Gadgetory

when you're buying phone there are really five things you need to pay attention to battery life camera app ecosystem design and software every phone does the basics well they make phone calls they send text they browse the web and you really can't get a bad smartphone anymore but what if you want the best phone if you want to buy a phone you know you'll be happy with and just not worry about it anymore you should buy an iPhone 5s it's just the best all-around smartphone on the market it's beautifully designed a little metallic rectangle of a thing that scuffs pretty easily but is both sturdy and handsome it screens small by today's standards yes if you want bigger than a 4-inch screen you're better off looking elsewhere but the screen is high resolution viewable outdoors and generally every bit as good as it needs to be two things really set the 5s apart its camera and its eco system the 8 megapixel camera is the most consistent sharpest simplest smartphone camera you'll find other phones offer cool features the iPhone doesn't but there's just nothing that matches its picture quality and ease of use and then there's the App Store filled with hundreds of thousands of great camera apps games productivity tools and pretty much anything else you can think of sure every platform has Twitter and Facebook and Angry Birds but iOS gets the best apps first and it gets great apps that no other platform ever sees and that's all not to mention the huge ecosystem of speakers Doc's Apple TVs and cases that only fit the iPhone it may not be perfect in every respect but if all you want is a phone that you know you'll love that you'll never have to worry about you should buy a 5s but what if you don't want an iPhone what if you want a big screen or really killer battery life that's when you should take a long look at the new HTC One it's one of the best design phones I've ever seen a truly beautiful object it's big big enough to be hard to use in one hand but it's just gorgeous it is a 5-inch 1080p screen that's easily among the best on the market it is a battery that lasts a day and a half without trying very hard and it has one of the better customizations of Android you'll ever find it has great speakers too and seriously it's just beautiful the one has just a single big compromise the camera it does a nice job taking pictures in low light since HTC uses big pixels to take deceptively well lit shots and dark rooms but the photos just don't look as good as I'd like it has some neat features and a second lens that lets you sort of refocus your shots after the fact but pictures just aren't what I want them to be in anything but the most ideal situation it doesn't hold a candle to the iPhone if you do want an Android phone that takes great pictures you have a couple of options there's the Samsung Galaxy s5 which has a 13 megapixel camera that takes goodbut unspectacular pictures pretty much all the time actually everything about the s5 is good but spectacular it has a good screen some useful software features and great battery life and it's waterproof which I really like but it has a plasticky design which is better than last year's s4 but still not exactly attractive and it's still too full of overbearing and unnecessary software and bloopy sound effects to really be a great enjoyable device there's nothing terrible about the s5 except maybe the design but there's really nothing to be all that excited about either I like the Nexus 5 - it feels a little more expensive than some other phones even though it isn't and I like that it comes with pure unadulterated Android but it's battery life and camera can be spotty at times and there are some dangers with things like customer service when you buy a phone directly from Google if you're a picky purist you won't want anything else but most people can probably get a little more for their money those really aren't one-size-fits-all different things work better for different people the best example is probably the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 it's huge with a 5.7 inch screen it's too big for your average skinny jean and for your average customer but if you want a big phone or you want stylus support don't even consider another phablet Samsung invented this kind of phone and it's still King on a similar note if all you want is crazy insane outrageous battery life you want to splurge for the Motorola Droid Maxx I don't like much of anything about the way this phone is designed but in the last two days in Venza now for a slightly smaller phone the Moto X is designed to be a straightforward iPhone competitor simple software easy to use easy to understand its problem is that has slightly outdated specs that are only going to become more outdated over the course of your two-year contract it's a good phone for basic users and I love the ability to customize it but you might find yourself wanting a little more honestly that's really the end of the list of phones you should consider you might find yourself looking at a Windows Phone like the Lumia icon with Lumia 925 but even though those have good cameras and hugely improved software thanks to Windows Phone 8.1 they still don't have the app selection or general performance that the best Android and iOS devices do and if you're looking at a blackberry well you either desperately need a physical keyboard or you shouldn't be buying a blackberry honestly though no matter what you leave the store with you can leave knowing you bought a phone that will do just about everything you absolutely need it to where you're choosing among is the details which design do you like best would you rather have a killer screen or a big battery or a great camera do you like iOS or Android better for my money the iPhone 5s is an easy choice it may not be the best in every cat but it's the best smartphone you can buy