The Future Of Galaxy S

No, this is not a post in which I, behind some random leaks and illogical logic, claim that Samsung's Galaxy S series should or will be pronounced dead, and that its future is no more. No, I want to talk about the general direction the Galaxy S is headed IN the future, including the recently announced Infuse 4G and Verizon 4G LTE Phone.

Contrary to what you might have thought I meant (or at least according to the beginning of this article), I think that the Galaxy S line has a lot of potential, possibly as much potential as Verizon's Droid line. My whole argument here is about HOW that Samsung can make this possible.

The biggest question being placed on phone companies right now is to either go dual core (Motorola) or stay with already functional single-core technologies (RIM). It's a matter of time before the Android experience gets enriched enough to optimize both of those cores, so as for companies that don't like getting stuck in the dark, the move to dual core is a necessity.

There are two dual core chips that Samsung could utilize right now. The first is the In-House Samsung Orion CPUs, which would be the preffered choice in circumstance like these. However, Orion isn't as high on Samsung's list of things to produce (it's slated after Super AMOLED Plus, Flexible AMOLED, and all sorts of other technologies), and it's not quite ready yet.

The next option is the only one left, really. The new Nvidia Tegra2 chips have made their way into new Motorola and LG Dual-Core phones, and in practically every new Honeycomb (3.0) Android tablet. Samsung has placed orders for these tasty little treats, and so we can expect them in a new Galaxy Tab, Windows 7 tablets, and other goodies. Namely, a new Galaxy S phone.

What more can we expect out of the Galaxy S line? Well, first of all, Near Field Communication (NFCs) were one of the new features Gingerbread (2.3) brought into Android, and we should expect these chips in Samsung devices sometime soon.

As for displays, Samsung is the only producer of the coveted Super AMOLED display, and while that's already a big gap ahead of rival technologies (Apple Retina, Sony Ericsson Reality, LG Nova, Nokia ClearBlack), Samsung has made improvements in subpixels and contrast levels, and created its new Super AMOLED Plus displays. They can be seen on the brand new Infuse 4G and upcoming 4G LTE Smartphone (Verizon). One thing we notice right off the bat is that they can get to sizes bigger than the 4.0" Super AMOLED, namely, a 4.5" device. While I don't know if 4.5" will appeal to the market (I see the Infuse as more of an experiment), I'm pretty sure that we've come to accept 4.3" displays by now, especially if you're on Verizon or Sprint.

Software-wise, Android FroYo and Gingerbread are the key. The last line of Galaxy S devices all ran Eclair (2.1) and yes, there's a lot of upset Galaxy S phone owners who STILL haven't got that darned FroYo update yet. But as the two newest devices run FroYo, we can expect that as a minimum, and perhaps even Gingerbread in new Samsung devices starting after the FroYo update finishes rolling out.

As for the TouchWiz 3.0, we can probably expect some upgrades in the UI overlay. I point to the upcoming Bada update simply because it promises "Better UX and UI framework" which implies modifications to TouchWiz 3.0 (does that mean it's still 3.0 or 3.1?) and again, some minor changes there, most of the juice lies inside of the device.

So there you have several major aspects to future Galaxy S devices. Granted, it's just an outline, as there's a couple of points I skimmed over in forming my article, namely battery. As for speeds, I would say that's a matter of carrier (HSPA+ for T-Mobile/AT&T, WiMAX for Sprint, LTE for Verizon), and again, that's not really part of the bigger picture.

Now, devices, I know you're thinking devices. First of all, Galaxy S branding has made its way onto a lot of new Samsung high-end phones, or might I dare elaborate, every single one I've seen. The Continuum, the Infuse, the new Verizon one... all have Galaxy S branding. While Galaxy S may have started off as part of the Galaxy line, it's something new (now a Galaxy A/Q would be welcome as a different branding, simply because it's budget).

When we look at the major carriers, AT&T got their Galaxy S refresh, and so did Verizon (two actually). So what can we look forward to?

AT&T - The Infuse 4G, what more do you want? 4.5" of awesomeness? Oh I get it, it's too big (big TWSS there). In terms of other devices, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a budget Galaxy model.
Sprint - Since Sprint has the Epic, another keyboard-device is probably out of the question. What is probably in store is something that competes with the EVO, like perhaps a WiMAX version of that new Verizon phone. With a Sprint sticker of course.
T-Mobile - The Vibrant has hit its nitch market, and it's not the kind of people that buy sequels a month after they got the alst one (in other words, Joe Smoe not Mr. Cybernerd). So I'd expect perhaps a ticker-display (Continuum-esque) device, perhaps with more processing power and an improved Super AMOLED Plus display.
Verizon - A lot more LTE phones, more stuff like the new one, and possibly a dual core phone. Budget model of the Fascinate and something like the Epic aren't quite out of the question
Everyone Else - Heresay about Samsung getting a 4G LTE device on Cellular South's upcomign 4G network, and yeah, that Showcase finally being on sale. I don't know much about if there's anything left in U.S. Cellular because as far as what I've heard, the Mesmerize was not the hot thing there. The only other opportunity I think is MetroPCS, because their expansion into 4G LTE Smartphone space will encompass several high end phones. eventually.