Smartphone Roundup
Illustration by Laura MedinaPhones have changed a lot over the years. First they could text, then you could play Snake and now they can pretty much do anything. What hasn’t changed is the convoluted way companies name these devices. With their haphazard grab bag of numbers, letters and version designations, keeping track of what handset you should buy this year isn’t exactly easy. Add in the fact that 2013 has a huge amount of flagship smartphones spreading across four major operating systems and manufacturers from around the world—well, you’ve got a lot of research to do. That’s why we’ve gone and done it for you.
So here it is—Paste’s guide to the flagship smartphones released in 2013:
HTC One
Operating system: Android
Release date: 4/17/13
The One-Liner
Despite suffering from a lack of Android updates and some unnecessary OS skinning, the HTC One stands out with its gorgeous display, sleek industrial design and the best Android experience next to stock Android that you’ll find.
What We Like
The HTC One is the flagship HTC smartphone of 2013 and features an all-aluminum body, a 4.7” 1080p display, and the newest version of the HTC Sense UI paradigm. Of the smartphones we’ve seen so far, the HTC One is the most well-constructed and beautifully designed smartphone of 2013. The sharpness of the display is out-of-this-world and the front-facing speakers are the best you’ll find in the smartphone market.
What We Don’t Like
If there’s a place to complain about the HTC One, it’s on the software side. HTC’s Android skin, Sense, is better than it’s ever been and more non-intrusive than ever before, but it’s still not stock Android. You’ll still have uninstall some apps and customize Sense’s new home screen features to get it to a place where Android can truly shine. Lastly, the HTC One doesn’t come with the newest version of Android, which is really unfortunate.
BlackBerry Z10
Operating system: BlackBerry 10
Release date: Available
The One-Liner
The BlackBerry Z10 features a brand new operating system that shows plenty of promise, but still lacks the maturity or third-party support of their competitors to give users a real reason to make the switch.
What We Like
The Blackberry Z10 is the long-awaited reinvention of the BlackBerry. After holding out for so long, BlackBerry has finally moved its devices into the 21st century with a functioning modern OS and high-quality build that their competitors have been doing for years now. The new BlackBerry 10 operating system is a perfectly capable environment that can do almost anything that your equivalent Android or iOS device can, even implementing some really nice swipe gestures and multitasking functions on top. Furthermore, we like that BlackBerry has gone back to the drawing board with some of the iOS design tropes that have taken over, especially regarding the home screen.
What We Don’t Like
BlackBerry’s current state as a company still remains up in the air. Betting everything on the success of BlackBerry 10 and the Z10, BlackBerry has left behind their diehard QWERTY fanbase, along with the substantial enterprise market share they once had. Blackberry 10 does most of what you’d want it to, but still doesn’t handle basic features like email, messaging and notifications with the finesse of Android or even iOS. What’s more, the fact that third-party app support for BlackBerry 10 has been quite limited as well makes the Z10 somewhat of a hard sell.
Sony Xperia Z
Operating system: Android
Release date: Available