Best Android Phones

We compare five of the best Android phones on the market today, including the Motorola Droid X, HTC EVO 4G, and more.

Every time we think it’s safe to publish a new roundup of the best Android devices, another manufacturer, keeping pace with the frantic pace of Android innovation, pops up and unleashes yet another phone that bowls over a few rusting old titans. So it went with this summer’s guide, which saw several of the former heavyweights in its ranks bested by newcomers just months later. Well, here they are. We’ve revetted the list yet again to bring you the definitive Android handsets that should top your list as you search for a new smartphone this holiday season.

Motorola Droid X$200 on Verizon with two-year contract

After seeing its original Droid take the backseat to hype over HTC phones like the Incredible and EVO 4G, Motorola struck back with the Droid X. It follows closely in the footsteps of those competitors with a 4.3-inch screen, 8-megapixel camera that captures 720p high-def video, and even a hotspot mode that lets you share our your 3G connection over Wi-Fi. For folks who can never seem to find enough room for their ever-expanding digital baggage, the Droid X’s storage might be its most desirable feature. It comes with 8GB on built-in storage plus a 16GB microSD card for 24GB of total storage, and the ability to expand it up to 40GB with larger cards.

HTC EVO 4G$200 on Sprint with two-year contract

“The first 4G phone in America” is still one of the best, even though it has since found competition in the form of Samsung’s Epic 4G. As we found out in our own tests here in Portland, Sprint’s claims of 10 times 3G performance on both phones definitely exaggerate the next-gen network’s prowess, but heavy YouTubers, music streamers, and other bandwidth hogs will definitely appreciate the extra breathing room. Why choose it over the Epic 4G? It’s close, but you can turn it into a roaming hotspot for up to eight devices (versus five on the Epic), it has a massive 4.3-inch LCD (versus 4.0 inches on the Epic 4G) and its 8-megapixel camera shoots nicer outdoor snaps than the 5-megapixel cam on the Epic. But if you really love a physical QWERTY keyboard, go with the Samsung.

HTC Droid Incredible$200 on Verizon with two-year contract

Overcoming the hype of both the Droid and Nexus One was a tall order for HTC when the Incredible launched back in April, but HTC managed to do it with raw specs on the Incredible. Snapdragon processor? Check. 3.7-inch OLED screen? Check. Five-megapixel camera? Nope, this guy’s shooting eight. Although many of these specs have become de facto standards for new superphones, the Incredible still holds its spot on this list with its unique style, HTC’s Sense user interface, which puts a spit shine on the already gleaming Android UI, and more recently, a price drop. The only downsides from our time with it were unimpressive battery life and voice quality on Verizon’s NYC network, but neither is egregious enough to overlook this otherwise very capable and affordable phone.
Check out our full HTC Droid Incredible Review.

T-Mobile G2$200 on T-Mobile with two-year contract

If you need a reminder just how far Android has come, look no further than T-Mobile’s G2, which makes its trail-blazing predecessor, the G1, look like an antique. While it keeps the trusty slide-out keyboard, the G2 rounds the G1’s chunky shape into a more pocket-hugging form, boosts speed with a Snapdragon processor (though not running at 1GHz like most competitors) and most importantly, takes full advantage of T-Mobile’s new HSPA+ network, which delivers speeds that often clock in just below Sprint’s 4G network, making vanilla 3G look positively slow in comparison.

 

Samsung Captivate$200 on AT&T with two-year contract

AT&T’s original selection of Android handsets, including the Backflip, Aria and Flipout, were knives at a gunfight. But the fat and happy iPhone carrier has finally matched Android firepower with the addition of Samsung’s Captivate. Sure, every U.S. network has some minute variant of the same phone, but that makes it no less impressive on AT&T, where its 4-inch OLED screen, 1GHz Hummingbird processor and 5-megapixel rear camera with HD recording easily make it the carrier’s most capable Android device.
Check out our full Samsung Captivate Review.

Spec comparison (based on official specifications)

	T-Mobile G2	Samsung Captivate	HTC Droid Incredible	HTC EVO 4G	Motorola Droid X
Display Size	3.7-inch S-TFT WVGA (480 x 800)	4.0-inch WVGA AMOLED (480 x 800)	3.7-inch WVGA OLED (480 x 800)	4.3-inch WVGA (480 x 800)	4.3-inch WVGA (480 x 854)
Processor	Qualcomm MSM 7230, 800 MHz	ARM Cortex-A8-class Hummingbird processor, 1 GHz	Qualcomm QSD8650, 1 GHz	Qualcomm QSD 8650, 1GHz	Texas Instruments ARM, 1 GHz
Camera	5 megapixels	5 megapixels	8 megapixels	8 megapixels	8 megapixels
Included Storage	8 GB	16 GB	8 GB	8 GB	24 GB (8 GB internal, 16 GB microSD)
Expandable (Max) Storage	36 GB microSD (4 GB internal, up to 32 GB microSD)	48 GB (16 GB internal, up to 320GB microSD)	16 GB microSD	32 GB microSD	40 GB (8 GB internal, up to 32 GB microSD)
Battery (Talk Time)	400 minutes	420 minutes	312 minutes	no official specs	480 minutes
Battery (Standby)	430 hours	340 hours	146 hours	no official specs	220 hours
Weight	180 grams	130 grams	130 grams	170 grams	155 grams
Height	119 mm	121.4 mm	117.6 mm	121.9 mm	127.5 mm
Width	60.4 mm	63.5 mm	58.4 mm	66.0 mm	65.5 mm
Depth	14.2 mm	9.9 mm	11.9 mm	12.7 mm	9.9 mm