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Best Smart Phones in 2013

Updated on May 5, 2014

Purchasing a Smart Phone?

With the holiday season just around the corner, there really isn't a better time to review the best smart phones in 2012. All throughout 2012 smart phones have made their debuts and each manufacturer has brought something new to the table. Hopefully these reviews will give consumers a better understanding of each phone and guide them to purchase the right one for their needs.

For those that are on the fence and can’t decide between a Samsung Galaxy S3 and the iPhone 5 this should make your life a bit easier. As a traveling businessperson I can safely say that owning a smartphone has provided a sense of a business intelligence solution. A smartphone can serve as your right hand man in tough situations for business people. From the different applications, dashboard software, reminders, calendars, etc.

For the average person a smartphone can help you with browsing the Internet and it allows you to a variety of tasks that will make your life easier. Whether it’s a Google search, updating your Facebook, interacting with friends, sending out a tweet, sharing a photo, getting directions, or playing games. I would also like to note that I will be adding other phones to the list. These four phones just stood out to me in terms of performance and specs. If you would like a phone to be reviewed please leave a comment and I will write a review for it based on my opinion.

Here’s the reviews of the best smart phones in 2012:

Galaxy S3

Samsung Galaxy S3

My Score: 8.8/10

If you’re looking for a phone with high-performing hardware and creative software features, then the Samsung Galaxy S3 is an excellent choice. The only knock I have on the S3 is that the design on the phone just doesn't feel right. When you hold an iPhone 5 and then hold a Samsung Galaxy S3 then you'll notice it just doesn't feel the same. The iPhone 5 feels more elegant and easier to hold. Samsung is always a step behind when having to update their OS, so this is also a problem with their products.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 is a phone that can handle just about any task. If you’re looking for a top of the line phone, with a great camera, an awesome display, and great performance and speed look no further. It comes in five different colors as well. If I had to choose between the iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S3 the choice would be the Samsung Galaxy S3 (not by much) because I enjoy having performance and the ability to multi task. Although you couldn’t go wrong with either phone because both would get the job done. The fact that you can upgrade your memory with the micro SD slot is a major plus for the S3. It also comes with a removable battery. It has great features such as NFC technology, LTE, and a fast processor.

Specs:

Memory:

· microSD, up to 64 GB

· 16/32/64 GB storage, 1 GB RAM

Weight:

· 4.69 ounces (133 grams)

Display:

· Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors

· 720 x 1280 pixels, 4.8 inches ~306 ppi

Camera:

· (Back) 8 Mega pixel Auto Focus camera with Flash & Zero Shutter Lag

· (Front): 1.9 Mega pixel camera, HD recording @30fps with Zero Shutter Lag

· Panorama

· Video recording, HD (1080p) up to 30 frames per second with audio

· LED Flash

Battery:

· Talk time: Up to 21 h 40 min (2G) / Up to 11 h 40 min (3G)

· Standby time: Up to 590 h (2G) / Up to 790 h (3G)

Operating System (OS):

· Android OS, v4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich), upgradeable to 4.1 (Jelly Bean)

iPhone 5

iPhone 5

The iPhone 5 didn't WOW me like I thought it would. I currently own an iPhone 4s and wanted to see a bigger improvement in the software and quite frankly I was a bit upset. For starters they got rid of Google Maps which was a major step back for Apple. Their iMaps application isn't nearly as good as Google Maps and it did lead me to a different path a couple of times. They did however add new features to Siri which were pretty awesome. They improved the experience in iOS 6 but Apple seems to be missing that oomph that Steve Jobs brought to the table. They do have LTE which was a major improvement although I was expecting them to bring that to the iPhone 4s.

The phone itself is beautiful, light, and sturdy phone and it's definitely the best looking smartphone around with the best hardware. It comes in two different color options (black and white). For those that want a reliable phone, with an amazing display, camera, the best app market, and with most smart phone features on the market, the Apple iPhone 5 is the phone for you.

My Score: 8.6/10

Specs:

Memory:

· 16GB 32GB 64GB

· 1 GB RAM

Weight:

· 3.95 ounces (112 grams)

Display:

· Retina display

· 4-inch (diagonal) widescreen Multi-Touch display

· 1136-by-640-pixel resolution at 326 ppi

Camera:

· 8-megapixel

· Panorama

· Video recording, HD (1080p) up to 30 frames per second with audio

· FaceTime HD camera with 1.2MP photos and HD video (720p) up to 30 frames per second

· LED Flash

Battery:

· Talk time: Up to 8 hours on 3G

· Standby time: Up to 225 hours

· Internet use: Up to 8 hours on 3G, up to 8 hours on LTE, up to 10 hours on Wi-Fi

Operating System (OS):

· iOS 6

Galaxy Note

Samsung Galaxy Note 2

My Score: 8.5/10

The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is a beautiful phablet. If your in the market for both a phone and a tablet with great performance, then I would recommend testing the Galaxy Note 2. This phone has a beautiful display, stunning graphics, and a great camera with 2 GB of RAM! The S Pen is also magnificent and is much improved over the original Note. It does take time getting use to having a phone of this size so be prepared for change. If your looking for a phone that's different then the rest then this is the phone for you. It really stands out from the others in terms of size and all the features such as the S pen. It has all the great features such as NFC technology, LTE, and a fast processor.

Specs:

Memory:

· microSD, up to 64 GB

· 16/32/64 GB storage, 2 GB RAM

Weight:

· 4.69 ounces (133 grams)

Display:

· Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors

· 720 x 1280 pixels, 5.5 inches ~306 ppi

Camera:

· (Back)8 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash

· (Front): 1.9 Mega pixel camera, HD recording @30fps with Zero Shutter Lag

· Panorama

· Video recording, HD (1080p) up to 30 frames per second with audio

· LED Flash

Battery:

· Talk time: Up to 980 h (2G) / Up to 890 h (3G)

· Standby time: Up to 35 h (2G) / Up to 16 h (3G)

Operating System (OS):

· Android OS, v4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich), upgradeable to 4.1 (Jelly Bean)

· S Pen stylus

Nexus 4

Nexus 4

My Score: 8.5/10

The Nexus 4 is the newest smartphone from Google. This is a phone made for Android fans. It puts the best of Google's amazing products into your hand. It comes with Jelly Bean Google's latest update to their Android OS that the Samsung phones don't currently offer. It comes with NFC technology and a fast processor but doesn't have LTE. This feature was an important one that Google missed.

I had the chance to view a Nexus 4 and it's well built in terms of it's body and style. It's a step above the S3 but a step below the iPhone 5. The display is amazing and right up there with the iPhone 5 even with the bigger screen. If you love Android phones and a big Google fan then this is the phone you're going to want to purchase. It's also a great phone to buy for the everyday smartphone user. It goes on sale Tuesday, Nov. 13th.

Specs:

Memory:

· 8GB, 16GB storage, 2 GB RAM

Weight:

· 4.90 ounces (139 grams)

Display:

· True HD IPS Plus capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors

· 768 x 1280 pixels, 4.7 inches ~318 ppi pixel density

Camera:

· (Back)8 MP, 3264 x 2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash

· (Front): 1.3 Mega pixel camera, HD recording @30fps with Zero Shutter Lag

· Photo sphere

· Video recording, HD (1080p) up to 30 frames per second with audio

· LED Flash

Battery:

· Talk time: Up to 390 h (3G)

· Standby time: Up to 15 h (3G)

Operating System (OS):

· Android OS, v4.2 (Jelly Bean)

Motorola Droid Razr HD

My Score: 8.8/10

Motorola Droid Razr HD is the newest smartphone from Motorola. This phone just screams AMAZING when looking at the specs. It can go head to head with the latest smartphones in terms of user experience and specifications. Another note to add is that the Droid Razr HD has the best battery life on a smartphone that I came across. If your always on the go and don't have time to charge your phone everyday then I would highly suggest looking at this smartphone. It comes with NFC technology, a fast processor, and LTE technology.

The Motorola Droid Razr HD comes with a Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen and a 4.7 in display at ~312 ppi pixel density. In other words it's amazing. It does come with a microSD slot to give you the chance to upgrade to 32 GB of storage.

Specs:

Memory:

· 16 GB (12 GB user-available) , 1 GB RAM

Weight:

· 5.15 ounces (146 grams)

Display:

· True HD IPS Plus capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors

· 720 x 1280 pixels, 4.7 inches ~312 ppi pixel density

Camera:

· (Back)8 MP, 3264 x 2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash

· (Front): 1.3 Mega pixel camera

· Touch Focus, Geo Tagging, Face Detection, and Image Stabilization

· Video recording, HD (1080p) up to 30 frames per second with audio

· LED Flash

Battery:

· Talk time: Up to 24 h

· Standby time: Up to 286 h

Operating System (OS):

· Android OS, v4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich), upgradable to v4.1 (Jelly Bean)

Source

HTC One

My Score: 8.9/10

The HTC One is a beautifully designed smartphone with a lot of great features. It's set to release on April 19th, and is going to be in competition with the Samsung Galaxy S4 and iPhone 5 (Good luck HTC). When consumers first look at the phone they're going to be in aw of it's flawless design and amazing screen. This is by far the best looking screen on any smartphone available on the market. The aluminum casing is also something to take note of, it almost feels like an iPhone but a bit more durable. It's the first phone to come equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 process, a quad-core chip running at 1.7 GHz.


HTC Sense 5 has been redesigned to help users stay in touch with the people and information they care about. They plan on doing so with a new feature named blink feed, which is similar to "Flipboard". It mixes your news feeds, social media updates, and local information like calender alerts into a shifting, scrollable set of panels. If you're not a big of of it, they made it possible to switch back to the standard Android home screen.

Specs:

Memory:

· 32 or 64 GB, 2 GB RAM

Weight:

· 5 ounces

Display:

· Super LCD 3

· 1920 x 1080 pixels, 4.7 inches ~468 ppi pixel density

Camera:

· (Back)4 MP, 3264 x 2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash

· (Front): 2.1 Mega pixel camera

· Video recording, HD (1080p) for the back and front.

· LED Flash

Battery:

· 2300mAh battery

Operating System (OS):

· Android OS, v 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean)

Most Anticipated Smartphone in 2013?

These phones will all be released in 2013, which one are you most looking forward too?

See results

Next Phone Review:

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