5 Smartphones to Look Out for in 2012, LG Android OS 4.0 Upgrades Will Begin Q2 2012 & Apple Kicks Off 12 Days of iTunes

5 Smartphones to Look Out for in 2012
While 2011 brought some truly amazing innovations to the mobile industry from 4G LTE, to dual-core processors to phones that measure in the millimeters in terms of width, 2012 is poised to trump it. Needless to say, these are exciting times. But what’s on that horizon? What phones should you already be thinking about?
Gotta Be Mobile

LG Android OS 4.0 Upgrades Will Begin Q2 2012 With LG Optimus LTE and Others
LG has announced the first set of smartphones that will be graced with some Android OS 4.0 love. On Facebook the company noted that starting in Q2 2012 the LG Optimus LTE, LG Optimus 2X, Prada phone by LG 3.0, the LG Optimus Sol, the LG my Touch Q and the LG Eclipse will be getting upgraded to Ice Cream Sandwich.
MobileSyrup

Apple Kicks Off 12 Days of iTunes, Offers a Dozen Freebies to Last into 2012
Cupertino’s annual download giveaway starts today and runs through January 6th. The free gifts kick off with some Coldplay tracks and videos from the band’s latest Apple-sponsored festival appearance.
Engadget

iPhone and iPad users account for 92% of mobile purchases, study finds
Users of Apple’s iPhone smartphones and its iPad line of tablets accounted for 92% of all mobile purchases made thus far in December, a recent study by eCommerce company RichRelevance found. That figure is up from April 2011 when a similar study conducted by the firm found that Apple’s iOS devices accounted for 88% of non-desktop online shopping.
BGR

Rogers Opens up Online Reservations for the Galaxy Nexus, Google Wallet Leaves Sensitive Data Unencrypted and Accessible & Apple and Google Dominate Smartphone Space

Rogers Opens up Online Reservations (again) for the Galaxy Nexus
Now that Bell and Virgin have launched the Nexus, Rogers has once again gone live with the online reservation system and those interested can drop down $40 to secure the OS 4.0 device.
MobileSyrup

Google Wallet Leaves Sensitive Data Unencrypted and Accessible, Says Security Firm
ViaForensics conducted a recent study on Google Wallet, discovering that while the electronic payment system does store credit card numbers securely, it can also leave personal information easily accessible.
The Verge

Apple and Google Dominate Smartphone Space While Others Scramble
Google’s Android platform and Apple’s iOS dominated the U.S. smartphone space in 2011 while a number of companies that helped shape the market as we know it were forced to reboot. Google’s Android platform represented 53% of the U.S. smartphone market through October in 2011 and Apple’s share grew to 29%.
BGR

Five Predictions for the Communications World in 2012
In the coming year, mobile internet devices and in particular smartphones will continue to bring the biggest changes to the way we communicate. For the first time, they will also change the way we do business.
Guardian

EyeEm App Picks Up The Pace As Startups Fight For The Photo Crown

Pretender to the Instagram throne, EyeEm, a camera and photo discovery app startup, has launched a big update across its Android and iOS apps and the supporting web platform. It’s now even even more about visual, location-based search and has also introduced more social features.

For the last couple of years one of the main battles around smartphone apps has been around photo apps. One of the main ones to beat in this reach has been Instagram which recently reached around 14 million users, but there’s a battle going on in Europe for users which is perhaps less known but equally as fierce.

One of the earlier players in Europe is Mobypicture out of Amsterdam which did the same as Instagram in sending images across other social networks. They’ve now hit 1.2m users (both via android, iPhone and simple twitter integration). Two other pretenders to the thrown are Lightbox, which is doubling down on Android and has had almost 5,000 installs via the Android marketplace.

Bringing up the rear but innovating fast is EyeEm out of Berlin. The new version has a new album feed that automatically shows photos of current nearby events, places and trending topics.

It’s also pulling in numbers: 134 countries, 35,000 unique locations and 15,000 user events, according to co-founder, Florian Meissner. The web platform now has new user profiles with personal avatars and status bubbles. Next up will be an API for 3rd party developers

EyeEm has an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Passion Capital and Pan-European Venture Capital fund Wellington Partners.

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EyeEm

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Lightbox

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Mobypicture

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