Version 4.0 started life as Ice Cream Sandwich, but the last three decimal additions came under the Jelly Bean banner. This new version was obviously deemed different enough to snag a new nickname, but not different enough to merit a jump to version 5.0. With version 5 now emerging as Android Lollipop, which is set to launch imminently.

That 0.1 bump hardly does it justice though. Don't be fooled: this is an important step up for Android. KitKat is super-smooth, the UI is refined and elegant, there are improvements to the long-neglected calling and messaging side of the platform, a new focus on productivity, and your fortune-telling digital assistant is brought front and centre as Google Now reaches maturity.

General surprise in the tech world wasn't just based on the erroneous supposition that Key Lime Pie had to be next; there were also some raised eyebrows at the idea of Google entering into a tawdry cross-licensing deal with Nestle which would see a flood of Android-shaped KitKats hitting the shops offering buyers the chance to win Nexus 7 tablets or Google Play credit.

According to Google the promotion was its idea, and no money changed hands. With Nestle producing 50 million Android KitKat bars it certainly looks like a sweet deal for them.

Naming conventions aside, the 4.4 update is about addressing some of the Android criticisms that simply won't go away, and it does so very well indeed.

There's a real focus on the consumer here, with a smattering of useful new features, a noticeable bump in performance, and some optimization to ensure that budget hardware is not left behind.Android 4.4 is easily the best version of the platform to date, and Google has left the ball firmly in the OEMs' court when it comes to rolling out the upgrades.

Leading the field by extending the update beyond its Nexus line to the Moto G also neatly illustrates the move to improve the Android experience on low-end, affordable hardware.

Android KitKat started out as version 4.4, but it's since had various small updates in the form of 4.4.1, 4.4.2, 4.4.3 and most recently Android 4.4.4 - this review has been updated to reflect the tweaks and changes experienced at each step to give you the most complete overview of the operating system, as well as highlighting how things will change in the move to Android 5.0 Lollipop.

KitKat really makes a mockery of the idea that iOS 7 is more refined than Android and even stands up well toiOS 8. This version of the platform is impressively fast, with stylish transitions and an intuitive feel that masks the potential complexity.

There's a paring back of the notification bar that introduces translucency and context awareness, enabling you to reclaim every pixel of your display for whatever you're doing.

There are a few new features here, and not all of them are perfect, but for the most part Google has cherry-picked improvements and refined them.

The contrast between the bloated OEM launchers and stock Android could hardly be starker, but there are still a few things that manufacturers like Samsung and LG could teach Google (split-screen apps is an obvious one) and some of these things will be addressed in Android Lollipop.

The familiar white Google logo, followed by four pulsing colourful circles, still greets you on booting up, but the process has sped up dramatically as the platform has matured. When I checked version 4.1 on a Galaxy Nexus it took 34 seconds. The Nexus 4 running Android 4.2 Jelly Bean clocked in at 19 seconds.

Android 4.4.4 took around 20 seconds to boot up on the Nexus 5 used for testing. Not quite as fast as the Nexus 4, but when you consider that my Galaxy S3 running version 4.3 of Android took just shy of 40 seconds to boot up, you get a feel for how speedy that is.

As the home screen comes into view, you can immediately detect the lighter feel that Google was shooting for. The status bar icons at the top are now white.

The custom Roboto font looks like it has been on a diet, which makes it feel that little bit more crisp and elegant. Looking at menu highlights and icons, what once was blue is now generally grey.

All of this is set to change again though with Android Lollipop, which will be giving the OS a 'Material Design' makeover which gives it a flat look while making everything that little bit more real.

The changes go further on the Nexus 5 because it has the Google Now Launcher. Those black bars top and bottom are gone. A subtle gradient is retained to ensure white icons are clear, even on light backgrounds.

Head into your app drawer and you'll find white dots at the bottom of the screen to illustrate which page you are on. The icons are now much bigger and clearer, at the cost of displaying just four across instead of five.

The widget tab has been dumped, and you won't miss it because a long press anywhere on the home screen gives you access to the widget menu, as well as wallpapers and relevant settings.

Swipe from right to left and you can access additional home screens. There doesn't seem to be any limit, you simply drag an icon to the right to create a new screen. Any home screen you empty will automatically disappear.

The only real surprise is that you have to scroll deliberately through each one; you can't take a shortcut by tapping on the page marker dots at the bottom.

Swiping from left to right on the home screen will bring Google Now into view, but I'll go into that in more detail later.

Initially none of these changes made it beyond the Nexus 5 by default, but the Google Now Launcher has since been made available for other devices in the Play Store.

I was disappointed and surprised that Google initially decided to keep this as a Nexus 5 exclusive, so it's pleasing to see it getting a wider release.

If it doesn't work for you, the good news is that popular launchers, such as the free Nova Launcher, can be used, and the status bar transparency is supported along with a number of other customization options, to help you get the look you want.Jelly Bean saw a major overhaul of the notification shade, but dragging it down from the top of the screen won't reveal any major changes in KitKat.

Google has moved on to the next challenge, and refreshingly there has been some overdue attention lavished on the calls and messaging apps.

Though notifications will be returning to the spotlight in Android Lollipop, as that enables them to appear on the lockscreen and become less intrusive by popping up at the top of the screen when you're in an app, rather than blocking your view.

The Phone app sits bottom left in the dock on your home screen (although the dock can be customized to your liking). Fire it up and you'll find that frequently contacted people are prominently displayed.

There's a search bar at the very top for contacts or nearby places, and it auto-suggests as you type, so you'll rarely need to input more than a couple of letters.

Your last call is highlighted at the top, with three favourites below that, and then the rest of your contact list. It only fills this in as and when you call people.

Three icons sit in a blue bar at the bottom: on the left you have a call log, in the middle there's the dial pad, and on the right is where you can add, import or export contacts, and access call settings.

The caller ID system has also been improved, so that it can automatically search for businesses with a matching number in listings on Google Maps, if the phone number calling you is not listed in your contacts.

There's nothing Earth-shattering going on here, but Google's bet that most of us only frequently contact a small group of people is a safe one, and it makes the Phone app faster to use.

The changes to the messaging system are much bigger. Google has decided to consolidate MMS and SMS messages into its Hangouts app.

When Android 4.4 KitKat initially turned up I was pretty critical of the Hangsouts app, as the separation of SMS and Hangout messaging threads and the lack of auto-detect to choose how to message a contact, felt awkward.

Thankfully I can now say, with Android 4.4.4 running on my Nexus 5, the whole experience is a lot better. Both of my primary concerns have been addressed by Google and Hangouts is now a slick, fluid messaging application.

If the person you want to contact is online and signed into Hangouts (via Google+, Google Talk or Gmail), then you can use that service. If they aren't, your phone will automatically detect that and switch you to SMS mode.

You can choose between available options by tapping the icon to the left of the text input box - allowing you to over ride an online instant messaging chat in favour of a good, old fashioned SMS.

The Hangouts app allows you to share your location, which is great for meeting friends, and you can send files like animated gifs, or make video calls. Google has also integrated Emoji into the keyboard, so you have a huge list of comical Japanese squiggles to make your messages more interesting.

Just remember that they won't display properly at the other end if the person you're talking to doesn't have Emoji characters installed.

It's commonplace to use your smartphone for work nowadays, and there's a greater level of expectation that it will be able to handle documents. The days of the BlackBerry device for the office and something else for home are long gone.

Google has included QuickOffice as a standard app with Android 4.4. It enables you to create and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint files on your phone or tablet.

You can save those files to the cloud using the 15GB of free storage you get with Google Drive. It's also capable of opening PDF files. You can share any of your creations directly via email, Bluetooth, Google Drive, and other cloud services.

There's a new Cloud Print feature to simplify the process of printing a photo, document or web page wirelessly from your Android smartphone or tablet.

It's a pretty barebones option, and you'll need to use a printer that's connected to Google Cloud Print or an HP ePrint printer. Other printers will add support via apps in the Google Play Store.

It draws the list of devices from Chrome, so any device or printer you've used while signed in on Chrome gets listed. This might be a headache for some, so you're best off going to the Google Cloud Print website, when signed into your Google account on your desktop, so you can set it up exactly the way you want.

There's no denying that Google tries to push you towards using the services it wants you to use, and Gmail is a good example. The improvements to the Email app in Android 4.4 offer a welcome break from this pressure.

Some of the better features of Gmail have been integrated. Emails are organized into nested folders, contact photos are displayed, and they double up as checkboxes to select messages.

The bottom navigation bar is gone and there's a new slide-out menu that comes in from the left, offering access to all your folders.

You can also just slide an email left or right to delete it, which enables you to get through that inbox faster. The only obvious thing that's lacking is threaded email conversations.

It looks like Google might allow the Gmail app to handle non-Google emails with Android Lollipopthough, so having two email apps may soon be a thing of the past.

One final boost to productivity is offered by the revamped Downloads app. If you download a lot of files this will really help you find what you want without a lengthy search. You can choose between list or grid view, and you can filter by name, date, or size.

You'll also find that the menu that slides in to enable you to open files in specific apps and attach them provides you with a clear choice of recent files, cloud services, and downloads.

The allocation of 15GB of free cloud storage is fairly generous, provided you don't mind using Google services. There are various routes into that space. The most useful feature is the auto-backup for photos and videos. You can set it up via Google+, the Photos app, or Google Drive.

You'll also find that you can open your Google Drive files directly from the cloud in relevant apps. Use Quick Office and you can open Word documents.

Fire up the Photos app and you can see photos and videos taken with the camera on the device you're holding, or tap the Highlights tab and you'll see all of your photos and videos from any device that you've backed up, as well as photos you've posted in Google+ and photos you've been tagged in on Google+.

When it comes to viewing your photos and videos, Google is clearly transitioning from the old Gallery app to a new Photos app. That means there's a slightly confusing mixture of the two.

The Photos app looks fresher, with a white background and a nicer layout.

It lists your content chronologically by default. It pulls in all of your backed up content from Google+, and supports Auto Awesome photos and movies.

The photo effects allow you to merge photos, create wee animations, and more.

There's also an editor to create movies from a mix of photos and videos with various themes, styles, and background music options. The real attraction is the "auto" part of the equation, but you'll have to tweak to get really good results.

The Gallery app has a more in-depth photo editor, but none of the Auto Awesome features. It has a traditional album set up by default, but you can choose to filter by time, location, people, or tags.

Both of the apps duplicate sharing functionality, although it's an option that looks more stylish in the Photos app and you can see the extra integration with existing Google services.

It's another area where Google is trying to tempt you into using its services with some interesting and exclusive features, but the Gallery app is perfectly functional and you can afford to ignore the Photos app if you prefer not to use it.

On devices from other manufacturers there's a good chance that the stock Gallery app will be replaced by their own app for photos, and that's part of the reason it has to be there. It remains to be seen how, when, or if Google will integrate the two in future.

Bear in mind also that the look if not the functionality of all these things is going to change with Android Lollipop to fit with its new Material Design.

The pre-emptive powers and general usability of Google Now are improving with every passing Android release. On the Nexus 5, or any other device running the Google Now Launcher, you only have to swipe from left to right on the home screen to open Google Now.

On other Android 4.4 devices you can swipe up from the Home button, wherever you happen to be, and whatever you happen to be doing, and it will launch.

As long as you have your language set to US English (you'll find the option to change it in Settings > Google > Search > Voice) you can simply say "Ok Google" to launch a voice search and you can do that from any screen on the phone, even the lock screen.

You can use Google Now for all sorts of thing, including web searches, sending messages, making calls, launching apps, and even playing songs.

The one impediment to that is the speech recognition, but it's showing real signs of improvement in Android 4.4. Even with my Scottish brogue the success rate for queries was pretty high. You can also tap on any wrongly interpreted words and pick a replacement from the dropdown list.

Google is apparently working on integrating Google Now with partner apps next, so it will be able to access their content, and that could advance it another step.

The customization options are still very limited right now, and if you aren't interested in weather results, commute updates, specific sports teams or stocks, then it's just about the voice commands.

Android has been criticized for lag and stutter since it first appeared on the mobile scene. This is somewhat inevitable when you allow low-end hardware to run the platform and manufacturers to create their own user interfaces. Project Butter was the concerted effort to eradicate lag in Jelly Bean and it definitely worked, but KitKat takes it to a whole new level with Project Svelte.

Navigating around on the Nexus 5 or Nexus 7 is lightning fast and silky smooth, nary a touch of lag to spoil your day. The Nexus 5 has had special treatment to ensure that the touchscreen is responsive and accurate, and you can really feel the difference.

Any device with Android 4.4 will benefit from the memory optimization, and if you're on Android 4.4.3 or 4.4.4 there are even more improvements, making it a breeze to skip in and out of apps and games. This speedy performance is no surprise on a powerhouse like the Nexus 5 or Nexus 7 with their 2GB of RAM, but it really stands out on a device like the Moto G with 1GB of RAM.

That's what makes KitKat so important for the budget end of the Android market.

Google's Project Svelte enables the platform to run reliably on devices with just 512MB of RAM. It could be a viable update for devices stuck on Gingerbread.

A 'low memory' mode can automatically scale back animations and ensure that the hardware can cope. The real barrier to this is persuading manufacturers and carriers to update old devices when they'd prefer you to buy a new one.

There should be even more performance improvements with Android Lollipop, in large part because it switches to the ART runtime, which is both faster and more memory efficient than Dalvik, which is the standard Android 4.4 runtime.

Better yet, Android Lollipop should also bring improvements to battery life as well as a battery saving mode to keep your devices going for as long as possible.We've covered the highlights already, but there are a few other enhancements worth mentioning. For a start, KitKat finally brings lost device security to the platform as a default. The Android Device Manager, for finding and remotely wiping a lost device, is now built in to the platform.

When you are listening to music on your device, or projecting movies to Chromecast (now fully supported), you can enjoy full screen art and controls on the lock screen.

The immersive mode which melts the status bar away when you're playing a game or watching a movie is available for all apps now, although it will require developers to update them to support it. A simple swipe up from the bottom of the screen conjures up the Back, Home, and Multitasking keys.

It's also truly gratifying to be able to check your notifications by swiping down from the top of the screen without having to exit whatever you are doing.

Notifications should get better still with Android Lollipop, as among other things it will smartly prioritise them based on your own usage.

Bluetooth MAP support in Android 4.4 promises better integration with Bluetooth-enabled cars, closed captioning and subtitles can now be turned on via the Accessibility menu, and you can manage Home screen replacements or launchers from the menu via Settings > Home.

Perhaps the biggest new feature we haven't mentioned yet is support for tap to pay via NFC. Google has found a way to allow apps to manage your payment information in the cloud or on your device, so you can use Google Wallet, even if carriers are trying to push their own alternatives.

Throw in support for IR blasters, a more power-friendly way to act as a pedometer, and a new location option in quick settings to give more control over what apps are tracking your location and how they do it.

All in all there are a lot of little tweaks and additions that improve the whole experience, though it's a shame that things like low-power audio playback and HDR+ photography have been limited to the Nexus 5.

The emergence of that Google launcher makes you wonder how much further Google's Android might deviate from the stock experience on other devices in the future.

Tablets are taking the world by storm. Just a few years ago they were an unknown for many people, but nowadays you've got more choice than you can shake a mildly agitated badger at.

And with choice comes decisions - difficult decisions. Do you eschew Apple's high prices, join the Android brigade and find the best iPad alternative? Or jump on board Cupertino's lovetrain, and use one of the most popular tablets on the planet?

Remember - the iPad 2 is nearly available to buy, as is the new iPad Mini 3(or iPad Mini with Retina 2, if you're getting really picky) so perhaps hold off that new tablet purchase for the next few weeks to check out what's on offer - or if the new Apple slates will force the cost of Android options down.

And for the budget conscious: the Tesco

We've made it easy for you and pulled together the top 10 tablets of the moment available in the UK.

It's a difficult process divining which place each of these excellent tablets should occupy in our list, so we take into account multiple elements including performance, battery life, screen quality and more.

Price plays a minor part, as does age: a tablet that's been replaced by a sequel will tumble down the rankings as you can get all the great features on a better slate.

If none of the top 10 tablets here take your fancy then head on over to ourtablet reviews pages, where you'll find in-depth reviews for many more models.

Let us know your thoughts on the top 10 (and whether you think we've got the order wrong) in the comment box below.

Apple's former CEO Steve Jobs famously slammed small tablets a few years back, leading many to believe the Cupertino-based firm would never dabble in the budget end of the market, but this model proved that wrong.

In terms of consistency in the tablet market Apple cannot be matched, as it still lays claim to the the top spot in our top 10, although the iPad mini is no longer the jewel in an already glistening crown - it's already been usurped by the upgraded Google Nexus 7 and its successor.

However, the new iPad mini 3 is nearly here. Don't buy this one now - it will probably go off sale really soon. If you must have it, the price will drop quickly at other retailers if you wait.

Leaner, meaner and more powerful than its predecessor, Amazon has stepped its game up with the Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 7 as it looks to keep pace with the new Nexus 7.

On paper Amazon's latest 7-inch tablet is more than up to the job with a 2.2GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, full HD display, up to 64GB of storage and prices starting at £200.

In reality however it's not the complete offering the Nexus 7 is, with Amazon's heavily modified Fire OS 3.0 stripping out a lot of the functionality of Android and putting the retailer's services front and centre.

Well, when you make an Android tablet with a design language like this one, perhaps it's time to quietly worry at Samsung. In place of plastic, it's got a lovely aluminium shell, and connectivity with other Android phones makes it a viable option for a wider range of users.

Some might question whether the Snapdragon 600 chip is too low-power for a tablet that costs around £200, but it allows for a sleeker design according to the Korean brand.

Never one to leave a tablet niche unexplored, Samsung pushed screen sizes up to new heights with the Galaxy Note Pro 12.2.

Thankfully that's not all it has going for it, as the Note Pro 12.2's 3GB of RAM and quad-core processor give it superior performance, while the S Pen becomes truly useful in combination with the slates large, bright screen.

It's an obvious choice for digital artists or anyone else who wants a device they can be productive on, but the bigger screen makes it great just for web browsing and watching videos too.

On the flip side the increased size makes it a little unwieldy and the build quality is a touch creaky thanks to the larger chassis, but is offset by the sheer expanse of screen to play with.

The first Hudl was good - but this is a much better option.

The Intel Atom processor, the quad core speeds, the Full HD screen and the general interface is really something to behold.

The price tag is the best thing though: the Hudl 2 will cost no more than £129, and if you're a Tesco Clubcard holder it can be much, much cheaper.

OK, it's a bit slow to wake and the battery is suspect, but for the price you're getting something we'd be happy to recommend you buy for a loved one this Christmas.

The new Nexus 7 takes over from the original 7-inch effort from Google in 2012, and packs a 1.5Ghz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM and comes with either 16GB or 32GB of storage

Offered up at just 260g, it's the perfect tablet for slinging in a bag and hurtling down to the local supermarket, or is equally adept at being a long-haul saviour, with reams of apps, a decent slug of battery life and that all-new high-res 7-inch IPS display with a resolution of 1920 x 1200 display with 323 ppi.

It's a little more expensive than the previous model was at launch, with prices beginning at £199 for the 16GB option and £239 for the 32GB variant - and it's worth remembering that the OS takes a portion of that storage too, to allow for Android 4.4 KitKat to thrive. Plus there's a 4G option.

But it has some top end features, a low-risk update policy and is built in a way that makes it feel both premium and robust enough to chuck around the house. That's a good mix in our eyes.

Look at that - Apple's taken the two of the top five spots in our tablet round up. You'll either love or hate that decision, but we can't deny that Apple has the best slates on the market right now.

The iPad Air is ahead of the Mini 2, thanks to being more competitive on price and having a larger screen for all those iPad-friendly apps.

But this is far from a poor device. It's got reams of style from the aluminium back, a superfast A7 chip and that screen... well, it's what we should have had last year, but it still looks the business.

Don't forget that this model is about to be usurped by a new iPad Mini 3 - best to wait until that lands on shelves before deciding to buy.

Sony's done it again in the tablet world, making an amazing large-screened device, and while it hasn't nabbed the top spot, it's still given us a jolly good tablet.

The Xperia Z2 Tablet - so named to tie in more neatly with the phone version - brings a massively uprated Snapdragon 801 CPU, 3GB of RAM and an all-new Live Color LED screen that brings vibrancy and contrast to what you're watching.

Video is also improved thanks to the dual front-facing speakers, meaning you can ditch the headphones when watching in a hotel room and still get a decent experience.

Like its predecessor it's also water and dust resistant, so kitchen-based misdemeanours and reading an ebook in the bath are all on offer for you.

Samsung has been pouring a lot of effort into making a really decent iPad rival, and that strategy has seen some hare-brained decisions (such as launching the Tab Pro in January, and then replacing it a few months later with the Galaxy Tab S).

But, apart from annoying anyone that's already bought into the Tab Pro range, this strategy has finally yielded a brilliant tablet in the shape of this Super AMOLED-shorn Tab S duo. Available in both 8.4- and 10.5-inch screen sizes, Samsung has taken the best of its OS and technology ability, fused them with the best display on a tablet and created something pretty special.

The battery life is great, the screen has to be seen to be believed (and is excellent for media and internet viewing, which is really the point of a tablet) and the price is on a par with the rest of the industry. Well done, Samsung.

I don't mean to sound cynical here, but if you've seen one modern Motorola smartphone, you've just seen them all. Seriously. Motorola is still enamored with those curved backs, clean faces and dimpled logos. Other details of the design are carryovers too, including the headphone jack centered along the phone's top edge, and the faintest hints of color circling the 8-megapixel rear camera. All of that taken together means this year's Moto G looks an awful lot like last year's batch of Motorola handsets with just a few notable differences.

For one, a more expansive, 5-inch 720p display fills the front -- it's barely bounded by bezels on the left and right, while a shiny pair of front-facing speaker grilles above and below the screen helps the G pull off a convincing Moto E impersonation. You won't notice the tiny, white notification light next to the pinprick of a front-facing camera until someone shoots you an email or writes on your Facebook wall, though your eye will occasionally dart to the proximity sensor sitting below the topmost speaker (especially if your phone is white, like mine was). That's about it in terms of visual flair -- the G in its default state is as subtle as ever, but you can trick it out with any number of Motorola's colorful backplates and cases.

As it turns out, that bigger screen winds up being a blessing and a curse. Your apps and emails have more room to stretch out and breathe, but this year's Moto G is also a little less comfortable to hold because of it. That's a shame since Motorola did an outstanding job making the new Moto X feel slimmer than it is by tapering the sides. Here, those edges are flat and substantial, and while they don't make the phone feel small, they do give your hands more surface area to grip -- not a bad deal for any butterfingers reading this. You might also notice a hint of slack between the removable back plate and the rest of the phone, but that's just me being nitpicky.

If you thought the Moto G's looks were more of the same, just wait until you see what's lurking inside. This year's model has the same quad-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 as its predecessor, along with the same 1GB of RAM. That both generations of the G basically share a brain isn't necessarily a bad thing -- we quite enjoyed the horsepower we squeezed out of it last year -- but I couldn't help but hope Motorola would use a more powerful configuration this year.

The similarities don't end there either: Both versions of the G run with the same non-removable 2,070mAh battery, which, at first blush, seems a silly choice. Why would anyone stick the same ol' battery in a new device with a bigger screen to light up? It's another one of those price-performance balancing acts Motorola had to cope with, and since this thing has the same brain and the same lack of LTE support (HSPA all the way) as the original G, I guess popping in a more powerful cell wasn't deemed crucial. If it makes you feel any better, though, there's now a microSD card slot behind the back cover to supplement the meager 8GB of storage, and an alternate version of the phone sports two SIM card slots instead of one.

Of all the surprises that first Moto G brought to the table, its 4.5-inch, 720p screen was one of the most pleasant. Impressive clarity? Accurate colors? Solid viewing angles? The original G had them all, and the sequel's 5-inch display fares almost as well. Yes, almost. There are a few bummers at play here, but the most notable is the slight dip in sharpness since the screen uses the same number of pixels to fill even more space. If you've got a spare moment, you can peer very intently and pick out those individual pixels; you're ultimately left with a screen that looks softer and less crisp than the one that came before it. The bigger question, though, is how much that actually matters. My answer? Hardly at all. It's not going to be a dealbreaker for anyone but the most persnickety screen hounds.

More importantly, the Gorilla Glass 3-clad display is spacious, bright and plenty vivid, though colors didn't seem quite as poppy and saturated as they did on the original Moto G. Personally, I prefer it when colors border on lurid (gotta love those AMOLED screens), so the screen feels just a little lifeless to me. Of course, though, your mileage will vary on that one. Alas, things take a turn when you start looking at dark pages or videos: My review unit has some pretty noticeable backlight bleeding at four discrete spots near the center of the screen. Those stray photons shouldn't be terribly bothersome for most, but my eyes couldn't help but gravitate toward them while poking through a dark app or sitting in dimly lit rooms.

On the plus side, the silver-trimmed speakers bounding that screen are a damned sight better than the single, wimpy driver that sat low on the original G's rear end. The difference is dramatic -- they get louder than you'd expect without getting too muddy or distorted -- but don't expect any HTC One-style auditory revelations when you crank things up.

Hate bloatware? Love the buttery smoothness of unfettered Android? You'll find plenty to like here. We can actually keep this bit short and sweet: The Moto G's build of Android 4.4.4 is just about untouched, a feat that (for better or worse) wasn't replicated by its big brother. Sadly, this also means that the thoughtful tricks the Moto X could pull off are nowhere to be found. This shouldn't come as a shock: The G still lacks the additional processing cores that made those tricks possible, but they're hard to give up if you've used them (or have seen them in action) on a Moto X.

With the exception of Motorola's Migrate, Assist and Alert apps, there's just about nothing non-Googly in origin here. Thankfully, those apps occasionally come in pretty handy. As the name implies, Motorola Migrate lets you transfer messages, contacts and calendar events (whatever doesn't come through when you set up the phone with your Google account, really) from another Android phone or straight from Apple's iCloud. Assist pitches in when it can tell you're in a meeting or when it's your bedtime by automatically silencing itself.

Alert, on the other hand, is a sort of a location-based, catchall app where you can broadcast your location to friends (à la Glympse), as well as set up notifications for preset contacts and emergency services if you ever feel you're in danger. Setting up that list of important contacts doesn't take more than a few moments, and triggering the emergency mode is just as simple -- a single tap of a button initiates a 5-second countdown before your phone starts reaching out to everyone on the list. All told, it's a largely dummy-proof lifeline should your situation go south in a heartbeat. Here's hoping you won't ever need to use it as one.

None of the smartphones that Motorola pieced together over the last 12 months have had cameras that have blown us away -- care to take a guess at how the Moto G fared? Bingo! Welcome back to the middle of the road, at least compared to the current crop of smartphones floating around the market. That might sound like I'm damning the G with faint praise, but believe me: The 8-megapixel sensor Motorola's got in there is a big, big improvement over the 5-megapixel camera in last year's model.

As usual, photons are your friends and you're going to want as many of them around as possible if you want to coax your Moto G into performing its best. Under those conditions, expect to see lively colors and a bountiful amount of detail (the fact that HDR is set to "Auto" by default usually helps with that). It actually does pretty well once the light starts to fade, too -- graininess becomes a problem after a while, but the sensor is more than capable of coping when the sun dips behind clouds or starts to inch closer to the horizon.Up front, the tiny 2-megapixel, front-facing camera performs about as well as you'd expect. It'll do in a pinch when it's time for a video Hangout, but I've noticed the same sort of ghostly delay when trying to frame up a shot that I did on the Moto X. Strangely, the issue isn't as prominent here as it was on the higher-end X, so you won't get too frustrated trying to snap a decent selfie or eight. Meanwhile, flipping into video mode is a quick process but the results definitely won't wow: video resolution tops out at 720p and footage is all too often soft and unsatisfying.

I've praised Motorola's dead-simple camera interface in the past, and I'll do it again: The one-touch process of snapping a photo is impossible to screw up, and the settings offer enough depth to enable some handsome shots without overwhelming you with options. That said, it does take some getting used to. Tapping anywhere on the screen to snap a photo seems awfully smart until you realize that lots of other camera apps have you tap on the screen to focus or control exposure; if that sounds like what your current phone does, prepare to fight your muscle memory for a while. The fact that you've also got to drag a reticle around to change focus and then tap means it'll sometimes take longer to capture a scene than Motorola would like you to think.

The Moto G's spec list doesn't do it many favors. Here's the thing to remember, though: While it uses a year-old chipset, the 2014 Moto G runs lean. The lack of an obnoxious, overwrought user interface means it can dedicate that available horsepower to more important things, and it shows. I spent my days testing the G as I usually do: sending off messages, jumping into Hangouts, scrolling through long web pages, firing up apps, flipping among those apps as they run and generally being a fidgety brat trying to stymie those long-in-the-tooth internals. The verdict? Once again, the Moto G handled just about everything I threw at it with grace and gusto. Jumping out of Asphalt 8 (which ran more than admirably even at the highest settings) into The Battle Cats for a spot of feline world domination made the phone seize up for a few moments while it tried to cope, but it was almost always snappy and responsive, even while I did my best to break it.Meanwhile, the tale of the tape tells a familiar story. The results above are in line with what we squeezed out of the first Moto G, but for some reason, I had a hell of time trying to complete the GFXBench test; it kept returning an "Out Of Memory" error when attempting to render 1080p footage offscreen. Ill omen? Perhaps, but the G didn't disappoint when it came to running graphically intensive apps (and it isn't the first Moto handset that balked at that particular test, so I wouldn't worry about it too much).

The Galaxy Alpha is the most beautiful Samsung device I've ever handled. It's the very first device to take advantage of the company's brand-new design language, which features polished aluminum sides, chamfered edges, a thin profile and a polycarbonate (plastic) back; the same design is used on the Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Note Edge (and arguably, the iPhone 5/5s and last year's HTC One), but the Alpha is the first to actually make it off the production line. It's simple, yet elegant; minimal, yet profuse. Featuring a 4.7-inch frame and 6.7mm thickness, the Alpha is more than sufficiently sleek and svelte.

Thanks to its slim, compact frame, I had absolutely no problem hanging onto the Alpha. Not only can I wrap my hand around the whole thing, but also its straight sides offer my fingers plenty of space to grip. It's also incredibly light, weighing 4.06 ounces (115g); that's half an ounce lighter than the iPhone 6. In fact, it almost feels like it isn't substantial enough; in my palms, I'm often reminded of a dummy phone -- fake versions of the real thing that manufacturers send to retail stores.

I'd be tempted to think of the Galaxy Alpha as a GS5 mini, if the name weren't already taken; in many respects, it's a smaller version of Samsung's current 5.1-inch flagship smartphone. It packs the same Snapdragon 801 chipset (though an Exynos option is also available in certain markets), so it should be similarly powerful, and it also comes with a fingerprint scanner, heart rate monitor and Samsung's TouchWiz UI. But while the Alpha easily beats the GS5 in style (while matching it in oomph), the rest of the spec sheet isn't as impressive. It's not waterproof; it lacks a microSD slot; the battery is smaller; it uses a lower-res camera; and it doesn't come with an IR blaster. It also features a lower-res 720p Super AMOLED display.

Since it's not designed to simply be a miniature GS5, these omissions theoretically shouldn't be a big issue. It still packs plenty of a punch, after all, and even the 720p display is considered top-of-the-line for similarly sized devices. (Also, with smaller phones, manufacturers don't have as much space to cram in extra components.) The problem is that you're paying a premium price for the premium look; you can get the Alpha on AT&T in the US for $200 on-contract, or $613 with no contract attached. This is the same on-contract price as the GS5, and only $37 cheaper at full retail. To be fair, AT&T's Galaxy S5 only comes with 16GB internal storage, whereas the Alpha gets 32GB, so that explains some of the difference. Even so, the GS5 at least has a microSD slot for expandable memory.

What's even weirder is that while the Alpha doesn't come with any waterproofing or water-resistance of any kind, iFixit did a teardown of the phone and discovered that it comes with many of the gaskets and other internal parts necessary for keeping water out. In other words, Samsung didn't finish what it started.

The bottom edge of the device houses a micro-USB 2.0 connector -- Samsung's moved away from the unsightly 3.0 ports that take up extra room -- along with a speaker grille and mic. On the left is a volume rocker, which appears to have received the same amount of attention to design as the rest of the phone. There's a 3.5mm headphone jack on top and a power button on the right. Additionally, the top and bottom of the phone feature a pair of antenna stripes, which are common on metal phones because they provide a place to send and receive cellular and wireless signals.

The Alpha also comes with a removable back cover with a textured polycarbonate back that's similar to what you'll find on the Galaxy S5. On the Alpha, however, the dimples are much tinier and the matte surface doesn't feel as slick; the Alpha definitely offers more friction. There's a 12-megapixel camera in the top-center, and since the module is thicker than the phone itself, there's a hump to make the transition between the camera and back cover seem a bit more gradual. (One of my biggest issues with the iPhone 6's design is that the camera abruptly sticks out from the rest of the frame.) The LED flash and heart rate monitor are to the camera's left, arranged in a vertical fashion, and the logos include just the AT&T globe near the top and the phone's name near the bottom. Underneath the back cover, you'll find a removable 1,860mAh battery and nano-SIM slot.

The new location of the heart rate monitor works out okay if you hold the phone in your right hand, but it can be troublesome if you prefer your left; the camera hump gets in the way, and I had to keep looking at my finger to make sure it was in the right place. Which brings me to another point: The Galaxy S5's sensor was placed at the bottom of a cavity, while the Alpha's version is nearly flush with the rest of the back. This makes it more difficult to find the sensor without peeking around the phone to make sure I'm actually in the right spot.

An aluminum frame comes with trade-offs. Sure, it looks great, feels robust and has an aura of high quality, but as I saw with the iPhone 6, the material isn't immune to blemishes; after just a few days, I started seeing scratches and even a couple dings along the chamfered edges. This means that how it looks after a year of use will depend on how you treat it. If it's constantly rubbing up against other hard materials, it's not going to fare well.

As mentioned earlier, the Alpha has a 4.7-inch 720p Super AMOLED panel. On paper, this doesn't sound very good since many new flagships have Quad HD displays. For a handset of its size, however, 720p is still acceptable: The first Moto X was of the same quality. Ditto for the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact, which is one-tenth of an inch smaller. The iPhone 6, meanwhile, is slightly better at 1,334 x 750 (326 pixels per inch). With the Alpha, you'll get a pixel density of 312 ppi, which is still respectable. Of course, the Super AMOLED panel ensures that colors are more saturated than most IPS options, and the viewing angles are simply average and nothing special. If you're looking for a compact phone, the display will neither make nor break the decision for you -- it's perfectly fine, as long as you don't mind some slightly inaccurate colors.

Admittedly, the software section is going to be as small as the device itself, since there's very little to differentiate it from the Galaxy S5. The variance in screen size doesn't impact the user experience, nor does it mean you'll enjoy fewer features. The Alpha uses TouchWiz layered on top of Android 4.4.4 KitKat, which is still technically the latest consumer-facing version of Google's mobile OS (it'll soon be replaced by Android L, but Samsung's lineup should get the new update not too long after it becomes publicly available to the masses).

This version of TouchWiz is what you'd expect: It's consistent with every other version of TouchWiz. The UI is exactly the same as on the Galaxy S5, with a vast notification panel, bubbly settings menu and suite of preinstalled Google and Samsung apps. There's also My Magazine, which is a feature that's been on several Galaxy devices over the last two years. (You can also remove it, if you don't want to use it.) It's essentially an extra home screen panel that provides real-time news and social feeds, and looks a lot like Flipboard and HTC's BlinkFeed. Multi Window is also present, so you can still view two apps at once in a split-screen mode, despite having such a small screen. You'll also get Air View, which lets you check out extra details about calendar appointments and larger thumbnails for pictures and videos just by hovering your finger over the display.

Lastly, you'll get other common Samsung features like Easy mode, Blocking mode and Private mode (the latter of which hides and secures sensitive information so your random friends won't find it), as well as Smart stay and the ever-present toolbox of customized app shortcuts that continuously floats on top of the screen.

The Alpha is thinner than the GS5, which means the camera module isn't quite as large. Instead of a 16-megapixel sensor, you'll get a 12MP shooter on the back with an aperture of f/2.2 and focal length of 4.8mm (the same as on the GS5). So, don't expect a radically different imaging experience here. The user interface hasn't changed, either: Separate shutter buttons for stills and video sit alongside the mode-selection button and gallery link, and settings and shortcuts reside on the opposite sidebar. You get the same default modes here as you do on the GS5 -- the usual Panorama, Dual Camera, Beauty Face and Shot & more modes -- and you can download extra modes, like Animated Photo (add animation to your pictures), Surround Shot (Samsung's version of Photo Sphere), Sports, and Sound & shot (audio accompanies the image). The GS5 gets an extra mode for sequence shots, while the Alpha lets you choose which modes actually show up in your menu -- if you only use one or two, you can get rid of the extra clutter.

The settings here are identical as well. HDR, selective focus (in which you can choose to focus on the foreground, background or both), ISO (up to 800), audio zoom and plenty of effects are featured, although there's no way to manually change white balance, exposure or shutter speed.

Just like on the GS5, the Alpha has multiple resolution options. Whichever you choose will have an impact on the aspect ratio. If you want the highest resolution possible, you're going to have to settle for 16:9 (widescreen), while the best standard 4:3 shots you can get will come out at eight megapixels.

The camera sports Samsung's ISOCELL tech, which I detailed in my GS5 review. In short, it's designed to improve sharpness and deliver better low-light performance and more accurate colors. On the GS5, I noted that performance was indeed better, albeit slightly, and I got nearly the same kind of results from the Alpha. In fact, aside from the difference in resolution (and thus, fewer details and less leeway for digital zoom), the Alpha's images were very similar to ones I took with the flagship. It does well in daylight and produces realistic colors, and is overall a reliable camera, but it's not very good at taking pictures of moving things. I had a difficult time snapping shots of cars or people without blurring.

It's also not very good in low-light situations, but this is nothing new for Samsung phones -- the company's struggled with this for a long time, and ISOCELL is designed to make it better. Sadly, there's been no improvement here from the GS5; on the contrary, it's a bit worse. Even when my night shots turned out (I say "when" since quite a few were hopelessly dark), they were noisy, lacking in sharpness and not worth sharing with friends or family. I'm not saying it's impossible to get a solid low-light shot, but it's not as easy as it should be. (Click here for a gallery of all my sample shots.)

The US version of the Alpha uses the same Snapdragon 801 chipset as the one found on the GS5, which is comprised of a quad-core 2.5GHz Krait 400 CPU, Adreno 330 GPU and 2GB of RAM. Before I began testing the device, I expected to see the same kind of performance that I've enjoyed on its big brother. Sure enough, I wasn't disappointed: Most apps loaded up quickly, and games like Asphalt 8 and Beach Buggy Racing ran smoothly. I did notice the occasional frame skip, but this was the exception, not the rule. When you look at the benchmarks, it's clear there's very little difference between the two in terms of overall performance.The Alpha also has a small 1,860mAh battery, which was my primary concern going into the review. Could it handle my everyday demands and still get me through the day? After all, if I can't go a full day without worrying about finding an outlet before I can get home, it's not worth using as my daily driver -- especially when plenty of other devices are up to the task. The Alpha barely makes it to the end of the day with moderate usage; on heavier days when I'm streaming music, reading e-books, taking pictures, staying social and keeping up with nonstop emails, I get around 13 hours.

With the Alpha, Samsung included the same fingerprint sensor that it used on the GS5, and it requires the same swipe-down action. Its performance on the flagship was mediocre at best -- it often took me multiple swipes to get the phone to recognize my prints, and was even worse when I tried to do it at an angle. Unfortunately, I only saw minor improvements here, despite the fact that Samsung has had six months to improve the sensor and its integration with software. Admittedly, it's a little better when I swipe from different angles, but it still takes multiple attempts even when my fingers and thumbs are straight on. There's certainly some practice involved, and it does get better over time as you learn the sensor's quirks (you have to do it at a certain speed, and you have to make sure you've covered the sensor with the right parts of your finger).

When making phone calls, I had no trouble hearing the other end of the line, but the external speaker didn't fare well. I pitted the Alpha against BoomSound on the HTC One M8, which produced a much louder and fuller audio performance; I could hear more bass and mids on HTC's flagship than I could on the Alpha. The GS5 was also slightly louder, though the difference between the two was marginal -- the audio just wasn't impressive on either Galaxy.

Cellular connectivity will vary by market and operator. The AT&T model I reviewed comes with nine-band LTE support (for bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 12, 17 and 29), tri-band HSPA+ (850/1900/2100) and quad-band GSM/EDGE. You'll also get NFC, DLNA, WiFi Direct, Bluetooth 4.0+LE and dual-band 802.11ac support (along with a/b/g/n as well).

It wasn't long ago that most phone makers used 4.7-inch screens on their flagships, but now any top-of-the-line phone going smaller than five inches is just unthinkable -- unless, of course, you're Apple. For that reason, it's great to see Samsung come out with a premium-looking device whose specs aren't too far removed from the same-sized iPhone 6, which is available in 16GB for $200 on-contract and $650 off. (If you're looking for extra storage space, the Alpha tops the iPhone at the same price point.)

But these two phones aren't the only options in the sub-5-inch space. The Sony Xperia Z3 Compact is a 4.6-inch 720p handset that features many of the same specs as its bigger flagship brother, and actually bests the Alpha in pixel density, battery, camera resolution and external storage capacity. As of this writing, the phone isn't available in the US, so it's only an option for our readers in Europe and Asia -- that is, unless you choose to go through online importers. You'll find that the Z3 Compact is a good deal cheaper than the Alpha: On Expansys, the Z3 Compact goes for £420 ($530), while the Alpha is available for £515 ($650). Despite the Alpha's great looks, it's difficult to justify it over the Compact.

As beautiful as the Galaxy Alpha may be, its price leads to its ultimate downfall. The only reason you'd want to pick this over the Galaxy S5, which is available for a similar price, is that you prefer a smaller size or more solid build. But even then, this design isn't a one-and-done; you'll be able to get the same fit and finish on the Note 4 and Note Edge (albeit with larger screens). Furthermore, it's not the best sub-5-inch Android device on the market, thanks to the Sony Z3 Compact, which comes with better battery life, camera and external storage.

More important is what this new design direction means to Samsung's future. Even though the aluminum build isn't perfect, Samsung's latest smartphones are the best-looking handsets the manufacturer has produced in years. For a company suffering from slowing sales and looking for new ways to compete with the iPhone, devices like the Alpha are essential. This makes it all the more unfortunate that the fantastic design is one of few things that helps it stand out from the crowd. On the upside, though, this is just the beginning; more good-looking Samsung phones are on the way.