The State of Smartphones in 2013: Part I of the new Ars Ultimate Guide

The State of Smartphones in 2013: Part I of the new Ars Ultimate Guide


Enlarge / More phones than you can shake a phone at.
Andrew Cunningham

It's been just under a year since the last time we examined the state of the smartphone. The intervening months have brought us the expected annual hardware refreshes and software updates, but it's striking just how similar things are at a high level.

Apple and Samsung are still standing at the top of the field, and at the moment there's not a strong third-place contender in sales or in reach. HTC continues to be down on its luck despite the critical darling that is the HTC One. LG is still taking pages from Samsung's playbook, trying lots of odd ideas in an effort to differentiate. Microsoft is still struggling to improve Windows Phone 8's standing with consumers, developers, and hardware partners. All of this is more or less as it was a year ago.

That doesn't mean there aren't interesting things happening at the margins. The Motorola division is still a big money-loser for Google, but the Moto X is a surprisingly good, usable phone that has been very well-reviewed. Alternative operating systems like Ubuntu and Firefox OS are trying new things, even if they're strictly for hardcore early adopters as they currently stand. BlackBerry (née RIM), which at this time last year was pinning all its hopes on the then-forthcoming BlackBerry 10, is circling the drain. Microsoft bought the part of Nokia that makes its Lumia smartphones. Few of these events drastically alter the state of the smartphone today, but they all have interesting implications for 2014 and beyond.

As we did a year ago, we'll be taking a quick look at the three major mobile platforms (iOS, Android, and Windows Phone 8) and evaluating how they've changed in the last year. We'll then take a look at the best handsets money can currently buy and put them through their paces for a variety of different use cases.

iOS


Enlarge / iOS 7.0.3 as seen on the iPhone 5S.
We commented last year that iOS 6 felt a little long in the tooth, and modern iPhones got a substantial facelift in September courtesy of iOS 7. The latest version of the OS introduces a bunch of new features (the indispensable Control Center among them), but it's more notable because it completely rethinks the look and feel of both the operating system and its applications. iOS 7 still has rough edges, and many third-party applications are in an awkward transition period as they straddle the old UI and the new one, but the newest iOS is in large part the facelift the operating system needed.

For all the external changes, underneath the shiny new facade beats the heart of the same iOS we've been using for years (not that that's a bad thing). Apple values the consistency of its user experience above all else, and it doesn't want people to be able to break the operating system by accident. To that end, you won't be able to replace your app launcher or software keyboard, you can't sideload applications, and you can only share things via Apple-approved channels. For some power users, these limitations will continue to prove irksome. However, they make it so that picking up and using one iOS device is the same as picking up and using any other iOS device.

This consistency extends to the software update process—iOS continues to be unrivaled among the major mobile operating systems in its ability to push out major and minor updates to all supported devices simultaneously. This applies whether you have an old iPhone 4 or a new iPhone 5S, whether you're using T-Mobile or Verizon. Apple is firmly in the driver's seat, which is refreshing compared to the tangle of OEMs and carriers who all have a say about branding, updates, and pre-loaded applications on the other platforms.

This commitment to updates means that if iPhone buyers purchase a flagship iPhone when it first comes out, they can usually expect three or so years of new software updates. That's more than enough to cover the two-year contracts most US buyers agree to when they get new smartphones. Those updates can sometimes get the better of the oldest hardware, but generally speaking, it's nice to be able to count on receiving new software features for the useful life of the device.

Another area where iOS continues to excel is in its third-party app library—usually, if you need something, you can find a well-designed app that will do it somewhere in the app store. While "big name" apps like Hulu, Dropbox, Netflix, Spotify, and others are all available on most of the major platforms at this point, iOS continues to lead in individual areas like gaming (games usually come to iOS first even if they make it to Android later) and media editing and creation (finding a GarageBand equivalent in Android or Windows Phone just isn't possible). The same consistency that benefits most Apple consumers also benefits its developers since they have relatively few devices to develop for and test against.

Android


Enlarge / Android 4.4 as seen on the Nexus 5.
If iOS' strength is its consistency, Android's strength is its flexibility. The Android that you'll run into on smartphones has a few basic ingredients. The phones rely on Google Play and other Google services for much of their functionality, and they usually include some modified take on the iOS-like icons-on-a-home-screen layout (with widgets added for additional flavor). Otherwise, different OEM skins for Android can make each phone that runs the operating system look and feel quite different.

This malleability is generally a good thing for people who like to be in full control of their phones. You can switch keyboards and launchers if the one that comes with the phone doesn't suit your needs. With some effort, you can even install alternate Android ROMs to your phone, totally replacing the software that came with it.

The power Android gives to its most enthusiastic and technically oriented users can also make the experience of using an Android phone frustratingly inconsistent. OEMs tend to use a heavy hand with their Android skins, piling on bundled apps and dubiously beneficial features. Samsung is the biggest player in the Android space at the moment, and it in particular is guilty of this spaghetti-on-the-wall approach to hardware and software. The carriers get in on the fun too, adding their own branding and pre-loaded apps to Android phones sold on their networks.

These additional OEM and carrier additions and customizations complicate the Android update process. Most current phones and tablets without the word "Nexus" on them somewhere are a version or three behind the newest edition of Android. Google has been combatting that problem to some extent by breaking its core apps and services out from the rest of Android and updating them through Google Play instead, a strategy it has been pursuing in earnest for a little over a year now. This is mostly a good thing for users and third-party developers, but Android updates still bring important driver, security, and low-level feature updates that continue to move the platform forward.

Android's flexibility is likewise a double-edged sword for its application developers—their apps can interact with each other much more freely than they can in iOS, making it possible to do more things (and to do other things more efficiently). They can include widgets and little windows that pop up over top of whatever full-screen app you happen to be running. They can run items in the background even as you do other things. It's a more fully realized multitasking model than in iOS, for sure.

That said, fully supporting Android requires dealing with thousands of devices, each with differing screen sizes, differing amounts of RAM, differing chips, and differing software versions. Depending on what hardware you're using, you can run into strange problems if an app hasn't been tested on your specific device yet (some apps continue to look strange on 1080p Android phones even after a year of availability).

Finally, there's Google's ace in the hole: your data. Your personal information is the price you pay for using Google's mostly free services, and in exchange you get a phone that knows a truly astounding (occasionally alarming) amount of information about you. Using Google Now, you can track flight information and quickly grab boarding passes, check traffic and sports information, and even track packages—all without ever having to tell the phone explicitly to do those things. By accessing both your own data and the reams of searchable data that Google has about every topic under the sun, Android phones come really close to being the seamless personal assistants that smartphones have always aspired to be. The cost of those features is simply higher than most people care to think about.

Windows Phone 8


Enlarge / Windows Phone 8.
Of the three major platforms, Windows Phone 8 is perhaps the one that has changed the least since last year. That isn't to say it hasn't been updated—it has received three "General Distribution Release" updates since last December. But those updates have added mostly minor features and support for new hardware. There's nothing in them that would merit an increase in version number or change what it's like to use the operating system.

Even a year after its release, there's still nothing quite like Windows Phone 8. It eschews the icons-in-a-grid design of Android and iOS in favor of Microsoft's now-signature "Live Tiles," a customizable grid of squares and rectangles that serve to launch apps but can also double as widgets. On the one hand, this can make the phone more glance-able—put all the apps you care about the most at the top of your screen and you've got quick access to your most important stuff without having to dive into applications. On the other hand, the lack of a unified Notification Center (or equivalent feature) means that you'll often be scrolling through your home screen or your list of applications to stay on top of everything.

Just as iOS and Android phones have strong ties to Apple's and Google's software and services, Windows Phone integrates well with Microsoft's offerings. It still includes strong Office support and good integration with services like SkyDrive and SharePoint, and it's the best of the big three operating systems at integrating with Exchange servers (and, by extension, Outlook.com and Office 365 mail accounts). Thankfully, Microsoft doesn't make third-party e-mail services into second-class citizens on Windows Phone, and you'll be able to access your Gmail or Yahoo accounts with the same mail and calendar clients that Microsoft's own services use.

While Windows Phone 8's software hasn't changed drastically since its introduction, the hardware has improved since Nokia released its brick-like Lumia 920. Partners like HTC and Samsung have wavered in their support of Windows Phone of late, but Nokia's own offerings have gotten more varied. The slimmer profile of the Lumia 925 or 928 (depending on your carrier) is a superior take on the 920's design. The 41 megapixel Lumia 1020 puts the "camera" in camera phone. And just-announced large-screened offerings now look to bring Windows Phone's features to the "phablet" set (since the Lumia 1520 isn't out yet, we won't be able to include it in our write-up, but we'll be reviewing it separately as soon as it's available).

One thing we worried about last year was that the move from Windows Phone 8 to the inevitable Windows Phone 9 would break compatibility with older handsets, as the move from Windows Phone 7 to Windows Phone 8 did. Since then, Microsoft has gone on the record to say that Windows Phone 8 handsets will "have an upgrade path going forward," so you ought to be able to buy a phone now and also get the new software when it comes.

Finally, let's talk about apps. The Windows Store's selection is improving slowly but steadily. Right now, however, it's in that awkward stage where most people will be able to find at least one big thing they can't do without (for me, it's Dropbox and Google Drive). Windows Phone's game library is limited to bare necessities like Angry Birds or Jetpack Joyride, and it can't even match Android's level of support among indie developers. Knockoff versions of apps are abundant and can rise quite high in the "top free" lists, even when an official alternative is available. The situation isn't as dire as it once was, but while you can usually assume that iOS and Android will have most big-name apps in their stores somewhere, you can't say the same about Windows Phone.

Page 2 of 4
The contenders

As with last year's guide, we'll be focusing mostly on flagship phones here—these handsets are the best their creators have to offer, and they'll usually come with the accompanying $199 and $99-on-contract price tags. For your money, you'll get high-end chips, nice-looking screens, and a phone that won't have trouble lasting for the length of your contract.

Apple iPhone 5S


Enlarge / Apple's iPhone 5S.
Andrew Cunningham

Specs at a glance: Apple iPhone 5S
Screen	1136×640 4-inch (326 PPI) touchscreen
OS	iOS 7.0.3
CPU	1.3GHz Apple A7
RAM	1GB DDR3
GPU	"Apple A7 GPU" (likely an Imagination Technologies 6-series variant)
Storage	16, 32, or 64GB NAND flash
Networking	802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, up to 100Mbps LTE (bands vary depending on carrier)
Ports	Lightning connector, headphone jack
Camera	8.0MP rear camera, 1.2MP front camera
Size	4.87" × 2.31" × 0.30" (123.8 × 58.6 × 7.6 mm)
Weight	3.95 ounces (112 g)
Battery	1560 mAh
Starting price	$199 with two-year contract
Other perks	Charger, earbuds, Lightning cable
Apple's "S" phones are always about internal innovations, and the iPhone 5S is no different. It takes the basic design of last year's iPhone 5, switches the A6 chip for a faster A7, and upgrades the camera while leaving the screen, size, weight, and battery life untouched. The new Touch ID fingerprint sensor is its most significant new feature, and while this feature isn't perfect, using it is preferable to using nothing at all.

Samsung Galaxy S 4


Enlarge / Samsung's Galaxy S 4.
Florence Ion

Specs at a glance: Samsung Galaxy S 4
Screen	1920x1080 4.99" (441 PPI) Super AMOLED
OS	Android 4.2.2 with TouchWiz skin
CPU	Quad-core 1.9GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600
RAM	2GB
GPU	Qualcomm Adreno 320
Storage	16, 32, or 64GB NAND flash, expandable via microSD
Networking	802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, 150Mbps LTE Advanced (bands vary depending on carrier)
Ports	Micro-USB, headphones
Camera	13MP rear camera, 2MP front camera
Size	5.38" × 2.75" × 0.31" (136.6 × 69.8 × 7.9 mm)
Weight	4.06 ounces (130 g)
Battery	2600 mAh
Starting price	$199.99 with two-year contract (may vary depending on carrier)
Other perks	Ambient light sensor, GPS, thermometer, barometer, proximity sensor, gesture sensor, RGB light sensor
Samsung is the biggest Android handset maker, so its latest flagship handset is a shoo-in for this list. Whether you like Samsung's hardware is up to personal taste. On the one hand, its phones are light, and Samsung is alone among the major Android OEMs in consistently giving its customers removable batteries and SD-expandable storage. On the other hand, its phones are mostly made of a slippery plastic that doesn't feel as good as other high-end phones like the iPhone or the HTC One. In any event, a quad-core chip, a 1080p display, and 2GB of RAM all make this phone suitably high end. It's also one of the few phones in our list that supports the new LTE Advanced standard, which can reach theoretical transfer speeds of up to 150Mbps with proper carrier support.

If you're looking for alternatives to the standard TouchWiz S 4, you can also get it in (unlocked) Google Play editions running stock, Nexus-style Android. Variants like the Galaxy S 4 Active are options, too.

HTC One


Enlarge / The regular version of the HTC One (left) next to the Google Play edition (right).
Andrew Cunningham

Specs at a glance: HTC One
Screen	1920×1080 4.7-inch (468 PPI) Super LCD 3 with RGB Matrix
OS	Android 4.3 with Sense 5.5
CPU	Quad-core 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600
RAM	2GB
GPU	Qualcomm Adreno 320
Storage	32 GB NAND flash
Networking	802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, 100Mbps LTE (bands vary depending on carrier)
Ports	Micro-USB, headphones
Camera	4MP rear camera with "UltraPixel" image sensor, 2.1MP front camera
Size	5.41" × 2.69" × 0.37" (137.4 × 68.2 × 9.3 mm)
Weight	5.0 ounces (143 g)
Battery	2300 mAh
Starting price	$149.99 with two-year contract (may vary depending on carrier)
Other perks	Accelerometer, gyroscope, digital compass, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, IR blaster
By all accounts the well-reviewed HTC One hasn't reversed the company's fortunes, but that doesn't mean it's not an attractive, rock-solid phone. Its aluminum body is one of the best you can find on the Android side of the fence, and like the S 4, it has a 1080p display and quad-core SoC to keep things moving quickly. The twin front-facing speakers and the "Ultrapixel" camera with optical imaging stabilization (OIS) don't hurt either.

The HTC One comes in a number of hardware and software variants, the most recommendable of which is probably the unlocked Google Play edition.

LG/Google Nexus 5


LG and Google's Nexus 5.

Ron Amadeo

Specs at a glance: Google Nexus 5
Screen	1920×1080 4.95" (445 PPI) IPS touchscreen
OS	Android 4.4 "KitKat"
CPU	2.26GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800
RAM	2GB
GPU	Adreno 330
Storage	16GB or 32GB
Networking	Dual Band 802.11b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, GSM (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); CDMA Bands 0/1/10; WCDMA Bands 1/2/4/5/6/8/19; 100Mbps LTE Bands 1/2/4/5/14/19/25/26/41
Ports	Micro-USB, headphones
Camera	8MP rear camera with OIS, 1.3MP front camera
Size	5.42" x 2.72" 0.34" (137.84 x 69.17 x 8.59 mm)
Weight	4.59 ounces (130 g)
Battery	2300 mAh
Starting price	$350 off contract
Other perks	Slimport, RGB notification LED
The Nexus phones are always worth considering if you're an Android fan—Google and its partners normally assemble an impressive spec sheet, put it into an inoffensive-if-plain body, put a low price tag on it ($349 unlocked, where smartphones normally go for between $600 and $700 unlocked), and then put clean Google-style Android on it. That's the blueprint the Nexus 5 sticks to.

As usual, the Nexus 5 is a good phone that falls just short of being the One True Android Handset. A mediocre camera and middling battery life as well as lack of Verizon compatibility will put it out of the running for some buyers. If you're looking for an alternative, LG's G2 shares many of the same specs and improves the camera and battery life situations, but that phone's lesser build quality and cluttered Android skin make it more difficult to recommend.

Motorola/Google Moto X


Enlarge / Google and Motorola's Moto X.
Andrew Cunningham

Specs at a glance: Google/Motorola Moto X
Screen	1280×720 4.7-inch (313 PPI) RGB AMOLED
OS	Android 4.2.2
CPU	"Motorola X8 Computing System" (Dual-core 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 with co-processors)
RAM	2GB
GPU	Qualcomm Adreno 320
Storage	16 or 32 GB NAND flash
Networking	802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, 100Mbps LTE (bands vary depending on carrier)
Ports	Micro-USB, headphones
Camera	10MP rear camera, 2MP front camera
Size	5.09" × 2.57" × 0.22-0.41" (129.4 × 65.3 × 5.7-10.4 mm)
Weight	4.59 ounces (130 g)
Battery	2200 mAh
Starting price	$99 with two-year contract (price may vary depending on carrier)
Other perks	Active notifications, touchless voice controls
The Moto X is a distant relative to the Nexus family, but aside from their parent company and their stock-ish loads of Android, the two phones don't have a whole lot in common. Where the Nexus 5 stuffs as many high-end specs in as it can, the Moto X is more of an all-rounder. It doesn't have the best CPU, the best screen, or the best camera, but it's one of the few Android phones that doesn't make any major compromises.

If you're looking for alternatives to the Moto X, the Droid Maxx has similar hardware features but a much larger battery, though it's tied to Verizon (and Verizon phones have shoddy track records for Android updates).

Samsung Galaxy Note 3


Samsung's Galaxy Note 3.

Ron Amadeo

Specs at a glance: Samsung Galaxy Note 3
Screen	1920×1080 5.7" (386 PPI) Super AMOLED touchscreen
OS	Android 4.3 "Jelly Bean"
CPU	2.26GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800
RAM	3GB
GPU	Adreno 330
Storage	32GB or 64GB
Networking	Dual Band 802.11b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, GSM (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz), HSPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz), 150Mbps LTE advanced (bands vary depending on carrier)
Ports	Micro-USB 3.0, headphones
Camera	13MP rear camera, 2MP front camera
Size	5.95" x 3.12" x 0.33" (151.2 mm x 79.2 mm x 8.3 mm)
Weight	5.93 ounces (168g)
Battery	3200 mAh
Starting price	$299 with 2-year contract (price may vary depending on carrier)
Other perks	Removable battery, MicroSD slot, RGB Notification LED, IR blaster, 4K video recording, MHL 2.0
People can (and do) debate the wisdom of huge-screened phones all they want, but Samsung's Galaxy Note series has seen enough success that it's now on its third iteration. It takes the older Notes' hallmarks (a big ol' screen—now increased to 5.7 inches—and Samsung's S Pen stylus) and adds this year's best high-end specs to make a phone that comes pretty close to being a small tablet. Like the Galaxy S 4, the Note 3 also supports fast 150Mbps LTE Advanced connections if your carrier supports it.

Nokia Lumia 925


Andrew Cunningham

Specs at a glance: Nokia Lumia 925
Screen	768×1280 4.5" (334 PPI) AMOLED
OS	Windows Phone 8 (8.0.10328.278)
CPU	Dual core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus (MSM8960)
RAM	1GB
GPU	Qualcomm Adreno 225
Storage	16GB NAND flash, non-expandable
Networking	802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, NFC, 100Mbps LTE (bands vary depending on carrier)
Ports	Micro-USB, headphones
Camera	8.7MP rear camera, 1.2MP front camera
Size	5.08" × 2.78" × 0.33" (129 × 70.6 × 8.5 mm)
Weight	4.9 ounces (139 g)
Battery	2000 mAh (non-removable)
Starting price	$99.99 on-contract
The Lumia phones have always had a strong sense of style, but earlier efforts ended up looking and feeling chunky compared to their more svelte Android and iOS competitors. With the Lumia 925, Nokia and Microsoft have created a phone that retains the look of the Lumias but also feels better in the hand. The specs haven't changed much since last year (quad-core Windows Phones are on the horizon but they're not here yet), but Windows Phone is still fast and fluid on even modest hardware. The 925's AMOLED display lends itself well to the bright, flat colors of the Windows Phone interface.

The Lumia 925 is for AT&T and T-Mobile customers only, but the Verizon-only Lumia 928 (which we reviewed in June) shares most of the same specs. It doesn't quite look the same (it's a little larger and heavier), but most of our observations about the 925 should also apply to the 928.

Nokia Lumia 1020


Enlarge / The Lumia 1020 puts its gigantic camera front-and-center.
Andrew Cunningham

Specs at a glance: Nokia Lumia 1020
Screen	768×1280 4.5" (334 PPI) AMOLED
OS	Windows Phone 8 (8.0.10328.278)
CPU	Dual core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus (MSM8960)
RAM	2GB
GPU	Qualcomm Adreno 225
Storage	32GB NAND flash, non-expandable
Networking	802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, NFC, 100Mbps LTE (bands vary depending on carrier)
Ports	Micro-USB, headphones
Camera	41MP rear camera, 1.2MP front camera
Size	5.13" × 2.81" × 0.41" (130.4 × 71.4 × 10.4 mm)
Weight	5.57 ounces (158 g)
Battery	2000 mAh (non-removable)
Starting price	$199.99 on-contract
Smartphones have basically destroyed the market for cheap point-and-shoot cameras, but some models have larger ambitions. The Lumia 1020 has many of the same specs as the 925, but it has a great big 41 megapixel camera jutting out of the back. One accessory adds a point-and-shoot-style trigger button and grip to the device. More than any of our other contenders, the 1020 puts the "camera" in "camera phone."

Page 3 of 4
Best productivity phone: The Galaxy Note 3


Enlarge
Andrew Cunningham

I'm an iPhone user about three-quarters of the time, but I hate trying to write on the thing. The onscreen keyboard is OK, but editing a document in Pages means endlessly panning and zooming around the suddenly-too-tiny screen, trying to select, edit, and delete text with my big fat fingers and getting frustrated that documents I write in Pages (or in TextEdit on my Mac) can't be easily shared to Dropbox or other file sharing services.

Enter the Galaxy Note 3, which ably counters all three gripes. The expansive 1080p screen makes it easy to see more text at once without all the panning and zooming, and the stylus is precise enough that even poking around in spreadsheets won't make you want to hurt yourself. Android and its Intents system will also let me upload the things I make to the cloud service of my choice—Google Drive is actually a pretty good choice in this case, since you can get clients for it on just about every major platform (and you can work in a browser window on the rest of them).

Android's productivity is particularly good if you're a Google Apps user, but its integration with Microsoft's services (among others) are good enough that you can get by, especially if you're able to download and use the Office Mobile for Android app. If you don't use Google's or Microsoft's services, the now-free Quickoffice software will do in a pinch.

Runner-up: Any Windows phone


Enlarge
Andrew Cunningham

Windows Phone is still the only mobile platform that gives you honest-to-goodness Microsoft Office out of the box without requiring a paid subscription to one of Microsoft's Office services. This automatically makes Windows Phone more useful if you're working with Office documents and compatibility is of the utmost importance. Windows Phone also features tight integration with Microsoft services like SkyDrive and SharePoint, both useful features if you get your work done on a Windows 8 or 8.1 PC.

Moving away from word processing, Windows Phone 8 features nice, unified e-mail and calendar clients with great Microsoft Exchange (and by extension, Outlook.com and Office 365) integration. Competing services like those from Google aren't treated as second-class citizens as they can be in Android, though—using them on Windows Phone is just about as good as using Exchange.

Move too far away from Office and other Microsoft services, and Windows Phone's shallow app library will quickly become a limiting factor. Sadly, if you don't like what's built in, there's not a whole lot you can do about it (luckily, what's included in the box is pretty good). Finally, while Live Tiles are a decent way to view some current and upcoming information, the lack of a unified Notification Center can be a hindrance for those who constantly need to be up to date on things coming in from a wide variety of sources (e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, and so on).

Best gaming phone: The iPhone 5S


Enlarge / Tiny Wings on the iPhone 5S.
Andrew Cunningham

There are two big things to consider when you're going to game on your phone: GPU power and game library. The iPhone 5S offers the best of both worlds in a package that's very easy to hold.

For several years, Apple has led the pack when it comes to mobile GPU performance, and the Imagination Technologies graphics cores that the new Apple A7 uses can best even the mighty (and ubiquitous) Snapdragon 600 and 800 in 3D rendering speeds. And even though more games are coming to Android now than ever before, indie games in particular still tend to come out on iOS first—no matter what genres you like, you'll be able to find something in Apple's App Store.

Runner-up: the Moto X


Enlarge / 10000000 on the Moto X.
Andrew Cunningham

Let's be clear: none of our Android phones are bad at gaming, because they all come packing the power of Qualcomm's high-end Adreno GPUs. The Moto X has two things working in its favor: first, its lower-resolution 1280×720 display actually means that frame rates will be higher than on 1080p displays with similar GPUs. Second, it might just be the games that I personally play on Android, but it seems like some of them have rendering problems on 1080p displays—UI elements appear in places where they shouldn't or look smaller than they should on screen.

It's a minor gripe, and since all these Android phones have access to the same game libraries, you'll have access to everything no matter what phone you pick. We've just had a more consistent experience on lower-resolution screens.

Best camera phone: Nokia Lumia 1020

Runner-up: The iPhone 5S

Honorable mention: Nokia Lumia 925, Moto X

This is one of those times when pictures speak louder than words. Using each of our eight phones, we took four different kinds of shots.

An outdoor shot of some brick buildings and an overcast sky. It can be difficult for phone cameras to balance light and detail in shots with different kinds of lighting.
An outdoor shot of a small plant. This will be the kindest test of all of them since there's plenty of light and the cameras won't have to work to find a good exposure setting.
An indoor shot of a sleepy cat. In this shot we'll be looking for fine detail in the cat's fur and looking at how the cameras handle white balance indoors.
An outdoor night shot of a liquor store, one of New Jersey's most treasured institutions. How much detail will each camera preserve?
 
Andrew Cunningham

The Lumia 1020 does a good job with light and detail here, not overexposing the sky or too terribly underexposing the buildings.

 
Andrew Cunningham

The plant's color really pops on the 1020, and there's just the right amount of background blur.

 
Andrew Cunningham

The Lumia 1020 tends to put a bit of a greenish cast on things when you're inside. It's not insurmountable, but we've noticed it pretty consistently. It does a good job with fine detail, though.

 
Andrew Cunningham

The 1020's picture is a little on the warm side, but it's also the best in terms of detail and noise. You can see all the way down the street, and you can even distinguish some trees against the sky.

The Lumia 1020 isn't perfect, but it's a very versatile camera, especially in low light. It comes with trade-offs, though, namely the lag between shots and the general bulk of the phone. The Lumia 925 isn't as good (and it tends to have more problems with white balance), but it also handles low light pretty well and doesn't have those two particular problems.

The iPhone 5S isn't the best at low-light performance, but Apple continues to make some of the best truly point-and-shoot phone cameras. They mask settings like exposure, white balance, and ISO levels from their users, but it's OK because their software tends to make good choices even when faced with many different kinds of light. Unique features like burst shooting don't hurt either, and the camera can take pictures practically as quickly as you can mash the shutter button.

Finally, on the Android side of the fence, things are less encouraging. Both Samsung phones have decidedly mediocre cameras, and while the HTC One's camera isn't bad, it tends to turn in soft images because of HTC's aggressive processing. The Nexus 5 isn't bad, especially compared to the terrible camera in the Nexus 4, but it's nothing to write home about, either. The Moto X's pictures get noisy in low light and indoors, but after its camera update we'd say that it's probably the most reliable performer of our five Android competitors.

Page 4 of 4
Best music/video/entertainment phone: The iPhone 5S


Enlarge / Apple's media library is a force to be reckoned with.
Andrew Cunningham

As in gaming, media is an area where Apple wins for its ecosystem more than for its hardware—for some, watching movies and TV on the 4-inch screen might actually be less preferable than watching on a larger Android phone. However, no Android or Windows phone can boast tight integration with the massive iTunes library.

iOS has very good support for video from other, non-iTunes sources. The standards like Netflix, Hulu Plus, Spotify, and Rdio are represented, of course, while apps like Emit and its ilk cover those who choose to stream their media locally. iOS is also the only non-Amazon operating system that can access and stream Amazon video, something that isn't yet supported on Android (although Android devices can access Kindle books and Amazon MP3 downloads easily).

Finally, the new iTunes Radio feature in iOS 7 and OS X is a nice addition for those who want to discover new music. After a few weeks of using it and comparing it to Pandora, we've found that Apple ultimately gives you more granular control over the kinds of music you want to listen to, and it seems to draw from a wider library of songs (many Pandora stations end up eventually becoming the same station, just because in the long term the songs repeat so often).

Runner-up: The Galaxy S 4, HTC One, or Nexus 5


Enlarge / A bigger screen can make for a superior viewing experience, however.
Andrew Cunningham

If you don't care about or patronize the iTunes store and you don't particularly care about Amazon Video, any Android device can hook you up with a comparable selection of downloadable and streaming media. Again, the big players in the streaming video and streaming music markets are well-represented, so if you choose to grab your music, movies, and e-books from third parties, you'll be fine on any Android phone. Google Play also offers its own not-bad selections of music and movies, and it has a streaming music service in Google Play Music All Access.

The real nice thing about all three of these phones is their large, 1080p displays—you've got a bigger screen to look at, and the image on that screen will be more detailed (assuming your source media is in full HD). While all of the phones offer a pretty similar viewing experience, the S 4 probably edges the other two out a bit. We'd recommend turning the Galaxy S 4's screen to photo or movie mode to tone down the too-bright AMOLED colors, but AMOLED's blacks get darker than the IPS LCD panels used by either the One or the Nexus 5.

Best overall Android phone: The Moto X


Enlarge / The Moto X is a well-balanced, clean, approachable, Android handset.
Andrew Cunningham

The Moto X is an odd duck. It didn't really win out in any of our earlier comparisons, and it doesn't sit at the top of the benchmarking charts. It doesn't get updates as quickly as its distant cousins in the Nexus family. It's very rarely the best at any given task, but it's also never the worst.

Our biggest functional gripe about the phone—its sub-par camera—has been addressed at least in part by a camera update that improves color and reduces the purple sheen that was all over the place in the pictures we took for our review. Our gripes about the phone's $199-on-contract price have also been addressed (though sadly because of apparent market disinterest in the phone), and you can usually grab it for $99-on-contract these days.

With those problems addressed, pretty much everything about the phone is either "good enough" (its screen, its CPU performance, its battery life) or great (its size and weight, its 802.11ac Wi-Fi, its GPU performance). Add in genuinely useful features like Active Notifications and Touchless Controls, and you've got a pretty attractive package.

Its software is also preferable to what the OEMs will give you—it isn't quite stock Android and there are some carrier-installed apps to deal with, but it's much cleaner and faster than what you'll get from the likes of Samsung and LG in particular. A KitKat update for the phone has been announced, though it will need to jump through the standard carrier testing hoops, and it may be weeks or months before we see it. Being a Google phone gives the Moto X no special privileges when it comes to running the latest version of Android.

Runner-up: The HTC One or the Nexus 5


Enlarge / If you demand faster chips and denser screens, you can't go wrong with either the HTC One or the Nexus 5.
Andrew Cunningham

It's difficult to choose just one runner-up here, so we cheated a bit and have gone with two that will serve different groups of people. The One features stunning build quality, surprisingly good software support from HTC (it was upgraded to Android 4.3 in relatively short order), and Verizon compatibility. The Nexus 5 sports a lower off-contract price, quick access to Android updates from Google, and a somewhat faster SoC. It's a close race, but you get a very nice phone either way.

Best overall Windows phone: Nokia Lumia 925


Enlarge / The Lumia 925 is an outstanding refinement of the original Lumia 920.
Andrew Cunningham

The Lumia 1020's camera is an interesting experiment, but if you're looking for a phone there's no contest: the Lumia 925 (and the 928, if you're on Verizon) is a great all-rounder that shows off Windows Phone well without being too big or ostentatious. Giving up that extra 1GB of RAM compared to the 1020 doesn't make much of a difference to the device's actual performance, and the 925's camera is still a standout among smartphone shooters. Its low-light performance in particular is impressive. Even with new, big, high-end phones like the Lumia 1520 on the horizon, the 925 and 928's size and specs make it a better offering for those not interested in a "phablet."

The state of the smartphone

The smartphone market in 2013 is surprisingly stable. Both Apple and Google, the major players in the space, continue to iterate on and improve their products in useful ways, even if none of the big updates that have been released in the last year or so have greatly affected the balance of power between the two.

We continue to wish that Windows Phone would begin to do better in the market because it's an intriguing operating system that suffers from a lack of applications. Plus, Apple and Google could use a third, external source of competitive pressure. There are many smaller hardware and software companies competing in this field, but Microsoft continues to be one of the few with the resources to battle such entrenched competitors (another might be Amazon if those perennial rumors about a Kindle phone ever come true, but that's another article). Microsoft's emphasis on cameras is encouraging as well. While some of the Android OEMs are finally starting to put in some real effort here, the cameras from the biggest Android player (Samsung) are among the worst of the phones we compared, particularly in low light.

What's really nice is that even though most of our categories still have clear-cut winners, none of these phones are truly bad at any of the things they do. A phone like the Galaxy S 4 may not have topped any of these lists, but that doesn't mean it's a bad phone for gaming, editing documents, or taking pictures. iPhones may be more restrictive when it comes to sharing and editing documents, but especially since iWork became free, you can still be productive on an iPhone. In short, as long as you don't start dumpster diving, it's hard to find a truly bad smartphone these days.

There are still some app gaps in Windows Phone 8, but most of the time, you can walk into a store, grab whatever high-end phone you want, and walk out with something that will get the job done no matter what you're using it for. We're still waiting on that perfect, one-size-fits-all, do-everything phone, but in the absence of that, you'd be well served by any of our contenders.