Early 2010s Android phones were the golden era, you can’t change my mind

Modern smartphones are depressingly stale in comparison to a decade ago.

Jun 13, 2025 - 19:00

Early 2010s Android phones were the golden era, you can’t change my mind

Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority

After recently reminiscing about my favorite camera phones, it occurred to me that my fondest time writing about and playing around with smartphones all happened in a rather short period of time — the early 2010s. Of course, there were great phones before then and plenty of technically superior ones after that sliver of time. However, I still think 2010-2015 represents the most exciting time to be a smartphone aficionado, and not just because of the hardware.

The handsets were great, of course. The 10s were a period when the flagship phone market was still up for grabs, before it became today’s Apple and Samsung duopoly (though you could argue it was already on the way). Smartphones were still relatively new, and everyone was trying to push the boundaries. Brands like HTC and LG, now long gone from the market, produced their finest work during this period. The wonderfully built HTC One and One M8, LG’s powerhouse G2, G3, and G4, and Sony’s Xperia Z series, especially the Z3 Compact, all had adoring fans, all for equally valid reasons. You didn’t have to buy a Samsung to dine at the top table.