They’re also the gadgets many of us are willing to spend the
most cash on. Did you know that a high-end phone on contract can end up costing
you over a thousand pounds?
It’s best to make sure you’re making the right choice before
committing to a phone. We’re here to help you.
The first thing is to decide the platform you want to side with. There’s the iPhone and its iOS software, there’s the Android phones by Google, Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 and – new kid on the block – BlackBerry 10.
iOS offers the best apps and games, Android the most
fiddling potential. Windows Phone 8 is the slickest and BlackBerry 10 is on
hand for those who want something a bit different.
2013 has already been a big year for smartphones with the
two iPhones, the Nokia Lumia 1020, new Android phones from Sony and Samsung,
and with the Nexus 5 showing it's possible to sell a top-end phone at a
reasonable price.
Which would you pick from the current bunch? Rifling through
the phone reviews that get the TrustedReviews seal of approval, check out our
best mobile phones of 2013 so far.
10. Nokia Lumia 1020
It might not be the best all round smartphone, but if you
are looking for a great cameraphone the Nokia Lumia 1020 definitely fits the
bill. The 4.5-inch, Windows 8-running 1020 piles in some impressive
photo-grabbing specs including a 41-megapixel PureView camera and a Xenon flash
with LED focus light. Image results can compete with compact system cameras in
the right conditions and can be viewed back on a punchy, colourful 1,280x768
resolution screen. It's only dual-core and does still suffer from a poor
selection of Windows apps. But if you really want camera quality photos, then
the Lumia 1020 is the handset to snap up.
Review price: £599
9. Sony Xperia M
If you want an Android smartphone, but don't want to spend a
huge amount, the Xperia M is an excellent option. It's only £170 SIM-only or
free on a £16 a month contract, so it won't break the bank. For your money you
get a 4-inch phone with a dual-core, 1GHz processor. Naturally there's a
microSD slot for expanding the storage, which is just as well as only 2GB is
built-in. Overall, the Xperia M doesn't do any single thing amazingly, but the
screen, design and performance are all 'just right' for the price you pay.
Review price: £170
8. LG G2
The smartphone with the buttons on the back, the LG G2 sees
the South Korean company make an impressive return to smartphone prominence.
The 5.2-inch G2 features a full HD IPS edge-to-edge display, a 13-megapixel OIS
(optical image stabilization) camera and a speedy Snapdragon 800 quad-core CPU.
Moving the buttons to the rear and reducing the screen bezel frees up the extra
screen estate to make the most of HD movie and video watching. The camera is
good, but doesn't deliver Z1 or Lumia 1020-like images. The G2 delivers a
strong overall package making it a great alternative to the HTC One and the
Samsung Galaxy S4.
Price: £400
7. Sony Xperia Z1
Addressing the key issues with the Xperia Z, the Sony Xperia
Z1 is one of the most powerful smartphones to currently get your hands on. The
2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon processor delivers one of the slickest overall
performances we've seen and the 3,000mAh battery gives the Z1 real staying
power. A slightly curvier design makes the 5-inch smartphone more comfortable
to hold and the added camera button makes it easier to take photos and video
underwater. The improved 20.7-megapixel camera didn’t blow us away but is still
one of the best smartphone snappers around. Look out Samsung and HTC, Sony is
starting to get a hang of this smartphone-making business...
Review price: £550
6. Samsung Galaxy Note 3
King of the big phones, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is once
again equipped with the excellent S-Pen stylus. Featuring a 5.7-inch 1080p
Super AMOLED screen, the Note 3 is powered by a Snapdragon 800 2.3GHz CPU and
has 32GB and 3GB of RAM to take care of multitasking. The key design change
from the Note 2 is the leather-effect battery cover which is more cosmetic than
adding anything in terms of comfort. There’s a 13-megapixel main camera to
shoot photos on par with the S4, but the S Pen stylus is once again the star of
the show and has more apps to utilize its stylus powers. If you are after a big
screen phone to get creative with, this is the best to go for.
Review price: £619.99
5. Nokia Lumia 620
The Nokia Lumia 620 is the cheapest phone in our best mobile
phone round-up, but it totally deserves to be in here. It costs only a shade
over £150 SIM-free (as low as £14 a month on contract), but it's many times
better than the majority of Android phones at a similar price. Its 4-inch
screen isn't high resolution, but the colours and contrast are very good. But
what really marks the Lumia 620 out as a star is the excellent design and the
very responsive performance for the price. If you want a basic smartphone
without the typical smartphone price tag we can't think of a better phone to
choose.
Review price: £150
4. Samsung Galaxy S4
The Galaxy S series has come to be seen as the pinnacle of
Android, and with good reason. The Samsung Galaxy S4 is a superb phone. It has
a 13-megapixel camera, giant 1080p 5-inch display and quad-core processor (the
8-core version is not available in the UK.) In Samsung style, it has masses of
extra software features including a fitness tracker, translator and eye
tracking software that lets you scroll books and articles with just a gesture.
Quite simply the Samsung Galaxy S4 is still one of the best Android phones to
buy.
Review price: £579
3. HTC One
One of the most desirable phone of the year so far is the
HTC One. And, yes, that includes the Samsung Galaxy S4. It has a sleek
aluminium body that makes the top-end competition feel a little bit cheap. The
HTC One also has a few other new HTC features. Top of the list are the
UltraPixel camera and Blinkfeed, the star of the show of the new Sense UI. It’s
sleeker and more stylish than the HTC Sense of old and – in our experience – it
works better too.What’s not to like? The 4-megapixel camera doesn’t reap as
detail-packed shots as its top rivals in bright sunlight, but it’ll win out in
dim situations. If neither of the top two appeal to you, it's the next best
around.
Review price: £549
2. Google Nexus 5
If this was a round-up of the best value smartphones, the
Nexus 5 would win hands down. At £300 for the 16GB version, the Nexus 5 is far
better value than the iPhone 5S and Galaxy S4, or any other rival we can think
of. Its Snapdragon 800 processor means it's a match for the iPhone's A7
processor, and it's actually faster than the S4 and HTC One by dint of having
the latest version of Qualcomm's top-end processor. Elsewhere, we love the
understated and practical design, the screen and the pure Android 4.4 experience
with its improved interface. Where it falls down is in the battery life and
camera departments. Neither are bad, but they don't quite match up to the
iPhone 5S, which is why it's only a narrow (but still excellent) second
overall.
Review price: £300
1. iPhone 5S
The iPhone 5S continues Apple's benchmark setting trend,
though the gap between it and its rivals is as narrow as narrow can be. Keeping
the same 4-inch Retina display found on the iPhone 5 and its replacement the
iPhone 5C, the high grade aluminium phone is now available in gold and 'space
grey' colours. The most radical design change is the Touch ID fingerprint
sensor situated in the home button to add an extra layer of security and
convenience. The super-fast A7 processor is great, too, but it's the camera
that clinches things for the 5S. The new True-Tone LED flash leads to better
shots with the flash enabled, while the infinite burst mode, slow-mo video,
speedy app and outstanding HDR mode make using the iPhone 5S camera a joy.
Review price: £549
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