New phones are continually coming out. Which should you buy? Here's a summary of recent phone reviews on iOS, BlackBerry 10 and the latest on Google phones running a pure version of Android.
Samsung Galaxy S4
The S4 is an excellent device from a hardware standpoint. Its 5-inch (12.5-centimeter) screen is larger than its predecessor, yet it's a tad lighter and smaller. The display is sharp, at 441 pixels per inch.
Samsung packed the Android device with a slew of custom features, including new camera tools and the ability to perform tasks by waving a finger over a sensor. Many of the features, however, make the phone more complicated to use. In some cases, custom features work only some of the time.
In other cases, you're confronted with too many ways to do similar things. The S4 might be for you if you don't mind spending time customizing it. Otherwise, you must bypass all the gimmicks to get to what otherwise is a good phone.
HTC One
The One is a phone that can match Apple's standards of feel and finish. Plastic and metal are joined together so well that you can't tell by feel where one ends and the other starts. The 4.7-inch (11.9-centimeter) screen is also quite a sight, its 468 pixels per inch among the best.
Two front-facing speakers give you real stereo sound when turned sideways to watch a movie. HTC's camera has a lower resolution than most. Promises of better low-light shots from its larger sensors only partly delivered.
Like other Android phone makers, HTC adds confusion by customizing the interface. There are four different ``home'' screens from which to launch apps, for instance. The One is worth checking out as an alternative to the Galaxy S4 from Samsung, which also adds complication with its custom features.
Google Play Phone
Google has worked with both Samsung Electronics Co and HTC Corp to come out with a ``Google Play'' edition of the Galaxy S4 and HTC One phones. Instead of using customized software from Samsung and HTC, the Google phones run a pure version of Android, as developed by Google.
Essentially, the Google versions of these phones are replicas of the originals, with most of the bells and whistles removed. That's a good thing, as many of those ``improvements'' added to Android by Samsung and HTC actually make the phones more complex to use.
The bad news: The Google edition of the S4 sells for $649, while Google's HTC One goes for $599, compared with the $100 to $200 that you can typically get the original models for with a two-year agreement. And the phones don't work on Verizon and Sprint's CDMA networks.
BlackBerry Q10
The Q10 is a successful marriage of the modern touch-screen smartphone and the iconic BlackBerry keyboard. The interface takes time to get used to, and it doesn't have the simple immediacy of the iPhone. But once you learn it, you can positively zip between tasks.
The downside to the new BlackBerry 10 operating system is its relative dearth of third-party software. In addition, the keyboard eats up space that could be devoted to a bigger screen, leaving the Q10 with a square, 3.1-inch (7.8-centimeter) screen.
Nonetheless, the Q10 is likely to be attractive to the BlackBerry faithful, and it deserves serious consideration from Android and iPhone users as well.
BlackBerry Z10
The Z10 is the first phone to run RIM's new BlackBerry 10 operating system and comes across as a very good stab at regaining at least some of the cachet of the BlackBerry. But the Z10 looks like every other smartphone on the shelf.
It's a flat black slab with a touch screen, measuring 4.2 inches (10.6 centimeters). Only once you turn it on do the differences become more evident. Older BlackBerrys are great communications devices, but are poor at multimedia and at running third-party apps, something the iPhone excels at.
The new BlackBerry 10 software is a serious attempt at marrying these two feature sets.
iPhone 5
The iPhone 5 is the biggest overhaul to the line since the release of the 3G in 2008. Compared with other high-end smartphones, however, it's more of a catch-up move. The 4-inch screen is larger than previous iPhones, but smaller than many Android devices.
The iPhone now works with 4G LTE cellular networks, something many Android devices already did. The iPhone 5 doesn't break much new ground, but it supports the things that really set the iPhone apart: the slick, reliable operating system and the multitude of high-quality, third-party applications.
Released in September last year, the iPhone 5 is getting old. But don't expect a new model until at least this fall.
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