Top 10 smartphones of 2012

For phone lovers 2012 was a special year.

At the top of the market, Apple and Samsung continued their fascinating battle for market dominance based on amazing phones innovations and the odd legal dispute.

This saw giant phones like the 5.5in Note 2 from Galaxy complete with its S Pen launched, while Apple even decided to grow a bit, giving its iPhone 5 a 4in screen, breaking free from the shackles of 3.5in edict from Steve Jobs.

Elsewhere, Nokia stepped up its game with hot new phones on the Windows Phone 8 platform while Google's Android platform continued its incredible growth, with the firm's own brand Nexus 4 device packing some top specs at a far lower price point than most rivals.

With so much on offer, the V3 team put its head together and came up with what we think are the 10 most important, impressive and innovative devices of 2012 and then set about ranking them to find clear winner.

The results may surprise you...

10. Nokia Pureview 808

Now, while the Nokia Pureview was not a good phone itself - it ran the utterly dated Symbian software for a start - it deserves a place on our list as it offered an early insight into the work the folks at the Finnish firm were up to and the innovations they're capable of offering.

The clear headline draw was the 41MP sensor that captured all the headlines when it was announced at Mobile World Congress in February and Nokia has now integrated this technology into its Lumia 920 device, although this only has an 8.7MP camera.

Still, the Pureview technology makes the camera one of the best on the market and if what was essentially a demo Symbian device could handle a 41MP lens, there's no reason why the firm can't continue to boost the capabilities of future Lumia devices. Exciting stuff.