Before I start with 2012, I forgot a very important Android phone for 2011, The Galaxy note. But this will lead into 2012.
This is the year Samsung dropped their flag and began the shift of power from HTC and Motorola to Samsung. But before we get there let's talk about the other important 2012 phones.
I want to start with the Nexus 4. This phone was released without LTE after the debacle with the Galaxy Nexus. The LTE issues were such a problem that Google then denied the phone as a true "Nexus" phone. The Nexus 4 was made by LG and that would begin a long relationship with LG and Google.
HTC Droid DNA, take HTC One X, add in a beats logo, Verizon's custom apps, and the Droid label, and you get this phone. This was a nice looking phone overall.
Speaking of HTC, let's talk about the HTC ONE X. This was truly one of the last great phones put out by HTC. The phone had a solid build, awesome display, better battery life (compared to HTC phone in the past), and overall was a pretty good phone. This phone could have been the best phone of the year if it wasn't for Samsung.
The Moto Droid phones: Droid Razr M, Droid Razr Maxx, and Droid Razr Maxx HD, three Motorola flagship phones for Verizon. The Droid Razr M was the phone with the smaller footprint and introduced us to the famous Motorola circular clock widget. The Razr Maxx and Razr Maxx HD had the potential to be a top selling phone. But Verizon wanted to wait until Fall to release the phone versus the dead period of Summer. And that move cost them. There were a number of people, including myself, lined up waiting for the Droid Razr Maxx HD. A phone with a large battery, it was a Droid phone by Motorola, which meant awesome radios. And after coming off of the Galaxy Nexus, the talk for many of us were the poor radios on samsung phones versus Motorola. With the Droid Charge and the Galaxy Nexus having their problems we welcomed those Motorola radios.
Samsung has two big phones. First was the popular S3. This was Samsung going the Apple route making one phone (versus cannibalizing themselves like before). They took it to Apple starting their trolling of Apple fans in their commerical. "The next big thing".
The phone inspired by nature was one of the top selling phones of that year.
Then came the note 2. Samsung surprised and shocked the market with how good the note was, starting the term "phablet". After seeing the specs, a phone with a quad core processor .... Yeah that was the end for Motorola for me. Plus the note was able to be rooted and modded. Yeah it was an easy choice and I chose the note 2, just like many that year. And this begun the shift in power. Leading to the eventual change in where the Droid line stood in the food chain of smartphones.
The note 2 brought so much to the table with the s pen, large display, awesome specs, and was the phone that shifted the focus to Samsung as a heavy hitter. We also got to "love" Touchwiz.
I still have my note 2 in a drawer somewhere.
We also had LG's Optimus G and HTC ONE S phones, but those fell shadow to what Samsung did. Phablets were in, and we would see the push toward larger phones. Oh and those Samsung radios we were concerned about, not an issue.
What phones stood out to you in 2012?
source:
Top 10 Android Phones of 2012
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