When Money’s No Object
If you want the best of the best and you’re willing to pay for it, you can find some amazing phones. It’s important to note that higher prices don’t always equal higher value, but expanding your gadget budget gives you more options.
Here are the finest phones we could find, from ultra-luxe to modest but miraculous.
Holiday Gift Guide points you to the most appropriate phone picks for every lovely person in your life.
Best Overall Phone
You’ll want to go with the latest and greatest if money’s no object: the iPhone 5. Yes, it’s not as far ahead of its Android and Windows competitors as it was in the past, but it’s still the most beautiful and easy-to-operate phone on the market, not to mention the most fun.
The iOS 6 experience is lovely, despite the Maps snafu: the user interface is intuitive and beautiful, so you’ll have no trouble figuring out how to work it. And the app roster remains unparalleled. Even though Android eventually gets the coolest apps too, they often originate for Apple — this happened with Instagram, and it’s happening again with Snapchat. So, if you want to be an early app adopter, it’s still cooler to tout an iPhone.
The 8-megapixel camera takes detailed and vibrant shots, and the new Panorama mode is one of the best we’ve seen, so you can create wonderful images of large areas. And if money is no object, there’s a good chance you already have or you’re thinking about getting other Apple products, like a Mac Book Pro or an iPad. Buying an iPhone 5 is an even better choice if you already use Apple, because the iCloud will let you share documents, images and other stuff between devices without a problem.
Best Android Phone
If you’re not into Apple, there are a few Android handsets blazing a trail towards iPhone-level excellence, and a couple that are neck-and-neck: first, the Google Nexus 4.
It’s definitely on the higher end, but worth it: a gorgeous Gorilla Glass shell one-ups the newest iPhone, and you have access to the best form of Android, an updated version of Jelly Bean without any changes made to Google’s original software vision. The “Gesture typing” system is an improvement over Swype, and you’ll get friends clamoring around asking what you’re doing as you use gestures to create messages.
With the Nexus 4, you also get cool features like wireless charging, so you can just lay it flat to get more juice. And the Nexus 4’s camera contains a “Sphere Mode,” which is the only real rival to Apple’s panoramic setting, capable of capturing huge images.
If you’re looking for a large phone straddling the line between handset and tablet, we also highly recommend the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. It’s as fun as it is large, and somehow it makes the stylus cool again.
The Note 2 is wonderful for watching movies and television shows while you’re traveling, since the 5.5-inch screen is crystal clear and very vibrant. Yes, it’s a lot to hold, but it’s smaller than a tablet and does double-duty as a phone, so it’s pretty awesome.
Like the Nexus 4, the Note 2 comes with Android’s Jelly Bean, so you’re getting the most recent version of the software, and you get plenty of opportunities to doodle and scribble using the “S Pen,” a stylus ideal for annotating pictures or scrawling notes. It’s a cool alternative to the touch screen standard.
Best Windows Phone
But Apple and Android aren’t for everyone, and if you’re thinking about testing Windows 8, give the Nokia Lumia 920 a look. It’s a good pick if you want your phone to stand out, because it’s quite different design-wise than most of the handsets on the market.
The Lumia 920 is colorful, flamboyant and gorgeous. It comes in a few different candy hues, and the shape is all lines and angles, giving it a boxy but technicolor glow unlike other phones on the market. The 4.5-inch “Pure Motion HD” display uses cutting edge technology like a polarization filter to make sure you’ll get a crystal-clear view of whatever you want to watch, no matter how bright and glaring the sun is or how dark out it is.
Windows 8 is just as beautiful and unique as the body, with a smooth interface and an aesthetically pleasing tile arrangement. It doesn’t have the app selection on Apple or Google, but Microsoft is fun to play with. The 920’s sturdy, attractive hardware is the perfect package to experiment with Windows 8, plus the platform comes with its own benefits, like the intuitive interface and SkyDrive.
Most Beautiful Screen
The HTC Droid DNA has the best screen on the market, period. It’s a dazzling 5-inch HD screen, and you won’t find a clearer, sharper display on a phone that costs ten times as much. Not only does this screen blow others out of the water with its extreme details — the closest competitor is the iPhone 5 — it also uses LCD 3 technology to produce wide viewing angles, so you can have this phone propped up in all sorts of strange ways and still see an insanely clear display.
Flashy Design
If you want something eye-catching and unique-looking, the Nokia Lumia 920, which we mentioned earlier, is a good call. But so is the HTC Windows Phone 8X. You can buy a more expensive phone, but if you like brightly colored objects, you won’t need to: the Windows Phone 8X is every bit as Technicolor as the Lumia 920, and it feels substantially lighter in the hand despite similar dimensions.
The 8X has a 4.3-inch screen as beautiful and vibrant as its body, so you’ll love watching movies and television on it. And for people who love listening as well as watching, there’s HTC’s Beats Audio sound feature, which enhances sounds and will leave you smiling. You have to want to use a Windows 8 phone to enjoy the 8X, since the software is beautiful but does not have the robust app offerings available for Android and Apple. But if you’re up for Windows 8, you’ll adore how cool the 8X looks.
Best Battery
If you want the best battery, you can’t go wrong with the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD. It packs an incredibly long-lasting 3,300 mAh battery, so you won’t have to carry around a charger with you if you work long hours — or even if you have to go on a two-day trip. The Maxx HD’s battery is in a different league than its competitors.
But we wouldn’t recommend a phone on battery alone: in addition to its long-lasting power, the Maxx HD looks like a premium device with a tough exterior made from metal and Gorilla Glass. It also comes with vibrant and spacious 4.7-inch screen, nearly as good as the iPhone. It’s enjoyable if you want to stream movies on the road, and it will be even more gratifying to use your phone’s features without worrying that it will run out of juice.
Most Over-the-Top Expensive
If you are actively looking for an insanely expensive phone, well, you’ll have to look a bit harder than your nearest Best Buy. If you’re really intent on getting the most luxurious, over-the-top expensive phones in the world, check out U.K. designer Stuart Hughes. He sells absurdly fancy items like a solid gold iPhone 5, which will set you back around $35,000.
But that looks positively frugal compared to the “most expensive phone in the world,” Stuart Hughes’ $10 million diamond-encrusted iPhone. But unless you’re in the 0.001 percent, steer clear and stick to the iPhone 5.
