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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.

  • Aaron Souppouris

    Jan 10, 2013

    Aaron Souppouris

    Oppo's 1080p Find 5 is its best-built phone yet

    While the hardware is a definite improvement, Oppo hasn't done such a good job on software. It runs Android 4.1 with an extremely ugly skin that seems to take the worst from other custom Android software and mash it together into an unholy mess. Virtually every app has been modified, and none of them for the better. There are no hardware Android buttons, but unlike other manufacturers, Oppo has decided to omit labels for the buttons at all. Instead, there's a black bar that runs the bottom of the phone with no indication as to where you need to press. The company promises the Find 5 will launch in Asia and selected European territories including the UK. It'll cost $499 for a version with 16GB of storage or $569 for the 32GB model.

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  • Dante D'Orazio

    Jan 9, 2013

    Dante D'Orazio

    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 to read text messages, stock tickers, and other notifications from the side of the device even if you have a case covering the screen.

    As you would expect, representatives were very reluctant to give us any specifications on the prototype. But they did reveal that the screen is about five inches across, with a 16:9 aspect ratio and a resolution "about" 720p. We were also informed that the prototype isn't truly a phone — it lacks a radio, operating system, camera, and most any other feature you'd find in a phone. Instead, in its current form, the prototype is more like a touch-capable digital picture frame that uses a low-power processor to cycle through images of a mocked-up UI. The phone certainly feels like a prototype: it's poorly made of plastic, and it felt completely hollow within. We're skeptical of the utility of a flexible display on a phone, but it certainly makes for a cool tech demo.

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  • Dan Seifert

    Jan 9, 2013

    Dan Seifert

    Russia's dual-screened YotaPhone needs work, but shows promise

    YotaPhone dual-screened smartphone
    YotaPhone dual-screened smartphone

    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 gesture panel below the display. A full swipe right-to-left across the gesture area will bring you back to the home screen, while a half swipe replicates the standard back button. A long press on the panel will bring up Android's multi-tasking menu. The gesture-based concept is novel, and really made us teary-eyed for the Palm Pre, but the YotaPhone's early prototype status made it more frustrating to us than Android's standard buttons. Other unique hardware features include a the SIM tray and power button integrated into a single unit, and the industry's first application of Corning's new Gorilla Glass 3.

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  • Dan Seifert

    Jan 9, 2013

    Dan Seifert

    Lenovo's 5.5-inch IdeaPhone K900 is powered by a dual-core Intel Atom processor

    Gallery Photo: Lenovo 5.5-inch IdeaPhone K900 hands-on photos
    Gallery Photo: Lenovo 5.5-inch IdeaPhone K900 hands-on photos

    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 its competitors are soft and rounded.

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  • David Pierce

    Jan 8, 2013

    David Pierce

    ZTE joins the 5-inch, 1080p smartphone party with the ultra-thin Grand S (hands-on)

    Gallery Photo:
    Gallery Photo:

    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 phone has a unibody polycarbonate design that feels a little lighter than you would expect given its spec sheet, but lightness isn't necessarily a bad thing — just look at the iPhone 5. The software is a fairly heavily-skinned variant of Android 4.1, including an extra software back button along the screen's left edge. It can be dragged anywhere onscreen, and pressing and holding expands it into a full set of four buttons. It's a little bizarre, but the ZTE reps tell us that it's designed to compensate for the phone's big screen, making things more accessible for people with smaller hands. Otherwise, the phone seems to be well-designed, and its thin waistline helps to make sure the phone doesn't feel unwieldy.

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  • Dan Seifert

    Jan 8, 2013

    Dan Seifert

    Sony Xperia Z / ZL: hands-on with Sony's flagship smartphone for 2013

    Sony Xperia Z
    Sony Xperia Z

    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.

    Upon first glance, the Xperia Z looks like a standard slab-style touchscreen smartphone, but once you get it in your hands, you notice how square and rectangular the phone actually is. Instead of featuring rounded corners as seen on many smartphones, the Z is distinctly sharp and blocky, which can make it a little awkward to hold in your hand. Though it is by no means a small phone, the Z weighs only about 140g and is only 7.9mm thick, which helps mask the phone's large footprint. Like the LG Nexus 4, the Z features Gorilla Glass on both the front and the back panels, which is certainly an attractive look. We're not so sure it will be able to withstand many falls or tumbles however, which is always the problem with phones made of glass. The edges of the Z are mostly spartan, save for precisely machined aluminum power button located just about halfway down the right side of the phone. The button's silver color makes it stand out from the deep black color of the rest of the device. The one take-away that we had from the Z's design was that it was unmistakably Sony and evoked the high-end consumer electronics that the company designed back in its heyday.

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  • Jan 8, 2013

    Vlad Savov

    Sony launches the 5-inch, quad-core Xperia Z into the battle for best 1080p Android phone

    Sony Xperia Z_embargo
    Sony Xperia Z_embargo

    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 ingress does mean that there are plastic flaps over the Z's ports (including, annoyingly, the headphone jack), but you do at least get a microSD card slot, a feature that many manufacturers have started to omit from their devices.

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  • Sam Byford

    Jan 7, 2013

    Sam Byford

    Huawei blurs phone and tablet lines even further with colossal 6.1-inch Ascend Mate

    ascend mate huawei
    ascend mate huawei

    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 Jelly Bean, and the 4050mAh battery should go some way to counteracting the presumably massive power draw from the screen. You'll also find a one-handed mode that fits a regular-sized smartphone keyboard or dialpad into the bottom corners of the Ascend Mate's screen, which does sound like a thoughtful addition. Huawei has certainly gone all-out with the Ascend Mate, and we're pretty impressed overall — we just wonder how many pockets it'll fit.

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  • Dieter Bohn

    Jan 7, 2013

    Dieter Bohn

    Pantech Discover: hands-on with what may be AT&T's best $49.99 Android phone

    discover hands on
    discover hands on

    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 for stereo that also do their level best to simulate 3D surround sound — we didn't exactly feel immersed in a sea of audio, but they were louder and less tinny than most smartphone speakers.

    On the software side, Pantech is including a toggle to go to "Easy Experience," which radically simplifies the Android home screen and makes it look and act like a featurephone. Most people will obviously want to stick with the standard Pantech experience, which is not aggressively different from stock Android excepting some graphical cues and a custom lockscreen. That lockscreen consists of a circle, and you drag the app into the center that you want to jump directly into. Pantech tells us that it supports Wi-Fi direct for transferring files after you tap another phone with NFC, and it also has AT&T's DriveMode settings to make it automatically reply to calls and texts when you're driving.

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  • Dan Seifert

    Jan 7, 2013

    Dan Seifert

    Did Pantech just announce a $50 Galaxy S III? Meet AT&T's Discover

    Pantech Discover for AT&T
    Pantech Discover for AT&T

    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 Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and it has the company's Easy Experience settings for first-time smartphone buyers and AT&T's DriveMode app, which is said to help discourage drivers from texting while driving. Unfortunately, all of those features likely mean that the Discover won't get be getting timely updates to the latest versions of Android as they are released.

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  • Nilay Patel

    Jan 7, 2013

    Nilay Patel

    Vizio gets back in the phone game with 5-inch 1080p and 4.7-inch 720p handsets... for China

    Gallery Photo: Vizio 4.7-inch and 5.0-inch smartphone pictures
    Gallery Photo: Vizio 4.7-inch and 5.0-inch smartphone pictures

    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 carrier issues, he's not shy in saying that it's easier for his company to sell phones directly to Chinese consumers — unlike the carrier-dominated American market. And that's a shame, because the two phones here at CES 2013 are extremely intriguing: a high-end 5-inch 1080p device and a 4.7-inch 720p device with dual SIM slots. Both are running stock Android Jelly Bean, just like Vizio's new tablets; the 5-inch phone has an unspecified dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm processor with 2GB of RAM while the smaller phone has a 1.2GHz dual-core MediaTek chip with 1GB of RAM.

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