Mobile Phone Blog:

The January report for the Android version market share is out revealing Gingerbread the most popular while Ice Cream Sandwich is holding on to 1% of the Android market.

Android Gingerbread takes the lead with 58.6% of the market share and an increase of 3.1% compared to its previous month.

The second most popular is Froyo which has slipped down by 2.6% to 27.8% likely to most of handsets promised an upgrade, have now got it.

Éclair, the third most popular, has fallen by 0.9% and is now 7.6%. And Honeycomb the version for just tablet pcs has increased by only 0.1% taking its share to 3.4%.

Ice Cream Sandwich is the latest version and has seen a 0.4% increase and has now 0.7% of the market share. ICS is only available on very few phones at the moment such as the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

Reports suggest that Samsung may be postponing the launch of the highly anticipated Samsung Galaxy S3 until the second quarter of 2012 in an attempt to allow consumer demand for the iPhone 4S to subside.

It has been widely anticipated that the Korean giant would unveil its new flagship device at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) next month, which would be in keeping with the last two years which saw the release of the Galaxy S and the Galaxy S2 respectively.

But according to supply chain sources, a number of companies, such as Samsung, could be planning on holding back their new handsets to avoid a head-to-head battle with the iPhone 4S… still going strong after being released late last year.

A report claims that the group, which allegedly includes HTC, Nokia and LG, could postpone their phones until the second quarter of 2012, raising the prospect that the S3 won’t show until early April at the earliest.

So all you Android fans out there will just have to hold on a little bit longer… however I can imagine the reward will be well worth it!

According to recent reports, Samsung is to unveil a new addition to its Galaxy Tab range of Android tablets at MWC next month.

A German technology has revealed that the as-yet unnamed tablet will pack an 11.6 inch screen that makes it the largest Android slate to date.

Another change to the Samsung norm is stylus support (as sported by the HTC Flyer) and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box.

The new tablet will also pack a 2GHz dual-core Core Exynos 5250 processor.

Reports are in and it looks like the Amazon Kindle Fire has taken the lead with suggestions that the device sold no less than 6 million units in Q4 2011! This is certainly going some considering that the tablet isn’t even available globally yet!

With each US Kindle Fire sold for $199.99, an alleged $10 loss is made on each tablet, however this is said to average out to a $10 profit following the purchase of add-ons, such as apps and eBooks.

Set to be released in the UK in January 2012 (a date which we can safely kiss goodbye to for now!) the Kindle Fire is set to bring in an estimated $67.2 billion in 2012!

Samsung celebrates an extremely successful 2011 as it breaks it’s own record!

The Korean manufacturer has broken its previous record with a total of $4.7bn profit for the last quarter of last year.

According to a recent report, the sale of the Galaxy range of smartphones which have really made Samsung’s year. The report by analysts estimates that Samsung shifted 36.5 million phones between October and December of last year.

But which phones are the hero earners? Well, obviously the hugely successful Samsung Galaxy SII is a clear winner and, with versions subsequently being released in White, and also Pink, it looks set to continue its supreme reign of popularity.

The phone/tablet hybrid, Samsung Galaxy Note, was another best-seller for the company.

Nokia has published its annual interim report for 2011 and it reveals that the Finnish giant is losing out across the board.

Nokia’s operating profits are down a massive €1.4 billion, with Q4 seeing a 56% loss compared to the same quarter in 2010.

There are big losses in all of Nokia’s sectors year on year, with a 13% drop in mobile phone sales and a 27% drop in the amount of smart devices sold.

One positive point is that Nokia has reported sales of its Lumia devices, such as the Nokia Lumia 800 and the Lumia 710, now total more than 1 million units.

However Nokia intends to appear at the forthcoming Mobile World Congress event, in what will be its first appearance in three years… could this mean that things are finally on the up?

New rumours suggest the next Samsung Galaxy flagship smartphone will be out on shelves come April.

Russian blogger Eldar Murtzain, who has got a reputation for his rather accurate predictions, has said the Samsung Galaxy S III will be announced at next month’s MWC and on sale in April.

Murtzain thinks the phone will feature a HD screen (larger than its predecessor), a 12 megapixel camera and a Quad-Core CPU at either 1.5 to 1.6GHz as well as operating on Android Ice Cream Sandwich.

The Samsung Galaxy S III will need to have some great specs if it’s to follow from the Galaxy S II which was launched a year ago in April and remains to be one of the best-selling handsets.

Leaked images and specs of the rumoured LG X3 is spreading fast online, which is no surprise as the handset is set to pack a quad-core processor.

It has being a while since the Korean manufacturer has bought out a flagship device, the last being the Optimus 2X. However the LG 3X sound like it will be a mighty piece of kit and hopefully will be worth the wait.

Rumoured to show off a 4.7 inch screen with a high resolution of 1280 by 720 pixels as well featuring a rear eight megapixels and 1.3 megapixel cameras plus running on the latest Android Ice Cream Sandwich the handset is likely to make a big splash at next months MWC.

Thorsten Heins has replaced as Mike Lazaridis and James Balsillie as RIM’s new CEO.

Mike and Balsillie have stepped down from their joint co-CEO positions but remain on the board as vice chairman and director of the board with Barbara Stymiest as the new chairwoman of the company.

Thorsten Heins seemed about the company’s success and said the previous CEO’s took the company to “total new heights” and if the company continues to do well he hopes to make it to top three in the industry.  Heins also said he was very excited about the new BlackBerry 10 platform which should be out by the end of the year.

A leaked image of what is said to be of the rumoured Sony Ericsson ST25i Kumquat surfaced over the weekend.

The image resembles the recently announced Sony Xperia S which showcased at this year’s CES. However the Sony Ericsson ST25i Kumquat won’t have as high end specs as the Xperia S but instead will feature a 1GHz dual-core CPU, a five megapixel camera and a 3.5 inch FWVGA resolution display.

The handset is likely to be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress next month and probably under the Sony branding rather than Sony Ericsson.