With 2014 already here, we look back at the year 2013 for all the awesome mobile phones to have come out in 2013 for Malaysia. There were quite a lot of them, so we picked based on innovation, performance, design and potential successfully delivered. In no specific order we list out the following mobile phones that rocked our world currently available with local Malaysia support as follows:

• HTC One - The First Good-looking Android Phone
• Sony Xperia Z - The First Stylish Water-proof smartphone
• Samsung Galaxy S4 series - A performance smartphone for every user
• Nokia Lumia 1020 - The Ultimate Cameraphone
• LG G2 - Best all-rounder performance with functional rear controls
• Sony Xperia Z1 - The most feature-filled smartphone
• Nokia Asha 500 series - Bringing hybrid smartphone capabilities to the masses
• Apple iPhone 5S - The world's first 64-bit smartphone with well-done fingerprint scanner
• Nokia Lumia 1520 - The Videographers phablet
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3 - The Ultimate Phablet with 3GB RAM
• Motorola Moto X - Always on and always listening
• Vivo Xplay 3S - World's first 2K display smartphone
• BlackBerry Z10 - World's first BlackBerry smartphone with no QWERTY keyboard

We've seen quite a few Samsung Galaxy S5 concept renders, including one with a curved screen, but there are of course many designers in the world with variously different opinions. One of the latest to surface is a concept render for the Samsung Galaxy S5 that not only features a metal unibody design but looks like a combination of a Samsung Galaxy S4 with a HTC One. This concept render comes courtesy of Hasan Kaymak who has created other concept renders before. In addition to the smartphone render, he has also added on how he'd see TouchWiz 5 looking like, which to us looks like it's borrowing the flat look from iOS 7. While it does look nice, we find it rather unlikely that Samsung would go in that direction, but do enjoy the pictures in the article.

DiGi recently announced it's DiGizens Thank You Sale for the end of 2013 as a big thank you for all their customers. While we've already covered the free smartphone deals which include the Samsung Galaxy S4, Samsung Galaxy Note II, HTC One, Sony Xperia C and Sony Xperia Z, DiGi are also offering a number of other free deals on top of this as well. This includes an extra 1GB of free Internet when customers purchase RM25 worth of Internet quota top-ups and 300 minutes worth of free calls for customers signing up for the DG Smart Plan 88. The first 2000 customers who sign up for any DG Smart Plan also get free 1000 Bonuslink points  along with free unlimited Skype calls to 63 countries for 30 days. A zero contract deal is also available for an Android Start tablet which comes free with a DiGi Tablet plan which also includes a free modem. In related news, DiGi will also offer 'Internet Weekends'  at their MyAndroid Hubs (the first MyAndroid Hub is located at the Sunway Pyramid DiGi store) which offers users a free demo on various Android products. For more information regarding the DiGizens Thank You sale check out the DiGi site.

If you like a lot of bling on your smartphone then you're in luck as Samsung has officially revealed the Galaxy S4 Crystal Edition in Thailand. Utilizing a white Samsung Galaxy S4 I9500, the backside of the smartphone is covered with Swarovski crystals in a wavy pattern. Tech specs match up with the I9500 model including the usual 1.6GHz Samsung Exynos 5 Octa processor and chipset. The Samsung Galaxy S4 Crystal Edition is currently available in the Samsung Shop for 20300 baht (RM2038). No news on Malaysia release dates or pricing but you'll probably see it soon.

While the Google Nexus range of devices often gives a more pure Android experience, there other Google Play Edition devices that offer a similar experience as well. Joining the ranks of the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One is the LG G Pad 8.3 and the Sony Xperia Z Ultra. The first phablet and tablet to join the Google Play Edition ranks, the two devices will run Android 4.4 Kit Kat and get faster Android updates than other non-Google Play Edition devices. Tech specs for the LG G Pad 8.3 include an 8.3-inch Full HD display, 1.7GHz Snapdragon 600 processor, 2GB RAM and 16GB storage. The Sony Xperia Z Ultra on the other hand offers a 6.44-inch full HD display, 2.2GHz Snapdragon 800 processor, 2GB of RAM and standard Xperia Z water and dust resistance. The LG G Pad 8.3 Google Play Edition is only WiFi capable but the Sony Xperia Z Ultra Google Play Edition is equipped with 4G LTE. Check out the video in this article.

The Samsung Galaxy J was officially launched in Taiwan recently, bearing top tech specs with a metal casing. While it was initially thought to be the Samsung Galaxy S5 thanks to a rather vague teaser video, it does offer a number of tech specs which include those from the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. This includes a 5-inch Full HD 1080p Super AMOLED screen, Snapdragon 800 processor, 3GB of RAM and 13MP camera in a casing with a brushed metal backside. Sources indicate that it will be sold from TWD21900 (RM2370) unlocked and can be bought in Red and White. While there is still no news yet about specific Malaysia release dates or pricing, the official Taiwan announcement indicates that we could soon see a more global roll out for this smartphone which was formerly only sold in Japan.

The Samsung Galaxy J used to be a Japan-exclusive smartphone and incorporated the tech specs and features of both the Samsung Galaxy S4 along with the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. These tech specs included a Snapdragon 800 processor and chipset, 3GB of RAM, 32GB microSD, 5-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display, 13MP rear camera, 2600 mAh battery and even added on water and dust proofing as well. According to Taiwanese press, this hybrid Galaxy J smartphone is going to Taiwan with an announcement due on 9 December 2013. A release in Taiwan for what was originally an exclusive smartphone could mean that it would be released globally as well, eventually reaching Malaysia. No specific Malaysia release dates were available at the time though, but stay tuned and we'll keep you updated.

Recently, it came to light that Samsung and other mobile manufacturers were cheating current mobile benchmarks by upping processor performance each time these benchmarks were run on their devices. While this isn't something new in the tech industry, quite a lot of people were shocked, declared they never use benchmarks anyhow and made a general fuss about the whole issue. A startup called GameBench who have direct working experience with both ARM and MediaTek recently made an "uncheatable" benchmark for mobile gaming. The beta version of this GameBenchbenchmark was then run on the Samsung Galaxy S4 (the Snapdragon 600 version) and HTC One, two of the most contested smartphone models of last year (and supposed to have cheated previously). Turns out that the performance of the Samsung Galaxy S4 is still better than the HTC One (and closer to the original "cheating" scores than previously thought of). Check out the charts in the article.

While compatibility with just the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and Note 10.1 2014 Edition is one of the main constraints of the Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch, this may no longer be the case as Samsung have announced that quite a few Galaxy devices are going to get compatible soon. This includes the Samsung Galaxy S4, Samsung Galaxy S III and Samsung Galaxy Note II as soon as they receive their Android 4.3 updates, which are currently being rolled out in phases. Following these are the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini, S4 Active, Mega 5.8, Mega 6.3 and S4 Zoom. While the software update will again be released in phases, these devices will begin getting the update by the end of October. Bear in mind though that certain functions and features available for use on the Samsung Galaxy Gear will depend on the tech specs available to each device.

The race for the world's best smartwatch is currently on and while the market is still fairly new, the Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch is probably the most feature filled of the bunch. Packing in a 1.9MP camera, a 1.6mm Super AMOLED screen and Bluetooth 4.0 LE connectivity this is one of the few smartwatches that you can use to take calls from, provided you have your smartphone connected. It is also locally available here in Malaysia for RM999. Does it live up to the hype? Read on and find out in our Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch review.