Gadgetory

well it's that time of year it's the end of the year so it's time to take a look back and see what are the best Android phones of 2013 it's Josh regard from Android 30 what's going on everybody and it's time to take a look at the best phones of 2013 however we're taking a bit of a different approach here instead of just giving you a top five ten list we're actually going to look at what types of phones would be perfect for the type of person that you might be but enough of the chitchat why don't we go ahead and jump right into the categories whether you like just your simple word puzzles or you play dead trigger 2 at the highest possible quality settings this is a phone made for the gamer in all of us and yes our pick is the Google Nexus 5 with a great display backed by LG's display prowess a wonderful processing package in the Snapdragon 800 and the adrenal 334 high graphics allows for some very great gaming capabilities the main reason here however is the price it is a pretty easy entry for a great performance and you have money left over for plenty of games our runner-up in this category is the Sony Xperia z1 it brings many of the same capabilities along with even better battery life a better camera and expandable storage also DualShock controller support built-in doesn't hurt either however it does have a much higher price point our next best smartphone for 2013 is for the workaholic basically the person who needs to get a lot done and needs a companion that can get a lot of things done and for the workaholic we have to give the crown to the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 it is an executive phone with an executive look however it also comes with all of the tools that you would need to get the work done it continues to lead the phablet space especially with the inclusion of the s-pen not only does it come with a bunch of new features that make it easier for even the average user to get into the s-pen it also allows for a lot of multitasking our runner-up in this category is the LG g2 while it doesn't have the s-pen plenty of the multitasking tools included in the g2 are similar to what are included in the galaxy note 3 and all comes in a smaller perhaps slightly more accessible package due to its smaller size compared to the note 3 if your phone is basically your entertainment hub for everything from YouTube to Google play music to Spotify to Netflix even then this next phone is one of the best songs 2013 and is made especially for you the entertainment lover it should come as a little surprise that the HTC One gets the nod here due to a superior audio experience the boom sound front-facing speakers are just stellar performers and they allow for standalone media consumption through just the phone itself and couple that with a 1080p resolution screen at 4.7 inches that keeps it had a great quality in an actually pretty accessible package nonetheless our runner-up in this category is basically the step aside from the HTC One and that is the Samsung Galaxy s4 the Samsung Galaxy s4 Super AMOLED display provides high contrast in a 5 inch form factor media looks great across the board on this particular screen so if you need an experience that might be just a little bit bigger than the one that is in the HTC One the Samsung Galaxy s4 stands right alongside it you get all of your materials together you're super-excited to get out to your brand-new college campus but after paying for the books paying for your extra materials and not to mention the college tuition you find yourself a little strapped for cash so this next best phone of 2013 is made for you the student was there really any doubt what the phone would be here of course it's the Moto G with great performance at a very affordable price point this is one of the most undeniable Steel's in the android market today and in the market of smaller lower end phones not only does the $179 base price point truly set it apart but a great 720p display quality and a good performing quad-core Snapdragon processor are just icing on top of the cake however if money is no object and you are able to pay for that much higher price point then our runner-up in this category is the samsung galaxy note 3 the note 3 is great for students for all of the same reasons that it is good for workaholics of course granted they don't stay on Facebook all day so you've got all of your gear on for a nice run or maybe you even have a backpack on for that hike well in this case you want to be one with nature so what phone do you bring along with you well when it comes to the outdoorsy type we have found that the Sony Xperia z1 definitely fits the bill with ingress protection or ip67 certification all that means that this phone can brave the elements much better than most other phones and it still manages to look like a very sleek device despite all of that protection in DB Sony Xperia z1 can take a tumble it could even take a splash and in terms of our drop tests it took a thrashing and still came out looking about as good as it went in however if you do want to kind of hit it on the nose here with the more rugged type of phone our runner-up is of course the Samsung Galaxy s4 active if you want a phone that actually seems catered for the rugged terrain and that is exactly what the s4 active was made for as it comes with the same IP certifications as the Xperia z1 in a body that likely matches your hiking gear now this is a category that I might somewhat put myself in because it's the category that tends to try to be unique tries to be the early adopter for something that might really blow up later this is the best phone of 2013 for the trendsetter and after much deliberation we have found that the best phone for a trendsetter is the LG G flex this is the phone trying to do something new and manages to do it with some style while never failing to be a great font underneath it all that curve is very very obvious from the get-go but it does allow for durability along with a self-healing back a flexible plastic LED display allows for this type of form factor to happen and it is a pretty early adoption along with that self-healing back but underneath it is a wonderfully executed 720p display powered by the high performing Snapdragon 800 our very close runner-up in this category is the HTC One it is an aluminum clad smartphone that actually pretty much stands alone in the Android space the HTC One gets points for its own stylish Flair and there's a phone that we are always happy to have in our and and usually does the trick when it comes to turning people's heads our next category is for the gadget lover essentially what we're looking for is a phone that you would be immensely happy to have and have right alongside all of the other gadgets do you call your own and in this category we have to give it to the motox see you taught us that super high end specifications aren't needed to have a superior user experience and it has a highly accessible smaller body that makes for a companion you can always easily have on hand however it doesn't slouch in terms of its features as the extra features motorola put into the home oh stock Android build adds points for being actually practical and highly utilized by even most average users however as long as we're talking about features if you want the most possible then perhaps the Samsung Galaxy S 4 is for you and is the runner-up in this category maybe every new addition that Samsung did throw into the s4 will make you happy everything from the air gestures to the air views to the smart pauses the smart scroll is the IR blaster and even the s health functionality if that is all useful to you then the Samsung Galaxy S 4 is your pick so let's say there's a shot that you want to get something just looks really beautiful but you don't have your DSLR or your compact camera so what phone do you have in your back pocket to take that perfect shot well this is the best phone of 2013 for the photographer and in this regard we have to give it to the LG g2 a 13 megapixel optic package comes with many different modes in the app to allow for creativity HDR panorama burst modes the works however what is really of note here is a great implementation of optical image stabilization which proves how important such a feature will be in the coming year for other camera smartphones not only does it allow for some great stabilization for your shaky hands it also provides some pretty great photos as a result the quality is pretty undeniable here and also the bonus with the LG g2 is that it just also manages to be a damn good phone too because you can compare to some other phones that try to be more like cameras than phones and pretty much fall flat on their face the Sony Xperia z1 is the runner-up here and gets the nod for a very high-performing 20.7 megapixel shooter is enhanced by user installable add-ons that provide a possibly consistently evolving photography experience its pictures are also not too shabby either and with that super high megapixel count there are definitely quite a few things you can do with the very large pictures that come out of this phone now we would be remiss if we overlooked what is one of the most important categories of the year and that is the Android purist this is probably the smallest surprise of the year because of course the Nexus 5 takes the crown for being the phone for the Android purist we wanted to give it a nod primarily because it really is the best and quintessential Android experience available right now and it only comes from the Nexus Android 4.4 KitKat brings optimizations with a further elegantly integrated search interface with voice controls built in to boot the phone is also a great performer with very powerful specifications and the camera even if it started off a little bit wonky got greatly improved with a new very recent point one update we give the runner-up spot here to the Moto X with Google's backing the Moto Series is still a great representation of almost stock Android with useful and well-executed Motorola extras and so there you have it for all of the best phones of 2013 catered specifically to the type of person you might be now we've pretty much covered a lot of different types of people and if you think that a different phone should have one for a particular category you can definitely let us know inside the comments below just feel free to sound off and explain to us why you think a different function of one as always thank you guys very much for watching and keep it tuned to Android authority for all of the best coverage we recently hit the 500,000 subscriber mark so I would really encourage all of you to check out our big thank you video to all of you who are subscribed again thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts and make sure you check out that video after that you can drop us likes on our videos subscribe to the channel if you haven't already and you can follow us on social media if you want to follow me you can find me in the handles that are below that subscribe button Joshua Vergara on Google+ of course and on Twitter and Instagram I am Josh salutes happy holidays everybody and keep it tuned to Android authority because we are your source for all things Android