Android phones (Summer 2012)

No phone category moves faster and offers more options than Android smartphones. In the blink of an eye, Gingerbread seems as old as FroYo and you have no idea if your Samsung Discombobulate will play nice with Ice Cream sandwich. I�m Donald Bell, and if that made any sense to you than you�re in the right place. I�m counting down CNET�s July 2012 picks for the top Android smartphones. Starting off at # 5, the LG Nitro HD. This one�s on AT&T and if it sounds familiar, maybe you saw it on our Top 5 smartphones under $50. It�s a great phone with a beautiful screen and it�s a stupidly good value. But you know what I like almost as much as saving money? Not having to worry about where I left my phone charger. That�s why our #4 pick is the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx. This thing works for 16 days in standby mode. The Kevlar on the back won�t stop a bullet, but it won�t shatter on impact like some other phones. #3 is the HTC One S. This one�s actually on T-Mobile. It�s also one of the thinnest Android 4.0 smartphones we�ve seen, and that AMOLED screen is really, really pretty. In fact, it�s almost as nice as.. ...the HTC One X on AT&T. Our #2 pick. I think it�s just here to irritate T-Mobile. It�s what the HTC One S wants to be when it grows up. You get a bigger, brighter 4.7-inch screen and 4G LTE. A screen that big makes the iPhone look kinda puny. Speaking of the iPhone, with all these great Android options around, you may be wondering where CNET would rank iPhone if we mixed everything together. Well, our overall Best 5 cell phone list on CNET.com currently ranks the iPhone 4S at ...#3. That�s like chicken soup for the Android soul, isn�t it?. And that brings us to the #1 Android smartphone for the summer of 2012 ...the Samsung Galaxy S III. What carrier is it on? ALL OF THEM! Everybody wants a piece of this phone. The screen is a 4.8-inch high-definition monster. Assuming you have hands big enough to hold it, this is the Android phone you want. But don�t take my word for it. You can find all of our latest Android phone reviews at Phones.CNET.com. While you�re there, head over to Top5.CNET.com for more videos like this. I�m Donald Bell, thanks for watching.