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Today marks the beginning of a brand new year! You’re either overly aware of that fact thanks to a hangover, or it doesn’t really matter to you. One thing we can agree on is that 2014 was an awesome year for Android. New devices, new product categories, and many new apps and games. But what about 2015? The writers at Phandroid share some predictions for the coming year.
Joe Fedewa: Android Wear goes high-end
Android Wear was announced and launched in 2014. We saw some great devices from the usual suspects (Samsung, LG, Motorola), but there are still a few partners who have yet to participate. Most notably is Fossil. They were announced as a partner back in March, but we haven’t heard a peep since.
I predict that in 2015 we will see Android Wear devices from some high-end watch-makers. Fossil is an obvious choice for these watches, but I’ll take it a step further and say another company will jump on board as well. The launch of the Apple Watch will force watch-makers to take smartwatches seriously. Android Wear will be waiting for them.
Kevin Krause: Samsung Gear VR leads the consumer virtual reality revolution
The Gear VR was one of the most pleasant surprises to arrive in 2014, offering an unexpectedly rich virtual reality experience in an inexpensive package thanks to a combination of existing smartphone hardware and cutting edge VR technology from Oculus Rift. In 2015, expect more refinement with the Oculus Mobile platform and potential partnerships with other Android makers.
Samsung will release a refined version of the Gear VR for the masses while other manufacturers will jump on the bandwagon. Might Sony figure out a way to incorporate Xperia-powered VR into their PlayStation? Will we see a Nexus VR by the end of the year? Look for VR to be the next big thing in the new year.
Chris Chavez: Return of the low-cost Nexus
2014 was arguably the best year yet for Android. Tons of great handsets and although every device has its share of shortcomings (gotta keep people upgrading), I think Android has finally matured to a place where just about all flagships from their respective manufacturers are finally worthy of taking on — and beating — the iPhone in terms of hardware performance and software features.
Looking ahead to 2015, I’d have to say I’m most excited about Project ARA. Just the prospect of fully customizing a device according to your wants/needs gets my all goose pimply. Want a DROID Turbo, but find a 1440p display overkill? Downgrade that display to 1080p. Don’t care much about taking nice photos with your phone? Get a cheaper 5MP camera module instead. The possibilities are almost endless and I think Project Ara could be the thing that fills Android with wonder and excitement again. That, or it will crash and burn in a blaze of glory.
As for my prediction, I really think we’ll see the return of a low-cost, reasonably sized Nexus device. While the Nexus 6 was a great followup to the Nexus 5, I think it’s safe to say this was more of an Android Silver device than anything. With Android Silver out-of-the-way, OEMs can once again get back to building a low-cost smartphone with Google handling the software side of things. Now that they’ve finally got all their bases covered in terms of screen size, Google will launch a followup to the Nexus 5 with a newer Nexus 5 (2015) model complete with smaller bezels, bigger battery, faster processor, and more internal storage.
Quentyn Kennemer: The line between Android and Chrome gets blurry
Many have worked to shoehorn Android onto things where it doesn’t quite fit yet, and I think Google is ready to make the lives of those folks easier. I predict that they’ll bring Android full circle in 2015 and finally make it suitable as an operating system worthy of replacing something as robust as Linux or Windows. Google has already shown flashes of going that route with their “Android on Chrome” development introduced in the middle of last year.
Will Android become a full-blown operating system for use without any other underlying platform? Will it eventually be spun into Chrome for the two to become one in the same? Not likely. But the lines are definitely being blurred for some eventual serious mingling between the two worlds at some point in the near future.
Derek Ross: An eye on India
Throughout 2015 we’ll continue to see Google, Motorola, Xiaomi, Oppo, Micromax, and other companies battle over connecting the next billion consumers in the world’s fastest growing smartphone market, which is India. By fall 2014, only 29% of nearly a billion mobile users were using smartphones in India, making the country poised for exponential growth in the coming year.
Google, with Android One, and other Android handset manufacturers are all gunning for their piece of the Indian market, offering low-end hardware coupled with extremely wallet-friendly pricing. While it’s too early to tell which tech company will come out ahead in 2015, when we’re talking a billion users, there’s room for a variety of consumer options. Thankfully Android gives consumers these choices, allowing us to be together, but not be the same. Here’s to watching Android’s market dominance continue to grow in 2015 thanks to emerging markets such as India.
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Those are our predictions, but what about you? What do you think will happen with Android in 2015? We can only hope it’s half as exciting as 2014. Happy New Year!
Each year devices blow my mind with specs xD
Happy New Year Everyone !
Well the exciting part for me is we can have the power of a full Laptop Computer and Camera in our Pocket !
Almost – looks like Flagships are going to 5.5″ screens mostly-and with a Case- can’t fit in a pocket.
So Manufacturers-don’t completely bypass 4.7″ to 5.0 ” Screen Flagships.
Got a bad hangover….but still gotta check my Phandroid….Happy Years y’all thank you for your work!!!
Happy New Year!
My name is Durin and I approve this hungover comment.
Good list. Here’s another one:
Google begins a major push toward tying all the separate home automation devices and apps (Nest, WeMo, Zigbee, Z-Wave, Sonos, etc.) together via a multi-antenna router and either a first-party app, or via a direct tie-in to Google Now/Voice commands/location-aware actions — i.e. turn off my lights when I leave my house; turn them on when I arrive.
This is so, so overdue. I am still sitting out on home automation for the most part because it’s so fragmented right now. It’s time.
Yep. Google bought Revolv earlier in 2014, and shut down their operations immediately…
Something’s brewing: http://www.techtimes.com/articles/18750/20141026/google-nest-buys-smart-home-automation-startup-revolv-only-to-stop-selling-its-products-heres-why.htm
Not to put a damper on the good mood, but Fossil is hardly high end.
The companies blocking their watch faces from getting ripped on Wear are the ones that are high end. I do wonder if we’ll have a true sapphire crystal smart watch made by the swiss, doubtful.
The one I’m really hoping for is Citizen. If they could put Eco-Drive in a Wear device…
EDIT: Before anyone jumps on me, I know it’s unlikely that Eco-Drive could power a Wear device continuously. But it could certainly slow the drain enough to get a very solid day out of current batteries, or slim up the watches with a smaller battery.
That would be phenomenal. They’ve dipped their toes on GPS, pilot watches, and semi smart watches that give notifications.
Depends who you’re comparing them with. Fossil is not “high-end” in the typical watch world, but for smartwatches they would be.
My prediction: htc one (m9)(hima) or whatever lol, amazing build quality even better looks than the m8 , bigger battery much better camera, SD 810,Lollipop, will be the phone to beat in 2015
@ChrisChavez Since you think there may be a low cost Nexus, if Google decides to release one, do you think that’s their way of admitting the high price range didn’t work? Your thoughts…
They won’t be able to know if it worked or not until they actually have spare stock just laying about…. which so far, they’re far from having. Which means there’s no telling yet.
More manufacturers will stick to pure or near pure Android experience.
Material design will have a huge impact on overall consistency of the OS.
We’ll see new wearable form factors with high focus on sport and health.
2015 might finally be the year we see progress in battery tech.
Fossil….High end? Ok…..
more pure android.
Samsung to concentrate on making hardware work with software
nexus is not a high end brand and needs to re pitch at cost effective devices.
continue the great work guys
I can’t wait for Android/Chrome to be one in the same, it would make things a lot more convenient for users. It’s also one of the main reasons I know many people who would like to switch to Android do not because with Apple it’s all seamlessly together for the most part.
I don’t get this. They come from completely different mindsets. Chrome is about a Web OS rarely being disconnected with applications run from the cloud. Android is a full OS with applications installed and run locally. There’s no merge here. One would have to replace the other.
While that may be the case, both OS are synced through Google’s servers and as such should be able to better rely information between each other, I’m referring to how apps like gmail and Hangouts sync between multiple devices in a smart and intuitive manner. Google is making steps towards this. The OSs are similar enough to make a seamless experience possible as long as one is connected to Google’s cloud.
I think this year will be the launch of Android home to complete their portfolio
Google I0 2011, never forget.
The only place Fossil is high-end is at Walmart.
I’m waiting to see HTCs entry in the smart watch market. Fossil is not high end, its for human fossils. Lol.
I hope fossil does put a smartwatch! Love fossil watches had a couple of them!
I predict that there will be more phones announced with 64 bit processors.
While not directly Android related I’m hoping to see Google work on making the Play Store better. Needs a total web overhaul and ways to organize and filter. Also their selection of books, movies and TV is a bit pathetic… Definitely what I’d like most to see changes to in 2015.
I am looking forward to Android in car.
this is really cool..i liked Nexus 5 this is really a super phone
There have been Android devices always ahead of hardware performance and software features of Apple phones, but that all manufacturers are doing this now is telling (given that you only need one crappy make to let the Android side down). But which manufacturers were lagging? The use of Android has meant software features were provided to all manufacturers years before all Apple phones, so that leaves hardware performance. Apple is on par with Android flagships on CPU overall, but everywhere else (RAM, resolution etc) it lags (even compared to mid-range and even budget), though perhaps there are some Android makes out there with crappier flagships.
I hope we’ll see a Nexus 7 followup too.
“The launch of the Apple Watch will force watch-makers to take smartwatches seriously.” Oh will it now. Good that phapple.com is making predictions about what this unreleased product will do. If watch-makers ignore the leaders in the market, and only watch what one vaporware watch will do, they deserve to die.
I’ve been hearing the VR thing for 30 years. I don’t see it catching on this year either. I don’t think people really like having the thing on their head and messing with their peripheral vision.
Prediction for 2015. A clever iOS developer will create an app for the Apple Watch to graph masturbation efficiency. (Android users don’t need such an app.) The app will include social networking features to aggregate and share these vital statistics.
Prediction for 2016: Apple will ban the app.
Wishing for a full blown, android OS for PCs. I wish I didn’t have to deal with a separate OS in my life :/