There's nothing like the 5.3" Samsung Galaxy Note, the world's first phablet to achieve mass market success. Available first overseas at the end of 2011, it made its way to AT&T in the late winter of 2012 and now it's finally available on T-Mobile US. What's a phablet? A smartphone that's big enough to be a small tablet. This Android smartphone has a 5.3", 1280 x 800 Super AMOLED HD display (the same resolution as most 10.1" Android tablets). No doubt, this is a big phone in a world where big phones are the trend. But it makes the 4.8" Galaxy S III look compact and it's not for those with small hands who detest the march toward larger smartphones. I have large hands and a love of pocket computers, so the Galaxy Note remains one of my favorite phones of all time. The large screen is excellent for eBooks, GPS navigation, gaming and note-taking and sketching with the included S Pen.

The Samsung Galaxy Note will be available August 8, 2012 on T-Mobile. It's $249 with a 2 year contract and $599 without contract. It's available only in black.

The Samsung Galaxy Note runs Android OS 4.0.4 with Samsung's TouchWiz software. It has a dual digitizer with both capacitive touch and a digital pen (included) that's much more precise than a capacitive stylus. It's slim and light despite its otherwise large dimensions, so it actually can fit in a roomy pants pocket. It's refreshing that the phone has a removable battery and a microSD card slot; two items that have become a casualty of unibody designs starting with the iPhone.

The Samsung Galaxy Note runs on the same 1.5GHz dual core Qualcomm S3 CPU as the AT&T version, and other than carrier customizations and the T-Mobile HSPA+ 42Mbps cellular radio, it's virtually the same as the AT&T version, and very close to the international version we reviewed in December 2011. So little has changed that we won't go over every detail in this review: the Note is a known quantity by now. The phone has dual band WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 + HS, NFC and a GPS with GLONASS support. It has a front 2 megapixel camera and a rear 8 megapixel camera with LED flash and a micro SD card slot.

Since Android scales well, the display is easy to read and text and icons aren't tiny. The phone is actually very easy on the eyes, and for those who prefer smaller fonts and icons, you can root the phone and reduce the dpi to 240 or 280 from its impressively high 320. The very high standard pixel density makes for very sharp text and images, and that makes up for the Pentile Matrix that we and other reviewers harp on because it uses fewer sub-pixels than LCD displays, which can reduce the smoothness of text in lower dpi displays. Why not use the newer Super AMOLED Plus display that has a standard RGB pixel arrangement and loses the Pentile Matrix? Samsung uses Super AMOLED Plus displays on smaller and lower resolution displays, but technological limitations prevent them from making larger than 4.5" HD displays using the newer Plus technology. That means both the Note and Samsung Galaxy S III smartphones have Super AMOLED HD displays, but the Note looks better than the S III to my eyes. Samsung went for broke with the Note and it has better color tuning (whites don't look as blue) and a sharper look than the slightly lower resolution 4.8" Galaxy S III.

The T-Mobile Galaxy Note is a quad band GSM world phone with 3G and 4G HSPA+ 42 Mbps on T-Mobile's bands. Call quality is very good with full and clear voice on both ends. The speakerphone has just average volume, which is surprising for such a large phone where there's more room for an ample speaker (the same is true of other Galaxy Note variants). Bluetooth worked well in our tests with a variety of Bluetooth headsets, stereo speakers and a car kit. There's no need to hold this large phone to your head to make calls.

T-Mobile has excellent service in our area, and their HSPA+ download speeds rival AT&T and Verizon's LTE speeds. The Samsung Galaxy Note averaged 17.4 Mbps down and 1.9 Mbs up according to the Speedtest.net app. The upload speeds are significantly lower than LTE on the other two carriers because T-Mobile caps upload speeds to allow for better download speeds (most folks care more about download speeds).

The phone has WiFi calling for those who don't want to eat up plan minutes or have weak cellular coverage. The Mobile Hotspot feature allows you to use the phone as a high speed wireless modem for notebooks, tablets and other devices. The Note uses a standard size SIM rather than a micro SIM.

The T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note runs on the same 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 CPU with Adreno 220 graphics as the AT&T model. AT&T had to go with the Qualcomm CPU for LTE integration, and likewise T-Mobile needed the Qualcomm chipset for HSPA+ 42 Mbps and so they couldn't go with the Samsung Exynos dual core CPU used in the international version. Honestly, performance is fairly close between the two platforms, so it's not a sticking point.

The S3 is a third generation mobile CPU that was cutting edge when the first Note variants came out, but S4 fourth generation smartphones hit the market a few months ago (HTC One X, HTC One S and Samsung Galaxy S III) and that puts the Galaxy Note at a specs disadvantage. In terms of perceived performance, the phone feels fast enough, with a little bit of lag when switching between apps when several heavy apps are running (we've experienced this in the T-Mobile version more than the AT&T version, so a software update could improve things). In synthetic benchmarks, the Note puts up a strong showing in AnTuTu and GLBenchmark graphics tests, but it clearly can't score as high as the newer and faster S4 as noted in Quadrant. Still, it puts up very good numbers, and I must say that smartphone CPU speeds are progressing faster than we can come up with challenges to warrant those speeds. The phone can handle the latest games like Dead Trigger just fine; no need for a Tegra 3 or Qualcomm S4 to play those well. Likewise, the Note can handle 1080p video playback, Adobe Flash and Netflix perfectly.

The huge display and active Wacom dual digitizer are the two features that set the Samsung Galaxy Note apart from other smartphones on the market. The included S Pen that lives in a convenient silo offers pressure sensitivity and a level of accuracy that you won't find in a capacitive stylus. Not every app supports pressure sensitivity, but we found that most drawing, painting and note-taking apps on the Android market do support the pen, thanks in part to Android 4.0's much expanded digital pen support. The pen works with Alias SketchBook Mobile, Quill and other popular apps on the Google Play Store. And it works with Samsung's own built-in pen aware apps like S Memo and the new Pro Suite apps like S Note.

S Memo is the light version of S Note, and it's available as a widget and you can launch it with a double tap of the pen on the screen (while holding the pen's single button down). You can jot notes, insert images and audio and use the on-screen keyboard with S Memo. S Note and S Memo are among Samsung's "Premium Apps", and S Note adds handwriting recognition and formula recognition. The formula recognition works very well and the handwriting recognition is decent but not as good as that of the Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet (a 10.1" Android tablet with a digital pen) or Windows 7 tablets. Watch our video review to see it in action.

Artists will appreciate the Note and pen: it's like having a pocket sketchbook. S Note supports pressure sensitivity and you can select line width and colors--enough to turn out some pretty compelling sketches. For non-artists, S Note is handy for diagraming and it can even straighten geometrical figures so those circles are round and rectangles tidy.

The S Pen works with Adobe Reader for highlighting, underlining and crossing out text. You can use the digital signature feature to sign contracts and agreements without resorting to pen, paper and a fax machine. You can also save screen shots of any app (press and hold on the screen using the pen while depressing its button) and mark up the screen shot to your heart's content: web pages, Word documents and photos are your playground.

Samsung's TouchWiz UI runs roughshod over Android Ice Cream Sandwich, making it look and act more like 2.3 Gingberbread in terms of UI. For once we won't complain much, because Samsung's customizations and apps work in harmony with the extra-large display and bring value. The tweaks and additions make the Note a better tool, rather than sometimes seeming like software for the sake of software on the Galaxy Note.

The T-Mobile version of the Samsung Galaxy Note ships with the same 2500 mAh Lithium Ion battery as other variants. That's a very large capacity battery, but the smartphone's large display needs the extra power. That means the Note will last as long as other current high end Android smartphones, but not significantly longer. In our tests, we managed a full day on a charge with moderate use. Long gaming sessions, GPS navigation and lots of streaming video will consume battery more quickly. Third parties like Mugen offer extended batteries that work well for those who want a beefier battery, or you can buy a standard spare battery if you spend lots of time on the road away from power. You can read our Mugen Samsung Galaxy Note Extended battery review here.

The Samsung Note uses the same 8 megapixel rear main camera module as the Galaxy S II, and it takes colorful and sharp photos as well as pleasing though not groundbreaking 1080p video. The camera is prone to overexposure in high contrast brightly lit outdoor settings, just as with the S II, but otherwise we have no complaints. Indoor photos show relatively little noise, and the flash doesn't overexpose subjects at close range. 1080p video looks smooth at 30fps, and has a good amount of detail and color saturation, though there's some motion blockiness typical of camera phones. The 2 megapixel front camera worked well with Google Talk video chat and Skype in our tests. We looked clear with good illumination over HSPA+ and WiFi. The rear camera isn't as sharp as the HTC One S and Samsung Galaxy S III with their next generation internals and BSI sensor, but it's still a solid camera.

The Motorola Droid RAZR M is everything that the Motorola Droid RAZR was, but less. It's smaller and much less expensive than the RAZR was at launch. Despite the price, you get most everything that was captivating about the Droid RAZR: a slim design with a Kevlar back, Gorilla Glass and a water resistant nano-coating. It is as daring and sexy looking as the Droid RAZR and RAZR MAXX? Not to our eyes. The rounded plastic corners remind us of the Motorola Atrix HD, and the design is less daring. It's still a nice enough looking phone though.

Though significantly smaller (the Droid RAZR M is just a little bit taller than the iPhone 4S and similar in size to the iPhone 5), it still packs a 4.3" Super AMOLED qHD 540 x 960 display. The CPU has been updated, so the RAZR M is considerably faster thanks to a 1.5GHz dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 CPU (the same CPU in the Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III).

That's a lot of phone for $99. It runs Android OS 4.0.4 with minor UI customizations and will get Jelly Bean by the end of the year. It has dual band WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, a GPS and NFC. Though the front camera is only VGA resolution, the rear 8MP camera is one of Moto's best efforts yet. It does a great job with outdoor shots, though indoor shot quality and video recording quality fall behind Samsung and HTC's top offerings.

The Droid RAZR M is available now for $99 with 2 year contract on Verizon Wireless. It has a gig of RAM, 8 gigs of internal storage and a microSD card slot for storage expansion. The 2,000 mAh Lithium Ion battery is sealed inside, and in our tests it made it through a moderate day of use.

The Samsung Galaxy Stellar isn't going to wow you with its huge display or whizbang new killer features. It is however going to fit in your pocket and you can't beat the price: free on contract with Verizon Wireless. This Android smartphone has a 4", 800 x 480 display, LTE 4G and a fast 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual core CPU. That's the same CPU used in the Samsung Galaxy S III and Motorola Droid M, but underclocked from their 1.5GHz. Will you notice that 0.3GHz? Likely not so much.

The Galaxy Stellar has a sharp and clear 800 x 480 display with decent though not wildly lively colors. Brightness is passable but it's not bright enough to combat bright sunlight. Still, for the price, it's easy on the eyes and the resolution is adequate for webpage and MS Office document viewing. Speaking of Office, the phone comes with the full version of Quickoffice that allows you to create, view and edit MS Office files. A nice touch for a budget phone.

The budget aspect shines through with the rear 3.2 megapixel camera, which lacks a flash. It can shoot VGA video and fairly noisy and dull looking photos. This isn't a phone for shutterbugs. The front video chat camera does a passable job with Skype video chat.

Neither stunning nor ugly: the Stellar is a distinctly indistinctive phone. Samsung loves shiny plastics and the back is gloss back with a subtle pattern. It's not bad looking but it gets mucked up with fingerprints very quickly. The 4.73 ounce phone feels solid and we appreciate the removable 2100 mAh battery. There's a microSD card slot under a door on the phone's right side, and the volume controls are on the left. Typical of Samsung, the power button is on the upper right side and the micro USB port is on the bottom. At 0.47", the phone is relatively thick, though overall compact compared to today's super-sized smartphones.

The Stellar is a CDMA phone with EV-DO Rev. A 3G and 4G LTE. Reception is good and the phone managed the same signal in -db as the Motorola Droid RAZR M in our tests in the Dallas area. Data speeds were good though not among the best Verizon LTE 4G phones, with 12Mbps down and 9Mbps up on average.

Call quality is likewise middle of the road with some slight flangy digitization to voice, especially when the DSP kicks in to reduce background noise. Conversations are intelligible but not crystal clear like on the Droid RAZR MAXX and Galaxy S III.

The Samsung runs Android OS 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich, which is fairly current (Jelly Bean devices are still a rarity), but we don't expect significant version upgrades given the price. It has both Samsung's TouchWiz UI and a "Starter Mode" that's simplified for newbies. We like that Starter Mode doesn't take too much away from the standard Android UI, turning it into a dumb feature phone like Pantech's newbie-focused UI option on the Pantech Flex on AT&T. Many Samsung staples from the Galaxy S III are here including Media Hub (streaming movies and TV shows), Memo, S Suggest and S Voice. The standard suite of Android apps is on board including Maps, YouTube and Gmail. Verizon adds a few of their titles and a wide selection of Amazon apps including Kindle, Amazon MP3, IMDB and Zappos.

The phone has a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 CPU with a gig of RAM and 4 gigs of internal storage (1.7 gigs available). There's a microSD card slot for storage expansion up to 32 gigs. Keep in mind that Android 4.x doesn't support installing apps to SD cards and some 3D games can be 500 megs, so that internal space could be tight for gamers. You can store movies and music on a card.

The Samsung Galaxy Stellar has a 2100 mAh Lithium Ion battery that's user replaceable (just pop off the back door to access the battery and micro SIM card slot). Verizon claims an impressive17 hours of actual usage time, and in our tests it lasted as long as other recent Android smartphones on Verizon. It lasted a full day (8am to 10pm) on a charge with 20% power remaining with average use (email, web, watching a few YouTube videos, a few phone calls, playing music with the display off for an hour).

Another year, another iPhone. 2012 brings the iPhone 5, with the usual long lines at Apple stores and lots of hype. But this is actually a very solid upgrade: the iPhone 5 has a 4" Retina display and true 4G LTE. While the 3.5" display on prior iPhones seemed downright old fashioned in terms of screen real estate, the 4", 1136 x 640 display feels like there's room to spread out and read web pages without chronic zooming. The on-screen keyboard likewise is wider in landscape mode and easier to use. There's an extra row of apps on the home screen. Trust me, you'll notice the difference. And at 326ppi and 500 nits of brightness plus high contrast, it's one of the best displays on the smartphone market. Apple claims it has a 44% wider color gamut that covers the full sRGB spectrum (that's pretty impressive). The only caveat? Apps that haven't been updated to support the new resolution will have black bars at the top and bottom (we expect most popular apps will get updated quickly).

Specs mavens will note that high end Android phones have even higher resolution 1280 x 720 displays, but those displays are generally 4.5" to 4.8", and thus the pixel density is lower, making for a slightly less sharp (depending on your visual acuity) display that does indeed show even more of web pages, spreadsheets and the like. I've been using mainly big screen Android smartphones for the past year, and I find the iPhone 5's display a big step in the right direction and finally a usable size (for me 3.5" just didn't cut it). But it still is hard to give up the huge display on other smartphones once you've become accustomed to them.

As ever, that leads to the Apple vs. Android discussion. Both are very good platforms, and nothing has changed (much) in the argument for each. The iPhone and iOS are extremely easy to use with almost no learning curve. It's a very stable and fast platform, and the app and media selection is enormous. Android caters to those who love really big screens, fast CPUs, a customizable UI and a less draconically vetted app ecosystem. It's not so much a matter of which one is better, but rather which one fits your needs.

If you're upgrading from an iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4 with the slower HSPDA or EV-DO flavors of 3G, HSPA+ and 4G LTE will make you feel like you're on a fast WiFi network. Our AT&T iPhone 5 units average 24Mbps down and 21Mpbs up according to the Speedtest.net app. Nice! That's on LTE of course, but you should see noticeably faster speeds compared to older iPhone models that had 7.2Mbps HSDPA or EV-DO. For those of you on Sprint and Verizon, which use EV-DO 3G technology, you won't notice the speed difference unless you have 4G LTE coverage in your area. Verizon has large areas of the metropolitan US blanketed in LTE so chances are good that you're covered unless you live in a less urbanized area, while Sprint has only begun the rollout. Note that you can make a call while using the data connection on the GSM (AT&T) version, but you can't do that on the Verizon iPhone 5, which is a sore point versus some Android Verizon phones that can handle simultaneous voice and 4G LTE data.

Given the various network technologies and bands used in the US and around the world, Apple has started manufacturing different iPhone 5 variants for different networks. Previously they tried to roll it all into one SKU, but that's no longer possible with the addition of LTE. That means you shouldn't buy a Sprint iPhone 5 if you wish to use it on AT&T and vice versa. There's still no iPhone for T-Mobile, but those of you who wish to bring one over can do so: just be sure to buy the GSM model (AT&T or unlocked GSM). The iPhone 5 uses a nano SIM; the smallest SIM card yet (Apple came up with the new standard, which was then accepted by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute).

iPhone 5 model A1428 (GSM, US): 850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 4 and 17: 700 and 2100/1700MHz) AT&T offers this model.

iPhone 5 model A1429 (CDMA): CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B (800, 1900, 2100 MHz); UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 1, 3, 5, 13, 25: 700, 850, 1800, 1900 and 2100MHz). Sprint and Verizon sell this model. It's world capable and can roam on GSM and HSPA+ networks. Word is the Verizon version has unlocked GSM.

iPhone 5 model A1429 (GSM, overseas): UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 1, 3, 5: 850, 1800 and 2100MHz) 

Apple excels when it comes to build quality, and the iPhone 5 is no exception. Every seam is perfect and the phone looks like a very expensive and elegant piece of hardware. The glass and metal look stunning and feel great in the hand, even if the design is merely an evolution of the iPhone 4 and 4S lines. The phone is no wider than the iPhone 4S, and it's just a little bit taller. It is thinner and 20% lighter than the iPhone 4S (the iPhone 5 weighs just 3.95 ounces). The weight reduction is welcome and noticeable.

The iPhone 5 is available in white with an aluminum back or black with a slate back (very dark gray coated aluminum). Both are good looking, with the white model carrying on the spirit of the iPhone 4 line while the black model has blacked out Darth Vader sides. Early user reports suggest that the black model is more prone to back scratches (ours hasn't scratched yet, but it's only a few days old). The slate back does show some fingerprint oil, though not a lot, while the white with aluminum back stays tidier.

The iPhone 5 uses the new Lighting connector, a much smaller 8 pin, double-sided connector that replaces the ancient 30 pin connector. Some folks pitched a fit over this, but connectors need to evolve over time and we're happy to see something that's much smaller and easier to plug in (since it's double-sided, there's no "this side up"). It does mean that accessories that depend on digital iPod out won't work: Apple sells a pricey $29 8 pin to 30 pin adapter but it provides power and analog audio only.

Apple includes their new earbuds, dubbed EarPods. These sell for $29 if you wish to purchase them separately, and they are indeed more ergonomic than the old earbuds while sounding noticeably better too. They come in a little case so you can keep them tidy when not in use.

Call quality is very good on our AT&T iPhone 5 units. Voice on both ends is full and quite clear. Volume is slightly above average, being just a bit louder than our HTC One X. Reception is likewise good. Data speeds are excellent (we are in a good LTE coverage area). We tried to "death grip" the phone (covering large portions of the sides) and didn't note any drop in reception since the antenna areas are now on the back top and bottom ends. Clearly, Apple has learned their lesson from the iPhone 4 and its "Antenna-gate" issue.

As you'd expect, this is Apple's fastest iPhone yet. Manufacturers may play marketing games with various specs, but Moore's Law holds fast for CPUs and they really do get significantly faster every year, as do graphics processors. Apple developed the new A6 chip in house, and they've done a tremendous job. Not many phone manufacturers also develop mobile CPUs and GPUs (Samsung is one of the few with their excellent Exynos CPU). It's particularly interesting to see a small company (in terms of R&D employee numbers, not market valuation) develop phone CPUs in-house.

The iPhone 5 has a triple core PowerVR SGX 543MP3 graphics chip and a dual core 1.3GHz ARM compatible A6 SOC (system on a chip) designed by Apple. A 1.3GHz dual core might not sound impressive compared to the quad core and 1.5GHz dual core CPUs used in Android phones and upcoming Windows Phone 8 models, but boy does this thing kick butt. In cross platform benchmarks, the iPhone 5 edges out the fastest Android phones on the US market, including the Samsung Galaxy S III and the HTC One X (the One X actually comes close to the iPhone 5 in Geekbench 2). As a refresher, the iPhone 4S and fifth gen iPod Touch have a slower dual core CPU with dual core GPU, while the New iPad has a 543MP4 GPU quad core GPU and A5x processor. The New iPad needs extra graphics punch to drive its extremely high resolution display.

The iPhone 5 ships with iOS 6, Apple's latest operating system for their phones and tablets. It features the following improvements and additions:

- Apple's new maps (Google Maps is gone from the stock firmware)
- Improved Siri that can now handle queries about location-based things and more
- Passbook: think Keyring loyalty reward card keeper plus tickets for movies and airlines with boarding passes
- Do Not Disturb: turn off all those annoying reminders to play Words with Friends when you want to sleep. Don't worry, your wakeup alarm will still sound. You can schedule DND, so you don't have to remember to enable and disable it every morning and evening.
- Facebook integration with the address book, calendar and the Safari web browser
- Shared photo streams
- Panorama mode for photos

And yes, Apple's maps can be quirky, though it hasn't guided us to Uganda yet for Mexican food. Mostly we've noticed POIs oddities when zooming: with no rhyme or reason POIs disappear when zooming and returning to an old zoom level, but that doesn't bring back suddenly missing POIs. And some landmarks like the Eiffel Tower look foreshortened or squashed. But keep in mind that Google Maps had us going in endless circles around our big box store destinations and told us to drive into a creek when it first came out 5 years ago. Nokia Maps in the US were even more likely to send us two countries away for dinner. I suspect that Apple will hone Maps soon enough, and since all data comes from their servers, they can iterate it quickly and easily. But until then, rely on your carrier-bundled navigation solution (often powered by Telenav) or third party offerings for mission critical destinations.

The iPhone 5's 8 megapixel "iSight" rear camera has a sapphire crystal lens like high end watches because it's much more scratch resistant than glass or plastic. That means the lens cover is less likely to get scratched and reduce image quality. Though the resolution is unchanged from the iPhone 4S, the camera takes photos faster, and you can take photos while also recording video, just like recent high end HTC and Samsung Android smartphones. Video is recorded at 1080p, 30 fps with the usual simple, if not simplistic set of controls. The backside illuminated sensor and 5 element f/2.4 lens are still state of the art for camera phones, and the iPhone 5 takes some of the nicest photos and videos we've seen from a smartphone. The rear camera module is made by Sony (the same is true of the iPhone 4S), and Sony really knows how to do mobile cameras right (just look at the Sony Xperia Ion's excellent camera).

The 1.2MP, 720p front FaceTime HD camera is significantly improved in terms of resolution and quality. It replaces the VGA front camera used on prior iPhones and it delivers very sharp and bright video for FaceTime and Skype chats thanks to the BSI sensor and face detection (both rare on front cameras).

The Motorola Droid RAZR was a hit last year, and Moto's back this year with the natural evolution of that iconic smartphone: the Droid RAZR HD features a larger, higher resolution display and a faster CPU. And just as with last year's Droid RAZR models, there's a MAXX option with a larger battery and a slightly thicker casing for $100 more. Today we're looking at the RAZR HD with a 4.7" Super AMOLED HD display running at 1280 x 720 and a 2350 mAh battery that sells for $199 with contract and $599 without contract extension.

The Droid RAZR HD runs on the usual 1.5GHz dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual core CPU that we've been in nearly every high end US Android smartphone. It benchmarks similarly to those phones (Samsung Galaxy S III, HTC 8X and more) and it runs Motorola's fairly clean version of Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich (Moto promises an upgrade to 4.1 Jelly Bean by year's end).

The RAZR HD has a Gorilla Glass clad display and an updated Kevlar back that looks and feels wonderful. It's soft touch and grippy but still has that carbon fiber look. The edges are rounded a bit, which looks cool and makes it more comfy in the hand. Gone is the camera hump, and the RAZR HD has an updated camera with improved image and video quality.

The phone has LTE 4G and it's a world phone with GSM and 3G HSPA for roaming overseas. As ever, the battery is sealed inside, and there's a fiddly door that covers the micro SIM card slot and the microSD card slot (similar to the apple's iPhone 5 and HTC 8X, you'll need a paperclip to open it). That makes getting to the SD card painful. Voice quality is excellent and data transfer speeds are par for the course on Verizon's 4G LTE network in our area.

The phone has a front 1.3MP camera, dual band WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, a GPS with GLONASS and NFC.

Look out Samsung Galaxy Note II, there's a new kid on the block, at least if you're a Verizon Wireless customer, and that's the HTC Droid DNA. Variously rumored as the HTC DLX and Butterfly J overseas, the HTC Droid DNA is one of our top smartphones for 2012. It has a slim and elegant design and it's relatively narrow, which makes holding this 5" Android smartphone easier than you might think. It trounces the Note II and every other smartphone on the market with its 1920 x 1080 Super LCD 3 display. That's 440ppi pixel density; significantly higher than the iPhone 5's Retina display and the lovely Nokia Lumia 920 332ppi display. Colors are more balanced and natural compared to Samsung's Super AMOLED HD display and letters and images look painted on the screen, much like the HTC One X and iPhone 5. Gorilla Glass protects the curved glass display.

But it doesn't stop there; this 5 ounce phone runs on a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU. The "Pro" is important, it indicates that this is the quad core variant of the S4 previously found on the speedy LG Optimus G and Nexus 4. The HTC DNA, running Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean with the HTC Sense UI absolutely flies. It feels noticeably faster than other high end Android phones, despite pushing all those extra pixels. It has 2 gigs of RAM and 16 gigs of storage. That's a sore point for us: we'd really like to see more than 16 gigs of storage since there's no microSD card slot. Of that 16 gigs, our phone had 11 gigs available after installing a few apps (none of which were particularly large).

The HTC DNA has no trouble playing 1080p MPEG4 high quality video or playing today's cutting edge 3D games. Since this isn't a Tegra CPU, you won't get the special effects like water reflections and splashes in TegraZone games, but we can live with that.

The phone has a 2020 mAh battery, dual band WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, a GPS and NFC that's not compatible with Google Wallet. As you'd expect from HTC, it has Beats audio that kicks in when you plug in headphones and there's a 2.5v audio preamp inside. The DNA has 3G EV-DO Rev. A and 4G LTE on Verizon and it's a world phone than can handle GSM/HSPA roaming abroad. The Droid DNA has a wide angle front 2.1MP camera and an excellent rear 8MP camera with BSI, fast f/2.0 lens and 28mm wide angle lens.

The Droid DNA has a sealed unibody design with a soft touch charcoal black back. It’s a stunner and feels great in hand, though it doesn’t look quite as interesting as the polycarbonate unibody design of the One X. At 0.38” it’s extremely slim for a big phone and we love the metallic red stripes on the side along with the red rear camera lens ring and top power button. The DNA makes the shiny plastic Note II and Galaxy S III look a little cheap: HTC has always been good at premium materials. Where does the Note II pull ahead? For those of you who enjoy the Wacom digital pen, you won’t find that here. You also won’t get the Note II’s neato side-by-side app view or the ability to play video in a floating window on top of any app.

 

Unlike the HTC One X and One X+, the camera lens is flush so the phone doesn’t wobble when resting on its back on a desk or table. The perforated red metal side strips might look like incredibly thin speaker grilles, but the speaker is actually located on the back near the bottom where you’ll find it on most phones.

The red metal power button sits on the top edge, and while it looks very nice, it’s also hard to press because it’s nearly flush with the casing and has little travel. The same is true of the volume controls on the upper right side. The 3.5mm audio jack, micro SIM card slot (requires the included tool or a paperclip to open) and two mic holes live up top. The micro USB port and another mic hole live on the bottom edge.

Call quality is excellent for incoming calls with full audio and good volume, but we found outgoing volume to be average with some occasional digitization of voice. It’s nothing to worry about, but the DNA doesn’t stand out above the crowd of solid smartphones on the market for outgoing voice quality.

Data speeds on Verizon’s LTE 4G network are par for the course, which is to say very good, though Verizon trails AT&T for LTE speeds at the moment in our area. The HTC Droid DNA manages the same speeds as the Motorola Droid RAZR MAXX HD and Galaxy S III according to the Speedtest.net app (13Mbps down and 5.7Mbps up).

This is a world phone that also works on GSM and HSPA+ networks for you world travelers. Our review unit actually worked with an AT&T SIM card (Verizon usually turns off compatibility with US GSM carriers). This may be because we have a pre-release phone, so no promises it will work for you. We suspect it’s a pre-release issue because after using an AT&T SIM card and enjoying HSPA+ data on AT&T’s network, we had to hard reset the phone (wipe it out and start fresh) to get it to register on Verizon’s network again.

This is undeniably one of the best mobile displays on the planet. At a mind-boggling 440 ppi, you won’t find anything sharper than this, not even the 264ppi iPad with Retina Display. The full 1080p means you can watch full HD movies without scaling—on a phone. Wow. The fused glass on the Super LCD3 display makes images look painted on, much like the HTC One X and iPhone 5. Viewing angles are very wide and colors are rich and more natural than on Super AMOLED displays. The display’s sides have a subtle curve (again like the One X and also like the Nokia Lumia 920) and it looks cool. We haven’t had any problems with dust getting stuck in the crevices where the glass meets the phone’s body. The display has good brightness, but it’s not particularly gifted at fighting bright sunlight (the Nokia Lumia 920 and iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 get that honor). Glare and reflections are relatively well controlled on the gloss Gorilla Glass 2 display.

The Droid DNA has a 2.5v audio pre-amp and Beats audio, but that magic shines through headphones rather than the rear speaker. That’s not to say the speaker isn’t fairly loud and full for a phone, but it doesn’t raise the bar either. Sound through the headset jack is top notch with a decent set of headphones: audio is not only crazy loud (be nice to your ears and avoid max volume), but it’s rich and full. This isn’t the mindlessly heavy Beats audio of old, but something more balanced and pleasing for a wide variety of music. Yes, bass is still more than ample, but the clarity of trebles and the faint whispers of background tracks like a brush on cymbals suddenly become clear and present.

HTC puts excellent cameras into their high end smartphones, and their Android camera app is top notch for offering myriad shooting options, including HDR and the ability to capture photos while simultaneously shooting video. The rear camera can shoot 1080p video at 30fps, though in low light the frame rate may drop. The rear camera has a BSI sensor and a fast f/2.0 lens to further improve low light photography. Indeed, the 8 megapixel camera with LED flash can take some compelling night shots of street scenes and moody bars, though we noted more noise than with the supremely impressive Lumia 920. That said, the DNA’s night sky blacks look black rather than noisy gray, and that makes for a very striking evening capture.

The Google Nexus 4 Android smartphone hardly needs and introduction. It's Google's latest and greatest contract-free, pure Google experience phone, and it's very reasonably priced at $299 for the 8 gig and $349 for the 16 gig. For that price you get a cutting edge Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro quad core CPU running at 1.5GHz, 2 gigs of RAM and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean (both OS 4.1 and 4.2 are called Jelly Bean, but you won't find 4.2 on anything other than a Google Nexus just yet). The Nexus 4 is made by LG and shares much of its internals with the excellent LG Optimus G.

The Nexus 4 is a good looking phone with curves that make it more hand-friendly. It has the usual glass front and a glass back with a subtle pattern than you'll see when you waggle it back and forth in the light. The sides are a dense plastic that should absorb bumps, but as we've learned from the iPhone 4, it's a good idea to protect a phone that wears glass front and back.

This is a GSM world phone and that means it works on T-Mobile and AT&T here in the US. It will not work on Sprint or Verizon. It's quad band GSM and pentaband 3G HSPA+ (our US carriers market this as 4G but it's really a very fast form of 3G). That means you'll get 3G on both AT&T and T-Mobile. It lacks LTE, which isn't a big deal globally since many countries don't yet have serious LTE deployments, but here in the US and Canada where LTE is mature it is a serious drawback. It's simply hard to go back to HSPA+ where data speeds are sometimes pretty good at 12Mbps but more often drop to 4 or 5 MBps down, vs. LTE's 25 Mbps. But that does make it a good phone for T-Mobile, since that carrier currently lacks a 4G LTE network. In fact, T-Mobile is offering the phone with contract ($199 for the 16 gig), but that contract price is only saving you $150 on the phone itself over the course of 2 years.

The phone has an excellent 4.7" bonded Gorilla Glass 2 curved display running at 1280 x 768. This is an IPS display with natural colors and an impressive 320 ppi pixel density (just a few ppi behind the Nokia Lumia 920 and iPhone 5s, but ahead of most other smartphones by a wider margin). Text looks painted on as it does with the HTC One X and iPhone 5: lovely!

We expected the Nexus 4 to be the fastest Android smartphone yet since it runs on the S4 Pro processor (only the Optimus G and HTC Droid DNA run on that new quad core CPU) and it has a pure version of Android 4.2 with no overlays to slow it down. But on synthetic benchmarks, it was bested by the other two smartphones. It still feels very much like a fast phone, and we have a feeling that as Google refines OS 4.2 (which also feels a little less zippy on our Nexus 7 tablet compared to 4.1.1) it will really fly.

The BlackBerry Z10, running BlackBerry 10 is finally here in the US. AT&T is the first carrier to release the Z10, and that's the model we'll review here, with occasional mention of the unlocked US model STL100-3 that we also have in house. In terms of both hardware and software, the AT&T version (also an STL-100-3) is nearly identical to its unlocked US and Canadian cousin, and only a small AT&T logo on the back gives it away. There are just a few carrier apps like AT&T Family Maps and a shortcut to the AT&T account management portal, making for a very clean experience.

This is a pure touch screen phone with no hardware QWERTY keyboard. Instead a capable software keyboard takes care of your text entry needs. The 4.2", 1280 x 768 IPS display is sharp and good looking. The BlackBerry Z10 runs on a 1.5GHz dual core Qualcomm CPU with 2 gigs of RAM and 16 gigs of internal storage. Those are beefy enough specs to make the smartphone's pervasive multi-tasking smooth. The Z10 has a rear 8MP camera that can shoot 1080p video and a front 2MP camera that can shoot 720p video. Wireless is well covered with LTE 4G and HSPA+, dual band WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS and NFC. The phone has the mobile hotspot feature and very good reception.

The Z10 is a pleasing looking smartphone that's relatively compact by today's standards. At 4.2", the Z10 feels a lot like the iPhone 5s in terms of size and screen dimensions. I personally prefer larger displays at 4.5" and above for the larger text and more immersive video watching experience, but there's something to be said for a phone that's still small enough to be comfortable to use as a phone. It fits easily enough in a pocket and the textured, rubbery back isn't slippery. The phone is largely make of plastic with an stainless steel inner frame, stainless steel buttons and the front could fool you because it looks so much like metal. The look is strikingly similar to the iPhone 5 and HTC One from the front, but Apple and HTC's offering look much classier from the back and more exciting overall. That said, the BlackBerry Z10 is attractive looking, even if it doesn't wander far from the black slab look (Verizon customers have the option to get a white Z10 along with the usual black model).

We won't complain too much about that plastic back because it allows for a thin phone with a removable rear cover. That means you can swap out the battery and there's an SDXC microSD card slot under the back cover as well as the micro SIM card slot. Removable batteries and storage cards seem to be going the way of the angels, so we're thrilled to see it here. Given BlackBerry's government and business heritage, the ability to swap in a spare battery on the road is a must.

Controls are easy to use, and we like that the center button that's sandwiched between the volume buttons does double duty to bring up voice command. However, we found voice command selection limited and the phone's voice recognition skills mediocre--it doesn't compete with Siri or the very good voice recognition system in Android. Even Windows Phone does better (Windows Phone 8 has excellent recognition skills but a limited set of commands).

The power button up top is just right: easy to press when you want it, but not easy to press accidentally. The smartphone has both micro USB (for charging and data transfer) and a micro HDMI port on the left side. The front camera is offset to the right side just a bit and the rear camera is at the upper right corner beside an LED flash. And no, there's no home button, be it physical or software-based. As you'd expect from a BlackBerry, there's a notification LED on the front above the display.

The smartphone's fresh new OS reminds us strongly of the PlayBook, which in turn reminds of us of webOS. The icons have that signature BlackBerry styling as do menu fonts, but the swipe gestures are pure PlayBook (with a nod to webOS gestures and card metaphor). BlackBerry OS 10 and the PlayBook OS have a lot in common, with a foundation in the very robust and secure QNX operating system. The good news is that the phone is fast and fluid and extremely stable. It doesn't slow down after a day or two and require a reboot as Android sometimes does. We had the web browser quit once in the middle of a page load, but that didn't take down the OS and it only happened once in 10 days of use.

Flow, or gestures are the heart of navigation, and they're optimized for one-handed use. Swipe up to minimize an application and it will then become an "Active Pane" that runs at 1/4 screen size. Some apps will update in Active Pane mode, and it's hard to guess which ones, and you can have up to 8 apps running in this multi-tasking mode. Start a ninth app and the OS will start closing other running apps (or you can tap the little x at the top right corner of an Active Pane to close that app yourself).

Your home screen is a three part experience: a multi-screen palette of icons much as you see on the iPhone and Android, the Active Pane multi-tasking area where you can swipe up and down to view all open apps and the BlackBerry Hub that serves as your one-stop location for text messages, emails, social network status updates, reminders and app update notices. You'll swipe from side to side to access these three main areas. When in an app that has menu options, you'll either see three stacked dots on the bottom right edge of the screen or you can swipe down to see any available options. This isn't consistent from app to app, unfortunately.

We found the keyboard easy to use and text prediction was quick and rational. You can accept a suggested word with a swipe up, which isn't the quickest way to do things in terms of usability, but BlackBerry is clearly in love with swipe gestures. Overall, this is one of the best on-screen keyboards on the market.

The smartphone market is a ruthlessly competitive place, and I must say that BlackBerry was smart to wait until their new OS was super-stable, fast and feature complete. Remember not so long ago Apple and Android came out missing basic features like third party app support (iOS), cut and paste (iOS, Android and Windows Phone) and multi-tasking (iOS and Windows Phone). Fast forward a few years and it isn't even worthwhile to release an OS missing those staples. All the basics are here with BlackBerry OS 10, and we applaud them, even if they don't have a "killer feature" that competing operating systems lack.

I love BlackBerry Hub, I confess. One place to look at and interact with all the things important: what a godsend! From email to texts to software update notices and tweets; it's all there. Twitter messages are threaded, which is wonderful if you have a lot of twitter conversations with strangers as I do. You can reply to social network messages, emails and texts directly from Hub, and in fact there's no dedicated email application. Yes, the phone has email with support for MS Exchange, Exchange Activesync, POP, IMAP (including IMAP idle for a push-like experience), but there's no icon for an email app, let alone the separate email icons BlackBerry 7 provided for each email account.

BlackBerry was synonymous with world class email for years, and now it's one of the platform's less stellar features. I confess, a unified email inbox just doesn't work for me as a business user: I need to jump on my important work emails first, and worry about my personal accounts only when I have time. I don't really want them mixing, and I'm not thrilled at having to tap on the Hub's caret to filter my email account view. Since I'm not a BES 10 user, I can't rely on BlackBerry's nifty BlackBerry Balance feature to separate personal and business emails. That's me, maybe you'll love it. I don't like the unfied iOS inbox either. Folder management has been a bit buggy for me (sometimes emails in folders don't appear) and mass message management shouldn't involve hunting (tap and hold on a message until a side menu appears, then you can choose the "Select More" function- it's the last option).

Gmail is handled as IMAP idle automatically since Google stopped offering Exchange Activesync for free accounts on Feb. 1, 2013. If you pay Google $5/month, you can have your EAS back. The first time I set up my Gmail account, it took about 10 minutes for new messages to come to the Z10, while they arrived instantly on my Samsung Galaxy Note II, Nokia Lumia 920 and iPhone 5s running the Gmail app. IMAP idle should be quicker than that... so I deleted my Gmail accounts and created them again. Second time it worked fine and emails arrived within 15 seconds of my other phones. Quirky. On a positive note, HTML emails look lovely and Exchange works like a charm. You can use the phone with BES 10 (BlackBerry Enterprise Server) but not BIS.

As ever with a new smartphone OS, app selection is slim. Surprisingly, game selection is a strong point in the fledgling BlackBerry World that now also offers video purchase and rentals in partnership with Rovi and a music store. Apps like Netflix are MIA but WhatsApp, Flixster and Adobe Reader are there. The phone ships with a good starter set of apps including Docs to Go for your MS Office needs (view, edit and create MS Word and Excel and view/edit PowerPoint), a pretty calculator designed by The Astonishing Tribe, PIM apps, BBM, Adobe Reader, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Box and DropBox as well as a file manager. There's a YouTube app (actually a shortcut to the mobile YouTube site), weather, a clock with alarms, mediocre voice command and a very good HTML5 web browser with Adobe Flash support and a Reader mode that works more reliably than the iPhone's. BlackBerry Maps offers basic 2D maps with no POIs and 3D driving directions with spoken navigation. BlackBerry Hub brings text messaging, reminders, email and BBM together along with social networking updates. BlackBerry says there are currently 100,000 apps in BlackBerry World, but this is quantity over quality. Many name brand popular apps from iOS and Android aren't here, but there are a lot of junk apps. Too many. We'd love to see BlackBerry raise the bar for apps because these low quality apps don't make a good impression.

As a consolation, it's supposed to be fairly easy for developers to port their Android apps over to BlackBerry 10, so we should see app selection continue to grow quickly. These non-native apps tend to run a bit slower, but for lightweight apps, it's hardly a problem. Creative geeks can grab Android apk app files and self-sign them and send them to their BlackBerry Z10 over USB. If you understand what I just said, this might be for you. If not, it's probably too techy or tedious.

The BlackBerry Z10 is an excellent voice phone with near landline clarity and fullness for incoming and outgoing voice. Volume is average for incoming voice and louder than average for outgoing voice. The speakerphone is very effective (we like it better for speakerphone than multimedia), and it's loud enough for big box stores.

Data speeds on AT&T's LTE network with both the AT&T version and the unlocked model are very good. There's still no good speed test app in BlackBerry World, but subjectively websites loaded quickly and app downloads were speedy. Reception is very good and the phone doesn't suffer death grip reception drops when you wrap your hand around it.

The BlackBerry Z10 has a superb 4.2" 1280 x 768 IPS touch screen with 356ppi pixel density and it's one of the better looking on the market. It's right up there with the iPhone 5 and HTC One X for viewing angles, sharpness and colors. It's also bright enough to be easily viewable in sunlight. Top and bottom bands protect the glass since this isn't Gorilla Glass. Text is very sharp and videos look great, though color saturation isn't quite as high as the iPhone 5 or Nokia Lumia 920. The BlackBerry Z10 supports a fairly wide variety of video formats including MOV, MPEG4, WMV, Xvid and AVI. Throw your movies on a microSD card and the built-in video player will find them and play them. The bottom-firing speaker isn't all that loud but it is clear and doesn't distort. Audio through headphones and stereo Bluetooth is quite good.

I miss a few things from BlackBerry 7, including scheduled on-off times and better control over display brightness. The ambient light sensor never sleeps: there's no way to disable it. That means if you set the phone to max brightness (and you'll probably end up doing just that), you won't get max brightness. Instead you'll get a relatively brighter setting that's still dimmed if the phone is indoors under so-so lighting. Scheduled on-off is gone, but there is an easy to access quiet mode for bedtime that you'll see on the lock screen (swipe down to activate it from the lock screen). This brings up the beloved BlackBerry bedside clock with quick access to alarms, which will work in bedside mode.

The BlackBerry Z10 has a removable 1800 mAh Lithium Ion battery. That's not a huge capacity battery by today's smartphone standards, but it's sufficient to power the phone through a day of moderate use. When the phone first launched in Canada and a few other markets a month ago, battery complaints were common, but BlackBerry has released an OS update with 60 battery tweaks and the AT&T Z10 is running that updated OS. Battery life has been perfectly reasonable for a modern smartphone, though the BlackBerry Z10 doesn't trounce the competition--it merely keeps up. The phone charges fairly quickly: it took 2.4 hours to charge the battery from 10% to 100% and just an hour to charge it from 40% to 100%. If you're a moderate user, you'll charge the Z10 daily, and if you're a light user you'll charge it every other day. If you're a heavy user, you'll need to top up by late afternoon or buy a spare battery.

It's hard to beat free, and the LG Lucid 2 is free on contract with Verizon Wireless. For your money (so to speak) you get a smartphone running Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean on a 1.2GHz dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus CPU with a gig of RAM and 8 gigs of internal storage. The phone has a sharp 4.3" IPS qHD display, a microSD card slot and a removable battery. As you'd expect from a Verizon smartphone it has 4G LTE, dual band WiFi, Bluetooth and a GPS. There's a front video chat camera and a rear 5 megapixel camera with HDR. Not too shabby if you're looking for no cash outlay or you're starting out with your first smartphone.

In a sea of huge Android phones, the 4.3" LG Lucid 2 is downright pocket-friendly and easy to hold. The tapered sides look good and feel good in hand and the back is grippy textured plastic. The back isn't exactly chic, but it is removable and it grants access to the battery, microSD card slot and micro SIM card slot. It's not a bad looking phone, though it won't beat the HTC One or even the Samsung Galaxy S4 in a beauty competition. The 4.5 ounce phone is 0.39 inches thick.

As with most smartphones, the micro USB port for charging and syncing is at the bottom, the headset jack is up top and the speaker is on the back. The volume rocker is on the left side and the power button is at the upper right side. The 4.3" display dominates the front and there are 4 rather than the usual 3 Android capacitive buttons below the display. If you've used other Android phones, the extra button might throw you, and because button backlighting doesn't come on until you touch a button, it's hard to guess which one you should go for in the dark.

The LG Lucid 2 has a 960 x 540 IPS display that's sharp and fairly bright. LG makes nice displays and we have no complaints even though the phone won't win any Retina competitions for extremely high resolution. At 4.3", it really does need a crazy high resolution to look good to the naked eye. Viewing angles on IPS displays are typically the best in the industry, verging on 180 degrees. The seemingly thick glass creates glare and light refraction here that diminish viewing angles a bit, but it's not bad by any means. Outdoor visibility is decent, but not as good as the original LG Lucid with its wildly bright 600 nit display.

First the bad part: voice quality is just passable. We noted somewhat digitized and warbling speech for incoming and outgoing voice. Conversation wasn't hindered, but we had to work a little harder to understand what was said at times. The good news is that data speeds on Verizon's LTE network were solid and the phone averaged 17Mbps down and 4Mbps up according to Ookla's Speedtest.net app.

The Lucid 2 has the usual Mobile Hotspot feature so you can use the phone as a high speed wireless modem for your laptop or tablet. This is a CDMA smartphone with 3G EV-DO Rev. A and 4G LTE on Verizon's network. It is not a world phone with GSM roaming capabilities. 

Last year, a dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus was state of the art, but now the specs-obsessed world has moved on to quad core CPUs. Does that mean that the LG Lucid 2's 1.2GHz dual core S4 Plus CPU with Adreno 225 graphics is slow? Quite the opposite: for average users this is a peppy phone that can handle web browsing, email, streaming video and gaming like a champ. Will it keep up with the top smartphones a year from now if you're playing the latest killer 3D game? Probably not, but this is an entry level free phone. And a year from now it will still handle web browsing and most games perfectly well; it just won't be the fastest. In terms of synthetic benchmarks it does better than most Android smartphones running on the same CPU and it's comparable to the Verizon Wireless Samsung Galaxy S III running on the same CPU (in fact, it does better on some benchmarks).

The phone runs Android OS 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, which isn't quite the newest 4.2 available on phones like the Nexus 4 and upcoming Verizon Samsung Galaxy S4, but it's close enough that we won't complain. Currently, most phones other than those two are shipping with the same OS version. The Lucid 2 has LG's Optimus 3.0 UI enhancements, and these are toned down from previous versions (that's a good thing). The UI isn't overbearing and the quick access to settings and LG's handy memo app are good stuff. Still, the icons are a little cartoony and we get the feeling LG is copying Samsung's TouchWiz here and there. The phone supports gestures like flipping the phone to silence incoming calls or pause video playback and it has a notification LED above the display. There's a "Starter Mode" simplified UI option for newbies.

Budget phones don't often have good cameras, but LG makes solid camera phones and even the Lucid 2 manages images and 1080p video that are pleasing. For the price, we're pleased to see full HD video recording and HDR photo mode, and in fact the phone takes pleasing photos and video. No, it won't compete with the 13MP Samsung Galaxy S4, but I suspect entry level buyers will be very happy with the properly exposed photos and fairly smooth video captured by the LG Lucid 2. Just don't expect low noise, detailed nightclub shots or blur-free video of sporting events.

The 2460 mAh Lithium Ion offers more capacity than many competing smartphones, and given the dual core CPU and relatively small display that equals solid battery life. We had no trouble making it through the day on Verizon's LTE network in a mix of web browsing, calling, email, 30 minutes of YouTube video streaming and an hour of music playback with the screen off. The battery is removable so you can swap in a spare if needed. LG offers an optional desktop dock that can charge both the phone and a second battery.

How do you make a very good thing even better? If it's a smartphone you add a few more cores while cranking clock speed, increase battery capacity and cram in 64 gigs of internal storage. That's the HTC One X+, available exclusively on AT&T in the US. It's the mid-cycle refresh of the HTC One X to keep the phone competitive with the Samsung Galaxy S III, LG Optimus G and other high end phones.

The One X+ has the same design and unibody polycarbonate casing as the One X, but it's available only in gray (the One X was also available in white). For a 4.7" smartphone, it's surprisingly compact and the curves fit perfectly in the hand. The non-gloss surface is easy to grip and polycarbonate is durable and doesn't interfere with wireless radios. Like the One X, the rear camera lens protrudes from the back like a small porthole, making it a little wobbly when you use it on a desk.

If you've read our review of the HTC One X, you know it was one of our top picks in May 2012. The iconic unibody polycarbonate design, superb 4.7", 1280 x 720 Super LCD2 display with 312 ppi pixel density and smooth and reliable performance made it stand out. The display is still one of the best we've seen on a smartphone, and images and text look painted on. Colors are rich and accurate and auto-brightness works perfectly, unlike our Galaxy S III that keeps us in the dark on auto-bright.

The One X+ moves up to the new NVidia AP37 1.7GHz quad core Tegra 3 CPU, making it faster than both our US One X with the dual core Snapdragon and the international 1.5GHz Tegra 3 One X. The phone benchmarks are at the top of the list in all tests and even more important, it feels fast in actual use. Android 4.1 Jelly Bean with its "Project Butter" speed optimizations adds to that perceived quickness and the phone never lags. HTC Sense 4+ skins Android, and we have no complaints. Sense is never overbearing and it brings good usability tweaks while still letting features like Google Now shine. Though there's no microSD card slot for expansion, we can forgive HTC since the phone has a plush 64 gigs of internal storage at a much lower price than the 64 gig iPhone 5.

Just as with the One X, voice quality for both incoming and outgoing voice is very good on the One X+. Call recipients couldn't tell we were on a cell phone and the phone did a good job of rejecting ambient noise via the built-in mics. Incoming voice was clear and easy to understand with slightly better than average volume. As a calling device, the HTC gets a thumbs up, with one complaint: Bluetooth audio quality for calls is sub-par. HTC has a fix in the works for this and it should be deployed OTA very soon.

This is a quad band GSM world phone with 3G HSPA+ (AT&T calls this 4G) and 4G LTE. Like most current smartphones, it has the mobile hotspot feature so you can use the phone as a WiFi hotspot for your computer or tablet.

The HTC One X+ has a 2100 mAh Lithium Ion battery that's sealed inside (up from 1800 mAh on the One X) and we've so far had no trouble making it through a full day (7am-11pm) with moderate use that includes everything but gaming. 3D gaming will drain the battery more quickly than anything else, and gaming drain is higher on the One X+ than on dual core Snapdragon phones. The One X+ also gets quite warm on the upper rear and near the earpiece when gaming for 10 minutes or more. The same is true when using the LTE 4G connection heavily, say to download 20 apps in one session. It's by no means hot enough to burn you, but you'll notice the heat. The phone gets even hotter when plugged in and charging while gaming, an unfortunate Catch-22 since gaming drains the battery fast.

The phone has an excellent 8 megapixel camera with a BSI sensor, a fast f/2.2 28mm lens and an LED flash. It can shoot 1080p video at 30 fps and has features like HDR, burst mode and panorama. It's largely unchanged from the One X rear camera, and it's still among top camera phones in the US (Galaxy S III, iPhone 5s and Nokia Lumia 920), though we'd say the Lumia 920 sits at the top for low light work. The front camera is improved from the One X and is 1.6MP.

The HTC One X+ has Beats Audio, and the audio enhancement works with any brand of headphones. Beats has quite a few settings to choose from, ranging from the classic bass-heavy Beats EQ to classical, vocal and warm. That should help for those who like their music less managed by EQ, but who do appreciate some audio enhancement. The rear firing speaker isn't all that loud and is easily muffled when laid face up on a desk, but music and video sound good through headphones.

The phone can handle HDMI out using an optional MHL adapter that plugs into the micro USB port. We tested this with a few TVs and our Sony AV receiver and it worked fine.

HTC includes their own music app that integrates TuneIn Radio, MOG Music and SoundHound for track info, artist info and lyrics. You can add other music apps to the player if you like. The Music app automatically got album art for our tracks and we like the rich interface and background playback feature. You can control playback from the lock screen, top taskbar and widget.

For those who prefer Google's apps, Google Play Music is here as is the Google movie store and standard Gallery application for photo viewing and video playback. HTC Watch is here for movie rentals and purchase. We tested 720p and 1080p MPEG4 video playback stored on the device and through MHL to HDMI and videos played smoothly with good audio sync.

The smartphone had Beats audio, dual band WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, a GPS with GLONASS and NFC. While Bluetooth behaved well on our One X, the One X+ has a bug where Bluetooth audio with many headsets and our car's built-in Bluetooth sounded blown out, overly loud and distorted as if the gain had been set much too high. HTC is aware of the issue and they'll release an update to fix the problem. WiFi on the other hand performed well as did the GPS.

Pantech isn't known for their high end phones, but that's changing with elegantly designed, well equipped Android smartphones like the Pantech Discover. The phone has a 4.8" display running at 1280 x 720 and a sleek design that doesn't look the least bit cheap though the phone is only $49 on contract with AT&T.

Like most higher end US smartphones, the Discover has a 1.5GHz dual core Snapdragon S4 CPU with a gig of RAM and 16 gigs of internal storage. Despite the slim design, the back cover is removable and there's a microSD card slot and a removable 2100 mAh battery under the door. The back cover has a grippy texture and is curved so it's less likely to slip out of your hand. The phone is thicker at the top to accommodate the large side-facing stereo speakers and 12.6 megapixel rear camera with LED flash. And yes, it takes very pleasing photos and good 1080p video.

The phone runs Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich rather than 4.1 Jelly Bean, and at $50 with contract, we're guessing it won't get the Jelly Bean upgrade. It has Pantech's UI customizations, which aren't our favorite but they're not that intrusive. There's an option to enable a simplified UI for newbies. The Discover surprisingly ships with Adobe Flash Player 11.1, which has all but disappeared from new Android phones and is no longer available for new installs on the Google Play Storeake note, Flash video addicts: there's no need to hunt down and sideload Flash.

The phone has 4G LTE on AT&T's 800MHz band as well as HSPA+ 3G (though AT&T also calls this 4G). Reception is solid, data speeds are excellent and call quality is good. The Pantech Discover had dual band WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS and NFC. There's a front 2MP for video chat. It's quite the phone for $50 on contract and it compares favorably with more expensive smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S III, HTC One X+ and the Nokia Lumia 920.