In all honesty I don't think the German interest in the Pacific will be immediately that great. The Germans only island-hopped because they felt like they had to catch up, so to speak, and most of those colonies didn't exist until the 1890s. I don't even think they were very profitable.
Germany might have a better shot at grabbing more habitable land in Africa rather than swathes of the Kalahari (in Namibia, that is). Maybe they'll be able to push further inland near the Okavango Delta (in Botswana). But really, if the same arguments exist as iOTL, then surely the same issues will exist in that the German government, not the Kaiser, isn't too keen on colonising.
All in all, I can see the Germans grabbing what was iOTL French Congo and ignoring Cameroon completely. By the time the Scramble kicks off when colonial rivalries peak in the late 1880s, the Germans might have better leverage in the Congo region, for instance they might control the mouth of the river.
Edit: As for comments based on 'earlier nationhood means earlier colonialism', I'd have to argue that this statement is false. German would have to spend a few years consolidating its rule and stability as a nation if it unified in 1848. By this time most of the best parts of Asia are taken (India, the Dutch have firmly snagged Indonesia in their sphere). The most in the Far East I can think of for Germany is that perhaps, if they unify in 1848, they may have greater involvement in the intervention wars in China (Boxer Rebellion, Opium Wars, etc.) and much earlier relations with Korea and Japan.