Darkhorses
There are of course darkhorses that didn’t make the Top 5, but are still flagships in their own right, and worthy of a mention.
Lenovo K900
The Lenovo K900, for me, has been one of the surprises of the year. Incredibly thin and light, sporting a brilliant 5.5-inch IPS display, 13MP Exmor R camera, Intel Atom dual-core chip with top notch build quality, the Lenovo’s flagship puts many other more expensive phones to shame. A fantastic performer at an even more fantastic price.
BlackBerry Z30
In the midst of doom and gloom and pre- “up for sale” BlackBerry, the ailing Canadian phone maker rolled out its biggest, most powerful device to date – the BlackBerry Z30, a 5-inch device powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 800 chip and a huge 3,100mAh battery. It has all the makings of a leading flagship smartphone, along with the innovative, gesture-driven BlackBerry 10 OS. Brilliant phone to silence the critics and does provide some bragging rights to the BlackBerry hopefuls. Shame about the company.
In summary
As a consumer, you’re absolutely spoiled for choice. The Top 5 flagships, I believe, is enough to keep your mind muddled. Throw in a couple of darkhorses, and some grey imports like the Google Nexus 5, Moto X or LG G2, and you’re bound to lose more than a night’s sleep deciding.
What are your top picks for 2013? Leave your choices in the comments below.