For those with unlimited smartphone budget, the choice of the best smartphone is not as easy as one can imagine. Almost all top mobile handset companies offer their smartphone with competitive hardware. However, it is the price when placed against the entire package decides the fate of the flagship smartphones.
Most of these smartphones have been in the market for more than three months. The smartphones recently announced are yet to be available in the market. Meanwhile a couple of others struggle to hold a place against other devices when it comes to features, benchmarks and value for money quotient.
Here are the five smartphones costing about Rs 30,000 that can suit your needs.
Apple had introduced the iPhone 5S in India two months and continued to offer previous generation iPhone models as well. The new iPhone 5S has a 4-inch Retina Display based on IPS LCD panel technology supporting multi-touch and has 1136×640 pixel resolution. Apple iPhone 5S is powered with Apple A6 System on Chip and M7 motion processor. Apple has loaded iOS 7 software with backing of the 1 GB DDR3 RAM. Apple offers this model in 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB storage options. Other features include Dual-Band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Lightning connector to charge the device. top five handset Apple has packed a 8 megapixel iSight camera with f/2.2 Aperture to capture wider angles to collect more light.
Apple has used a five element lens that has a Sapphire crystal lens cover. The camera is capable of recording smooth 1080p HD video with better image stabilization. Experiment with slow-motion video recording. Entire imaging is powered by the quad-core PowerVR G6430 graphics. Apple has packed 1560 mAh battery to keep the photography lovers go overboard with the images.
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LG G2 LTE
LG has recently introduced the G2 LTE edition to compete with the other top devices and also has some similarities with the Nexus 5 smartphone. The G2 is loaded with 5.2-inch True HD-IPS LCD display with 1920×1080 pixel resolution and has been constructed using Corning Gorilla Glass 2 technology. LG has housed the quad-core 2.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 MSM8974 mobile Chipset with Adreno 330 Graphics chip. LG has equipped the G2 with 2 GB RAM to run most things with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean update smoothly. For storage, the G2 offers 16 GB on the phone and memory slot to add in the microSD card slot. LG has featured a 13 megapixel camera with autofocus and LED Flash. .jpg "top five handset")
Slightly different design bearing G2 has the power key just below the camera. Though it is something different, the camera lens ends up with smudges when the finger searches for the power button. Also, the volume button is to be used for launching the camera app from the sleep mode. LG has packed 3000 mAh large battery to keep the phone running for a day or more. For those who love capturing great quality photos and share them immediately should try out the 4G LTE version of the smartphone. Do note that 4G LTE network is available in select circles of India. Read our review of LG G2 here.
Sony Xperia Z1 is company’s current flagship smartphone with water and dust proof properties with IP55 & IP58 certification. The Xperia Z1 offers a 5-inch TRILUMINOs display with full HD 1920×1080 pixels resolution. The display is powered by X-Reality Engine for adjusting the brightness and contrast. Xperia Z1 is powered with a quad-core 2.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor teamed with 2 GB RAM and offers 16 GB onboard storage. Memory slot allows holding the storage to up to 64 GB using a micro SD card. 
Sony Xperia Z1 features the award-winning “G Lens” with a 27mm wide angle and F2.0 aperture. The 20 megapixel camera is comes with a 1/2.3 inch CMOS Exmor RS image sensor along with BIONZ for mobile image processing engine. Clearly, Sony has armed the camera section with the best technologies from the closet. It has a 2 megapixel front camera as well. PlayStation certified Sony Xperia Z1 also comes with DLNA, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, MHL, Micro USB port, GLONASS, A-GPS, WiFi, and 3G connectivity options. Sony has packed 3000 mAh battery to provide over 14 hours worth talk time.
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Nokia Lumia 1520
Nokia Lumia 1520 comes with Windows Phone 8 operating system. The Lumia 1520 has a 6-inch IPS LCD ClearBlack display with 1920×1080 pixel resolution and constructed using Corning Gorilla Glass 2 technology. The Lumia 1520 weighs 209 grams and is 8.7 mm thick. The phablet is run by a quad-core 2.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 mobile processor with help of Adreno 330 GPU and 2 GB RAM. By default, the Lumia 1520 has 32 GB on-board storage and one can add up to 64 GB microSD card. Nokia has placed a 20 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and PureView imaging technology for top quality imaging. The camera can record high quality 1080p HD video with stereo sound. In the front is 1.2 megapixel front facing camera in the phablet as well for video calling. 
Nokia has packed several new apps such as Refocus, Storyteller, Here Maps, and new Nokia MixRadio. The Lumia 1520 not only has a big display but also powerful hardware to support it. Nokia has added a 3400 mAh battery to run the large screen and powerful hardware for long hours. Check our review of the Lumia 1520 here.
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 flaunts a 5.7 inch full HD Super AMOLED Display and a 1.9 GHz Samsung Exynos 5 Octa processor. This mobile processor consists of four Cortex-A15 processing cores, clocked at 1.9 GHz, to take care of heavy processing and four Cortex-A7 cores which are clocked at 1.3 GHz to take care of low end computing, offering battery savings and performance at the same time. Galaxy Note 3 comes packed with 3 GB RAM. Samsung has added 32 GB internal storage and memory slot to support up to a 64 GB micro SD card. Samsung has layered the Nature UX to run Android 4.3 Jelly Bean update smoothly over powerful hardware. The S Pen experience has been improved to offer better functionality. 
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 offers WiFi (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac), Near Field Communication, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, IR LED blaster, MHL 2.0 and GPS with GLONASS support. Samsung introduced the Note 3 with a 13 megapixel BSI sensor based camera with auto focus and LED flash. The Galaxy Note 3 becomes the frontier to allow recording Ultra HD quality video in 3840×2160 pixel resolution at 30 frames per second. Also, the user can always go for a super fluid 1080p HD video at 60 frames per second. Samsung has packed 3200 mAh battery to make it run for a day’s time.
Two smartphones almost made it to this list – Samsung Galaxy S5 and BlackBerry Z30. The Samsung Galaxy S5 is yet to be available across the country as of now. Also, we feel that the price of the 16 GB Galaxy S5 is exorbitantly high. Meanwhile, BlackBerry Z30 falls a little behind with slightly aged hardware packed inside but the BlackBerry 10.2 OS has been optimized to run smoothly on it. So if you are considering a BlackBerry device, we would certainly recommend BlackBerry Z30.