2013 has been a banner year for the tech industry. During this year, we’ve seen many new smartphones released which tried to break each others’ records. Smartphones this year became more and more powerful, and each company released their best performing flagship smartphones.
This year we’ve also seen companies experimenting with new curved displays, always on-voice commands, bigger screen sizes and wearable gadgets. Who knows, perhaps in 2014, we’ll see some of these ideas mature, or even some may vanish in thin air. So without any further talk, let’s take a look at some of the top smartphones of 2013.
Best smartphone – Android : Nexus 5
Although many of you would argue that the Nexus 5 is plain boring, nothing fancy and doesn’t come with a big screen like the Note 3, this smartphone indeed packs a punch. The Nexus 5 features 5-inch Full HD IPS+ screen with Gorilla Glass 3. The phone is powered by a Snapdragon 800 Quad-core processor, and 2GB of RAM. The camera of this phone hasn’t received praise but Google has already identified the issue and has rolled out an update. With this phone, users can get the pure Android experience, faster Android updates, top of the line specifications, smooth performance without any lag, and best of all, you can get it for $350 and that too without any contract. Now that’s a superb deal that we can get, and at a superb VFM (value for money) price. No longer do you need to shell out a fortune for a phone with such a spec.
Best smartphone from Apple: iPhone 5S
This year, Apple broke the norm and released two new smartphones instead of one. The Cupertino-based company released a flagship smartphone – the iPhone 5S and along with it, a low-cost version – the iPhone 5C. The flagship phone iPhone 5S received quite a bit of praise because of its powerful A7 processor, that as per Apple comes with 64-bit architecture. There’s also a M7 co-processor which picks up data from various sensors and processes that data, even when the phone is asleep. Hopefully in the future, developers will be able to take advantage of this new powerful processor. Apple also introduced biometrics, a fingerprint scanner which unlocks the phone. Now this is definitely something purely innovative, which no other smartphone company has ever tried. However, you’ll need to spend $649 for off-contract iPhone 5S and $199 with contract.
Best performing camera: Nokia Lumia 1020
If you’re the one who don’t like to carry two gadgets at the same time, then Lumia 1020 can fully replace your digital camera. As per the reviews of many top technology blogs, the Lumia 1020 captures quality photos that can match even a DSLR. Did we mention that it boasts a 41 megapixel Pureview camera? The camera offers the ability to control many aspects such as shutter speed, exposure, ISO, white balance and more. The camera is also known to take superb shots even in low-light conditions. So if you want a smartphone with a superb camera, then Nokia Lumia 1020 it is.
Best budget smartphone: Moto G
Motorola’s back in business with the budget offering – Moto G. This $179 smartphone comes with mid-range specs, and can be easily obtained without any contract with a network provider. It features 4.5-inch screen, Snapdragon 400 1.2GHz processor and 1 GB RAM. There’s no LTE, but considering its off-contract price, there’s not much that we can complain about.
