Technology editor Charles Arthur compares two of this year's most popular new smartphones: the HTC One and the Samsung Galaxy S4. The Samsung has the edge on the sheer multitude of features while the HTC is great for music-lovers. But which will win out in the final analysis?
Of course, there's always a chance you don't give two hoots about the phones we've listed here, and want to know what shining lights are set to glimmer into focus in 2013.
With MWC 2013 out of the way, we've got a pretty clear picture of how the mobile landscape is shaping up, and with many of you months away from your contract upgrade, here's a selection of new phones to whet your appetite:
The LG Optimus L7 2 is a surprisingly capable budget smartphone which offers up plenty of features for not a lot of cash - although the naming of it will confuse potential buyers aplenty.
We were impressed with its 8MP camera, stylish design and smooth operation, although web surfing could do with a bit of a boost.
Out of the three new L-Series 2 handsets the LG Optimus L7 2 is our favourite and we reckon it will offer consumers pretty decent value for money when it lands later this year.
The Samsung Galaxy Young is a phone that you can imagine the younger teenager who wants a modern smartphone asking for at their birthday. It won't cost that much money to pick up without a contract, and with the ability to set data limits on the phone, parents will be happy that they won't be hit with whopping bills.
It's an uninspiring phone for the spec-hungry fan, but it copies theSamsung Galaxy S3 styling and for that reason alone we can see a few skirt hems being tugged as children give their parents the big eyes when looking for a new phone
Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2
The Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2 is one of the better phones we saw at MWC 2013, simply because it was a different proposition to the rest of the identikit Samsung Galaxy family.
We didn't get to dunk it underwater, which is still a favourite test of all mobile phone reviewers, but we're pretty confident it can stand the heat. Also literally.
If you're in the market for a tough, attractive next-gen smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2 could certainly be worth checking out.
ZTE Grand S
Taking a look at the specs the ZTE Grand S looks to be a blockbuster of a phone and one which could easily trump the big boys of the mobile market, with a full HD 5-inch display, 1.7GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 13MP camera, 4Gconnectivity and Android Jelly Bean
The reality however is not so great, with a sluggish interface and disappointing screen quality seriously wounding the Grand S..
Perhaps ZTE will be able to iron out the kinks before the handset hit shelves, but we're not holding our breath. The Grand S will need a pretty special price tag if it's going to succeed.
Huawei Ascend Mate
The line between smartphone and tablet continues to blur and the Huawei Ascend Mate does nothing to help the situation.
Huawei wants you to ditch your tablet in favour of the Ascend Mate, which in its eyes can double as both a slate and a phone.
We're not completely sold on that philosophy and tend to sway towards the theory that a 6.1-inch phone is pretty mad – verging on unnecessary.
CNET reports on March 11 that Apple’s next iPhone could have a fingerprint sensor and useNear Field Communications (NFC). The original story from The China Times indicates that Apple could use Chipbond to create fingerprint sensors and use NFC for mobile payments that will appear in the iPhone 5S.
Rumors have been prevalent for several months about Apple’s next iPhone and the technology improvements it will include. The latest reports indicate that Apple has decided to use Chipbond to provide components for the iPhone. The company may be working on chips that will allow fingerprint sensors to be installed in the iPhone 5S. If you are not using Instagram to make some extra cash each month then you are seriously missing out.Click Here! One of the main motivations for installing the fingerprint sensors in Apple’s next iPhone seems to be mobile payments and security. The use of this feature along with NFC could create a more secure transaction scenario for processing a payment with a smartphone by forcing the user to provide a fingerprint before a transaction is completed. Mobile payments and billing have been at the center of several recent stories with Wrapp mentioning that e-wallets have a strong future and Payforit from supplier txtNation planning a new release. Apple has been exploring mobile payments and billing for a while and was listed as one of the potential leaders in this field in a recent survey from the Mobile World Congress.
Since its purchase of AuthenTec, a company that has fingerprint sensor technology, Apple has been consistently linked to rumors that include this feature in new versions of the iPhone. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that the fingerprint sensors could show up under the home button in the iPhone 5S. The latest reports indicate that Apple may release the new smartphone this summer.
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