5 Best Smartphones [January, 2014]

5 Best Smartphones [January, 2014] is a post by Adam Mills from Gotta Be Mobile.

It’s now 2014 which means that companies are currently preparing their new flagship smartphones for arrival. For at least the first month of the year though, we should have some relative peace and quiet as January typically doesn’t see major smartphone releases. That means that consumers looking for a new smartphone this month will likely encounter some familiar faces.

Last year was very kind to consumers as we saw a number of big name smartphones land on shelves, replacing their predecessors with new hardware and powerful software. Companies like Apple, HTC, Samsung, and more released their offerings to the world, hoping that the devices would strike a chord with consumers. Many of them did.

2013′s crop of smartphones was among the best in recent memory thanks to advancements in mobile technology and thanks to companies becoming smarter about the devices they release. And while the smartphones from 2013 will eventually get replaced by devices that bring better hardware and newer software to the table, for the moment, they are the only options available.

Companies typically avoid smartphone release dates in the month of January which means that those in the market for a new smartphone during the first month of the year usually have to rely on last year’s crop. It also means dealing with the temptation of waiting and listening to the countless rumors that will undoubtedly emerge over the next few weeks.

Those who are dead set on buying a smartphone this month will likely have to rely on last year’s devices but that’s not an issue at all. For last year’s devices are still fantastic and are still going strong. There are, of course, a great deal of devices on the market, pulling consumers every which way.

In an effort to help narrow things down for consumers in the hunt, here are the devices we consider to be the five best smartphones for the month of January, 2014.

iPhone 5s

1 / 5

Love it or hate it, there is no denying that the iPhone 5s is a high quality smartphone. It offers users a premium design, Retina Display an extremely solid camera, a speedy 64-bit processor, fantastic battery life, 4G LTE speeds, an assortment of carrier options, three years of software support, and a solid piece of software in iOS 7. It's a solid smartphone all around and despite a price tag that rarely fluctuates, it deserves to be mentioned amongst the best smartphones available. It likely will stay on this list until Apple puts forth an iPhone 6, a device that is expected to touch down sometime later this year.

1 / 5

5 Best Smartphones [January, 2014] is a post by Adam Mills from Gotta Be Mobile.