iPad 2!

Data from HIS iSuppli suggests the Kindle Fire tablet is sold at a loss of $2 per unit. As Amazon are intent to make their profit through the sales of digital media and features such as Amazon Plus, it sounds a great strategy in order to take on the big giants within the tablet industry.  Amazon already own a positive reputation thanks to their popular e-reader, the Amazon Kindle. It’s therefore no surprise that the Kindle Fire has opened with such a warm reception.

A UK release date is yet to be confirmed. Considering Amazon generate income through the additional features such as movie streaming and the Cloud storage, it’s likely that these operations need to be established in the UK before we can look forward to the latest Amazon tablet. With such a market leading price, reputable brand name and huge revenue potential, a UK release of the Kindle Fire should be burning bright at the top of Amazon’s priority list!

Nokia have announced that the Nokia N9 will be released in Australia in October and will also land in Mexico shortly after.  The Nokia N9 will be running the MeeGo operating system, shunning Nokia’s most common OS – Symbian.

The Nokia N9 has raised quite a lot of excitement in the smartphone arena, with its huge 3.9 inch high AMOLED resolution touchscreen, 1GHZ processor, huge 1GB of ram, up to 64GB internal memory (dependant on model), powerful graphics card and MeeGo OS.  The N9 also boasts Dolby Mobile sound enhancement, an 8 megapixel camera, HD video and NFC support.

One of the confirmed distributors for the Nokia N9, Telstra, had this to say about the Nokia N9:-

“It’s fast, simple to navigate and features a beautiful design that sets the N9 apart in a crowded smarpthone market.”

While Vodaphone, another future dealer of the Nokia N9 added:-

“The Nokia N9 is where form meets function- this is a sleek, stylish and highly intuitive smartphone, offering customers a device that looks as good as it feels”

There is no word when, or even if the Nokia is heading to the UK yet but if it performs and is received well in both Australia and Mexico, considering Nokia’s dismal sales records of late, it would be extremely likely to be available over here very soon.  Watch this space!

So a simplified version of the PC evolution goes a bit like this :-

Desktop computer -> Laptop -> Notebook -> Netbook -> ?

So what come’s next? Microsoft and Apple are currently in competition adding final touches to the development of two new Tablet PC’s.  These micro PC’s are fully touch sensitive, with the capacity for multi touch, stylus use and more.

So with releases on both tablets possible penned for 2010, excitement is building over who will reign supreme.  Lets take a look at what’s getting Microsoft and Apple fanboys excitement about these two concepts.

Microsoft Courier Tablet

• Dual 7-inch touch screens.
• Unique hinge design with ability to ‘store’ files and images within the hinge today
• Built in rear camera
• Multi-touch gesture interface and interactivity
• Wi-Fi

Apple

• 9.6 inch touchscreen
• HSDPA high speed 3G browsing
• Wi-Fi
• Powerful processor
• Long lasting battery
• Multi touch gesture interface

So with confirmed features placing them so closely, it’s hard to see who will take the top spot.  Apple clearly seem to have the market favour, with the iPhone still continuing its stellar reign of success, backed up by the recent release of the iPhone 3G.  Neither models have a confirmed release date but both are strongly rumoured for 2010.  Watch this space, Onestopphoneshop might start to sell them…

In today’s economy businesses have to be one step ahead of the game, they have to have all their specified areas covered off and monitored very closely. Globally, 50 networks have picked up netbooks to broaden product portfolios.

More than 50 mobile operators globally are selling netbooks, including us hear at Onestopphoneshop. This vast interest in selling netbooks has only been over a period of 18 months ago and yet they are picking up a large amount of sales.  This huge interest in netbooks has forced many computer manufacturers to lower their costs, in order to make their businesses profitable.

These slim-line computers have sold over 13.5 million in the first half of 2009, with networks taking up more HP netbooks than any other brand. Canalys is an independent technology focused analyst group who have claimed, only netbooks are experiencing growth this year!

We want things to be more compact and portable, things are getting smaller, you have the Playstation3 that shrunk to the Playstation3 slim, you have mobile phones that can do more than ever but are also smaller than ever and now laptops that have been shrunk to netbooks.

Canalys research analyst Tim Coulling said: “Our latest research reveals that, in August, across Europe, the four PC vendors with the most telco deals were Samsung, Asus, HP and Acer.

“The real surprise has been how quickly the Korean vendors have moved to leverage their mobile phone businesses, selling netbooks to telcos – LG’s netbooks have become prominent in the major countries too.

“Meanwhile, traditional notebook category leaders – including Lenovo, Fujitsu, Sony and Toshiba – have been slow to recognise how quickly the market is changing around them and as a group they have signed fewer than 10 operators.”

I’m sure more netbooks will come into the market this year, with a new style and at a lower price.