Best of CES 2015: Smartphones

This year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, isn’t exactly an exciting one for smartphone aficionados as only a handful of notable smartphone makers have stepped up to the plate and unveil their new handset. Nevertheless we rounded up the top 5 best smartphones we’ve seen in CES 2015.

Editor’s Note: the smartphones on this list are not arranged in any particular order.

LG G Flex 2

If specs sheet is any indication, then the LG G Flex 2 takes the cake as the most exciting smartphone unveiled in CES 2015. It runs on the new Snapdragon 810 quad-core processor which is paired to either 2GB or 3GB of RAM, as well as a new Adreno 430 GPU. All of its components are encased inside curved form factor complete with quick-healing coating on the posterior.

5.5-inch P-OLED display @ 1920×1080 pixels
Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 2.0GHz octa-core processor
Quad-core ARM Cortex A57 and quad-core A53 with 64-bit support
Adreno 430 Graphics
2GB and 3GB LPDDR4 @ 1600MHz
16GB, 32GB internal storage
up to 128GB via microSD
HSPA+, LTE Cat 6 300Mbps
Qualcomm VIVE 2-stream 802.11n/ac with MU-MIMO
Bluetooth 4.1 with Apt-X
USB 3.0/2.0
NFC
13MP rear camera, dual-LED with OIS+
Laser Auto Focus
2.1MP front-facing camera
GPS with aGPS support
Li-Po 3,000mAh battery
Android 5.0 Lollipop

ASUS ZenFone 2

Although the LG G Flex 2 has a slight advantage in some areas, the newly-launched ASUS ZenFone 2 isn’t exactly a push over in terms of processing power. It runs on an Intel Moorefield quad-core processor clocked at 2.3GHz with 4GB of RAM – making it one of the first smartphone with that amount of RAM on it.

5.5 inch IPS LCD display @ 1920×1080 pixels, 403ppi
Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Intel Atom Z3580 64bit 2.33GHz quad-core
PowerVR G6430 GPU
2GB and 4GB LPDDR3-1600 RAM
16GB, 32GB and 64GB internal storage
LTE Cat. 4 150Mbps
Dual-SIM, Dual-LTE
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, WiFi Direct
Bluetooth 4.0
NFC
13MP rear camera, Dual Color Real Tone Flash
5MP front-facing camera
GPS with aGPS support, GLONASS
Li-Po 3,000mAh battery
Android 5.0 Lollipop
Asus Zen UI
170 grams (weight)
152.5 x 77.2 x 10.9mm (dimensions)

ASUS ZenFone Zoom

ASUS has taken a page out of Samsung’s play book and announced a similarly-configured ZenFone with a more capable rear shooter – the ASUS ZenFone Zoom.

5.5 inch IPS LCD display @ 1920×1080 pixels, 401ppi
Intel Atom Z3580 64bit 2.33GHz quad-core
Intel HD Graphics 533 MHz
2GB or 4GB LPDDR3-1600 RAM
16GB and 32GB internal storage
LTE Cat. 4 150Mbps
Dual-SIM, Dual-LTE
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.0
13MP rear camera, Dual Color Real Tone Flash
5MP front-facing camera
GPS with aGPS support
Li-Po 3,000mAh battery
Android 5.0 Lollipop
Asus Zen UI

HTC Desire 826

Like ASUS, HTC also unveiled two new smartphones in CES 2015, but only one of them, the HTC Desire 826, is worthy enough to write home about. Running the show for this stylish handset is Qualcomm’s own octa-core SoC with 2GB of RAM and Adreno 405 GPU.

5.5-inch full HD display @ 1080×1920 pixels
Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 1.7GHz octa-core CPU
Adreno 405 GPU
2GB RAM
Expandable 16GB internal storage
13-UltraPixel BSI rear camera w/ LED Flash
4-UltraPixel Front-facing camera
HTC EYE Experience
LTE, HSPA+
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n/ac
Bluetooth 4.0
GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS
HTC BoomSound
Android 5.0 Lollipop
Li-Ion 2,600mAh battery
150.8 x 77.5 x 7.9 mm (dimension)
183 grams (weight)

ZTE Grand X Max+

Rounding up our list is the ZTE Grand X Max+ which is the revamped version of the first model that now sports a 6-inch 720p display and runs on a Snapdragon 400 processor. Honestly, we would prefer to put the ZTE SPro 2 in its place, but it’s primarily a pico-projector than a smartphone.

6-inch HD display, 1280×720 pixels @ 245ppi
Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 1.2GHz octa-core CPU
Adreno 305 GPU
2GB RAM
Expandable 16GB internal storage
Supports up to 32GB of Micro-SD card
13-megapixel autofocus rear camera w/ LED Flash
5-megapixel Front-facing camera
LTE, HSPA+
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.0 w/ A2DP
GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS
Android 4.4.4 KitKat
Li-Ion 3,200mAh battery
162.1 x 83.1 x 7.9 mm (dimension)
171.8 grams (weight)