The 5 Best Cell Phones in 2013

There are so many cell phones on the market that choosing the best one can mean a ton of research, price-checking, and waiting to see what's coming out in the next few weeks or months. This time we wanted to know which you thought were the best of breed, not just because they round out a checklist of features or high-end hardware, but because you think they offer a great overall experience. Here's a look at the top five Android phones, based on your nominations.

1.Samsung Galaxy S4 

The Expert Opinion

The Galaxy S4 is the update to the Galaxy S3, our favourite Android smartphone for the last year. It's possibly the most hyped phone of all time, but thankfully it's still an impressive handset.

Despite the phone's huge 5in screen, it manages to be slim and light, and weighs just 130g. It's the first phone to use an AMOLED screen with a Full HD resolution, which gives it a huge pixels-per-inch figure of 441, up from 306ppi on its predecessor. The operating system and web pages are, as you'd expect, hyper-sharp.


The SPECS Opinion

OPERATING SYSTEM Android 4.2.2
PROCESSOR SPEED 1.9GHz
NUMBER OF CORES 4
RAM 2GB
MOBILE DATA GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, LTE
DISPLAY 5in 1,920x1,080 LCD
CAMERA 13-megapixel
INTERNAL STORAGE 16GB
MEMORY CARD SLOT microSD
CLAIMED BATTERY LIFE 17 hours talktime, 15 days standby
DIMENSIONS 137x70x7.9mm, 130g

2.Motorola RAZR HD

The Expert Opinion

The RAZR HD is a powerful and good-looking Android phone with a huge battery, and it's also good value on contract.

We liked the Kevlar back panel, splashproof coating and scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass screen, and the large 2,530mAh battery meant the phone managed a huge 14 hours in our video playback test.

The phone's 4.7in screen is an AMOLED model with a 1,280x720-pixel resolution, and is just as impressive as that of the Samsung Galaxy S3.

The phone is also 4G-compatible if you fancy a bit of super-fast data - the only let-down is its uninspiring camera.


The SPECS Opinion

OPERATING SYSTEM Android 4.1.2 (JellyBean)
PROCESSOR SPEED 1.5GHz
NUMBER OF CORES 2
RAM 1GB
MOBILE DATA GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, HSUPA, LTE
DISPLAY 4.7in 720x1,280 LCD
CAMERA 8-megapixel
INTERNAL STORAGE 16384MB
MEMORY CARD SLOT microSD
DIMENSIONS 68x132x8.4mm, 146g

3.HTC One

The Expert Opinion

Now that the Samsung Galaxy S4 is here, the HTC One finally has some stiff competition, but it still holds its head up high. The phone has a gorgeous metal body and high-contrast 4.7in Full HD display, which is perfect for browsing web pages at full zoom.

The phone feels gorgeous in the hand, and the display's vibrant colours makes using Android 4.1 a pleasure. The HTC One is fast, too, thanks to its quad-core 1.7GHz processor.

The SPECS Opinion

OPERATING SYSTEM Android 4.1 (JellyBean)
PROCESSOR SPEED 1.7GHz
NUMBER OF CORES 4
RAM 2GB
MOBILE DATA LTE
DISPLAY 4.7in 1,920x1,080 LCD
CAMERA 4.1-megapixel
INTERNAL STORAGE 32GB
MEMORY CARD SLOT none
DIMENSIONS 137x68x9mm, 143g

4.Samsung Galaxy S3

The Expert Opinion

The Samsung Galaxy S3 is no longer the best Android smartphone there is and has been superseded by the S4, but it's still slim, fast, has a beautiful AMOLED screen and is now available at a very reasonable price.

The phone has just got better, too, thanks to an upgrade to support 4G. On Everything Everywhere's network we saw speeds up to 25Mbit/s, which is twice as quick as many home broadband connections. However, if you want 4G be sure to get the LTE version of the handset, as there's still a lot of 3G-only ones on sale and only these are available as part of the cheapest offers.

The SPECS Opinion

OPERATING SYSTEM Android 4.1
PROCESSOR SPEED 1.4GHz
NUMBER OF CORES 4
RAM 2GB
MOBILE DATA GPRS, EDGE, 3G, HSDPA, (4G optional)
DISPLAY 4.8in 720x1,280 LCD
CAMERA 8-megapixel
INTERNAL STORAGE 16GB
MEMORY CARD SLOT microSD
DIMENSIONS 137x71x9mm, 133g


5.Google Nexus 4

The Expert Opinion

The latest Google-branded smartphone is made by LG, and it's a stormer. The Nexus 4's quad-core 1.5GHz processor runs Android 4.2 incredibly quickly, and its 4.7in 1,280x768 display has a similar pixel density to the iPhone 5's Retina screen.

There's also a high-quality 8-megapixel camera and built-in NFC, so the phone will support Google Wallet's tap-and-pay service when it arrives in the UK.

The phone is also incredibly good value SIM-free at just £239 - it's a lot of phone for the money.

The SPECS Opinion

OPERATING SYSTEM Android 4.2
PROCESSOR SPEED 1.5GHz
NUMBER OF CORES 4
RAM 2GB
MOBILE DATA GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, HSUPA
DISPLAY 4.7in 768x1,280 LCD
CAMERA 8-megapixel
INTERNAL STORAGE 8GB
MEMORY CARD SLOT none
CLAIMED BATTERY LIFE 15 hours talktime, 16 days standby
DIMENSIONS 134x69x9.1mm, 139g