Now that the Samsung Galaxy S III has officially been announced, it"s time to compile a list of smartphones and tablets that are coming out in May. Often it"s hard to keep up with all the releases in a month, and May could be a busy one so I hope this helps some people out who may be contemplating a smartphone purchase or upgrade in the next few weeks.
Windows Phone
April saw the launch of the hotly anticipated Nokia Luimia 900 on AT&T, along with the HTC Titan II and the Nokia Lumia 610 in select developing markets. While last month was great for Windows Phone buyers, there is only one upcoming release for May.
While the Lumia 900 has already launched on AT&T with LTE on-board, the GSM version should be coming to the UK on May 14th.
Yes, this is the AT&T version but the HSPA+ version should look essentially the same
Display: 4.3-inch ClearBlack AMOLED at 800 x 480
Camera: 8 megapixels with Carl Zeiss optics, dual-LED flash, 720p video capture; front-facing camera
Chipset: Snapdragon S2 (APQ8055): single-core Scorpion at 1.4 GHz; Adreno 205; 512MB of RAM
Storage: 16 GB on-board; no microSD slot
Connectivity: Tri-band HSPA+, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1
Software: Windows Phone 7.5
Size: 127.8 x 68.5 x 11.5 mm at 160 grams
No other devices have been announced in the Windows Phone space, and I wouldn"t expect that any more will be announced until close to the release of Windows Phone 8.
Android
April saw the launch of the HTC One series in Europe, and the United States should see the HTC One X (AT&T) shortly while the HTC One S (T-Mobile) is available now. For May though, there are still a number of devices that are set to launch.
Announced just yesterday, the Samsung Galaxy S III will be available in Europe starting May 30th. The United States version with LTE (and slightly different specs) will be coming in the summer.
Display: 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED at 1280 x 720
Camera: 8 megapixels with LED flash, 1080p video capture; 1.9 megapixel front-facing camera
Chipset: Samsung Exynos 4 Quad (Exynos 4412): quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 at 1.4 GHz; Mali-400 MP; 1 GB of RAM
Storage: 16, 32 or 64 GB on-board; microSD slot
Connectivity: Quad-band HSPA+, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n (dual-band), Bluetooth 4.0
Software: Android 4.0.4 with TouchWiz 4.0
Size: 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6 mm at 133 grams
Samsung really likes ridiculously long product names, and one (the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1) is should be available May 13th.
Display: 10.1-inch TFT LCD at 1280 x 800
Camera: 3 megapixels; VGA front-facing camera
Chipset: Unspecified 1 GHz dual-core chipset (probably Tegra 2); 1 GB of RAM
Storage: 16 or 32 GB on-board; microSD slot
Connectivity: Quad-band HSPA+, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0
Software: Android 4.0 with TouchWiz UX
Size: 256.6 x 175.3 x 9.7 mm at 588 grams
Originally I was told that the Xperia P would be launched right at the end of April. Unfortunately that didn"t happen and so it should be available sometime this month.
Display: 4.0-inch LED-backlit LCD at 960 x 540
Camera: 8 megapixels, autofocus, LED flash, 1080p video capture; front-facing camera
Chipset: ST-Ericsson NovaThor U8500: dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 at 1 GHz, Mali-400 MP, 1 GB of RAM
Storage: 16 GB on-board; no microSD slot
Connectivity: Quad-band HSPA, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, FM radio
Software: Android 2.3 with Timescape
Size: 122 x 59.5 x 10.5 mm at 120 grams
Like the Xperia P, I originally was told the Xperia U would be available at the end of April. Instead, expect it this month.
Display: 3.5-inch LED-backlit LCD at 854 x 480
Camera: 5 megapixels, autofocus, LED flash, 720p video capture; front-facing camera
Chipset: ST-Ericsson NovaThor U8500: dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 at 1 GHz, Mali-400 MP, 512 MB of RAM
Storage: 8 GB on-board; no microSD slot
Connectivity: Tri-band HSPA, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, FM radio
Software: Android 2.3 with Timescape
Size: 112 x 54 x 12 mm at 110 grams
This interesting device with a "floating-touch display" is already available in Hong Kong and is expected to be released in other regions this month along with the other devices in the NXT range above.
Display: 3.7-inch TFT LCD at 854 x 480
Camera: 5 megapixels with LED flash, 720p video capture
Chipset: ST-Ericsson NovaThor U8500: dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 at 1 GHz, Mali-400 MP, 512 MB of RAM
Storage: 8 GB on-board; microSD slot
Connectivity: Quad-band HSPA, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, FM radio
Software: Android 2.3 with Timescape
Size: 116 x 59 x 9.9 mm at 107 grams
Perhaps the most interesting of LG"s upcoming line-up is the LG Optimus 4X HD. While it doesn"t have an official release date as of now, it"s either expected to be available this month (most likely) or early-June
Display: 4.7-inch HD-IPS LCD at 1280 x 720
Camera: 8 megapixels with BSI sensor, LED flash and 1080p video capture; 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera
Chipset: NVIDIA Tegra 3: quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 at 1.5 GHz, Kal-El ULP GeForce, 1 GB of RAM
Storage: 16 GB on-board; microSD slot
Connectivity: Tri-band HSPA, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth
Software: Android 4.0 with LG skin
Size: 8.9mm thick (other dimensions unknown)
Other devices are slated for a "Q2 2012" release, but they are not expected to be released until June. This includes the Asus Transformer Pad Infinity 700 and Asus Padfone; the Huawei Ascend line and the Huawei MediaPad; and the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1.
Other
Nokia"s camera-centric 808 PureView running Nokia Belle is expected to be released in May - I"m hearing in the last week - although only in Europe as Nokia has shelved a North America and Australian launch.
Display: 4.0-inch ClearBlack AMOLED at 640 x 360
Camera: 41 megapixels with Carl Zeiss f/2.4 lens, Xenon flash and 1080p video capture; VGA front-facing camera
Chipset: 1.3 GHz ARM 11 processor; 512 MB of RAM
Storage: 16 GB on-board; microSD slot
Connectivity: Penta-band HSPA, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0
Software: Nokia Belle
Size: 123.9 x 60.2 x 13.9 mm at 169 grams