The best phones of CES 2013
With Sony, Samsung, LG, and others all present at CES, smartphone announcements are in full swing. Newcomers to the smartphone game like Vizio are making their grand entrance in Las Vegas as well, while established companies like Huawei are doing their best to enter new markets. For everything you need to know about what could be your next handset, make sure to keep up with all of the big announcements here.
Oppo's 1080p Find 5 is its best-built phone yet
Oppo is one of a few companies with a 5-inch 1080p Android smartphone at CES this year. Announced back in December, the Find 5 is the Chinese manufacturer's shot at competing with the just-announced Sony Xperia Z, Huawei's Ascend D2, and ZTE's Grand S, as well as the already-available HTC Droid DNA. It's a very sleek device; measuring 8.8mm thick and finished in sturdy matte white plastic, it bears more than a passing resemblance to Sony's Xperia Ion, although its huge display means it has a...
Samsung shows off flexible OLED phone prototype (hands-on)
Samsung gave us a brief glimpse during its keynote today of its first phone using a flexible display, and now we've just had the opportunity to handle the device for ourselves. The phone, which is a nameless prototype, has a screen that falls off towards the rear edge of the device on the right side. Samsung hasn't quite figured out yet what to do with this extra screen real estate, but for now the phone displays landscape-oriented notifications along the edge. The idea is that you'll be able...
Russia's dual-screened YotaPhone needs work, but shows promise
Earlier this year, Russian company Yota revealed the YotaPhone, a dual-screened smartphone that features a unique E Ink display in addition to a standard LCD screen. We were able to spend some more time with a prototype YotaPhone today, and though it is still very rough around the edges, its unique concept is promising enough to keep us interested.
The YotaPhone runs Android, but instead of relying on the standard on-screen buttons found in Android 4.0 and later, the YotaPhone utilizes a...
Lenovo's 5.5-inch IdeaPhone K900 is powered by a dual-core Intel Atom processor
Lenovo has just announced the IdeaPhone K900, a 5.5-inch smartphone for the Chinese market with a dual-core Intel processor. The K900 is one of the first phones on the market with Intel's new 2GHz dual-core Atom processor, the Clover Trail+, and its display features 1080p resolution and a pixel density of over 400ppi. The phone is remarkably thin at only 6.9mm, which Lenovo claims is the thinnest for its class. Using both stainless steel and polycarbonate, the K900 is sharp and square where...
ZTE joins the 5-inch, 1080p smartphone party with the ultra-thin Grand S (hands-on)
It seems like every cellphone manufacturer agreed on the same set of specs for their flagship devices in the early part of 2013. ZTE's new Grand S is highlighted by a 5-inch, 1080p display, which sounds a lot like a Droid DNA or a Vizio 5-inch smartphone. Its spec sheet mirrors some other high-end phones, too: a 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 processor, a 13-megapixel camera, LTE, and 2GB of RAM. All that comes in a ludicrously thin 6.9mm package that's even slimmer than the Droid RAZR.
The...
Sony Xperia Z / ZL: hands-on with Sony's flagship smartphone for 2013
Sony has made it a habit to introduce new smartphones at CES each year, and this year's announcement of the new Xperia Z continues that trend. The Xperia Z — and the very similar Xperia ZL — is Sony's flagship mobile device for the year, bringing high-end specs and a refined design. The Z features a 5-inch, 1080p HD display — a feature that increasingly becoming the norm among high-end Android smartphones — and powerful quad-core processor in addition to a sharp looking exterior.
U...
Sony launches the 5-inch, quad-core Xperia Z into the battle for best 1080p Android phone
Sony's flagship phone for 2013 has just been revealed as the Xperia Z. This 5-inch Android 4.1 device comes with a 1080p display resolution, a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon processor, LTE connectivity, and a brand new 13-megapixel Exmor RS camera sensor. In other words, it's specced to succeed.
The Xperia Z is unique among cutting-edge handsets in being water resistant to a depth of one meter, while also matching the Nexus 4 with glass on both its front and back. Protecting against water...
Huawei blurs phone and tablet lines even further with colossal 6.1-inch Ascend Mate
Huawei won the latest battle in the smartphone screen size arms race today, after the Chinese company finally announced its long-rumored Ascend Mate phone/tablet hybrid. The Ascend Mate is dominated by its gigantic 6.1-inch 720p display, and also features a 1.5GHz quad-core processor, 2GB RAM and an 8-megapixel camera. It has "Magic Touch" technology, too which means that like Nokia's Lumia 920 you can use the phone while wearing gloves.
The phone runs Huawei's Emotion UI on top of Android...
Pantech Discover: hands-on with what may be AT&T's best $49.99 Android phone
As we noted when Pantech first announced the Discover for AT&T, it's a surprisingly high-powered phone for $49.99 on-contract. We compared it to the Galaxy S III and, well, Pantech is doing the exact same thing. In a small brochure here at AT&T's developer day, the company included a faux $150 bill to represent the money you'd save over picking Samsung's flagship. Cheeky marketing aside, it's a 4.8-inch 720p LTE smartphone running Android 4.0 with a 12.6 megapixel camera. It has two speakers...
Did Pantech just announce a $50 Galaxy S III? Meet AT&T's Discover
AT&T has just announced the Pantech Discover, a new budget-priced Android smartphone that has more than one similarity to Samsung Galaxy S III. Matching the Galaxy S III's display with a 4.8-inch, 720p screen, the Discover also has a 12.6-megapixel camera with 1080p video support, built-in NFC, and the obligatory support for AT&T's 4G LTE network. It is also powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core processor and has a 2,100mAh battery.
The Discover features Pantech's custom user interface on top of...
Vizio gets back in the phone game with 5-inch 1080p and 4.7-inch 720p handsets... for China
Two years ago, Vizio came to CES and announced the Vizio Phone, a skinned Android phone that quietly died at the hands of American carrier politics. Vizio moved on by designing and building a line of Windows PCs instead — and now that the PC line is humming along, the company is here at CES 2013 with two brand new phones... for the Chinese market.
That's Vizio's first expansion outside of North America, and while Vizio CTO Matt McRae won't come right out and say it's because of American...
