The beginning of the year always starts with a bang with smartphones being revealed at CES, Mobile World Congress and CTIA. I created a preliminary top 10 smartphones list in March and now that we have all the major anticipated announcements for the year I thought it was fitting to post my top 10 smartphones for the year 2011. Many of the phones I had on that list are present in this new list, but now that I have had hands-on time with some my perspective has changed. Some have yet to be released, but should be coming before the holidays so I included them as well. There are some great devices coming in 2012, but since it is likely we won't see them this year I couldn't include them in this list.
Last year I posted my top 10 smartphones of 2010 article in May, but Apple pushed back their iPhone 4S announcement from the traditional summer time frame. Google and Microsoft also made major announcements just this month. It is getting a bit easier to pick top platforms as iOS and Android are the clear leaders with Windows Phone on the move up and BlackBerry on the way down. BlackBerry devices are still 3rd in U.S. market share, but their OS is getting dated and we won't see much excitement for the platform until QNX-based devices hit the streets. webOS is non-existent and out of the picture while Symbian is rare to find here in the U.S.
I was at Nokia World last week and saw the solid Nokia 710 and 800 devices and initially had the 800 planned for 3rd place, but since we are unlikely to see either of them here in the U.S. until early 2012 I had to take them off the list.
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 your purchase decision. Also, check out online reviews from multiple sites to get a good feel for the devices.
Image Gallery: Check out photos of my top 10 smartphones of 2011. | ![]() | |||||
Enough about the disclaimers and warnings, let's take a look at my list of Top 10 Smartphones of 2011. I hope you find this helpful as we head into the holiday buying season.
I became an iPhone owner again with the iPhone 4S on Verizon and am very happy with the device. The internals were bumped up with a dual-core processor, updated antenna design, and 8 megapixel camera. The Siri artificial intelligence utility is excellent and even in beta demonstrates a new way to interact with your device. I love that I can make appointments and set alarms with a few short words and the iPhone 4S is changing the way I use my smartphone. You can also SIM unlock the Verizon iPhone 4S for true world phone usage with Sprint and AT&T having slightly different policies. I used my iPhone 4S with my Truphone SIM in London and it worked very well.
The Apple iPhone 4S is available on AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint for $199 (16GB), $299 (32GB), and $399 (64GB) with a two-year contract. The unsubsidized, no-contract prices range from $649 (16GB) to $849 (64GB), depending on your carrier.
Unlike the previous Nexus devices, there is really nothing missing in this latest device, including the latest wireless radios. The Galaxy Nexus sports a 4.65 inch 1280x720 Super AMOLED HD display, LTE and HSPA+ pentaband support, Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), NFC, barometer, 1080p HD video camera, 1750 mAh battery and more. I have regularly ranted on this blog about the lack of pentaband 3G data support that currently only Nokia provides in true world phone fashion with support for frequencies in all ranges. Thankfully, the new Galaxy Nexus is a pentaband phone, with support for the 21 Mbps HSPA+ data network so it is highly likely I will be picking one up to use with T-Mobile USA.
There is no pricing or availability yet and it sounds like it will roll out in Europe and other countries first with a Verizon LTE model coming before the end of 2011. It's not clear if we will see one launching on AT&T or T-Mobile here in the U.S.
The HTC Titan has a massive 4.7 inch Super LCD display at the same standard 800x480 resolution that still looks crisp and clear. It has a 1.5 GHz processor, 16GB integrated storage, 512MB RAM, 1600 mAh battery, HSPA+ radio (up to 14.4 Mbps downloads), and 8 megapixel camera. HTC had done work with their cameras and it is actually quite good.
There is no pricing yet for AT&T, but Microsoft recently showed it off and it is coming to the carrier soon.
Let's check out numbers 4 through 7 »
The Motorola Droid RAZR has all of the latest specifications, including LTE radio, Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread, 4.3 inch 540x960 Super AMOLED display, dual-core 1.2 GHz processor, 1780 mAh battery, Bluetooth 4.0, 8 megapixel camera, 16GB internal storage and microSD card slot.
The Motorola Droid RAZR will be available for $299.99 with a 2-year contract in November on Verizon Wireless.
You can check out my <Nokia N9 first impressions and a follow-up article I posted on several tips, tricks, and FAQs. Specifications of the Nokia N9 include the MeeGo 1.2 (Harmattan) operating system, pentaband 3G radio, 1 GHz Cortex A8 processor, 3.9 inch FWVGA 854x480 pixels AMOLED display with anti-glare polarizer and Gorilla Glass integration, 1 GB RAM, 16 and 64 GB internal memory options, 8 megapixel camera with dual-LED flash and Carl Zeiss optics, NFC, and more.
The Nokia N9 is only available in select countries, but can be found through importers from about $750 to $900 for the 16GB and 64GB models, respectively. I purchased my own 16GB blue N9 from a reseller on ebay.
Specifications of the HTC Amaze 4G include Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread, HSPA+ on T-Mobile at 42.2 Mbps, 4.3 inch qHD 540x960 pixels Super LCD display, 8 megapixel camera with f/2.2 aperture lens and 1080p video recording capability, NFC, DLNA and HDMI, 1730 mAh battery, Bluetooth 3.0, and much more.
The HTC Amaze 4G is available now for $259.99 with a minimum voice and data plan with 2-year contract after a $50 mail-in rebate. The full retail price is $559.99 with no contract.
Specifications for the LG Thrill include a 4.3 inch glasses free 3D display, 1 GHz dual core processor, dual 5 megapixel cameras, 8GB integrated storage and microSD card, and HSPA+ support.
The LG Thrill is available now on AT&T for $99.99 with a 2-year contract. It is priced at $449.99 with no contract.
Let's check out numbers 8 through 10 and my closing thoughts »
I put it down at number 8 since it is a fairly typical Android device and thought the devices higher in this list offer more that is unique. The Droid Bionic was shown off at the beginning of the year and was delayed for a few months, but is still a device to consider.
It is available now for $299.99 with 2-year plan on Verizon Wireless and $589.99 with no plan or subsidy.
The Galaxy S II is a large device, but it is light and thin. The quality feels better than any previous Samsung Galaxy device I have used and I know people will be purchasing it in large numbers on the three U.S. carriers.
It is available on T-Mobile for $229.99 with a 2-year plan and $50 mail-in rebate ($529.99 with no contract) and on AT&T for Sprint's model is known as Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch (what a crazy name, huh?) and comes with WiMAX, a 4.52 inch display, and 1.2 GHz processor with a contract price of $199.99 or $499.99 with no contract.
Specifications for the BlackBerry Bold 9930 include a 2.8 inch touchscreen display, a 1.2 GHz single core processor, 5 megapixel camera with 720p HD video recording, 8GB onboard storage with microSD card support up to 32GB, 768 MB RAM (something like 256MB is used for GPU), optical trackpad, promixity sensor, accelerometer, compass, and BlackBerry OS 7 that provides voice-activated universal search, new web browser, huge collection of pre-installed apps, and much more.
The Bold 9900/9930 has the BEST QWERTY keyboard ever on a device and if you are a hardware keyboard fan then you will enjoy using this device. It is quite expensive for a BlackBerry smartphone though with a price of $299.99 with a $50 mail-in rebate on T-Mobile (full no contract price is $599.99), $199.99 with contract on Sprint ($499.99 full retail price), and $249.99 on Verizon with a contract ($509.99 full retail price).
While RIM's BlackBerry still holds a large market share in the U.S., Apple's iOS and Google's Android platforms are the clear leaders in the modern smartphone era. It appears that these two are leveling out where they are no longer stealing customers from each other, but from other platforms. There will always be those who will never switch between these two platforms and there is room for both to be excellent and have a large number of customers. One will not kill off the other and they will co-exist and move forward.
It will be interesting to see what happens with Motorola, Samsung and HTC in the Android space now that Google owns Motorola. With Samsung making the new Galaxy Nexus I think all three will continue to compete for Android customers with some excellent devices.
I believe that Windows Phone 7 will become the third major player in the smartphone market with RIM BlackBerry in fourth eventually falling to fourth. Nokia has the chance to improve Windows Phone 7 in the long term, but Microsoft is going to have to promote the operating system more to gain substantial market share. RIM needs to move into the modern smartphone era and is planning to do this with their BBX platform, but that remains to be seen.
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