YotaPhone

The good: The low power usage of the E Ink second display means it can be left permanently on, helpfully displaying notifications without seriously draining battery life.

The bad: The quality of the second display is poor, and there's not much you can do with it as there's no third-party support as yet. The phone relies on awkward gestures for navigation, it has unimpressive specifications and it's running on an old version of Android.

The bottom line: The YotaPhone's second screen is an interesting concept and one I'm quite keen on. Both the E Ink screen and the rest of the phone need serious refinement, however.

With so many Android phones to choose from, it's difficult for individual handsets to stand out from the crowd. The YotaPhone solves this problem with an unusual second display on the back -- but creates a bunch of new problems in the process.

This extra screen uses E Ink technology -- the same as you'll find on an Amazon Kindle -- which is theoretically more comfortable to read on, and uses considerably less power than a regular LCD screen, but it is limited to black and white. It's an interesting concept and it certainly caught our eye when it was first shown off at CES in 2013. Now that it's in our hands, does it still stand up to scrutiny?

E Ink display

It might seem daft having a second screen on the back of your phone, but the theory is sound. E Ink displays aren't backlit and aren't refreshed until new information needs to be displayed, so they use very small amounts of power. A Kindle, for example, can give over a month of battery.

In theory, the low-power rear display can be used for reading books, websites, RSS feeds and so on, meaning the power-hungry front LCD display isn't always on, sucking juice like a thirsty toddler.

(Credit: Andrew Hoyle/CNET)

While that sounds all well and good, the execution falls short of the mark. The biggest issue lies with the poor quality of the display. It has a low 640x360-pixel resolution, which makes text and icons look fuzzy -- when I put a shot of the Android homescreen on the E Ink display, I was barely able to read the app names, and images taken on the camera looked very fuzzy. Larger text in notifications is mercifully more legible.

Reading e-books is manageable, but the poor resolution means it's simply not as pleasant as reading on a Kindle. That's not helped at all by a kind of 'burning-in' of images, which means every new image shows a faint ghost of the previous image over the top. If the YotaPhone hopes to make its way into the pockets of the ebook-loving masses, it's going to need to seriously improve the quality of the display. Right now, it's just not up to scratch.

E Ink apps

The other big issue is the lack of software that supports the second screen. While you have access to the hundreds of thousands of apps in the Google Play store, the only apps that will work with the rear display are the few from YotaPhone itself that come preloaded on the device. These include a notepad -- admittedly handy to bring up your shopping list on the back screen while trawling the aisles of your supermarket -- as well as a calendar, RSS news reader app and the app that allows you to customise the rear wallpaper.

Read also: YotaPhone: The genesis of a crazy dual-screen phone (Q&A)

Without support from third-party developers to bring more common Android apps to the rear screen, it's very limited. You can grab the Kindle and Kobo ebook apps from the Google Play store for example, but you aren't able to display them on the back screen.

YotaPhone does have access to e-books service Bookmate, which works with the screen and lets you use the touch panel below to move through the pages. Its selection is extremely limited, however -- none of the top 10 books on the Amazon Kindle store were available, for example -- so I highly doubt it will suit anyone who's keen enough on reading to buy a phone with an E Ink screen.

Yota also reckons it's great for personalisation, as you're able to pop various wallpapers -- including your own images -- on the back for the world to see. There’s a bunch of different wallpapers preloaded, including a rather charming giraffe, and you can pop down widgets over the top to update with information. The most obvious ones are a battery indicator, a weather icon and a clock, but you can show upcoming meetings too and it'll show incoming calls with a hard-to-miss fullscreen image.

It's probably the best part of the YotaPhone, in fact, as you can simply leave your phone on your desk and glance down to see the time, as well as incoming notifications from texts, emails, calls and so forth without needing to wake the phone up, or use much battery. I find myself checking my phone numerous times throughout the day to check on emails and WhatsApp messages, so I found having the E Ink screen permanently displaying notifications to be particularly handy.

Your Twitter and Facebook feeds can be displayed on the back panel too, thanks to Yota's RSS app, although the official Twitter and Facebook apps won't display on the back screen. In my own use, neither social feed seemed to want to update with new posts, meaning I was sat looking at the same posts until I turned the phone over to refresh it. The same was true of RSS feeds of websites I subscribed to. If this service worked properly, the back screen would be much more useful.

Software and processor

You'll be making your way around the now slightly old Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean on the front LCD display. Apart from the few bundled apps and the fact that you use gestures to go back and go home, the interface isn't really any different from what you may have seen on other Android devices. Five homescreens are available, with four app icons sitting on the tray along the bottom for quick access.

(Credit: Andrew Hoyle/CNET)

It's powered by a 1.7GHz dual-core processor, which, when it was first shown off at the beginning of 2013, wasn't too bad. Times have moved on somewhat though and a dual-core chip really doesn't impress, particularly when phones such as the Motorola Moto G pack quad-core processors for rock-bottom prices.

Still, it has a nippy clock speed and it achieved a respectable -- although hardly inspiring -- 1,999 on the Geekbench 2 benchmark test. Swiping around Android was relatively swift, with only the odd small stutter here and there. The multi-tasking panel opened quickly (once I got the gesture panel to work properly) and flicking between apps was hassle free.

The device coped fine with streaming video on Netflix too. It handled water racer Riptide GP 2 acceptably, but it stuttered in more intense moments. Casual gamers looking to fling some Angry Birds are adequately catered for, but if you're keen on playing the latest, glossiest games, the YotaPhone is not for you.

Design and display

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Kyocera Hydro Plus (Cricket Wireless)

The Good The budget-friendly Kyocera Hydro Plus can survive a good dunk in the pool and comes with Cricket's signature music subscription service.

The Bad The Hydro Plus runs the dated Android 4.0 OS, makes mediocre calls, and clocks slow network speeds, even for 3G.

The Bottom Line Though the Kyocera Hydro Plus is an inexpensive water-resistant phone with an included music service, skip it for better and even cheaper splash-proof alternatives.

With five Hydro devices currently under its belt, Kyocera is no stranger to making waterproof handsets. Ranging from entry-level to midtier, all the Hydro smartphones can be submerged under three feet of water for up to 30 minutes and keep on ticking.

The Hydro Plus, which is saddled with slow 3G speeds and a disappointingly dated Android 4.0 OS, sits at the entry-level end of the spectrum. And while both its specs and overall performance aren't impressive, the handset includes Cricket's unique Muve Music service that's ideal for music lovers, manages to take decent photos for its 3.2-megapixel camera, and won't bust your wallet at $139.99 off-contract (or $89.99, given current discounts and rebates).

This makes the device worth considering if you're on the lookout for a cheap smartphone and live or work in an area with a reliable Cricket Wireless connection. But if you want a faster handset with a newer version of OS or a better camera, there are other prepaid alternatives that are just as affordable, namely MetroPCS' Kyocera Hydro XTRM and Boost's Hydro Edge.

Design
Measuring 4.53 inches tall, 2.44 inches wide, and half an inch thick, the Hydro Plus is an ultrapocketable device that's easy to maneuver with one hand. It also weighs just 4.16 ounces, so you won't have to worry about it being a heavy burden inside your jeans pocket.

On the left is a volume rocker, and the top edge houses a 3.5mm headphone jack and a Micro-USB port for charging. To the right, you'll find a small sleep/power button.

The back is textured with a ribbed rubber coating that lends an extra sense of durability (though the handset is not a rugged phone). The back plate is secured by a small toggle lock to ensure that water does not seep in. To unlock it, you'll need to push the switch to the right and pry the battery door off. This allows you to access the microSD card slot (which is expandable up to 32GB) and the 1,500mAh battery.

The 3.5-inch HVGA IPS screen has a 480x320-pixel resolution. The display has a narrow viewing angle, especially when seen in direct sunlight, and it appeared washed out when tilted slightly at any angle. Though text and icons were easy to read, I could see a noticeable amount of aliasing along the edges. Furthermore, default images looked coarse, and when I viewed a swatch of pure white, it looked speckled and grainy.

Waterproof construction Kyocera reports that you can submerge the Hydro Plus in up to a meter of water for 30 minutes. Though I was not able to find a body of water that deep, I did stick it under running water several times, and finally dropped the handset into a tall vase after making sure all the ports were appropriately sealed.

When half an hour had passed by, I took the device out. Not surprisingly, the phone was none the worse for wear: I browsed the Web for a few minutes afterward without a problem, and then successfully made a phone call. I also snapped some more photos with the camera. Overall, I didn't notice any damage from the submersion, and the device kept working fine.

With the waterproof Hydro Plus, an accidental dip in the sink is no problem. Josh Miller/CNET

Software features
The Hydro Plus runs on Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich, which is a really dated OS version -- even for entry-level devices. (I mean, the original Hydro predecessor launched with Android 4.0!) You'll still get your standard lineup of Google apps, however, such as Chrome, Gmail, Plus, Hangouts, Maps, portals to the Play Store services, Search, and YouTube.

As a Cricket Wireless handset, the phone features Muve Music, a music subscription service tied to your carrier plan. Users can play and download offline thousands of artists and songs. Menu options include Muve Mixes (formerly known as "My DJ" before the whole app got a much-needed UI facelift), which lets you access premade playlists organized by musical genres. There's also a New Releases section as well as Shazam, the popular music-identification app. Though I've seen this app have its own home-screen widget (on the ZTE Source, for example) wherein you can launch the Shazam tool directly, and pause and skip music tracks, this option appears to be missing from the Hydro Plus.

With Muve Music, users can check out mixes, look up songs on Shazam, and download full albums. Lynn La/CNET

The device has many other Cricket apps preloaded as well. This includes its own branded navigator; a My Account app to manage your phone payments; and MyBackup, which lets you store your contact information in the cloud. There's a Yellow Page-esque app called Cricket 411, where you can access information for the nearest pizza joint or grocery store; a shortcut app to the carrier's Web site; and a Cricket storefront that lets you purchase graphics and applications.

Finally, in addition to your basic tasks managing apps (like a native browser and e-mail client, a calculator, a calendar, a clock with alarm functions, a news and weather app, and a voice dialer), there are a handful of other goodies. This includes Eco Mode, a power-saving tool developed for Kyocera handsets that preserves battery life, a bill-management app called Evolve Money, two games, and an In Case of Emergency app that lets you input and store emergency contacts.

Other features include 2GB of ROM, 512MB of internal memory, and Bluetooth 2.1.

Camera and video
Understandably, the photo quality for the camera didn't exactly blow me away, but it was fair for a 3.2-megapixel lens. Digital noise, graininess, and blurred edges were apparent in all the photos I took, and dark hues were especially difficult to distinguish. However, objects were easy to make out, and focus did sharpen a bit more with well-lit images.

Video recording yielded similarly mediocre results. Though both moving and still objects were clear enough to discern, the lens took a noticeable amount of time to adjust for lighting. I also heard a subtle hissing sound during playback. Though it wasn't overly distracting, it was apparent nonetheless.

In this well-lit indoor photo, objects are easy to make out, but there is a notable amount of digital noise. Lynn La/CNET In this rainy-day outdoor photo, some flowers appear vibrant and bright, but the pink roses are washed out. Lynn La/CNET In our standard studio shot, the white background is accurate, but the objects are blurry. Josh Miller/CNET

A few camera options include digital zoom, six scene modes, five white balances, a flash, geotagging, three picture qualities, five color effects, three exposure settings, and five picture sizes (ranging from 480x320 to 2,048x1,536-pixels). Video recording has similar options but includes only two size choices (MMS and long video), and four shooting qualities (ranging from 320x240 to 800x480p).

Performance
I tested the Hydro Plus at our San Francisco offices, where I found call quality to be mediocre. Though I was able to hear and understand what my calling partner was saying, audio sounded static-y and "crunchy." And though I was able to consistently make calls after it occurred, one of my phone calls actually dropped in the middle of a conversation due to a failed signal. Speaker quality also sounded tinny and thin when activated, and maximum volume could also stand to be louder.

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Boost Max (Boost Mobile)

The good: ZTE's Boost Max sports a premium build, a competitive off-contract price, and expandable memory.

The bad: Both the handset's call and camera quality are middling, and 4G LTE data speeds were consistently slow in our tests.

The bottom line: Consider the Boost Max if you want a cheap Android handset with a lot of screen. But if you can pay a little extra, the Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 is the better budget phablet.

When Boost Mobile decided to rebrand ZTE's Iconic Phablet as the Boost Max, the carrier wanted to go big -- 5.7 inches big, in fact.

But even though it's touted as Boost's first phablet and has a large touch screen, the Max isn't very "max" at all. Especially when you consider it has just a 720p display, a dual-core processor, and an average-quality 8-megapixel camera.

At $299.99 prepaid though, the device is indeed a bargain. Taking into account other handsets of similar size, it's one of the least expensive supersize phones on the market.

So if you want a phablet for not much cash and are willing to make a few compromises on performance and speed, the Boost Max is worth looking into. However, if you have an extra $50 to spend, consider the superior Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3. Otherwise, you'll need to save a couple of hundred dollars more for a faster, more premium device.

Design
Measuring 6.5 inches tall, 3.25 inches wide, and 0.4-inch thick, the Boost Max is a behemoth of a device. Don't expect to be able to navigate this one easily with one hand, or to have it fit comfortably inside your jean pockets. Though I don't consider it overly heavy for its size, at 6.87 ounces, this handset is going to be heftier than most smartphones. I wasn't able to prop it between my face and my shoulder while having a conversation for a long time due to its weight, but it felt fine when held with my hand.

The Max's 5.7-inch HD IPS display is topped with Corning Gorilla Glass. Its 1,280x720-pixel resolution is a disappointment for a screen this size, which would benefit most from the standard 1080p resolution of top-tiered devices. True, at 257ppi, it does have a slightly higher pixel density than the Galaxy Mega's 233ppi, but I could still easily see color banding, as well as a "crunchiness" with images and graphics. Even app icons looked blurry. When I zoomed in on text, there was some aliasing along the edges. However, the display itself is responsive and sensitive. It's easy view in the daylight and has a satisfactory viewing angle. In addition, high-definition videos still looked smooth, and thanks to its immense size, watching videos and playing games was more immersive than the experience you'd find on smaller handsets.

To access the handset's SIM card, remove the top half of the rear panel.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

On the left are a volume rocker, a Micro-USB port, and a microSD card tray that you can access by inserting a small pin that's included. Up top is a 3.5mm headphone jack, and on the right are keys to power off the phone and to launch the camera app.

The back is made out of an attractive all-aluminum plate that is letterboxed between matte-gray panels. The top half houses the 8-megapixel lens and flash. The paneling also can be removed so users can access the SIM card. At the very bottom is a small speaker grille for audio output.

Software features
Like most ZTE devices, the Max runs a nearly skinless version of Android 4.1.2 and has all the staples of Google's biosphere, such as Chrome, Gmail, Hangouts, Plus, Maps with Navigation, Messenger, portals to Play Books, Magazines, Movies & TV, and Music Store, Search, and YouTube.

On top of the Android OS is ZTE's MiFavor user interface. One neat feature included in this UI is called Smart Viewer, which enables you to split-screen two apps at the same time. To do so, long-press the back button. A small menu of apps (and that includes third-party apps, too) will pop up. There you can select and drop the two apps you want to open.

Basic task-managing apps are included, such as a native browser, an e-mail client, a music player, a video player, a calendar, a clock with alarm functions, a news-and-weather app, a sound recorder, a timer, and a voice dialer.

To take advantage of the Max's immense display size, you can use Smart Viewer to split-screen apps.

(Credit: Lynn La/CNET)

Boost loaded a few of its own apps, too. One is Boost Zone, a help portal through which you can check your phone balance and fees. Another is Mobile ID, which allows you to customize your phone with preselected apps, widgets, and other items depending on which ID profile you choose. There's also Boost Music, where you can download songs and ringtones.

Additional features include 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal memory, Bluetooth 4.0, and Dolby Digital Plus, which is a useful software goodie that improves the quality and clarity of audio.

Camera and video
Photo quality for the the 8-megapixel rear lens was acceptable and will satisfy anyone who wants to take casual pictures from time to time. The camera shutter operates quickly, and touch focusing also took no time at all. Colors were accurate, and with ample lighting, the overall picture clarity was good. However, some objects did come out slightly blurry with soft edges. Photos taken indoors also showed a notable amount of digital noise and artifacts.

In this outdoor shot, colors are true to life and objects are in focus.

(Credit: Lynn La/CNET) This slightly dim indoor photo displays a notable amount of digital noise, but the Emmy award still looks good.

(Credit: Lynn La/CNET) Though I adjusted the camera's focus to be on the purple flower to the left, everything still looked rather fuzzy.

(Credit: Lynn La/CNET) In our standard studio shot, objects were a bit blurry, but colors were accurate.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

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Samsung Galaxy Light

The good: The Samsung Galaxy Light gives you 4G LTE, a decent processor, and a pocket-friendly form for under $250. Call quality is strong, too.

The bad: Camera images seemed dull and soft on the Light's 5-megapixel shooter, and the 4-inch screen makes the virtual keyboard feel cramped.

The bottom line: Buy the Samsung Galaxy Light if you're looking for Android on a budget -- just be aware that you're trading price for performance.

If you're seeking an affordable Android phone on T-Mobile, the Samsung Galaxy Light is a serious choice. There's nothing flashy or even particularly interesting about a this 4-inch, entry-level smartphone that just looks like a slightly mutated Samsung Galaxy S3. Still, its 4G LTE is pretty fast, the screen is bright and colorful, and Samsung has filled it with many of the software extras you come to expect on its phones.

Its $240 all-in price puts the Light at the bottom end of the price range, which is exactly where it belongs. It isn't the least expensive device that the carrier sells -- you can get the LG Optimus F3 for $168 and the Nokia Lumia 521 for $150 -- but it does slide in under the QWERTY-equipped LG Optimus F3Q for $312 and the much better appointed Nexus 5 for $396.

If you don't want to pay the full cost up front, T-Mobile lets you buy the phone for $0 down, and $10 per month for 24 months.

Design and build
Peer at it from just the right angle in just the right lighting and you can make out the Galaxy Light's cocoa-brown color winking at you. Most of the time, though, it just looks generically dark gray or muddy black, though always gleaming with the high-gloss finish that Samsung's been using for years now.

Although it's a tad thick (0.4-inch), it's a compact device with a 4-inch display. The handset itself has rounded shoulders and stands 4.8 inches tall and 2.5 inches wide. It's the first phone in a long time that sinks into my back pocket, though it'll still be a tight squeeze in snug slacks with peewee front pockets. The Light feels good on my ear, and at 4.3 ounces, it isn't too hefty.

The Samsung Galaxy Light fits easily in your hand and pockets.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

Its 4-inch AMOLED display is colorful as always when you glance at the screen and at Web sites, with bright hues that shine out in an 800x480-pixel screen resolution (233 ppi). Although we're seeing ever-higher pixel densities these days on high-end phones, this resolution is appropriate for a 4-inch screen. Sure, it isn't as crisp as an iPhone 4, but you'll be able to read Web pages and take in Facebook albums without strain. The smaller screen means a tinier virtual keyboard that lets you either trace or peck out words.

Below the display, Samsung has adjusted the dimensions of the Light's capsule-shaped physical home button to make it taper at the ends. This gives the impression of a slightly bigger target space in the center of the button. The capacitive Menu and Back buttons lie on either side. You press and hold Home to see your recent apps, double-press to open Samsung's S Voice app, and press and hold the Back button for Google Now.

Ports and buttons fall into the standard Samsung locations, with the power button on the right spine, the Micro-USB charging port on the bottom, the slim volume rocker on the left, and the headset jack up on top. Flip the phone over to locate the 5-megapixel camera and LED flash. Behind the back cover, you can remove the battery and also slide in a microSD card, up to 64GB at the upper limit.

OS and apps
If you define the word as "scant" and not as "illuminating," Light is a descriptive term for the phone's features haul. Samsung paints the Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean OS with its own TouchWiz layer, which gives the phone a specific look and feel, plus a few additional features that you'll find sprinkled around, like gesture controls.

A slightly thicker phone, the Light manages to avoid feeling overly bulky.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

Apart from the basics from Google, T-Mobile and Samsung preload their own apps for managing your T-Mobile account and finding Samsung apps, for instance. Partner apps are really kept to a minimum this time around, which is a nice change from the norm. Lookout mobile phone security is one exception; this app pins to your notifications bar and is hard to cancel -- you'll need to disable it if you'd rather take your chances.

GPS, Wi-Fi, and standard communications standards are a given. The Light's Bluetooth version is nice and current at 4.0, and the phone supports DLNA, Wi-Fi calling, and HD Voice. NFC is here too, and steps in as the major protocol behind the preloaded Isis mobile wallet for making mobile payments at participating cash registers. In addition, you'll find VPN, a voice recorder, and T-Mobile's subscription TV service that you can opt into for $13 per month.

Cameras and video
The Light's 5-megapixel camera is blessed with an LED flash, panorama, and several other modes. It has loads of presets you can adjust to tweak image quality, but if you're a stickler for high-quality photos, this isn't your smartphone.

The 5-megapixel camera has flash and touch autofocus, and captures 720p HD video.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

Images on the Light were absolutely adequate, but the camera dulled colors, while images sometimes looked too "soft." Photos generally looked better outdoors rather than in, and the strong flash should be used judiciously, especially in atmospherically-lit areas. The shooter will autofocus for you, just not continuously, so it'll take time to refocus between shots, which might result in you losing your moment.

Unless you enjoy the grainy, choppily airbrushed look of the Light's front-facing VGA camera, you should plan on avoiding selfies and video chats.

The 720p HD video capture won't look as smooth or detailed on the Light as clips taken at 1080p HD resolutions on other phones, but this handset at least faithfully captured the scene. Colors were still a tad dull, and the camera didn't adjust for new lighting situations as the video changed scenes, but the microphone picked up my voice loudly and clearly while I narrated the action. Video presets and options are minimal but include shortening the length to make it fit an SMS.

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Verykool s470 Black Pearl

The good: The Verykool s470 Black Pearl smartphone is a great value at only $230 off-contract and it has a sharp screen.

The bad: The phone's camera takes mediocre shots and there's no support for LTE.

The bottom line: Verykool's premium Black Pearl is far from high-end, but its unique features, like the dual-SIM setup, make it one of the better unlocked low-cost smartphones out there.

In any other company's smartphone lineup, the $230 unlocked Black Pearl would be the budget option. For San Diego-based manufacturer Verykool, it's the premium model.

At its price, the Black Pearl is a great value for what you get. It has a crisp screen, fast processor, dual-SIM capability, and a few software extras that make it more than just another budget Android handset.

The Black Pearl beats the Verykool Vortex in every way. Though it's the company's most expensive model, at $280, and has a water-resistant, rugged exterior, the Vortex is plagued by an out-of-date operating system and an inferior screen.

The Verykool Black Pearl

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

Design
Despite its name, nothing about the design of the Black Pearl reminds me of an actual pearl. It has a slightly curved rounded body and slick matte back cover, and comes in two colors, black and white. I tested the black model.

Sizewise, it's nearly identical to the Samsung Galaxy S4, just thicker. Officially, the phone measures 5.4 inches tall, 2.7 inches wide, and 0.4 inch deep. It weighs 5.6 ounces, which makes it feel hefty and solid in my hands.

The smooth polycarbonate back cover wraps around the sides of the phone and there's a speaker grille near the bottom. Remove the cover to reveal the battery, two SIM slots, and a microSD card slot. You need to pull out the battery to access either card slot, which is a pain. The dual SIM slots are stacked one on top of the other, with SIM 1 behind SIM 2. The Black Pearl uses full-size SIM cards, which, compared with today's standard micro-SIM, is outdated.

You can easily fit the phone into a pocket.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

Though overall the phone feels solid, the back cover feels flimsy in places. Occasionally, it would lift up when I plugged in Micro-USB cable. Aside from that, the phone is sturdy. Though there's no official documentation on what kinds of falls it can sustain, I can say that it showed no damage when I accidentally let it fall about 2 feet onto a hard carpeted floor.

The power button is up top, and is built into the back cover. Next to that is the headphone jack. On the bottom, there is a Micro-USB port for charging.

There's a volume rocker on the left side.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

The volume rocker is on the left side and has two raised nubs for volume up and down, making it easy to press without looking at the phone. However, it's a bit too high up on the left side for me to comfortably reach it when I hold the phone up to my ear while on a call.

The Black Pearl sports a 4.7-inch diagonal HD IPS 1,280x720-pixel-resolution (312 ppi) screen, which is on par with other smartphones with similarly sized displays. I was really impressed by the screen; it looks sharp, crisp, and bright.

Additionally, colors look natural and vibrant. My only criticism is that the display can look a little dim on automatic brightness under normal office lighting conditions, but it's remarkably readable in direct sunlight, which is a plus.

OS and features
Though it looks as though the Black Pearl is running a vanilla version of Android Jelly Bean 4.2, there are a few modifications. Verykool included a handful of apps, such as a file manager, a notepad app called NoteBook, a setup guide, and an app called OOBE (short for out-of-box experience).

OOBE helps you tweak a few system settings and toggle between SIM cards if you're using more than one. You can even change the color of each SIM's signal bars, so you can tell them apart. OOBE is not to be confused with the Quick Start Guide, which gives you an onscreen demo of how to use the phone.

The phone is running Android 4.2.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

There's also a persistent search bar at the top of each home screen that looks just like the standard Google search bar from Ice Cream Sandwich, but when you tap it, it brings up a bare-bones search app that's reminiscent of the Google search widget in Android 2.2 Froyo. This is puzzling, because the phone comes with the most recent version of Google search, which includes Google Now, but you can't get to it from that home screen widget. You also can't get rid of that search bar unless you install a different launcher or flash a new ROM.

In settings, you can quickly change the phone's sound settings by choosing a preset audio profile from General, Silent, Meeting, and Outdoor. You can tweak the settings of General, but the rest have predetermined settings. For instance, Meeting is vibrate-only, while Outdoor has the loudest ring volume level and also vibrates. You can also add your own profiles and set the volume level, key press sounds, and notification tones. Also switch profiles in the Quick Settings drop-down menu.

In that same audio profile section, there's option to enhance the audio on the earpiece for better sound quality during a phone call, though the differences in call quality with it on and off were negligible.

Lastly, there's a stock Android browser preinstalled which has an extra feature; you can pop out a Web page into a smaller window that hangs out on top of the home screen or other apps. You can't resize the window, which is a bummer, but you can move the view around to see every part of the page. This a neat feature that you can find on Samsung and LG phones as well. It's useful for when you need to reference a tidbit of information from Web site -- say a product name or business number -- to use elsewhere, such as while sending an e-mail or entering an address into Google Maps.

On the back, there's an 8-megapixel camera.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

Camera and video
There's an 8-megapixel main camera on the back of the phone, which protrudes slightly above the back cover. There's also an LED flash right below the lens. Overall, it takes decent photos, with a few caveats.

In most of my test photos, the Black Pearl's camera struggled to take clear, well-lit shots. Though the camera has an autofocus, with an option to tap the screen to manually focus, close-up shots didn't always turn out sharp. That led to photos with very small focus areas with anything not in focus looking blurry. Also, the camera had a hard time capturing color variations in close-ups as well.

Here, the camera struggled to show the color variations in the flower's petals.

(Credit: Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)

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Huawei Honor 3X

The Good The Huawei Honor 3X comes packed with plenty of features, including dual-SIM capability, an octa-core processor and a 5.5-inch IPS display at a not-too-shabby price of $280.

The Bad It's still running on Android 4.2.2, where other newer handsets come loaded with Android 4.4 KitKat; you'll need to do some work to set up the phone if you're getting the handset straight from China, as it lacks all the Google features, such as the Play Store.

The Bottom Line The Honor 3X offers great performance and specs for its low price. However, unless you're getting a local version with Google Mobile Services pre-installed, you will not be getting the full flavor of Android without some effort.

Available only in China for now (though Huawei does have plans to debut this handset in Southeast Asia), the Huawei Honor 3X is one of the first handsets available using MediaTek's "true" eight-core processor, the MediaTek MT6592, running at 1.7GHz. However, that's not all -- the handset packs a 5.5-inch IPS display, has a 13-megapixel rear camera, a 5-megapixel front camera and dual-SIM capability for the low price of just 1,698 Chinese Yuan ($280) without a contract.

If this sounds like an attractive package, well, it is. Huawei has managed to pack pretty good specs at a price point that would be considered budget tier. But how does it hold up in day-to-day use?

Eight-cores, anyone? Aloysius Low/CNET

The Honor 3X resembles pretty much most of the other Android handsets in the market today, with a flat rectangular design and curved corners. You'll find physical touch-sensitive buttons located below the 5.5-inch IPS display, which has a resolution of 1,280x720 pixels. Since it's an IPS screen, you'll find that viewing angles are pretty good even when looking at the handset from the sides, and the brightness of the display makes it viewable outdoors.

The Honor 3X sports physical buttons. Aloysius Low/CNET

While it's made of glossy black plastic, the feel and build of the Honor 3X is solid and I like the heft of the handset in my hands. The one thing that I dislike about the handset, however, has to be the fingerprint smudges that comes with just a few minutes of use.

You will get plenty of ugly fingerprint smudges on the rear cover. Aloysius Low/CNET

The power and volume buttons are located on the right, making them easy to reach when holding the smartphone in one hand. The speaker is located at the back nearer the bottom, while the 13-megapixel camera and flash are found right at the top.

Huawei's handset is a 3G only device, and while there's no 4G, this means it should work almost anywhere in the world. It has two SIM slots, allowing you to have two mobile lines in one handset. Only one line can have 3G active, but you can select which SIM card to use for data, but I doubt anyone would use the non-3G activated SIM since it will be very slow. Other connectivity options include Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS.

OS and apps
The Honor 3X runs Huawei's newest Emotion UI 2.0, and the Android skin has some nifty tricks up its sleeve. Instead of an app drawer, the Emotion UI places all your apps on the home screen, just like iOS. I guess this is a slightly better approach, since it requires one less action to get to your app, but you do end up with plenty of home screens (personally, I prefer an app drawer, and a maximum of two home screens at most to keep my smartphone's display neat and clean).

Like Xiaomi's MIUI, there's a theming feature, which lets you change the look of the UI. The phone comes with five official themes, and you can go online to download custom themes as well. Other options include the ability to manually select specific features to tweak, which provides the user with an impressive amount of control over the handset. While the theming feature works, I encountered a bug when applying a theme that emptied my home screens -- a reboot fixed this though.

Changing themes is very simple to do. Aloysius Low/CNET

One cool feature that I particularly liked about Emotion UI 2.0 is the Simple mode. I've seen similar modes before in Japanese phones designed for the elderly, but the Honor 3X lets you switch between your standard and simple modes easily.

Simple mode resembles Windows Phone 8. Aloysius Low/CNET

Another cool feature I want to highlight is the power-tracking app that monitors how much power consumption the various apps on the phone use. If it monitors an app using quite a lot of energy, it will actually prompt you to close the app to help you save power. Pretty nifty, eh.

Aloysius Low/CNET

Now here's the downside. The Honor 3X that I reviewed doesn't come with Google services, so if you're thinking of grabbing this handset from China (and don't want to wait for a localized version), you'll need to do a lot of work to install apps such as Gmail, Play Store, Maps, Hangout, Google+, Chrome, etc. There's no option to add a Google account and the built-in app store doesn't have any of these apps available. I got around this by downloading the Baidu store app and installing these apps from there. Even then, you won't be able to add another Google account easily (I have yet to figure that out).

I also hated the default keyboard -- it's mainly designed for writing in Mandarin, and the English keyboard has crappy button placement -- the fullstop is next to a tiny spacebar, and you'll find yourself hitting the wrong keys. The autocorrect prediction isn't very good either -- you're better off downloading the Google Keyboard or any other keyboard apps from the Play Store.

Camera
Fitted with a 13-megapixel rear camera and a front 5-megapixel sensor, the Honor 3X seems like the perfect shooter. The software modes include all the standard options, such as HDR, panorama, beauty and one called motion AV. It lets you create a faux cinemagraph effect, but it's not as cool as the one you can find on Nokia's Windows Phone devices.

The performance of the 13-megapixel rear camera is average at best. While it's capable of taking good macro shots, it doesn't seem able to take good landscape shots as you can see in the picture below. I suspect this is due to the phone's auto settings, which is unable to properly determine the right mode to use. In our indoor studio test, the Honor 3X seems capable enough, but low-light shots suffer slightly from over-processing, resulting in noisy images.

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Sony Xperia Z1 Compact

The good: Its small size makes it comfortable to use, it has a searingly powerful processor, a good camera and decent battery life. It looks brilliant too and its waterproof design means you don't need to worry about dropping it in the bath.

The bad: It's not running the latest version of Android and some of Sony's software tweaks don't really add anything to the experience.

The bottom line: With its powerful processor, great camera, decent screen and gorgeous, waterproof design, the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact is the best small Android phone around.

The Sony Xperia Z1 Compact packs the same blisteringly powerful quad-core processor, 4G LTE connectivity and 20-megapixel camera as Sony's top-end Xperia Z1. It has a 4.3-inch display, rather than the palm-stretching 5 inches of its brother, making it the most technologically advanced small Android phone you can get.

While the iPhone 5S provides great performance in a compact size, if you want a top-end phone running Android, you'll need to pocket a phone pushing 5 inches or more. We've seen miniature flagships before from the likes of Samsung and HTC. While the Galaxy S4 Mini and HTC One Mini both bear the names of their elitist brethren, however, both models actually come with considerably watered down specs that won't keep hardcore tech fans happy. The Z1 Compact provides cutting-edge tech without forcing you to have a phone so big you can camp under it.

The Sony Xperia Z1 Compact is due to go on sale in the UK and wider Europe in the middle of February for £449, SIM-free from Sony's online store or free on contracts starting at £29 per month from Phones 4U. Sony so far has no plans to bring it to the US.

Size aside, the Z1 Compact is almost identical to its bigger brother. It has the same all-glass front and back, with the one-piece aluminium band running around the edge. The same chunky power button pokes out of the side and there's a dedicated camera shutter button below.

It's a gorgeous, sleek design that feels every bit as luxurious as it looks when you pick it up. The metal band curves gently at the edges to meet the screen and there's no unpleasant creaking or flexing when you squeeze it. All in all, it feels like an extremely well put together piece of kit. One thing to bear in mind though; with glass panels on the front and back, the Z1 Compact is susceptible to scratches and scuffs. If you want it to stay looking its best, try not to carry it in the same pocket as your keys.

(Credit: Andrew Hoyle/CNET)

The Compact is available in a host of bright colors, including hot pink and a rather vibrant lime green. They might not be to everyone's tastes, but they certainly stand out from the crowd. If colors aren't your thing, you can pick it up in white or black instead.

Like the Z1, the Compact is waterproof to a depth of one metre for up to 30 minutes. Not only can you drop it in the bath or spill a drink on it without worrying, you can dive into the chilly sea and happily snap away at the jellyfish. The camera shutter button means you don't need to tap on the display to take a photo -- which won't be able to register your finger underwater. The charging port and SIM slot are covered with rubberised flaps, but thankfully the headphone jack has been made waterproof, so you don't need to undo a flap every time you want to plug your headphones in.

The Z1 Compact has slimmer bezels than the standard Z1, which helps maximise screen size, without bulging out the phone's body. The Compact is a full 17mm shorter than the regular Z1 and 9mm narrower. Those might not seem like huge numbers, but the size difference is immediately noticeable when you hold the two phones together. I found the Compact much easier to hold in one hand and it shouldn't embarrassingly bulge out of your jeans pocket.

(Credit: Andrew Hoyle/CNET)

It comes with 16GB of internal storage as standard, but you can find a microSD card slot under a waterproof flap, allowing you to expand the space to fit all your music and photos.

The Compact packs a 720p display, which is a step down from the Full HD of its brother. Don't let that fool you into thinking it's not a great screen though, because it really is. For one, the smaller screen size means it doesn't need as many pixels to remain sharp. Indeed, it has a pixel density of 340 pixels per inch, which is a step above the 326ppi of the iPhone 5 -- and you'd have to be in a pretty foul mood to call that low resolution.

Side by side, I couldn't really tell much difference in sharpness and clarity against the Compact and the Full HD Z1 for everyday tasks. Icon edges are extremely crisp and small text on Web pages was easily readable. You don't have the same screen real estate of course, so if you mostly want your phone for watching high definition video then the 5-inch Z1 would probably still be a better option. Rest assured though that the Compact's display is more than good enough to do justice to Netflix movies.

The Compact's screen is very bright, countering most of the glare from our office lights. I can say with certainty that it's easy to read in the rain-soaked streets of London, although I sadly can't say how it will fare under the bright California sun. Its IPS display technology helps its deliver bold colours -- without looking over-saturated -- and it has great viewing angles too.

The Compact runs the last but one version of Android, known as 4.3 Jelly Bean. At the time of writing, Sony wasn't able to give a firm word on when the Compact, or indeed the full-sized Z1 would see an update to 4.4 KitKat. It's a little disappointing not to see the latest software on board a new top-end phone, but 4.3 is at least recent enough for it to be acceptable.

(Credit: Andrew Hoyle/CNET)

The software looks identical to the interface on the Z1. You can have up to seven home-screens to pop apps and widgets on, with four customisable app icons along the bottom for quick access. The app menu can be arranged into alphabetical order, a custom order or your most used apps, making it easy to find the tool you want when you have half the Android store installed on your phone. Sony uses its own image and video galleries which I'm not keen on as the folder system is much more awkward to use than the stock Android version. The rest of the interface is simple enough though and won't challenge existing Android users.

Unlike other miniaturised versions of top end phones, the Z1 Compact comes with the same supercharged processor as its larger sibling, rather than a weaker, cheaper chip. It's a 2.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, backed up by 2GB of RAM, that delivers a massive serving of power.

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