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Introduction

Lenovo held an event in India where they announced five new Android smartphones will be hitting the local market. The A60+, the K860, P700i, S560 and the S880. The phones span a wide price range, starting from around $120 for the cheapest A60+ to $530 for the most expensive K860.

We were on site and we though you might want to see some live photos of the devices, garnished with our first impressions of them. To get you started we'll go through the keys specs of each of the smartphones, so you know what to expect.

Lenovo K860 key features

• HSPA support
• 5" IPS LCD with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels and Corning Gorilla Glass protection
• Exynos 4412 Quad chipset with quad-core 1.4 GHz Cortex-A9 CPU and Mali-400MP GPU
• 1GB RAM
• 8MP autofocus camera with 1080p video recording
• 2MP front-facing camera
• 8GB internal storage, microSD card slot

Introduction

Microsoft's campaign is underway across the board with Windows 8, RT and WP 8 and all eyes are now set on Redmond's allies for a demonstration of fire power. Following some early warning shots fromNokia and HTC, Samsung are now free to fire at will.

Introduction

Windows Phone 8 is officially in the race. It probably isn't time to count the horses just yet but Team Windows seems ready to bounce - major OEMs have backed Microsoft up with flagships and mid-range options. Redmond is doing its part with what looks like one of the biggest OS overhauls this year.

It's not new looks that will impress users - the UI design has always been among the platform's strong points - but there are so many things under the hood that make the new OS such a decisive step forward. Windows Phone 8 supports multiple core chipsets and different screen resolutions. There's even deeper social integration, improved SkyDrive and Xbox Live support, DirectX graphics, Windows 8 and Xbox 360 cloud and services, USB mass storage.

Introduction

In an attempt to LG recapture some of its old glory LG released the first phone with the next generation Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset. The Samsung Galaxy S III has been out for several months now, but is yet to beaten as the best Androids smartphone on the market. The Optimus G looks like the strongest challenger so far and it seems to have a very good chance of being pronounced the new king by the end of this review.

Introduction

When we review phones we try to put them in context, and tie everything up with a snapshot of the market and the closest alternatives. Now, we usually keep droids and iPhones separate because honestly they just don't mix. But every now and then, they just cannot be kept apart. Never mind the risk of explosion.

Introduction

Two flagship smartphones carrying such a weight of expectations that one would think they'd have no time and energy to worry about each other. The Samsung Galaxy S4 has to outsell the Galaxy S III and the HTC One is expected to turn the fortunes around for an ailing company. So, which one's bigger? And we mean the job, not the phone.

The two contenders themselves will have an entire review to each prove their point. These two superdroids make no compromise and charge big bucks. They need to make sure users are getting their money's worth. That's what flagships are all about. They win big but they lose big too - and last season Samsung and HTC were on either side of that line.

Things look different this time around. We know the two phones quite well already, the HTC One review is only just behind us, and the Galaxy S4's in the final stages. The setting for this clash has changed too - the elite flagship club isn't exclusive to top-tier manufacturers anymore. Yet, there should be no better guarantee for a thriller than the names of Samsung and HTC. The prodigy children of two of the most revered Android makers are about to fight it out, and even the slightest edge could give a massive advantage in the marketplace.

Running over the entire spec sheet of each phone will take too long - both droids are impressively armed - so instead we'll just list the differences. Here's how one is better than the other and vice versa.

Introduction

Back in 2011 the smartphone landscape was seemingly starting to settle, when Samsung stirred things up by taking a wild leap with the original Galaxy Note. The 5.3" slate was called a monster back then and we all had to re-think our idea of the smartphone as a productivity tool. It certainly made a splash. Ugly and gargantuan to some, a real godsend for others, the original Note was a pioneer at heart and opened up doors to a whole new market segment. It sold over 10 million units and even helped coin the notion of phablet - a phone, which dares step in tablet territory.

While Samsung's rivals were still rubbing their eyes in disbelief, the Note II came along. It quickly became a solid hit, already passing the 5 million units sales mark and guaranteed to beat the achievement of its predecessor.

But enough with the history lesson. As you would imagine, the competition wouldn't just sit at the sidelines and watch Samsung do victory laps. It was only a matter of time before somebody sent an equally capable rival the Note's way.

Meet the LG Optimus G Pro - a device built for the single purpose of running for the best phablet title.

As such, the Optimus G Pro just begs to be pitted against the Galaxy Note II. Let's see the most important advantages each of the contenders holds over its rival

Introduction

Voted Manufacturer of the Year in 2011 by the GSMA and emerging as the top US smartphone vendor later that year, HTC hit a rough patch and was struggling to find form through the better part of 2012. Complacency, fatigue, or something else - we don't even want to think arrogance - the company somehow forgot that even great products, which the One X and One S certainly were, need proper support and marketing to sell.

Introduction

As the Galaxy S counter flips another digit, Samsung has hopes of getting an even tighter grip on the smartphone market, and reasserting its Android dominance. With two of the main rivals enjoying a head-start to the market, the Samsung Galaxy S4 would need to be something special to quickly erase their lead. Not to mention, it's looked upon to match, and outdo, its predecessor. And by the first impressions of the smartphone, that might be not be as tall an order as it sounds.