PhoneArena Awards 2013: Best product designs

Designing a high-quality device, be it a smartphone, a tablet, or anything you can think of that goes beep, is a process more sophisticated than it seems. That's because coming up with a product that is truly good-looking, well-built, and easy to use at the same time usually takes quite a lot of research and experience. Yet ultimately, the effort invested in product design does pay off. After all, a gadget that has been designed well has a much higher chance at becoming a best-seller in its class. This brings us to today's category in the PhoneArena awards of 2013, honoring the smartphones and tablets that managed to stand out and receive the attention they deserve with their design. Are your favorites on the list? Let us know in the comments!

The mobile landscape is filled with smartphones that look ordinary, boring, even generic as the case is with some devices. The HTC One, however, easily stands out above the rest with its award-winning design, build quality, and construction. Simply put, it is different. Made of machine-milled aluminum, the HTC One is a gorgeous-looking slender device that lays in the hand almost organically. It is ergonomic and even though it is a phone of above average size, it is comfortable to hold and operate. But above all, the HTC One is a smartphone that feels unique as soon as it is picked up, which makes it well worthy of being on this list. 

If there's a tablet that can make us go "Wow!" with its design (and believe us when we say that we're pretty hard to impress), that would be the iPad Air. Its very existence is a technological achievement worthy of applause – all the power of a full-sized iPad has been packed, as if by magic, into a body that is super slim and almost unbelievably light. In other words, the iPad Air is a tablet well worthy of its name, being the lightest full-sized tablet on the market. Furthermore, Apple's slate is put together really well, which is why the device is a pleasure to use and admire. Every inch of it has been designed and constructed with extreme attention to detail, as is typical for all of the company's products.