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.

The LG Optimus G; it's hard not to be smitten even if you're not an LG fan. This high end Android smartphone is the first to ship with Qualcomm's new Snapdragon S4 Pro quad core 1.5GHz CPU with Adreno 320 graphics. It's fast, yes it is. The S4 dual core matched NVidia's Tegra 3 CPU on benchmarks, so we're excited to see what two more cores can do. In fact, it scored 7235 on the Quadrant benchmark, which is a new record for a stock Android phone (5,000 is the norm for the fastest phones and tablets). In this review we look at both the AT&T (LG-E970) and Sprint (LG-LS970) versions of the Optimus G, which sells for $199 with contract. The AT&T version will be available on Nov. 2 while the Sprint version will be available on Nov. 11.

The AT&T LG Optimus G.

The LG Optimus G has a front 1.3MP camera, dual band WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, a GPS, NFC and a 2100 mAh Lithium Ion battery that's sealed inside. Both models have 2 gigs of RAM. Though LG's track record for Android OS updates hasn't been impressive, we have hope for the Optimus G since LG is rumored to release the next Nexus phone (with similar specs to the Optimus G), and that should put them on a faster track for OS updates.

The smartphone has a gloss patterned "Crystal Material Finish" glass back that loves fingerprints. LG strove to marry the best of the iconic LG Chocolate and Prada phones with the minimalist, square black design. It's thin and squared-off, and the Sprint version re-introduces some of those chrome accents AT&T suppresses with their clean design. Honestly, both look quite nice but not as strikingly chic as the HTC One X, Nokia Lumia 900 or iPhone 5.

Both the Sprint and AT&T versions are very similar, with the same Optimus UI enhancements on top of Android OS 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich (4.1 Jelly Bean will follow with no set date). How do they differ? The Sprint version has that slim chrome ring around the sides and no SIM card or microSD card slot. The Sprint version has 32 gigs of internal storage vs. 16 gigs on the AT&T model. Sprint sticks with the 13MP rear camera while AT&T moves down to a still very capable 8MP camera. AT&T adds a microSD card slot (yes!) and includes a 16 gig card. The Sprint and international versions have no SD card slot.

The Sprint version of the Optimus G is a hair taller and narrower. Honestly, they're extremely close in dimensions. Both phones feel fairly wide among today's big phones in the hand thanks to the slightly wider than normal display, though in terms of dimensions they're similar to other big phones. If you have small hands, neither will be comfortable. I have large hands, so the G is manageable though perhaps not optimal for one-handed use. While Samsung and HTC taper the corners and sides of their big phones to make them look and feel smaller, LG's unabashed rectilinear design does nothing to fool the mind or hand into thinking you've got a smaller phone. If the iPhone 5 and Motorola Droid RAZR M with their 4" displays are your idea of ergonomic perfection, the LG Optimus G will feel unwieldy.

Both the Sprint and AT&T versions have controls and ports in the same location. The power button is at the upper right edge and the volume controls are on the upper left, similar to Samsung Android phones. The AT&T version has a tri-color LED ring around the power button rather than the front face, which I prefer. The micro USB port is on the bottom on both models, and the 3.5mm stereo audio jack is up top. The camera module on the Sprint version protrudes a bit while the AT&T model's is flush with the casing. Both have a loudspeaker that fires from the lower right rear of the phone, where your hand might cover it. 

The LG Optimus G features a 4.7" True HD IPS Plus display running at 1280 x 768. That's a little higher than the usual high end 1280 x 720 resolution, and that equals an impressive 320 dpi. LG makes excellent IPS displays and the Optimus G's is very sharp and colorful with neutral color balance and very clear text. Viewing angles are wide since it's IPS and the display is bright, though glare is still an issue outdoors as with all smartphones thanks to the glossy glass. The display is fused directly to the glass, so you don't feel like there's a window pane between you and what's on screen. The Optimus G has Gorilla Glass for durability. I'd give the HTC One X's excellent Super LCD display an edge for viewing angles and glare-reduction, as well as a more "close to the surface" look where text and images seem painted on the screen. Likewise, the iPhone Retina display looks sharper and more immediate, but the Optimus G easily beats out the Samsung Galaxy S III display.

LG has gone to town with software features that make use of the Qualcomm Krait's processing and graphics power. QSlide lets you play a movie over any other app and you can set the transparency level (fade out to read a text message, then fade back in to your video). You can zoom when playing videos (in fact you can pinch zoom everywhere) and there are several spiffy transition options for page turns in the homescreen UI. QuickMemo lets you take notes anywhere at any time, and you can even mark up a web page or Word document and save it as an image (screen shot). There are a few features that remind us of Samsung's, like Wise Eye that checks to see if you're looking at the screen so it won't turn off and the water sound effect in the lock screen. Smart Shutter lets you take a photo using your voice (say "cheese", "kimchi" or other trigger words). You get the idea: there's a lot going on here.

Both versions have clear incoming and outgoing voice that's above average, though not quite as crystal clear and full as the Samsung Galaxy S III, HTC One X and HTC EVO 4G LTE. We had absolutely no trouble engaging in conversations with call recipients and ambient noise rejection was effective with minimal digitization.

As noted, the Sprint Optimus G sticks with the impressive 13 megapixel rear camera that we first saw in the overseas version. Though some reviewers have reported hazy photos with the Sprint model, ours have been nothing but sharp with plenty of detail.

The AT&T model has an 8 megapixel camera that's quite capable, though we noted the 13MP camera captured more fine detail and did a better job focusing and creating sharper images for low light indoor shots (see guitar photo below). It's a close race, but I'd give the Samsung Galaxy S III and the HTC One X (not to mention that photographic monster the Sony Xperia Ion) the edge for photo and video quality.

Both models can shoot 1080p video up to 30fps and have HDR, panorama mode and an intuitive camera app with myriad features and settings.

The Optimus G has a 2100 mAh Lithium Ion battery that's sealed inside. That's the same battery capacity you'll find on other high end competing phones, but the LG lagged behind by 30 minutes in actual use tests. Standby on the other hand was excellent. We had no trouble making it through the day with light to moderate use. In fact with light use we managed 2.5 to 3 days on a charge. But with heavy use that included a few GPS navigation sessions, 45 minutes of streaming video, several phone calls, an hour of music playback with the screen off and an hour of locally stored video playback, the phone went from 7am to 7pm before it drained to a 10% charge.

You know the Samsung Galaxy Note was one of our top picks last year, right? Well, the Samsung Galaxy Note II, a 5.5" smartphone or phablet is even better. It has a bigger display, a much faster CPU than our US first gen Note, a better camera and more S Pen features. The Note II is available on all major US carriers, with a $299 price tag with contract ($369 on T-Mobile). The question is: though the Note II is certainly much improved, does it have what it takes to compete with other large Android smartphones that have stepped up their game since the original Note shipped?

The Sprint, AT&T and Verizon versions have LTE 4G along with 3G, while the T-Mobile model has 3G HSPA+ (which T-Mo calls 4G and is decently fast). A very fast Samsung Exynos 1.6GHz quad core processor powers the phone with 2 gigs of RAM. Other goodies include NFC, dual band WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, a front 1.9MP camera and rear 8MP camera with BSI sensor and fast lens (same as the excellent Galaxy S III camera). The phone has 16 gigs of internal storage and there's a microSD card slot as well. And yes, the whopping 3100 mAh Lithium Ion Polymer battery is removable: go Samsung!

In this review, we look at the Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon versions, though all Note II variants have identical hardware (other than cellular radios and logos) and carrier-added apps. The Note II is available in white or titanium, and in either case it's finished in Samsung's beloved amazingly glossy plastics. The phone is a little bit taller and ever so slightly narrower than the first gen Note, so it's no more difficult to hold in one hand. That said, this is a very large phone, though not as ungainly as the 4:3 aspect ratio LG Intuition on Verizon. It makes the Samsung Galaxy S III look dainty and the iPhone 5 seems like a mini-phone.

This is a slippery phone, and regardless of color you get the same ultra-glossy plastic that wants to slip through your fingers or slide off uneven surfaces. It's a bit maddening, and adding a case to improve grip makes the phone even bigger and heavier. We love the phone, but we'll keep harping on Samsung's glossy finishes that scream plastic until they improve.

The phone has two capacitive buttons for Menu and Back, and a hardware button for Home (the Verizon version has a most unfortunate Verizon Logo plastered on the Home button). The micro USB port is on the bottom, and as per usual for Samsung the power button is on the upper right side while the volume rocker is on the left. The microSD card slot is under the back cover (no need to remove the battery to swap a card) and the micro SIM card is under there as well.

The Galaxy Note II has a 1280 x 720 display (down a bit from the first Note's 1280 x 800 display) but it's bigger at 5.5". You're actually getting the same resolution as the Galaxy S III and other high end Android phones, but everything on screen is stretched to fill the bigger display. That means larger web page text that's readable without zooming, and movies that are immersive on the huge display. At 264 ppi pixel density is reduced from the 306 ppi GS III, but the Super AMOLED HD display still looks sharp. Samsung has improved the display to an uneven RGB stripe (bye-bye Pentile Matrix, though this is still not far from Pentile's uneven sub-pixel color stripe). Though the pixel density isn't wildly high, videos and photos look lovely, even if text isn't as razor sharp as on higher PPI phones and tablets. Those of you who read lots of books would probably still prefer higher density displays to the Note II's if you have good eyes. If you don't and thus favor larger text sizes, you'll probably like the Note II better. Color fringing isn't an issue. Colors are very saturated compared to IPS displays, but many folks enjoy lots of color saturation along with the high contrast and deep blacks of Samsung's Super AMOLED HD displays.

Samsung makes use of the big screen and S-Pen with custom software, similar to that found on the Note 10.1 tablet. There's S-Note for note-taking, complete with formula and handwriting recognition. And there's a side-by-side app view for select apps like the web browser, email, S-Note and video player so you can see and use two apps at once. In fact, the window slit is adjustable so you can have the web browser fill 2/3 of the screen and S-Note the remaining 1/3. It's a brilliant use of the big display, though it still makes most sense with 10" tablets. As of this writing, the T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon models have the side-by-side app feature, and AT&T should offer it as an OTA update soon. Lastly, Samsung's flashy floating video player is on board, so you can play a video in a resizable, transparency-adjustable window on top of any app or the home screen.

Since many other Android smartphones are encroaching on the Note II's big screen act, the software and S-Pen are important pieces that set the Note II apart from the competition. But what if you don't find split window view enticing or perhaps you don't have a need for the digital pen, there's the 4.8" Samsung Galaxy S III, 4.7" HTC One X and One X+ and the big screen LG Optimus G. Is there a place for the Galaxy Note II? For those who love a big screen for larger text and for watching videos, the answer is certainly yes. But for many folks, the more pocket and hand friendly 4.5" to 4.8" smartphones running at the same resolution will do the trick for less money and pocket real estate. The Note II, unlike the first Note, is no longer the highest resolution smartphone, and other smartphones have encroached on the original Note's screen size. Who's the current resolution leader? The HTC Droid DNA on Verizon with a 5", 1920 x 1080 Super LCD3 display.

As noted, the Sprint, AT&T and Verizon versions have 4G LTE, while the T-Mobile version (coincidentally the closest to the international version) has HSPA+, which is technically a very fast flavor of 3G, though both T-Mobile and AT&T call it 4G as well. Why doesn't T-Mobile's Note II have LTE? Because that carrier currently lacks an LTE network. The LTE versions provided the expected upload and download speeds compared to other smartphones on their respective networks. T-Mobile's version did as well as their other HSPA+ handsets, which is quite good in the Dallas area, and sometimes as fast as LTE. Sprint's LTE network is in its infancy, but we're among the first markets here in Dallas, and we saw download speeds of 9 Mbps and upload speeds of 3 Mbps on average. AT&T has the fastest data network in our area, and we averaged 19 Mbps down and 6.8 Mbps up. Verizon answered with 12.6 Mbps down and 5.1 Mbps up. All four variants have the mobile hotspot feature, so you can use the phone as a high speed wireless modem for your tablet or laptop (depending on your data plan). Web pages load very quickly and Google Play Store downloads are fast.

Voice quality on all four variants is very good for both incoming and outgoing voice. Calls sound clear and our call recipients and we could easily understand each other. The phone played nicely with our car's built-in Bluetooth and a variety of Motorola, Samsung and Jawbone Bluetooth headsets. Given the phone's size, it's likely you'll want to use a Bluetooth headset.

The smartphone runs on Samsung's powerful 1.6GHz quad core Exynos CPU with MALI 400 graphics. It eats up benchmarks, it laughs at 3D tests. The Note II scored 6,001 on Quadrant, which is faster than older Tegra 3 models and it only falls slightly behind Qualcomm's S4 Pro quad core CPU and more than slightly behind the newer Tegra 3 in the HTC One X+. On GLBenchmark 2.5 it beats everything except the HTC Droid DNA. This Android smartphone won't feel slow a year into your contract.

Like the Galaxy S III, the Note II has an identical 8 megapixel camera that can shoot 1080p video. We still noted some exposure issues in bright outdoor shots where the camera rendered hazy images, but the new HDR feature helps greatly with that. Dedicated image processing chips are the next big thing in high end phones (the HTC One X has one too), and that allows for extremely quick shot times. Again, like the Galaxy S III, HTC One X and HTC One S, you can shoot photos while simultaneously recording video but there's no slow motion option like that of the One X and One X+. There are plenty of effects to play with: exposure, macro mode, face detection, smile detection and panorama. This is a very capable camera.

Video quality is excellent at 1080p and 30fps: video is sharp and colorful with smooth motion and little in the way of blockiness. The continuous autofocus sometimes hunts when several subjects are in motion at once, but overall it's great stuff.