2011 was a stellar year for smartphones at Wireless and Mobile News. The top best coolest hottest list displays speed, power and beauty. Our countdown, started last week showing results by carrier, including for Verizon Wireless, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint.
2011 is the first year, in the four years of the Wireless and Mobile News' Top Ten Best Coolest Hottest Smartphones Review of Reviews list that an iPhone does not top the list. It is also the first year that BlackBerry has no entries at all.
In 2008, there was a three-way tie for first place the BlackBerry Storm, T-Mobile G1 (Android) and iPhone 3G. In 2009, the iPhone came in first place, while there was three-way tie for third place between the Droid, Palm Pre and BlackBerry Bold.
In 2010, there was a tie for first place between the iPhone 4 and the Droid X with the Samsung Galaxy S Epic 4G in second place. The Windows Phone operating system appeared in the list for the first time. Samsung was the top smartphone maker, followed by HTC, Motorola, Apple, RIM (BlackBerry) and LG. Android was the dominant operating system.
The Wireless and Mobile News' Top Ten Best Coolest Hottest Smartphones 2011 Review of Reviews list shows some trends:
- Dominance by Samsung due to faster dual-core processors and ginormous Super AMOLED touchscreen.
- Many of winners are powered by a dual-core processor.
- A majority of the winners have fast 4G, LTE or WiMAX data connections.
- 10. HTC Rezound (Verizon), 3.833/5 - Best features noted by reviewers were the Beats enhanced audio, dual-core processor and HTC Sense UI. Wimonews' Dare 2 Compare of the RAZR vs Rezound, revealed the RAZR winning one and losing the other comparison. BUY.
- 9. iPhone 4S (Verizon), 4/5 - The best features of the iPhone 4S are its faster performance, superb camera and beautiful touchscreen. The less favored features are you can only upload video in 1080p and Siri is not always accurate. BUY.
- 8. Motorola Photon 4G (Sprint), 4.18/5 - Wireless and Mobile News' Review of Reviews rated it 4.25 out of 5. Reviewers of the Motorola Photon 4G raved about its power, great audio/video playing, excellent call quality, global voice/data roaming, touchscreen, media dock, HDMI mirroring to HDTV and fast data speeds. BUY.
- 7. iPhone 4S (Sprint), 4.26/5 - The Sprint network finally has an iPhone and is the only carrier to offer it to new customers with unlimited data. BUY
- 7. HTC EVO 3D (Sprint), 4.2/5 - The EVO 3D's dual-core performance, Sense UI and impressive 4G speeds make it a winner. Most reviewers liked the 3D features while one thought it was a novelty for early adopters. BUY.
- 6. Droid Bionic (Verizon ), 4/5 -WMNS RoR reviewers of the Droid Bionic all agreed that it is the fastest smartphone on the Verizon network and gave it the honor of Editors' Choice. BUY
- 5. iPhone 4S (AT&T), 4/5 - The best features of the iPhone 4S are its faster performance, superb camera and beautiful touchscreen. The less favored features are you can only upload video in 1080p and Siri is not always accurate.
- 4. Samsung Galaxy Nexus (Unlocked or Verizon), 4.125/5 - Named as the top best even before the price was known and even before it was reviewed, this choice illustrates how much buzz the Nexus received. It is the only Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. BUY.
- 3. Samsung Epic 4G Touch (Samsung Galaxy S II), 4.325/5 - Reviewers all found some similar excellent features such as a Super AMOLED 4.52" touchscreen, excellent battery life, good-to-great camera, faster dual-core processor and good WiMAX data speeds. BUY.
- 2. Droid RAZR, 4.2/5 - WMNS RoR' reviewers of the DROID RAZR gave it Editors' Choice and rated it well for being the fastest and thinnest for now. BUY.
- 2. Samsung Galaxy S II (AT&T), 4.24/5 - Reviewers liked the 4.3" Super AMOLED touchscreen, ease of use, cameras, 4G data access, Android versatility. BUY.
- 1. Samsung Galaxy S II (T-Mobile), 4/5 - The Galaxy S II repeatedly was ranked highest by reviewer after reviewer. It received top scores for the super AMOLED 4.5" touchscreen, fast 4G network, cameras, phone functions and media capabilities. BUY.
