It's been a poor year in truth.

The Galaxy S5 was lacking in anything major, the iPhone 6 suffered from hardware issues and lacked in new features over the 5S. The new Nexus is only meh. And Nokia / Microsoft scrapped their exciting-in-theory '3D touch' flagship. So, what's left? I'm gonna go by what excites me most.

1) BlackBerry Passport - It's different, if that's all I can call it. It's trying new things with an old form factor, and personally I am a big fan of the OS. Camera is a weak point (as it always has been for BlackBerry), and the price is too high to make me want to try it as a daily driver just yet - but it's in my crosshairs for now.

2) YotaPhone 2 - A phone I genuinely didn't think we'd see after the first one's inability to make a splash, but I'm glad it's out now. The e-ink display on the back is innovative, and genuinely useful. Eye strain before bed is a major issue if you use your phone to read news articles etc., this solves that. Entirely. A real convergence device. And they've nailed the software to go along with it too! What more could you ask for? Well, maybe a Sailfish option... Android to me is very plain, uninspiring and ugly. I'm not going to be using it for a while - I value aesthetics too highly.

3) Nokia Lumia 530 - This is the phone that will truly bring 'smart' to the masses across the world, believe me. It's been on sale as low as £15 in the UK already. Whether you hate the OS or not, it is reasonably smooth, it has a camera, it runs apps and games, has a good browser, has expandable storage... and it costs £15. Let that sink in for a second. How they've managed to get this much into a device that can sell for this little is genuinely beyond me.


Notable mention: LG G3 - The least exciting, but another huge upgrade over what was already a very solid phone. Great hardware specs, and just improved across the board. This is LG's equivalent to the Galaxy SII - the phone that will really see them break into Samsung and Apple's party. Again, Android puts me off, but this is the phone that should really be sweeping up in these awards across the board.

Notable mention: HTC One M8 - A very beautiful phone. I love that HTC use metal in their construction, it gives it a much more premium feel. Unfortunately, it's let down by the camera, really badly. And the OS. And the battery life. A showpiece - not really usable in practice.... but so pretty.

Notable mention: Motorola Droid Turbo - It's powerful (like the iPhone 6, Note 4, S5, G3, One M8 and Z3), it has a nice screen (like the iPhone 6, Note 4, S5, G3, One M8 and Z3), the camera is good enough (like the iPhone 6, Note 4, S5, G3, One M8 and Z3), it looks decent but definitely isn't gorgeous (like the iPhone 6, Note 4, S5, G3 and Z3) - so what sets this phone apart? A 3900 mAh battery. Enough battery to make this power last. This really isn't innovative - but the amount nearly all other OEMs neglect this, you'd be forgiven for thinking it was. Probably the only Android phone I could use as a daily driver right now... if it wasn't for the fact that it's locked to 1 US network and comes with a ton of bloatware that can't be uninstalled.