(My content first appeared on Virgin Mobile’s blog, and internal newsletter; republished with permission).

 

The world of mobile phones is one we’re all very much embroiled in and, if you think about it, we’re all a bit tech savvier than most. Don’t you reckon? Saying that, it’s taken a donkey’s age to get the iPhone on our lovely Virgin network… for reasons only we will know. I think.

Without further ado, here are the phones due to be released this year (and don’t forget – there’s some new handsets on our own network including the Moto G from Motorola, the underrated ‘hello Moto’ brand making a solid comeback with it’s single-state phone with up to 16GB of storage and fixed battery).

What Are The Most Hotly Awaited Mobile Phone Models in 2014?

1. Samsung Galaxy S5

Man, this is a kick in the teeth to S4 owners. Or is it? With the Android 4.4 KitKat update available to the S4 this year, it won’t be much different. The screen size will stay the same as Samsung don’t want to encroach on the Galaxy Note’s unique selling point. However, experts are claiming that Samsung will provide the world’s first 4k handset – that’s Ultra HD to you and me – with diamond shaped pixels to make pictures even sharper and closer to 3D than ever before.

2. Sony Xperia Z2

Good old reliable Sony. With high build quality since its Sony Ericsson days, we’d expect a lot from the Japanese Goliath of tech manufacture. The Z2 will be another mini-tablet style phone like the Z and the Z1. Weirdly, the inner specs won’t be much different, except for 1GB more of internal storage. The product’s launch is codenamed ‘Sirius’, and we think it could be one to compete in Nokia territory, with rumours of Ultra HD video camera capability.

4. Nokia Lumia 929/”Icon”

For people tired of Android and iOS and wanting to support the mobile underdog, this new Nokia phone comes with a whopping great big 20 megapixel camera – as good as some of the mid-range professional cameras on the market. But we’re still hoping for a Windows 9 launch date, more apps and better MMS support. If you can take awesome pictures, you kind of want to send them, too.

5. HTC M8

Virgin doesn’t have HTC handsets on its catalogue at the moment… but with the HTC One proving a huge hit in the UK and the US, the HTC M8 might change our buyers’ minds. The HTC One Mini got banned in the UK by a High Court Judge last year for infringing on Nokia’s patents – then he let slip there’ll be another flagship in 2014. D’oh! Cat, bag… out…HTC are notoriously secretive about their builds – and their ‘HTC One 2’, alongside the popular Beats Audio software and a rumoured fingerprint scanner, is expected to be a world cheaper than the iPhone 5s and 5c with its comparable performance.

6. Unsubstantiated rumour about the iPhone 6

Tech geeks and leaks blogging online have been drooling over the possibilities of the new iPhone, which is rumoured to be released as early as July this year – which, at least I think (there’s that bum of an opinion again), would be too soon.

Apple are said to be working on ‘wraparound glass’ and the first curved or glass-sided iPhone with its slimmest depth ever, following the likes of LG and Samsung with their ‘palm friendly’ carved handsets the LG Flex and the Galaxy Round.

Will Apple include a retina scanner lock feature as rumoured too? Let’s wait and see.