Galaxy 4 Debuts with Youm, Yotaphone and Polytron in Hot Pursuit

Galaxy 4 Debuts with Youm, Yotaphone and Polytron Preparing for Top Phone Status

by Rob Taylor

Samsung, the most publicized of the new breed of Android phones, has recently released their Galaxy S4 smartphone. But, much like the position Samsung was in before achieving number one status with the Galaxy line, there are already some impressive phones ready to emerge from the creative pipeline. Here we compare three competing smartphones that may rapidly gain favor when introduced.

The Galaxy S4 smartphone is an updated version of last year's S3. At a lavish launch parties across the country, the company demonstrated the new features, including how users will be able to control the phone with their eyes – an impressive new feature that will allow users to pause a video by looking away from the screen, or to scroll through emails without using their hands. But while these new features may be novel additions, how do they compare with the competition? Here are three alternative smartphones that are may finish first..



1) SAMSUNG YOUM

From Samsung themselves, the Youm is Samsung’s codename for a next-generation smartphone, which boasts a paper-thin, bendable screen. This pliable, near-unbreakable OLED screen isn’t just a gimmick, either: Samsung has showed how it could lead to exciting new features. For instance, the screen could wrap around the device, with the user's incoming texts or emails scrolling along the side of the phone. And, of course, a bendy screen would mean that phones no longer have to conform to the flat rectangular design that we’ve come to expect. Samsung is yet to reveal a price or release date for the Youm, but this is one gadget we would love to try.



2) YOTAPHONE

The YotaPhone is a revolutionary concept. On one side is a standard smartphone colour screen, but flip it over and – hey presto! – you have an electronic paper display as found on ebook readers like the Amazon Kindle.

Not only will this make it easier to read ebooks on your smartphone and see the screen in the sun, but using the e-ink screen to read texts and emails could dramatically increase battery life. And with a 4.3-inch screen, dual-core 1.5GHz processor, 12-megapixel camera and up to 64GB memory, it’ll be more than a match for existing Android smartphones.

Experts are predicting big things for the YotaPhone (www.yotaphone.com), tipping it as the first true post-iPhone handset, so expect to hear a lot more when it’s released later this year.

3) THE TRANSPARENT SMARTPHONE


Taiwanese company Polytron Technologies is developing an amazing completely transparent smartphone. The phone features the company’s ‘Switchable Glass’ technology, which uses electric currents to align liquid crystal molecules within the device. The result is text and images that appear to float inside the phone.

Polytron Technologies says that the final product will have touchscreens on both the front and back, as well as hidden microphones and speakers. What’s more, the company is also reportedly working on a transparent tablet! See demo videos at www.polytron.com.tw/ and see a demo video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tkhWXspmiYE