Now that CES, MWC, and CTIA are all wrapped up I thought it would be appropriate to go through what I think are the top 10 smartphones for the first half of 2011. My top 10 smartphones of 2010 article was very popular and readers seem to like these types of comparison articles. I will follow up in a month or so with an article listing some of the top smartphones per carrier. As I sat down to go through all of the amazing devices that were announced or released, my list started at about 20 so it was extremely difficult to pare my list down to just 10. When the devices were close, I gave a bit more credit to those that are available or that have more definite release dates for the US market.
It is likely that a new iPhone will be announced sometime this summer and there are sure to be many more Android devices released throughout 2011. As you will see, some of the top 10 I listed do not yet have pricing or solid release dates, but I trust that they will be released since the manufacturers and carriers providing them are reliable. You can check out several product photos of these top 10 devices in my image gallery, but I also highly recommend you visit your carrier store or local electronics retailer to get some hands-on time with a device before you make a huge monthly commitment.
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| Image Gallery: Check out photos of my top 10 smartphones of 2011… for now. |  |
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The prices you will see in this article are from the carrier, when available. If you are new to a carrier or adding another line you will find excellent prices on Amazon.com and other online vendors like Wirefly. So you know where my personal perspective is coming from I am a long time (about 10 years) T-Mobile subscriber with five phones on a family plan and just signed up for a Verizon account with the HTC Thunderbolt. I had an AT&T account (mainly used only with data) for a couple of years and was a Sprint subscriber for about a year with devices like the HTC EVO 4G. I do have some experiences with each of the four major US wireless carriers and have also been purchasing SIM-unlocked smartphones for over 6 years. I personally will switch and pay the ETF to get a new device and jump to a carrier that offers me more for my money, but will most likely never try leaving T-Mobile with my family plan again (AT&T failed me big time when I tried that and my wife almost killed me due to the constant dropped calls).
Each carrier is different for all of us and is highly dependent on where you live, work, and play. I recommend you figure out which carrier works best for you before buying a device you won’t be happy with because of the carrier. There are many excellent smartphone options today and you honestly can’t really go wrong with any of the available choices. Like carriers, different smartphone operating systems work for different people because of their different strengths and weaknesses, 3rd party applications, and available form factors.
Enough about the disclaimers and warnings, let’s take a look at my list of Top 10 Smartphones of 2011 … for now.
Number 1: Samsung Galaxy S II
The Samsung Galaxy S line of smartphones had variants on all four major US wireless carriers, and on several regional carriers, and is an extremely successful line. The Samsung Galaxy S II takes the best of the Galaxy S line and improves it with an amazing 4.3 inch Super AMOLED Plus display, dual-core 1 GHz processor, 8.49mm form factor, 21 Mbps HSPA+ support, Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) OS, 8 megapixel camera, integrated memory and microSD card, 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, and more.
The amazing Samsung display itself might be a reason to buy this device and if it comes to T-Mobile then I will likely be buying one for myself. You won’t have to worry about an OS upgrade since the Galaxy S II launches with Gingerbread already loaded too.
Number 2: Motorola Droid Bionic on Verizon
Verizon’s LTE network is the only network in the US that can seriously be considered a 4G network and the upcoming Droid Bionic may just be the best smartphone on the nation’s fastest network. The Droid Bionic sports a high resolution (540×960 pixels) 4.3 inch display, dual-core 1GHz processor, 8 megapixel camera, large capacity 1930 mAh battery, integrated 16GB of memory and microSD card slot, and support for the LTE network.
The device is scheduled to launch this quarter for an undisclosed price. It will likely launch with Android 2.2, but hopefully gets an update to 2.3 (Gingerbread) soon after release.
Number 3: T-Mobile LG G2X
LG really hasn’t focused on the high end Android smartphone market, but this year they will be offering several compelling candidates. One of the first ones that we should see will launch on T-Mobile as the LG G2x. This is the US model of the LG Optimus 2X and is a dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor smartphone running Android 2.2 with support for T-Mobile’s fast HSPA+ network. It will include an 8 megapixel camera, 4 inch display, enhanced audio technologies, front facing 1.3 megapixel camera, and 1080p recording capability.
T-Mobile has a high powered lineup of Android devices and the G2X looks to be at the top of the heap.
