Poll results: Would you buy a phone from a startup company?

Every company has been a startup company at some point in their existence, but with today's record-fast ways to raise money, ranging from angel investors to simply crowdsourcing it on places like Kickstarter, the time from-idea-to-market for a product has never been shorter. This trend is not passing the phone industry, either - it's one of the hottest places to be at the moment, and plenty of newcomers are trying their luck against the established juggernauts.

It's not an easy task designing and making a phone that will stick - you have giant corporations like Samsung or Apple, on one hand, with their huge R&D and marketing budgets, and their vast distribution chains, not to mention their brand recognition. On the other hand, you will be squeezed by the numerous Chinese value-for-money makers like Xiaomi or Meizu, so the task ahead will be pretty steep.

Of course, man is an entrepreneurial beast, and all the competition in the world didn't preclude new companies like OnePlus to rely on viral marketing and availability shenanigans to reach their first million phones sold last year. OnePlus is getting one-upped this year, though, as plenty of newcomers have popped up to take on the establishment once again. The Ubik Uno campaign on Kickstarter comes to mind, as well as the just-announced Obi SF1.