Click to Skip Ad
Closing in...

One of the world’s best gadget reviewers reveals his favorite 2014 smartphones

Published Nov 24th, 2014 3:40PM EST
Best Smartphones Of 2014

If you buy through a BGR link, we may earn an affiliate commission, helping support our expert product labs.

Over the past year, we’ve repeatedly highlighted the work of Marques Brownlee, who has emerged as one of the best gadget reviewers on the planet. On Twitter Monday, Brownlee revealed his five favorite smartphones released this year, in no particular order: The Google Play Edition of the HTC One M8, the OnePlus One, the iPhone 6 Plus, the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and the Nexus 6.

RELATED: In-depth video review shows you all of the OnePlus One’s best features

As you can see from the above list, Brownlee seems to like big phones. The HTC One (M8) is by far the smallest device on this list and it measures in at 5 inches. All of the other devices, from the OnePlus One to the iPhone 6 Plus to the Galaxy Note 4 to the Nexus 6, all measure in at 5.5 inches or bigger.

It’s also interesting that Brownlee chose the Google Play Edition of the One (M8), as apparently he valued the stock Android experience over the different kinds of overlays that HTC puts on its devices such as Blinkfeed and Sense. The OnePlus One is also a bit surprising, although that’s mostly because OnePlus basically came out of nowhere this year to deliver an Android phone that generated a ridiculous amount of hype.

At any rate, we hope this list is just a preview and that Brownlee also plans to make a full wrap-up video for the year highlighting what he likes about each of these five phones — and who knows, maybe he can also list his three favorite phones with displays at less than 5 inches so people with small hands can find something to like in the list as well.

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.