Christmas Smartphone Guide

It is now getting closer and closer to that time of year when you will make the difficult choice of exactly which phone to buy for that significant other. Well look no further.

AT&T:

Fat wallet: Galaxy SII Skyrocket

With a 1.5 ghz dual core snapdragon, an AMOLED screen, and LTE, the Skyrocket is one of the best phones out period. True, LTE is available only in limited markets, but man is it blazing fast. We would have recommended the Nitro HD, but many users have complained thus far of poor battery life and a laggy UI.

Skinny wallet: Atrix 4G

The United States' first dual core phone with a 1 Ghz Nvidia Tegra 2 SoC offers up a superior GPU and selection of optimized games. Sure, its specs are middle of the road, but for only a penny on contract you can't go wrong. 

Verizon:

Fat Wallet: HTC Rezound, Motorola Droid Razr, Galaxy Nexus  (If you can wait)

Any of these phones will deliver a suitably fast and smooth experience. Pros of each? Pure Google OS on the Nexus, Beats Audio on the Rezound, and an incredibly svelte profile on the Razr.

Skinny Wallet: Xperia Play

With vanilla Gingerbread and a dedicated  gamepad, the Xperia play is a great choice as its free on contract at Verizon. Pus, Sony says it will receive Ice Cream Sandwich early next year, which is far more than most phones can say.

T-Mobile:

Fat Wallet: HTC Amaze

With a beautiful unibody aluminum and soft touch plastic design and a blazing fast processor, the Amaze is no doubt the best phone on T-Mobile.

Skinny Wallet: G2x

Dual core processor, check. 8 megapixel camera, check. Just because this is cheaper than its counterparts doesn't mean it's any worse a phone. However, it comes with a caveat. This one is going to run you $99 on contract. We would have put another phone in its place that costs less, however, the free options on T-Mobile kinda suck.

Sprint:

Fat Wallet: Galaxy S2 Epic 4G

Same story as the AT&T version of the phone: Fast processor, great speed, and 4G. You can't go wrong

Skinny Wallet: Nexus S 4G

While its specs might come across as a bit dated, make no mistake: The Nexus S is still a great phone, and besides, it'll soon receive the update to Android 4.0, which'll be more than your buddy toting around that G2x will be able to say.