Androite XDA

These days, it seems like there's always a smarter, faster Android phone on the horizon. And this month's list is proof of that. Since we last updated this roundup in mid-June, half of the phones have changed. That's because the long-awaited Samsung Galaxy S III finally made its arrival, and is now available on every major carrier. Not to spoil the surprise, but four of our 10 best Android phones are Samsung Galaxy S IIIs—the phone nabbed our Editors' Choice on all four carriers. If you want Android 4.0, state-of-the-art hardware, and cutting-edge features like voice control and facial recognition, you probably want the GS3. But that's not to say there aren't other top-notch options on every carrier.

Compare the phones in this story side by side.

That's one of the best things about Android: Choice. The open nature of the platform means that you can find dozens of Android phones from a variety of manufacturers on each carrier. At the time of this writing, there were more than 40 Android handsets available on Verizon Wireless alone. According to research firm NPD, Android owned 47 percent of the U.S. smartphone market in the last quarter of 2011.

That's a lot of very similar phones to choose from. To come up with our list of top Android phones, we've chosen two to three winners for each of the four major carriers from our highest-rated phones. And for the contract-phobic, we've thrown in the best unlocked handset. If you've settled on Android as your mobile platform, and you're in the market for a new phone right now, these models are your best bets. But the way things are going, we can assure you that there's another great 'Droid right around the corner.