Samsung Galaxy S 4 is undoubtedly the smartphone of the year 2013 already, what with the huge demand of Samsung’s flagship devices that keeps increasing every year. Samsung worked hard at getting all the knobs right and branded the device “Life companion”, apparently, it actually is. They bundled in all the right software making it a supreme experience among smartphones, they also managed to put in all the best interiors, the octa core processor, 2GB RAM, Super AMOLED Full HD display with very awesome viewing angles, battery life and media consumption experience. But you cannot get everything right.
There is an angle that Samsung still hasn’t got right, and that’s design. There is other players, even with inferior others, have design going for them, and these are the ones on focus today. This is about the exterior, we won’t even be talking about display quality, user interface or OS type. Also, this is in no particular order.
HTC One
The HTC One is one device that came to change the fortunes of HTC, in-fact its at this point that they have experienced good growth in major markets like the US and Europe, although the COO still resigned after the performance announcements. The HTC One stands out as one piece of art. At announcement, many felt that it has taken too much from the iPhone, but there is a way it manages to look different, with the no-button front, the all metal casing that is uni-body and the black screen. The sleekness of the device makes it sharp, with the positioning of the speakers on the front and minimalistic back, it is indeed beautiful.
Sony Xperia Z
The Xperia Z is also another work of art. I may not agree with most of the things Sony calls key selling points, like a nicely designed button on the side and the fact that it’s water-proof – these are secondary, but the overall design is sharp. The shape, the finesse in linear finish. The uni-colour, uni-body all come out to bring the overall beauty, although this is not necessarily convenient to have non-removable battery. Actually all these devices listed here fall into this category.
Blackberry Z10
Blackberry Z10 represents the shift from the sinking platform of Blackberry OS 7 and below which rendered RIM and Blackberry a dying breed. Blackberry, formerly RIM took enough time to work on both the platform and their first device running on the BB10 platform. The Z10, although coming before the HTC One, tends to look like the HTC in some ways, while at the same time having a strong iPhone 5 look. All the same this is another beauty when it comes to design.
Oppo Find 5
Little known Oppo Find 5 is a preserve of a few markets where the makers are able to distribute to like in Europe and the US, with many other places accessible via DHL shipping that is quite pricey. Oppo positioned the device as high end and they only have two devices the 5 inch Oppo and the 6.65 Oppo Finder. It just went on sale earlier in the year a few weeks ago and is also what one would call eye candy. It’s also a sleek design with no-buttons front and a similar flat behind.
Lumia 720
Lumia 720 is also another attempt at Nokia bringing in sexy back. Lumia 920 got the awards, but this is my opinion, also the awards came before the 720 came to being. It’s a mid-range device but it has two things going on for it, the smooth design that is like a blend between the Lumia 820 and Lumia 920 while missing the thickness of both and the sharp corners of the Lumia 920 that work their way into your pinky finger after long use.
As a bonus
The Galaxy S 4 Active is also another sleek device that in my opinion stands out better than the Galaxy S 4. Although all the other devices listed here are devoid of the curves, the Galaxy S 4 Active has both the curves and the beauty, even with the fact that it is not the Key Selling Point. The KSP here is the water-proof and dust-proof capabilities. The Active does manage to stand out to these other stalwarts of design, particularly the turquoise one.
So what do you think, what is the hottest or best designed smartphone according to you? Hit us in the comments.
