HTC’s One series may be dominated by the quad-core possessing One X, but another handset, the One S became available at the same time. The One S may be smaller and lack the One X’s leading edge processor, but that doesn’t mean it is without merit. Far from it, in fact.

The HTC One S is available for £420 SIM free and also on higher rate deals on contract. Its price marks it out as towards the higher end, and so do its specifications.

The processor, for example, is a Qualcomm 1.5GHz dual core offering, which is not to be sniffed at, and it is helped out by 1GB of RAM. There’s an 8 megapixel camera with flash which can capture a still while you are shooting a video – a rather neat trick.

Before Sony Ericsson became plain old Sony it released the Sony Ericsson Xperia Active, now renamed on the web (but not rebranded on the handset) as the Sony Xperia Active.

It’s a neat little device aimed at those who like the outdoor life, and it has some features appropriate to that market.

The Active is a squat little phone, with a 3 inch screen nestled in a rugged body that has a bright orange trim running all around the edge. The chassis is designed to be water and dust resistant, and to that end the bottom mounted headset and USB connectors are under rubber covers.

The One X is one of HTC’s most important launches ever. The company lost its way in 2011 – too many handsets largely iterative and generally indistinguishable from each other led to a bloated and confused range and a slump in sales after years of seemingly unstoppable growth.

HTC’s response was to say that it would streamline its approach, focussing on fewer but better quality devices. The One series, which actually consists of three devices, is the result of that new approach. And with the One X, the flagship model, it is clear that HTC is very serious about regaining its lost ground.

The HTC One X is quite simply unrivalled in terms of its design and build quality. With its tough polycarbonate shell it feels rock solid, yet is also thin and beautiful to look at.

Having ditched Ericsson, Sony is now forging ahead with a new range of Xperia handsets.

And while the Xperia S was undoubtedly designed when Ericsson was still in the frame, the specs and general demeanor signify that Sony has some serious plans for its Android phones.

The Xperia S has a very distinctive look, mostly because of the clear strip towards the bottom into which are embedded symbols for Home, Back and Menu functions.

LG has had a long relationship with fashion giant Prada; the first LG Prada handset appeared in 2007. But the pairing has not turned out new phones very often, and this latest is only the third in the series. It is a large format Android handset and, as befits the Prada name, it has a striking design.

The most immediately noticeable thing about this handset is the user interface which is almost entirely a black and white affair. The monotones make a great change from the splashes of colour that we are used to, and we have to say it’s really very appealing.

There are exceptions to the black and white styling which you notice as soon as you download or run apps.

The Orange San Francisco was one of the smash hits of the last year. For under £100 Orange managed to release an Android handset with some superb features, and quite rightly it sat at the top of the budget Android handset pile for most of the year. Now the follow-up has been released.

The San Francisco II is a similarly low cost handset, but we don’t think it has quite the same cachet or appeal as its predecessor.

In many ways this is simply down to the fact that the original San Francisco was so ground-breaking. For example, the new Orange San Francisco II has a 3.5 inch 480 x 800 pixel screen just as its predecessor did. Where that specification was very welcome in a low cost phone a year ago, now it is much more commonplace and so less of a surprise.