This is the year for the phone. As manufacturers continue to amaze us with the constant accretion of newer, more advanced models — this year stands out for another reason. 2012 is the year that mobile app downloads are expected to outsell the annual sale of CDs. This is the year to make sure you upgrade to a smartphone.

There is a plethora of apps just itching to make your life easier, so take advantage. Here are the top nine phones making an appearance this year to help you make up your mind:

Nokia Lumina 710

The Nokia Lumia 710 offers a built-in voice-navigated GPS and multimedia player, as well as integrated social media. This is held within one of the most stylish touch screens to grace shelves this year, with swappable covers to suit your daily mood.

Prada phone by LG

With built-in Android software, the Prada phone hides powerful hardware behind a sleek, fashionable exterior and subtly illuminated keys. At 8.5mm, it’s thin enough to give supermodels a run for their money — this is the phone for those who like to travel light.

And for those with short attention spans, (well done for getting this far down in the article) it’s a great multitasking phone, so you can open as many programs as you need with no hindrance to performance. This phone also stands to have one of the most powerful cameras of any smartphone, and a screen brighter than bright for you to view photos on.

Sony Xperia S

This is the first smartphone to be released by Sony, however with an award-winning camera, crisp touch-screen and a choice of PlayStation certified games, you wouldn’t think so. Home to the Sony Entertainment Network, this is a handset for those who never want to be bored again.

Blackberry Bold 9790

Loyal Blackberry fans fear not, you haven’t been left out. A new model to hit shelves this year is the impossibly sleek Bold 9790, with faster Internet than ever before. Also armed with a touch screen and QWERTY keyboard, everyone’s a winner. Made out of premium materials, this is a phone for comfort — everything has been made with your fingers in mind. Texting, scrolling, and everything in-between has never been easier than with the 9790.

Blackberry Porsche P9981

Porsche Design —forged in stainless steel, finished in leather, has manufactured another release for Blackberry lovers, this model. This phone offers mind-blowing memory powers and speed of browsing, as well as access to a range of exclusive apps. With faster animation, not only is this an upgrade on performance from any other Blackberry, but also its design is sleeker than ever before.

Samsung Galaxy Skin

If the above has failed to excite you — this certainly will. This year will see the release of the flexible cover. The Galaxy Skin will feature an AMOLED display, allowing it to bend around a cylinder with a diameter of just 1 inch. If that’s not enough, the screen is also low-energy and practically unbreakable.

HTC Gratia

Concrete evidence that good things come in small packages, the HTC Gratia has a range of great features. Its design is the product of attention to detail, with a rubberised back and ‘polite ringer’ function. Getting news personally delivered to your phone, accessing your work email and collating your social media updates has never been easier.

Another feature that holds the Gratia above many other phones this year is its ability to organise everything under people, not application. This means that a friend’s texts, calls, emails and social media updates will automatically collect together in one place.

iPhone 5

After the release of the iPhone 4S, there were some doubts floating around about what would be next — but if rumours are correct, we should see the release of the iPhone 5 in the latter half of this year. Specific specifications have not been confirmed, rest assured, however, that Apple will continue to impress and out-do itself.

San Francisco II from Orange (in white)

This phone, exclusive to Orange, is a stylish smartphone that offers high speed Internet, a 5-megapixel camera and everything else you would expect in a smartphone. With access to many apps, such as social media and television catch-up, you’ll have no excuse not to be in the know.

As smartphones continue to evolve and improve this year, so does the rest of the technological world. This isn’t just the year for phones, but also for the tablet. The new Galaxy Tab 10.1 offers the thinnest and lightest large screen tablet on the market. A customized homepage, better multitasking capabilities and great music and reading features makes this a superlative device worth owning.

There are many more new phones coming this year, such as the Samsung Galaxy S3, this is just the start of good things to come for 2012.