The Flagship Smartphones: A Year Later

It has been a great year for the mobile industry. Pretty much all the flagship devices in the market has been refreshed for the year, and most of them are great devices that you cannot go wrong with no matter which one you pick. But that does not mean that the previous generation of flagship devices are now obsolete.


On the contrary, with the new generation of devices out now, their older counterparts often gets a massive price drop, and if you do not mind used devices, these flagship devices could prove to be excellent bang for your buck. So in this post, I will talk about flagship devices that I have used in the past year and a quick review of each to give an idea of how they are holding up… a year later.

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Nexus 5

The Nexus 5 was great value for money at launch, and it still is right now. It is far from being obsolete considering Google is still selling the Nexus 5 alongside the new Nexus 6. Not to mention it is one of the first few devices to get the update to the latest and greatest from Android.

Hardware wise the Nexus 5 is still a beast, and actually most Android devices from the past year have had more than enough processing power for most tasks. With better optimisation from Android 5.0, the device still hold its own even when compared to the current crop of flagship devices.

Overall my experience with the Nexus 5 has been pretty decent. My only complains were the lacklustre display which looked a little washed out to me, the mediocre battery life, the atrocious GPS, and the average but not great camera.

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Moto X

The Moto X was one of the most interesting flagship device back then. It was not the most powerful device with the latest specifications, but what it had was useful and innovative features on top of vanilla Android. Not to mention it still had fast updates to the latest version of Android.

Hardware wise the Moto X’s “X8 mobile computing system” based on the Snapdragon S4 Pro might seem a little outdated by now, and it sort of is. The performance of the device while no slouch by any means, does struggle a little when it comes to running more intensive applications. But it handles day to day operation with ease, and not to mention it has one of the most reliable/accurate GPS connection I have used on a phone (for playing Ingress).

Overall my experience with the Moto X was still pretty great. The size of the phone makes it an absolute joy using it one handed. My only complains were the oversaturated display, the burn-in on the display after just 2-3 months of use, the mediocre battery life, and the poor camera quality.

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HTC One M7

The HTC One M7 is probably one of the most well-built device amongst the lot with its unibody aluminium construction. The design of the device is still eye catching even till this day. Boomsound speakers still sounds better than most of the current crop of flagship devices.

Hardware wise the One M7’s Snapdragon 600 handled most of what I threw at it with ease, and software wise HTC’s Sense 6 UI is one of the best skin from any manufacturer in the market right now. It looks different from AOSP Android, but it is still well-designed throughout the whole OS, and more importantly it does not affect the performance of the device at all.

Overall I had a great experience with the HTC One M7. While its 4MP Ultra Pixel was a topic of much controversy, I personally found it to be a delight to use, particularly in situations where lighting is not ideal. The 4MP output is a little restricting though. The GPS signal was not as great as the Moto X, but no where near as bad as on the Nexus 5. The battery life was another weak point too, but still bearable.

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Samsung Galaxy S4

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is likely one of the best selling Android device of the crop. To me it is a jack-of-all-trades device that is well-rounded in most aspects. But its appeal hinges on one aspect of the device, TouchWiz.

Hardware wise there is little to complain about the S4 since it packs the same processor as the very capable HTC One M7. But it is let down by poor software, often bogging the phone down.

Overall I still find the S4 a decent device, but only if you are willing to install a custom ROM on it and boycott TouchWiz. It has a very decent camera, removable battery, and expandable storage to boot too which is still nice to have.

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LG G2

The LG G2 was released in the later part of the year like the Nexus 5. It is similar to the S4 in the sense that it is a well-rounded device in almost all aspects, and like the S4, its appeal is highly dependant on its software.

Hardware wise it would be more fair to compare it to the Nexus 5 than the Galaxy S4. It is pretty much the Nexus 5 but with less shortcomings. It has better GPS, a much larger battery, a better quality display, and a better camera unit. The huge downside? LG’s UI.

Overall the G2 is a device that I have really enjoyed using, but I had to install an AOSP based ROM to do so. LG’s default UI on the G2 feels convoluted and unsightly. Other than that, I do not really have much complain at all about the device.

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Samsung Galaxy Note 3

The Galaxy Note is kinda in it’s own category with its pressure sensitive pen input. It is a big screen device with interesting S-Pen features. This time round TouchWiz is actually a double-edged sword.

Hardware wise the Note 3 is still an impressive device even a year on. Though with TouchWiz on board along with its huge amount of features, it does show signs of struggle at times. But its weakness (TouchWiz) is also one of its strength, because you can’t have S-Pen features without TouchWiz.

If you can live with TouchWiz, and find S-Pen features very useful, you will probably still be extremely happy with the Note 3. But if you don’t really use the S-Pen much, the Note 3 is still a dream to use when you run custom AOSP based ROMs on it.

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That is about it for the Android flagship devices I have tried over the past year. I did not test the Xperia Z1/Z2, so I really cannot comment much on it. But nonetheless there are pros and cons to all the 6 Android devices mentioned above. If you are looking at getting one of those, it is really more about what you can live with, and what you can’t live without. How much a particular feature is worth, is subjective. Therefore it is really hard for me to just pick one and conclude that it is the best device.

When I look at the trend, the only 3 devices that I would personally enjoy without any tinkering would be the Nexus 5, the Moto X, and the HTC One M7. This year however, I could pretty much live with the default UI in most of the current generation of flagship devices, with the exception being the S5. Which is nice to see since it means that more Android manufacturers are becoming a lot better at making their own version of Android.

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And since the post is already this long, no harm going further right?

BlackBerry Q10

The Q10 was the flagship device with a keyboard for BlackBerry 10 until it has been replaced by the Passport recently. If you are a heavy communicator, you would probably enjoy the physical keyboard on the device along with BlackBerry’s suite of communication features.

But that aside, the device did not have great specifications at all. Most aspects of it were pretty average. The worth of the device will be simply down to whether you can live without app support from developers. While it does run Android apps, not everything works, and those that does often does not perform as well. But if you can live without that much apps, BlackBerry 10 is an amazingly intuitive and powerful OS once you get used to its gesture-based navigation.

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Nokia Lumia 1520

To me the flagship Windows Phone device over the past year has been the Lumia 1520, and it actually still is the flagship device since there has not been a flagship device in a while. The Lumia 1520’s specifications were top of the line at launch, and even now its performance is still extremely impressive.

Despite only having 20MP compared to the Lumia 1020’s 40MP, I enjoyed using the Lumia 1520’s camera more as it feels a lot more responsive. The quality of photos is still really good too. The faster processor really helped. Later flagship devices like the Lumia 930 had similar specifications, but lacks MicroSD card expandability which is a crucial aspect considering photography is the phone’s strong suit.

Though much like BlackBerry 10, the sacrifice would be the lack of Google services and app support. But if you can live with just using Microsoft’s services, Windows Phone 8 performs buttery smooth and has a nice and interesting UI in my opinion. Customisable home screen plus the ability to pin most anything on the home screen makes it more powerful than Android’s widgets in my opinion (or at least the potential to be).

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Apple iPhone 5S

iPhones have always held up well over time, and the 5S is no different. With the move towards 64 bit processors, the 5S is also future proof in a sense. With iOS it is pointless to compare hardware specifications with Android devices, but what I will say is that in terms of performance, the 5S is still comparable to most flagship Android devices this year since it is so well optimised.

Software wise iOS 8 has added a lot of much needed features, and iOS still has the best app ecosystem if you ask me. New apps normally launches on iOS before it does on Android, and same goes for new features too. The tightly integrated ecosystem also mean that if you are a Mac user you have more advantages using an iPhone too.

The downside to me would be the small display, which to some might be a good thing since it provides better one-handed ease of use. But to me, it makes typing on it a bit harder for me.

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Whew, that was a long one.

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EDIT (28th December 2014): Since the post I have tested another 2 flagship device from last year.

Sony Xperia Z2

The Xperia Z2 is an awesome piece of kit. The build quality is great, performance is great, and battery life is great most importantly. Albeit not without its caveat and questionable design decisions.

The camera was a little lacklustre if you ask me. The camera module is undoubtedly solid, but let down by poor post processing. The camera’s lens on the back seems to be plastic and prone to scratches which isn’t great. Sony’s UI is decent, but can look a bit outdated because of the app icons’ design.

If you can live with Sony’s own bloatware, or if you are already in Sony’s ecosystem, the Z2 is still an awesome piece of kit. But it does feel a bit too fragile for my liking.

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HTC Butterfly S

The Butterfly S could simply be described as the One M7’s elder cousin. It has similar hardware specifications (slight faster clock speed, but not noticeable if you ask me) except for a big difference, a much much larger battery. The Butterfly S does lack OIS on it 4MP UltraPixel camera, which translate to a noticeably slower shutter speed.

The build despite being plastic still feels great in hand, and the SD card slot is a nice welcome. That along with a much larger battery capacity makes it a worth considering over the HTC One M7. Though its downside would probably be slower updates and complete lack of custom ROM support.

Overall the Butterfly S is a hugely underrated device that is a great alternative to the HTC One M7.

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LG G4 Concept

Been a long time since I tinkered around with Photoshop just for fun. Just wanted to modify the G3 a little bit here and there, but ended up going a little overboard. LG G4 concept perhaps. Lol. Anyway, this is how I would “change” the aesthetic of the G3, but of course it’s purely my personal preference.

• Dual front facing stereo speakers


• Even smaller bezels if it’s even possible


• No front LG logo


• Metal band surrounding the sides (think Nexus 6)


• Small slit at the bottom to remove the back


• Simplified LG logo on the back


• Removal of FCC labels, etc


• Slightly different rear buttons design


• Rear button further away from camera so less likely to smudge the camera

That’s about it I guess. Hardware wise LG has been pretty decent in most aspects in recent years, even the camera and battery capacity. So the only thing I would prefer is if they went back to the G2’s screen size at 5.2” while making the bezels even smaller than they already are (fat hope, but one can dream).

Software wise I’m still not a fan of LG’s skin. Granted the one on the G3 is much improved over the G2, but it is still a bit too much for my taste. While Google’s stock Android would be nice, but it’s kinda unlikely to happen. An example of a company with a nice balance would be probably be HTC’s Sense 6 UI. It has HTC’s design language and flair, adding useful features to stock Android, while not going overboard.

Actually, end up it looks more like an LG Motorola Nexus mash up. Lol.

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Moto G (1st Generation) LTE - BLTN

 Yes. The phone was released quite some time ago, but I only recently got my hands on one. I didn’t actually intend to write about the device since I wrote about the non-LTE variant over 10 months ago, but the device impressed me so much that I think it deserved a post.


Since the Moto G’s arrival in Singapore, there have been a lot of newer budget Android devices to choose from. Most notably, Xiaomi’s Redmi series of devices has pretty much taken over the low end segment of the smartphone market here. Starting with the Redmi, the Redmi 1S, Redmi Note (written review here), tomorrow, the Redmi Note 4G. All of which costs less than the Moto G, and on paper offer better specifications. Then you have the ZenFone 5 from Asus, and the Neo 5 from Oppo. Not to mention HTC’s and Sony’s low end offerings too. All great devices at low costs.

But there is one advantage that the Moto series of devices has that no one else does, and that is the near-stock Android experience and fast updates. While other companies are pretty on the ball these days too with updates, you probably won’t see them paying as much attention on their lower end devices. So unless you’re using their flagship devices, you’re out of luck. Unlike Motorola, which is already pushing out Android 5.0 Lollipop for the 2014 Moto X Pure Edition and Moto G.

Which was why when I wanted to get another budget device, my choice came down to either the Moto G LTE or the 2014 Moto G. Believe it or not, both devices actually costs around the same, with the Moto G LTE costing a smidgen more. In the end I went with the Moto G LTE over the 2014 Moto G for 2 reasons, the smaller size, and LTE connectivity. Though I do miss out on the better camera, the bigger screen, and dual speakers. So in the end, all it comes down to is whether having LTE connectivity is worth it to you or not since the rest of the specifications are pretty much identical on both devices.

When I reviewed the first Moto G, the few complains I had were the camera, the lack of storage expandability, and the lack of 4G/LTE. But those were easily forgiven considering the price. But with the Moto G LTE, it is pretty much just down to the camera. Though I do have to say, the camera is still very much lacking and plagued with issues found on the first Moto G.

But for a device that fulfils most of my needs from a smartphone at such a reasonable price, the Moto G LTE is easily one of the most underrated smartphone in the market right now.