Best mobile phones to buy in 2013

Samsung Galaxy S3

Our Expert Opinion The Samsung Galaxy S3 is still the best Android smartphone there is. It's slim, fast, has a beautiful AMOLED screen and runs the bang-up-to-date Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system.

The phone has just got better, too, thanks to an upgrade to support 4G. On Everything Everywhere's network we saw speeds up to 25Mbit/s, which is twice as quick as many home broadband connections.

Samsung has also loaded the phone with clever features. If you bring the phone to your ear while a contact is on screen it will call that person automatically, if you flip the phone over while it's ringing it will turn the ringer off, and the Smart Stay feature uses the front camera to keep the screen on while you're looking at it.

Throw in an excellent camera and you've got all the ingredients for the perfect smartphone.

SPECS
OPERATING SYSTEM Android 4.1
PROCESSOR SPEED 1.4GHz
NUMBER OF CORES 4
RAM 2GB
MOBILE DATA GPRS, EDGE, 3G, HSDPA, 4G
DISPLAY 4.8in 720x1,280 LCD
CAMERA 8-megapixel
INTERNAL STORAGE 16GB
MEMORY CARD SLOT microSD
DIMENSIONS 137x71x9mm, 133g

Apple iPhone 5

Our Expert Opinion Five generations on, and the iPhone is still the model to beat. Android has taken great strides, but iOS is still the slickest, fastest and easiest to use operating system, and there's no arguing with the quality of the apps in the Apple App Store.

The iPhone 5 is an evolution of the 4, with a longer screen for more room for app icons and an aspect ratio better suited to widescreen films. It's also incredibly quick - more than twice as fast as the iPhone 4S in the Sunspider JavaScript benchmark.

The only thing stopping the iPhone 5 from getting an award is Apple's horrendous new Maps app, which replaces Google Maps, but this should improve with time.

Read our full Apple iPhone 5 review

SPECS
OPERATING SYSTEM iOS 6
PROCESSOR SPEED 1GHz
NUMBER OF CORES 2
RAM 1GB
MOBILE DATA 4G
DISPLAY 4in 1,136x640 LCD
CAMERA 8-megapixel
INTERNAL STORAGE 16GB
MEMORY CARD SLOT none
DIMENSIONS 124x59x8mm, 112g

Motorola RAZR i

Our Expert Opinion The RAZR i has an Intel rather than ARM processor, and it's seriously quick - around the same speed as the iPhone 5 in the Sunspider JavaScript benchmark. It runs Android 4.0 incredibly smoothly, and the operating system looks great on the phone's 960x540-pixel Super AMOLED screen.

The RAZR i has a 4.3in screen, which is big considering how compact the phone is. It's also incredibly slim, and the rubberised back looks great and makes the phone comfortable to hold.

It's a classy handset all round, and is also remarkably good value on contract.

Read our full Motorola RAZR i review

SPECS
OPERATING SYSTEM Android 4.04
PROCESSOR SPEED 2GHz
NUMBER OF CORES 1
RAM 1GB
MOBILE DATA GPRS, EDGE, 3G, HSDPA
DISPLAY 4.3in 960x540 LCD
CAMERA 8-megapixel
INTERNAL STORAGE 8GB
MEMORY CARD SLOT microSD
DIMENSIONS 123x61x8mm, 126g

Nokia Lumia 920

Our Expert Opinion Nokia really went to town with its first Windows Phone 8 handset. It's a chunky phone which feels beautifully made, and has a 4.5in screen with a huge 1,280x768 resolution.

The screen is an IPS model, and has excellent contrast and viewing angles. The display's resolution is big enough for web browsing without having to zoom in and out, and particularly suits Microsoft's gorgeous Windows Phone 8 operating system.

Windows Phone 8 has had some useful tweaks, such as the ability to resize the home screen's Live Tiles depending on how much information you want each to show, and it runs beautifully on the phone's dual-core 1.5GHz processor. The phone also has a camera with optical image stabilisation, which excels in low light; the only disadvantage is the phone produces over-processed daylight shots.

SPECS
OPERATING SYSTEM Windows Mobile 8
PROCESSOR SPEED 1.5GHz
NUMBER OF CORES 2
RAM 1GB
MOBILE DATA GPRS, EDGE, 3G, HSDPA
DISPLAY 4.5in 1,280x768 LCD
CAMERA 8.7-megapixel
INTERNAL STORAGE 32GB
MEMORY CARD SLOT microSD
DIMENSIONS 130x71x11mm, 185g

Google Nexus 4

A remarkably inexpensive smartphone with the latest version of Android

Our Expert OpinionGoogle has somehow managed to bring out a quad-core smartphone with an AMOLED screen for just £239.

The Nexus 4 is made by LG, and while its bland exterior doesn't really scream desirability, as soon as you start using the phone you'll be smitten.

The Nexus 4 is screamingly fast - apps open in a snap, and Google Maps glides around under your finger. The screen is gorgeous, too; its 1,280x768 resolution has the highest resolution of any Android smartphone we've seen, and it's right up there with the Nokia Lumia 920. This gives a pixel density of 320ppi, which makes this screen almost as detailed as that of the iPhone 5.

The only drawback is battery life, which can't quite match the Samsung Galaxy S3.

SPECS
OPERATING SYSTEM Android 4.2
PROCESSOR SPEED 1.5GHz
NUMBER OF CORES 4
RAM 2GB
MOBILE DATA GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, HSUPA
DISPLAY 4.7in 768x1,280 LCD
CAMERA 8-megapixel
INTERNAL STORAGE 8GB
DIMENSIONS 134x69x9.1mm, 139g