HTC ONE M9
$708.99, $199 with two-year contract

M9's looks aren't the only thing that is good

HTC One's updated M9 looks like last year's M8. That's OK because last year's design worked.

It has an all-metal and glass body and two nice-sounding forward-facing speakers. The screen displays at 440 pixels per inch.

Inside, you'll see some upgrades. The M9 runs on a Snapdragon 810 chip (eight cores) with 3 gigabytes of RAM and 32 gigabytes of internal storage. It also has a microSD card slot so you can add more storage as needed.

The M9 has a 2,840 mAh battery, which is a slight improvement over the M8's 2,600 mAh battery, but battery life is pretty much the same — 21.7 hours of talk time.

The camera got a bump as well. The main camera has a 20-megapixel sensor and can shoot 4K HD video.

The side button layout, with sleep/power button and volume buttons the same size and on the same side of the phone, gets HTC some points off.

Overall, though, it's the best Android phone in a while.

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LG G FLEX2

$708.99, $299 with two-year contract

G Flex2 good, but wait until LG G4

LG has updated the G Flex, with its 6-inch screen. The G Flex2 screen is 5.5 inches.

It's still curved. The buttons are still on the back of the phone; this takes some practice to be comfortable, but they are placed well.

The G Flex2 wakes when you give the screen a quick double-tap.

Screen resolution is now 403 pixels per inch, the back comes out if you want to add extra storage on a microSD card and the plastic on the phone's back is "self-healing." Minor scratches made by keys did not "self-repair," though.

The battery is not replaceable either. However, it does charge from empty to 50 percent in 40 minutes.

But the main camera has a 13-megapixel sensor and features laser-assisted focus and optical image stabilization. The pictures are quite good.

The G Flex2 is a nice step up from the G Flex or even the LG G3, but the upcoming LG G4 is the company's flagship phone.

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