5 upcoming Android phones that are worth waiting for:

 

Samsung Galaxy S6

Samsung didn’t see the kind of response it wanted from the Galaxy S5. In fact, some reports claim its sales were 40% below expectations. The Korean company knows it needs to win back the fickle consumer, and that should make for a very interesting Galaxy S6 announcement at MWC 2015 in a few weeks.

There have been a few leaks of supposed specs for this device, but the most plausible relate to a Samsung device with the model number SM-G925F. According to benchmarks for this device, the Galaxy S6 will have Android 5.0, a 2560×1440 AMOLED screen (possibly 5.1-inches again), a 64-bit octa-core Exynos ARM chip, 3GB of RAM, 20MP camera, and 32GB of storage. There has been speculation that the Exynos will stand in for the Snapdragon 810, which would usually be used in the US.

Samsung is rumored to be stripping out a number of its own Samsung apps and services to slim down the TouchWiz Android ROM is uses on the Galaxy S6. Instead of some junk you’ll never use, the Galaxy S6 will ship with some included Microsoft apps that you actually might use. I suppose that’s still bloatware of a sort, but at least it’s useful bloat.

The true test of Samsung’s resolve will come in the build quality, which was one of the knocks on the Galaxy S5. It’s not that it was a fragile phone, but the fully plastic frame didn’t feel very premium. The Galaxy Alpha and Note 4 have provided a hint of where Samsung is going, but it needs to get there fast. The speculative render above comes from designer Martin Hajek.

HTC One M9:

A lot of details on the upcoming HTC One refresh have percolated to the surface in recent weeks, including a believable render of the device in two different flavors. There will be a device of around 5-5.2-inches that is the replacement for the HTC One M8, and a larger device that will either be One branded or could be grouped into the Desire family. The smaller one is what everyone will be clamoring for, so let’s see what we know.

The M9 will be recognizable as an HTC phone, but it looks to be more of a hybrid of the M7 and M8 approach to unibody metal design. The device will lose some of the extra bezel that made the M98 so tall and the edges are a little more angular. On the back will allegedly be a single 20MP camera instead of a Duo Camera setup, which never really caught on anyway.

HTC will probably be sticking with a 1080p LCD instead of going to 1440p. The reason for this is simply that LCD technology is still struggling with the problem of brightness vs. power usage at higher than 1080p resolution on phones. The M9 should, however, get awesome battery life thanks to the continuing use of 1080p. Internally, the M9 has been rumored to pack an octa-core Snapdragon 810 processor, 3GB of RAM, and 32GB of storage. HTC has only recently returned to profitability, so this is a crucial phone.

 

LG G4:

LG has been on a roll the last few years after being a mediocre Android OEM. The 2014 G3 flagship was a fantastic phone that started the trend of putting 1440p screens on phones. LG also managed to make a phone out of plastic with a removable back that doesn’t feel cheap. That certainly puts them one step ahead of Samsung in the design department. In a few months, LG is expected to unveil the G4, but it won’t be going up against the Galaxy S6 directly.

In order to make the biggest impact possible, LG probably won’t announce the G4 until April. The rumors on specs are still quite sketchy, but it’s a safe bet that LG will stick with the rear-mounted buttons and laser auto-focus camera. Both those features worked well in the G3. The screen might be slimmed down from 5.5 to 5.3-inches, but there’s also a rumor that the screen resolution is going up to 2880 x 1620 resolution. That sounds crazy to me and I’d be surprised if it happened.

Inside we’ll probably be treated to 3GB of RAM and a Snapdragon 810, just like the newly released G Flex 2. Everything else is anyone’s guess.

Google Project Ara:

Yes, Project Ara seemed like an elaborate joke when it was first announced. Was it April 1st? No? Huh. The Ara modular phone was inherited by Google when it took over Motorola’s ATAP group before selling the rest of the company off to Lenovo, and it’s not hard to see why it held onto this division. Ara is one of those moonshot things Google loves so much, but Google has been talking about Ara becoming a real product in early 2015.I don’t know about that, but it’s almost certainly making an appearance at Google I/O 2015 in May.

The core of Ara will have a screen attached to a frame which accommodates a variety of hardware modules for RAM, storage, batteries, cameras, and more. Even wacky niche stuff like projectors could be attached. You will be able to build the phone you want, and upgrade it as new modules come out. To make this work, Google is developing a special branch of Android 5.0 that will support hot-swapping most of these components.

Project Ara will come in several sizes, including small form factors that could cost as little as $15 (before modules). This could be the next big thing.

OnePlus Two:

The CyanogenMod-powered OnePlus One was a good phone. It had solid hardware and excellent software without all the carrier and OEM bloat. It’s still not easy to buy one, but OnePlus is working on a new version that will (hopefully) not be in such short supply. OnePlus reps have said the sequel is happening, and it’s currently targeted for Q2-Q3 next year. That’s about a year after the first one came out, so no surprise there.

The CyanogenMod deal is probably coming to an end after a nasty fallout in India, but OnePlus is building its own ROM called OxygenOS. This ROM will be based on stock Android 5.0, but it’s not going to be a community project like CyanogenMod (Cyanogen OS when it comes from Cyanogen Inc.) OnePlus’ ROM team has indicated this will be a closed operation more akin to Samsung’s TouchWiz or HTC Sense. This will either be the salvation of OnePlus or the beginning of the end.

The OnePlus Two (or whatever they call it, and I hope not that) will probably keep a similar body configuration and bump the specs slightly. It’s likely going to include a Snapdragon 810, 3-4GB of RAM, and a 5.5-inch screen. Sources are split on whether OnePlus will stick with 1080p or move to 1440p. I’d bet on the latter. One thing we can say, OnePlus will probably continue pushing low prices.