There is never a dull moment in the eventful world of smartphones. New models are being announced and launched every second week, raising the level of competition tremendously. We aren’t even halfway through the year and we have already seen some major smartphones being launched by Samsung, HTC and Blackberry. Not only that, rumour has it that Apple will be releasing it’s next iPhone in the next few months. Clearly, there is a lot to look forward to.

The smartphones which have already been launched in the year made headlines around the globe. Let’s quickly review these new releases:

1. Samsung Galaxy S4 – Samsung Galaxy S4 is the much anticipated successor to the hugely popular Samsung Galaxy SIII. The smartphone comes with a 5-inch super AMOLED display with a higher resolution than S3. The processor is also upgraded to 1.9GHz quad-core or 1.6GHz octa-core and the phone ships with a 13-megapixel camera. As an added advantage, the battery life is longer and S4 also boasts of a thinner build than its predecessor. Apart from the specs, the Samsung Galaxy S4 also comes with some cool features like Air View, Smart Pause and Smart Scroll. While Air View allows you to control the touch screen without actually touching it, Smart Pause and Smart Scroll features will pause a video or scroll the screen according to your eyeball movements. All in all, the Samsung Galaxy S4 takes the concept of being user-friendly to a different level altogether. It might not be groundbreaking but it does take significant steps towards a fuller experience of using smartphones.

2. HTC One – The most obviously impressive feature of the HTC One is the design which is crafted exclusively of premium metals. HTC has invested a lot of effort in creating a suave design to compete with the likes of S4 and iPhone 5. On the technical front, the phone comes with a 4.7-inch screen with 1080p resolution, 1.7GHz quad-core processor, 32/64GB internal memory and 2GB RAM. The camera comes with a unique Ultra-Pixel sensor which can capture more details due to its larger size. All of these features, along with Android Jelly Bean, make for a powerful smartphone, one that can be compared with the other giants in the league.

3. Blackberry Z10 – If you have been a loyal customer of Blackberry, this phone will definitely delight you. The flagship model, which was being touted as a do-or-die attempt by Blackberry, has received largely positive reviews. While it hasn’t swept them off their feet, it has managed to impress them with its features. The Blackberry Z10 comes with 4.2-inch LCD display, Blackberry 10 OS, an 8-megapixel camera, 1.5GHz dual-core processor and 2GB RAM. Sure enough, the OS needs a little getting used to, but once you are accustomed to it, it works like a charm.

Besides these phones, you can also check out Sony Xperia Z or LG Optimus G if you are looking for a new smartphone.