Top Best Hottest Coolest Smartphones of 2012 Review of Reviews: QWERTY & Prepaid ALERT

As our regular readers know, every year, we scour the best reviews of smartphones, average them out and create our Review of  Reviews of the Best Smartphones of 2012. We've already started our preliminary calculations and we've seen some surprises that we missed during the year. We found the best QWERTY smartphones and makers. We also noticed some new trends.

So far we've got over two-thirds of the data input from the top review sources on smartphones.  The reviews tend to be with in a half of point of each other.  The points the reviewers make, however, can be completely different.

A Good QWERTY Keyboard is Hard 2 Find

One surprise we did not realize was that the T-Mobile myTouch 4G Slide is making appearances on several best of lists.  This is a surprise because previous myTouch T-Mobile phones were not as highly rated.  The myTouch 4G Slide also has an excellent camera. The other top rated keyboard smartphones are the Droid 4 on Verizon Wireless, Motorola Photon Q (Sprint).

Another QWERTY smartphone that slipped in just under the wire was the Samsung Captivate Glide that was released in late 2011.

Different Ratings for Different Carriers Y/N?

In the five years we have compiled "The Top Best Coolest Hottest Smartphones of the Year," in most cases the smartphone gets the same rating across all carriers. Last year(2011) because T-Mobile did not have an iPhone, the  T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II ranked higher than other carriers' models.

This year, some smartphones have lower ratings on the Sprint network than they do on other networks.  This is due to the fact that the models have 4G LTE and the Sprint 4G LTE is not deployed in enough of the country to be compelling to buy a 4G LTE device.  Some 4G LTE Sprint devices launched before the 4G LTE network.  That's why we are keeping track of 4G LTE Sprint Deployment in Los Angeles, to see if there are enough towers to support buying a 4G LTE smartphone in our neck of the woods.

More Quad-Core than Before & Bigger Screens

Last year was the here we saw most of the top smartphones with dual core processors. This year, we're seeing more quad-core processors as well as a much larger screen size.

Samsung Dominates

Without having to do much calculation, we can already see that Samsung is dominating the top smartphones on all lists. As was true last year, there isn't a single RIM BlackBerry smartphone that is rated higher enough to be included on the list. Two makers have more contenders than ever before LG and Nokia.

Prepaid and Regional Carriers Get Updated

In the past, reviewers didn't pay much attention to prepaid carriers such as Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile and MetroPCS.  Reviewers have now included devices on each carrier is in their top lists.  We have also found that regional carrier U.S. Cellular has some excellent contenders.

• Top 10 Best, Makers, Trends QWERTY & Prepaid ALERT.
• Latest sales figures from Canaccord Genuity.
• Consumer Reports Top Ten Best Smartphones by Carrier.
• Best T-Mobile smarpthones.
• Best HTC smartphones.
• Best LG smartphones.
• Best Motorola smartphones.
• Coming Soon:
• Best Sprint smartphones.
• Best AT&T smarpthones.
• Best Verizon smarpthones.
• Best overall smarpthones.

See all articles in the best smartphones category.

The compiling of this list is an arduous task.  We hope that you enjoy the results.  Please check back bestsmartphones2012 for updates.

We will be listing top best smartphones of the year, by maker, carrier, OS and top for all categories. We will also be compiling the best tablets and possibly the best deals of the year.  If you would like to receive our newsletter please click on the Posts Haste logo below.