2011 has almost come to an end, and we’ve already seen some great Android apps come out this year. But 2012, which is just around the corner and it looks like it will be another eventful year for Android. Now that the latest OS version, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), has hit the market, several device makers are expected to release ICS handsets for a ready consumer market. LG is the latest to reveal its plans around ICS, kicking into high hear during the second quarter of next year. Among the first phones to get the upgrade are the Optimus 2X, which made waves as the world’s first dual-core smartphone earlier this year, and the Optimus LTE. Others in the Optimus lineup, including the 3D, Black and Big, will also receive the ICS update by Q3 of next year.
Android’s competition in the mobile and tablet market, Apple has had a long head start in mobile apps over it’s new archival Google. However, new data shows that the number of Android apps has grown 127 percent since August and offerings in Google’s Android Market should outnumber the total for iPhone apps by mid-2012.
2012 has some great apps in store for the open-source mobile platform.
Instagram: Instagram, which started as a photo-sharing application, has quickly become an internet sensation. In case you haven’t heard about it yet, the app allows users to take photos, apply filters, and then share those photos on popular social-networking sites. Even though Instagram is available only on iOS, it has more than ten million users worldwide. So, there is very little doubt that there’s a huge chunk of Android users eagerly waiting for the day Instagram arrives in the Marketplace.
Keeping in mind the huge demand for Instagram on Android, the startup has already started working on an Android app. According to the company’s CEO, Kevin Systrom, has confirmed that the team is already working on an Android app.
VLC Media Player for Android: VLC is perhaps the most popular open-source media application around. Its simplicity, and the sheer number of powerful features it comes packed with, have made it the best cross-platform media player around. Come 2012, the VLC team will be bringing the same experience to your Android phone. Even though not much is known about the in-progress app yet, one can expect it to top the Marketplace charts soon after its release. The VLC brand name already has a huge amount of following, making it one of the most awaited apps of 2012.
Firefox 10: Firefox’s mobile version will also get an update next year. Slated for an early 2012 release, Firefox 10 will come out with a slew of interesting features. One of the major updates in this release will be the addition of support for the recently killed Adobe Flash Player. Also, the update adds some essential security features like an antimalware/phishing frontend and a safebrowsing frontend.
On the performance front, expect a faster and smoother Firefox, as the release will include support for hardware acceleration using OpenGL ES. Overall, Firefox 10 brings an important set of features – except for the annoying Flash of course – that might finally give the open-source browser a much needed boost on this platform.
Libreoffice: LibreOffice, a community-driven fork of OpenOffice.org that was founded last year, is gaining considerable momentum. The developers behind LibreOffice have revealed plans to deliver mobile ports of the office suite. Android versions of LibreOffice are under development and are expected to arrive late in 2012 or early in 2013. The initial porting effort will focus on the tablet form factor, but phone versions could be developed later. The mobile ports are based on the efforts of Tor Lillqvist.
