Motorola Droid Maxx
Of the three Verizon Droids, the Droid Maxx is the $299 flagship, sporting Motorola's signature Kevlar backing and a real whopper of a battery.
While all the new Droids have the same horsepower, the Maxx is the one with the most staying power. It has 32GB of storage to the others' 16GB, and since none of the phones support microSD, that's an important distinction.
Nokia Lumia 928
The Nokia Lumia 928, exclusive to Verizon's 4G LTE network at a listed price of $99 on a two-year contract, is a bulky, bland slab available in just black or white, and vastly different from the usual bold Lumia colors.
But this Windows Phone 8 handset has other standout features - namely a great camera with a lens built for low-light conditions, not to mention a very sharp screen. And the WP8 interface is great on any device; here it's certainly no slouch.
- Maybe one day Verizon will offer the rumored Nokia Lumia 1520?
Samsung Galaxy S4
Like the Lumia 928, Verizon carries the Samsung Galaxy S4 in white and black with an average amount of carrier branding.
The Galaxy S4 is advertised as a 16GB phone, but after the Android 4.2: Jelly Bean OS, Samsung's TouchWiz software and Verizon's buffet of bloatware, users have only 9GB of storage to play with. Now, Verizon isn't the only one doing this, every version of the phone we've encountered has had far less than 16GB available.
The Galaxy S4 is quite a popular phone and definitely worth checking out if you're on Big Red's plans.
Motorola Droid Razr M
Likely in anticipation of the HTC One on Verizon, the Droid Razr M is now free year with a two-year contract.
The Razr M is the lightest, thinnest phone in the refreshed lineup of Droid Razrs exclusive to Verizon. It's sleek and compact, but hasn't sacrificed anything in performance.
It sports the same 1.5 GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM found in its bigger siblings, the Droid Razr HD and Droid Razr Maxx HD. Instead, the phone is sized down in the screen, battery and storage departments to make for a compact and affordable little handset.
The Droid Razr M is a jack-of-all-trades kind of phone. It's overall performance and premium make it a winner. What's more, it's just surprisingly snappy and sturdy for how affordable it is.
HTC Droid DNA
Droid is Verizon's brand, but HTC has constructed a slick looking device with enviable specs and a mammoth high-resolution display.
HTC Droid DNA also runs Android 4.1: Jelly Bean, making it the second HTC phone to launch with this version of the Android OS, next to the HTC One X+.
In addition to the Droid's good looks, it has the brilliant display and snappy camera HTC phones are known for. Sadly, its also got some of the HTC turn-offs, like a closed body without microSD support, just 16GB of storage inside, and a battery that often struggled to make it through the day.
Similar to the Droid Razr M's contract change, the HTC Droid DNA is now just $50 with a two-year contract.
Blackberry Q10
The BlackBerry Q10 arrived just recently (in June actually) and without a doubt, holds the best QWERTY keyboard smartphone on the market, which is certainly a bold claim - until you consider, what other high-end smartphones are sporting a full-on keyboard these days? Exactly.
It may be the best, but it's the best of one. People will buy the Q10 for its QWERTY keyboard, it's a business tool and in that arena it excels.
However start stacking the Q10 up against handsets which have a similar price tag and you can't help but think it's possibly one of the most expensive keyboards on the planet, with little in the way of stand out features to justify its cost.
Blackberry Z10
Lock eyes on the BlackBerry Z10 and you'll notice it's an unassuming slab of black glass and plastic that mimics the general aesthetically designed smartphone these days.
The Z10 is a little bezel-heavy with a sizable gap above and below the screen, and that's before we even get to the additional plastic chunks stuck on both ends of the handset.
It does pretty much everything we'd expect from a high-end device and there are no major flaws to go running to the press about.
That said, the Z10 also lacks any killer selling points. It's hard to find reasons why we'd recommend this over say the iPhone 5, Sony Xperia Z or Nokia Lumia 920 - all of which are around the same price as the Z10.
