6. OnePlus One
Fancy a top-end Android phone for £229 ($299, around $AU400)? Say hello to the OnePlus One, a genuinely disruptive new device that delivers big power for a little price. It's the first smartphone to officially run the CyanogenMod flavour of Android and our early verdict is overwhelmingly positive.
7. Amazon Prime Phone
The much-rumoured Amazon phone is believed to have two unique features: Prime Data, which delivers Amazon-specific content without cutting into your data allowance, and a completely new kind of interface. Six cameras will track your face, changing the display so that it appears to be in 3D. If it's as good as it sounds, it could make other mobile UIs look hopelessly old-fashioned.
8. NSA-proof phones
With endless headlines about data breaches and snooping security forces, it's no wonder many people are interested in phones that don't track their every move and share data with all kinds of people. New devices such as the GSMK Cryptophone and the Blackphone offer a level of security you won't get from any Samsung, but that security comes at a price. How much are we willing to pay for privacy?
9. Amazing chargers
Battery life remains the Achilles' Heel of mobile devices, and while battery tech is improving it's doing so very slowly. That might not be a problem if devices such as StoreDot's prototype can be shrunk down to reasonable sizes: its charger for the Galaxy S4 can fully charge the device in fewer than 30 seconds.
Increasingly ubiquitous wireless chargers could help too, especially if they're like the DCRS (Dipole Coil Resonant System) demonstrated in Korea this April. It can charge 40 smartphones simultaneously from a distance of 5 metres. Its creators believe that we will "eventually have many Wi-Power zones at such places as restaurants and streets."
10. Sapphire screens
Forget Gorilla Glass: sapphire crystal screens are more scratch-resistant and they're almost as hard as diamonds. Unfortunately sapphire is also rather expensive. If firms such as Apple - which has invested heavily in sapphire tech - can get the price down and solve the brightness and colour issues that currently affect sapphire screens, shatter-proof smartphones could soon be a reality.
- Small innovations are important too - like the ones making changes to phone sensors.
