It’s a great time of year to start thinking about buying a new Smartphone, whether you’re thinking of upgrading with your current carrier or, putting a top it all and heading to T-Mobile. It’s that time of year where the big names are rolling out their flagship devices and everyone who upgraded at the end of last year, is sorely regretting it. We’ve got big devices from HTC and Samsung making an appearance in this list and while that’s not surprising, it should be noted that the Galaxy S IV and the HTC One aren’t available just yet but, they will be soon. As always, let us know what you think in the comments below, we love discussion here at Android Headlines and we love to hear from our readers. Let’s keeps things civilized though, pretty please?
Without further a do, let’s get this thing started:
10. Motorola Droid RAZR HD and RAZR MAXX HD
So, pairing these phones together might seem a little strange but, let’s face it, they are both the same smartphone – one just lasts a lot longer than the other one. If you’re a Big Red customer and you really enjoy their 4G coverage, than the Droid RAZR HD line is something to think about, while updates might be slow in getting to the handsets, they will be coming as Verizon don’t want to leave their flagship left behind too much. Sure, the specs might be showing their age a little by now but, they’re still very capable devices and if you need better battery life then the RAZR MAXX HD is your friend.
- Dual-core 1.4Ghz Snapdragon S4 Plus
- 4.7″ Super AMOLED Display 1280 x 720 – 312 ppi
- WiFi b/g/n
- 4G LTE on Verizon
- Bluetooth 4.0 with LE+EDR
- 16GB of Storage with room for microSD
- 1GB RAM
- 8MP rear-facing camera with 1.3MP front-facing
- 2530 mAh Battery – 3300 mAh on the MAXX HD
- Launched with Android 4.0 but, to be updated to 4.1 soon
09. HTC One X+
It really is unfortunate that the One X+ – or the One X for that matter – was made available only on AT&T as the flagship of last year’s One Series is a good-looking device and while its specs might not seem all that today, it’s still got plenty to offer. There’s no 1080p display here but, it’s a brilliant IPS panel that’s bright and extremely crisp, of course there are better things out there but for those on Ma Bell’s network, this could be snapped up for a decent-enough price.
- 1.7 GHz quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 CPU
- 4.7-inch SuperLCD2 display at 1280—720 giving you 312 ppi
- 1GB of RAM
- 64GB of storage no micro SD card slot
- Internal speaker with built-in amplifier
- 8.0MP rear camera with 1.6MP front-facing camera
- 4G LTE with AT&T
- Wifi, Bluetooth and NFC support
- 2100mAh battery
- Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS with HTC Sense 4+
08. LG Optimus G
The Optimus G was – and still is – a great device for LG, the first of which they managed to launch on more than just one major US carrier. As with LG smartphones though, questions are raised about updates the device is going to see in the future and for a lot of people, LG is more of a last resort. That shouldn’t be the case though, as LG have proven they can make decent smartphones and with the Optimus G Pro on the horizon, there’s more to see from LG this year.
- 4.7″1280 x 768 pixel resolution (320 ppi)
- Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro
- 8 MP rear-facing camera with 1.3 MP front-facing
- 4G LTE on AT&T’s Network
- 16 GB storage
- 2 GB RAM
- 802.11 b/g/n
- NFC
- 2,100 mAh
- Android 4.1
07. Sony Xperia Z
The Sony Xperia Z is Sony’s flagship for 2013. Having announced it at CES back in January, it’s still making it’s rounds to various markets worldwide, and has yet to make it to the US on a carrier. Of course you can import it to the US for a big stack of cash. The Xperia Z is Sony’s first 5-inch 1080p phone and it’s also water resistant and dust proof. Let’s go ahead and check out the specs
- 5″ 1920×1080 resolution (441 PPI)
- Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro
- 13.1MP rear facing camera with 2.2MP front-facing
- 16GB of storage with room for microSD card slot
- 2GB of RAM
- 802.11 a//g/n
- NFC
- 2330mAh
- Android 4.1
06. HTC Droid DNA
I know a lot of you are going to ask why the first 1080p superphone is doing so high-up this list. Well, it’s got a lot to do with availability, the DNA is a pretty awesome smartphone and you can check out our review here but, if it’s only available on one carrier – no matter how good their coverage is – doesn’t make for a super-popular smartphone. Also, with HTC focusing on the One, it wouldn’t surprise us if the DNA got left behind in updates, and we already know how bad HTC are at providing updates for their devices.
- SLCD3 1080p with a mind-blowing 440ppi density
- Qualcomm S4 Pro 1.5GHz quad-core CPU
- 2GB of RAM
- 8MP camera rear-facing camera capable of 1080p at 30fps
- f/2.0 2.1 MP Front-facing camera capable of 720p
- Android 4.1 Jelly Bean with Sense 4+ on top
- 4G LTE
- 2.5v headset and speaker amplifier with Beats Audio
- 2020 mAh Battery
- 9.1mm thin
05. Samsung Galaxy S III
There seems to be no slowing down of the Galaxy S III when it comes to sales, they’ve sold around 50 Million of them worldwide and while the handset is certainly showing its age, there’s nothing wrong with buying one now. With the Galaxy S IV keeping things much the same, and Samsung doing a great job at handing down software to older models, the Galaxy S III should be a great device for another year and a half or so. I wonder, how many of you with a Galaxy S III in your pocket are going to upgrade to the Galaxy S IV?
- Dual-core 1.5Ghz Snapdragon S4, Quad-core 1.4Ghz Exynos in some markets
- 4.8″ Super AMOLED HD Display at 1280—720 – with 306ppi
- 4G on AT&T, Sprint and Verizon – HSPA+ on T-Mobile
- 16, 32 or 64GB storage with room for microSD
- 2GB RAM
- 8MP rear-facing camera with 1.9MP front-facing camera
- 2100 mAh battery
- Launched with Android 4.0 but, Updated to Android 4.1.2
04. Samsung Galaxy Note II
The Galaxy Note II is a great device, plain and simple. That doesn’t mean it’s for everyone though, it’s far too large for some and for others it’s the best scree-size in the world. Regardless of how you feel about it though, the Note II is a quality device that has enough horsepower to keep up with 2013’s smartphones and Samsung have done a great job at supporting their devices recently. Let’s not forget the S-Pen, that makes Fruit Ninja far more fun than it ever should be! Take a look at our review here.
- Quad core 1.6 GHz Exynos 4412
- 5.5″ Super AMOLED Display at 1280 x 720 – 265 ppi
- 2GB of RAM
- 16GB storage with room for microSD card
- 8MP rear-facing camera with 1.9MP front-facing
- 4G LTE on Sprint, AT&T and Verizon
- WiFi, Bluetooth and NFC
- 3100 mAh
- Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
03. Google Nexus 4
Sure, the Nexus 4 is getting a little long in the tooth, and Google and LG have taken their time in getting their distribution sorted out but, the Nexus 4 is still a great device. With a quad-core Cortex A15 CPU and a good-looking design, there’s little to find fault with when it comes to the latest Nexus device. Not only that but, thanks to it being a Nexus device, there’s no way that the Nexus 4 will get less updates than these devices listed here. Google will support the Nexus 4 far longer than the HTCs, Sonys or Samsungs in this list, and that could be more valuable than anything.
- 4.7″1280 x 768 pixel resolution (320 ppi)
- Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro
- 8 MP rear-facing camera with 1.3 MP front-facing
- 4G HSPA+ up to 42mbps
- 16 GB storage
- 2 GB RAM
- 802.11 b/g/n
- NFC
- 2,100 mAh
- Android 4.2 Jelly Bean
02. Samsung Galaxy S IV
The latest and greatest from Samsung, turned out to be more of the same. Let’s not beat around the bush here, we all thought the Galaxy S IV was going to be more than the device we saw on stage in New York. Now, this isn’t to say it’s a bad phone, far from it, Samsung announced something really successful with the Galaxy S III and there’s no reason they shouldn’t just build on that. With all this talk of Octa-Cores and Quad-Cores it’s hard not to look at the Galaxy S IV, but therein lies the problem. What is seen, cannot be unseen and once you look, you find out that the Galaxy S IV is very much a Galaxy S III, a little taller, a little slimmer and with a few new tricks. That’s not a bad thing but, we all expected a little more.
- 5-inch 1080p displayHD Super AMOLED Display 440PPI
- 1.9GHz quad-core Snapdragon Processor S4 Pro/Exynos 5 Octa for the International Version
- 2GB of RAM
- 16GB/32GB/64GB internal storage; Expandable via MicroSD card up to 64GB
- 13MP rear-facing camera 2MP front-facing camera
- Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac
- Bluetooth 4.0
- IR Blaster
- 2600mAh battery
- Android 4.2.2 – Jelly Bean
01. HTC One
I’m sure that a lot of you are going to disagree with us in the comments for this but, it did score higher in a poll we ran some time ago. Not only that but, HTC have really done something different here. While The S IV is certainly just another smartphone – a great one at that – the HTC One is a brilliant piece of hardware. With a real eye for detail on the imaging side of things with the new “Ultrapixel” camera and the use of premium materials has delivered a solid-feeling and great-looking device that’s unlike anything else out there. It’s a real shame about the delays HTC are facing but there’s nothing to say that they can’t turn this around and deliver and excellent device to kick off the year with.
- 4.7-inch 1080p display giving it a 468ppi
- 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor
- 2GB of RAM
- 32/64GB internal storage; No microSD card slot
- “UltraPixel” rear-facing camera, 2MP front-facing camera
- Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, GPS and GLONASS
- 2,300mAh battery
- Android 4.1.2 with Sense 5.0
- IR Reciever allowing you to use the HTC One as a TV remote