Android is surging, with over a million phones being activated on a daily basis, we are looking at over 350 million devices every year. That certainly is a massive pace at which Google's Android platform is growing. Reaping the benefits of the OS popularity are companies like Samsung and HTC who have managed to backup Android with solid hardware for years now.

Samsung, the largest smartphone maker in the world is perhaps the strongest player in the Android ecosystem with a plethora of devices under its belt. Samsung's Galaxy S II is the most popular smartphone for Android users and with the recent launch of Galaxy SIII, Samsung is looking at a strong 2012. However, I have doubts on how well the Samsung Galaxy SIII would do in India.

The Galaxy SII and Galaxy Note sold in good numbers. The former started at a price range of Rs 30,000+ and quickly went down to 29,000 levels, while the former sold anywhere from Rs 32,000 to 33,000. Samsung Galaxy S3's Price In India is Rs 37,500. Thats a 20% premium over the opening price of the SII and over 10,000 more than the current price of its predecessor.

This equation might hurt Samsung. India is dominated by Android, however the prime reason for the same has been affordability. A Samsung Galaxy Y sells because people get it below Rs 8000. The moment one hits a price range of over Rs 35,000, the iPhone factor kicks in. The iPhone 4S might be expensive in India at over Rs 45,000, but the ones who can afford the SIII at today's price, can very well afford the 4S.

I don't mean to suggest that the iPhone factor alone kills the market for the S3. The SIII makes the SGS2 a much more lucrative offering at Rs 26,500 today. The S3 is expensive at its given price, HTC One X is somewhat cheaper and compares with the S3 and the iPhone isn't too far. Samsung should not expect the S3 to be a blockbuster like the S2, but with price cuts over time, things might well change.

The author is a technology enthusiast.

Nokia has committed itself to Windows phone and while the Microsoft partnership promises to bring a new life to now the dinosaur class smartphone market that Nokia is, the challenges are huge too. Windows Phone 7 is a year and a half old and it hasn't really set sales records, for either Microsoft or Nokia. The Tango update that was due to be out in early 2012, is not yet here and Microsoft is mum about the features of Apollo. At the same time popular apps and games continue to remain loyal to iOS and Android.

With the Nokia partnership, Microsoft needed volumes for Windows Phone and that's the only way to attract quality developers. At the same time, Nokia needs a mature OS to fight Android and iOS, which depends on releases by Microsoft. Given the challenges, one option that both Microsoft and Nokia have is to get a Windows phone 7 in as many hands as possible by lowering the cost. To an extent this has happened with the Lumia 800 and 710, both of which have seen a price drop. Onlygizmos is now reporting the imminent launch of Nokia Lumia 610 in India at a price point of Rs 11,000. 

Of course that remains a rumor, but if true, it certainly is a shot in the arm for Windows Phone platform and Nokia. Nokia stands to gain from good smartphone sales, akin to what Samsung got with the Galaxy Y and Ace, at the same time Microsoft gets a quality Windows phone device out in the market, this helps several prospects

a) Total shipment numbers: Android can tout a million device activations per day. A whole lot of these may not be used by actual smartphone users but it adds buzz to the Android ecosystem.

b) Developers Developers Developers: No of active users on a platform is an important metrics to get developers on board

c) Consumer get consumer: with more people using a soothing UI and quality Windows phone device, the consumer demand for windows phones should go up. A lot of people talk about getting an Android phone, purely on the basis of word of mouth that Google has managed. Microsoft would do well with some of that.

Rumors of a Nexus tablet backed by Google aren't new. It has been the trend with smartphones (or superphones as Google calls them). Now, people expect Google to do the same for tablets. In 2010, Google under the Nexus program worked with HTC to bring out the Google Nexus One phone, since then two more phones, Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus have been released with the help of their partner, Samsung. Delivering a stock Android experience, the Nexus phones have done their bit to make Android the most popular smartphone platform around us. However when we look at tablets, such dominance is far from Google's reach at the moment. 

Google needs a Nexus tablet and they need it now. While the rumors of Google's 7" Nexus tablet along with Asus coming out in June might be true, I am astonished to see that people expect Google to fight back into the tablet market with the Nexus tablet. Lets be clear, a Nexus device is never the most premium and best config out there. It isn't meant to sell in multi millions, but rather do a show of strength for the Android platform and give developers a pure Android experience with fastest rollout of software updates. And that's exactly what Android tablets need at the moment. iPad leads the tablet market with thousands of tablet customized apps available on the platform. That would be the first target for Google, getting quality tablet apps on the Play store. Once done, they can certainly work forward to get hardware champs like Samsung and HTC to get the mass adoption.

The point of worry is the fact that rumors point towards a $149 tablet with a 7" screen from Asus / Google. That would mean that Google wants to mass market an Android tablet like the Amazon Kindle Fire. This IMO is a distraction from what the Nexus initiative is meant for. Google should be looking at a 9-inch - 10.1-inch tablet and focus on getting quality apps, popular websites tablet compatible and add value for the Android ecosystem, not mass sell cheap 7" tablets. That said, lets hope Google does the right thing.

It's close to 2 years since Apple first introduced the Retina Display and as the smartphone market heats up, talks of Apple releasing an iPhone with a larger screen goes up. Even before the latest gen iPhone 4S was released, we are hearing rumors of a 4" iPhone with edge-to-edge display. So has Apple decided to increase the screen size of the iPhone after 5 successful years?

It can't be denied that the smartphone industry has evolved since 2007. Apple pushed the success mantra of full touchscreen devices and it is now the most popular choice in the industry. However, while Apple remained loyal to the 3.5" screen and changed the screen resolution only once in 2010, others have a variety of screen sizes on their smartphones, ranging from 2.8" to 5.3". 

Many consumers I know love the larger screen for videos and web browsing. And while one may doubt that Apple would simply go behind the competition and release a larger screen, it seems that even the consumers support a larger screen. So what would it be for Apple iPhone, a 4" display? 4.3 or 4.7? No matter what choice Apple makes, getting a larger display on the iPhone is tricky.

When Apple introduced the iPhone 4 in 2010, a couple of key changes were the increased  resolution of the display, which was branded as the Retina Display. At 326 ppi, the iPhone 4 display goes beyond the level where the naked human eye can differentiate between pixels on the screen. Thus giving a unique experience.

Since then, Apple has also got a retina display on the new iPad (3rd gen). The other key issue is the factor by which the resolution increases on iOS devices, it is always 4 times the no of existing pixels. Quadrupling the pixels allows old apps to work smoothly on the new device and that is a key factor for Apple whenever they release a new iPhone or iPad. The iPhone moved from 480X320 to 960x640 and the iPad moved from 1024x768 to 2048x1536.

Now that you know about the Retina Display, lets see what Apple can do with the iPhone 6 (6th gen).

Apple can either increase the display size to 4", 4.3" or 4.7". In each of these cases the 'Retina Display' threshold won't be reached if Apple maintains the 960x640 resolution. A 4" display at that resolution is 288 ppi, 4.3" is 268 ppi while a 4.7" is a 245 ppi. Now if Apple increases the display resolution to keep the Retina Display tag, going by the way iOS scales, the resolution would need to be bumped form 960x640 to 1920x1280. That's a HUGE jump.

For a 4" display to get a resolution of 1920x1280, the PPI would go up to over 575. Even with 4.7" it remains close to 500 PPI. Sourcing such high resolution displays in quantities exceeding tens of millions every quarter is difficult in 2012. Unless Apple's investment in display facilities and research has produced some breakthrough results, Apple can't increase the iPhone display size. Of course one may argue that Apple may consider dropping the Retina tag from the iPhone or increase the display resolution marginally, but knowing Apple, that isn't happening for sure.

The Author is an iPhone user since 2007. He is also a contributing editor at iPhoneHelp.