Right now, a 4.7 or 5 inch smartphone screen is the “happy medium” for the current crop of phones. People with small hands or tight jeans like 4.7. That would be the iPhone 5s or 5c or the HTC 1.

This most current crop have 1080p displays and super-fast processors, with the iPhone 5c having last-year’s fast processor.

The reigning-king, the Samsung Galaxy S4, has a 5″ super Ameloid (bright) display, a super processor and replaceable battery and a flash card slot and a decent camera. That makes a pretty good combination.

LG has the Nexus 4 (discontinued) with straight Android UI, very good connectivity (like many of the others), except you have to “hack” it to turn on the LTE data communication for T-Mobile, and it doesn’t have an OTG USB plug for adding a flash drive or wired keyboard or mouse. It has a 4.7 inch screen and a passable camera and the ability to use a wired adaptor or wireless to send the screen directly to your TV (like several of the top-tier phones mentioned).

LG has a Nexus 5 coming out in a couple days with a 5 inch screen and a better camera (equivalent to the S5), better USB (OTG) and the highest rated processor (equal to the iPhone 5s) of any out there. It will cost $349 outright and directly competes with the Galaxy s4 if you don’t need the removable battery or flash card slot. It costs HALF what the S5 does and you can use it directly in Europe. (Samsung hobbles ALL its phones with a “Reagion Lock” (not the same as a carrier lock) that doesn’t let it work with a simple sim card purchase in Europe. I’ll keep a Nexus phone around for travel to Europe….

LG has a bigger brother to the unanounced Nexus 5, the G2, with a 5.2 inch screen and the same processor but a bigger battery and LG’s added software, and a software stabilized 13MP camera that looks pretty good. But it has a non-removable back, so, no external flash card and no removable battery. It costs closer to the S5.

Both the LG G2 and LG Nexus 5 will work with Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile. 

The 5.4 inch Galaxy Note 2 has been replaced by the 5.7 inch Note 3. It has, now, a 1080p super Ameloid screen, a HUGE replaceable battery, a super-fast processor, a flash memory slot, the OTG usb and MIRACAST and slimport for duplication the screen wired or wirelessly (like Nexus 4, 5, and several others). 

The Note 3 is my current “dream machine” because it fits my taste in music storage and battery life and connectivity and has a bright(er) screen for use in the sun and, most importantly, a big-enough screen for my fat fingers and occassional Netflix usage. For most people this is too big, but it fits my shirt or jacket pocket just fine. The cost new is HUGE, but used, maybe I’ll catch one on ebay when the price settles.