Top Ten Smartphones ( August 2012 )
One - Samsung Galaxy S3
HTC One X’s reign as the best Android smartphone in the world was quite short-lived. The Samsung Galaxy S III has come, seen and conquered all. Well, at least our benchmark comparison sheet and our hearts!
Two - Apple iPhone 4s
What was an atmosphere of anticipation soon turned into one of mass disappointment, accompanied by a lot of swearing. Instead of the iPhone 5, Apple announced the launch of theiPhone 4S. Which is a rehashed version of the iPhone 4. For the most part!
Three - HTC One X
There are two reasons to buy this - you want the very best Android phone at the moment but don't really care about the mediocre battery life, and that you hate the iOS platform from the bottom of your heart!
It is astounding how HTC makes brilliant looking phones, one after the other, as if the designing process is a well planned production line in itself! The latest flagship phone, the One X, walks down the same path.
Four - Nokia 808 Pure View
Not surprisingly, the 808 PureView drew some mixed reactions, but surprisingly, none were taking the middle path. Some said it was the best camera phone around. Albeit with a few compromises, but also opined that “about what, in this world, do we not compromise on?” The other side said that this is a good camera with a phone bolted on to it, and will hang on to their cash tightly till something like this comes along with the Windows Phone OS for the rest of the time!
Five - Nokia Lumia 800
It was a long wait for the first Nokia smartphone with Windows Phone OS. And we believe that wait has been a long but successful one. The Lumia 800 seems to be a well designed package - with looks far superior than any other WP phone out there, an excellent display, good battery life and a UI that is thrashing Android's ageing UI hands down. Critically, it again boils down to the pricing bit, and we hope Nokia gets it right.
It is finally here. We have been waiting since the February announcement for a Windows Phone from Nokia. And we must admit, we were quite apprehensive about how good the smartphone would be. Safe to say, those apprehensions seemed to evaporate rather quickly. To be precise, after a couple of hours of playing with the Lumia 800!
Six - BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900
Sporting a price tag of Rs. 32,490, the Bold 4 does look like it has come nicely dressed in a suit with a crisply pressed shirt. However, beyond the looks, there is a bit of familiarity to the entire package. OS7 looks a lot like the OS6, and the age-old problem of not enough apps just persists. The touchscreen plus QWERTY combo works well. However, we would recommend the latest Bold just for its superb display and the fantastic keypad.
The much maligned handset maker, Research in Motion (RIM) has come out all guns blazing, against the critics. A 1.2GHz processor, an HD camera, a new OS and a very good touch display. But does it really have the correct answer, package wise?
Seven - Samsung Omnia W
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Windows Phone 7 as an OS has become mighty delicious after the Mango update. I would go on to say Microsoft has managed to offer a better user experience than what Android offers, making WP 7.5 second best only to the iOS. The Omnia W performs very well. Add an excellent battery life and a good display, and the dish is ready to be served, hot.
The rise of Windows Phone as a solid smartphone OS has been a surprise, and a huge relief as well. Frankly, the iOS vs. Android battle was beginning to become a bit boring. Thankfully, Microsoft silently got its house in order and got down to tweaking WP into a competent smartphone OS. And the results are quite impressive.
Eight - HTC Radar
HTC Radar has elegant aesthetics, sturdy build, a responsive user interface and great camera response. HTC is coming out with smartphones at a blistering pace and while it was dominated by Android based handsets around six months back, it is slowly but surely expanding its Windows Phone 7 portfolio as well. The latest – HTC Radar sports the Windows Phone 7.5 popularly known as the Mango update, that has got rid of minor niggles that affected the WP7.
Nine - Nokia Lumia 710
Is it just us? Or is any phone with Windows Phone Mango on board just turning out to be amazing? The Nokia Lumia 710 is another example. It takes on the Samsung Omnia W, with literally identical specs and performance. The final decision could quite literally boil down to which one you like more than the other!
If the Nokia Lumia 800 was an indicator of what Nokia plans to do with its Windows Phone Mango devices, then the future shall be certainly bright. The Nokia Lumia 710 is targeted at the consumer, who doesn’t wish to spend above Rs 20,000 on a phone, but would love to have a device that feels premium.
Ten - Nokia E6
The E6 is a smartphone with the touchscreen plus physical QWERTY keypad, latest Symbian Anna OS, a sleek (albeit slightly heavy) form factor and an excellent battery life. While it is often said that the E-series competes directly with Blackberry smartphones, it is interesting to note that the E6 falls slam bang between two Blackberry smartphones (the Curve 3G and the Bold 9700 ), and isn't really competing with either of them.
It is a topic of intense debate whether Nokia’s newer smartphones have ever lived up to the brilliance of the erstwhile N-Series (N95 8GB, N82, N72 etc.) and the E-Seriessmartphones. A lot of attempts were made, some good, but some were really bad. However, we are really impressed by what the E6 offers. Nokia, it seems, has gotten the combination right this time.
