Samsung Galaxy S II

Like the Apple iPhone, the first Samsung Galaxy S featured a 3.5-inch display. But with its follow-up device, Samsung jumped to a 4.27-inch display. Samsung’s sales shot up, and its display sizes have followed the same trajectory.

The aptly named Titan not only features a 4.7-inch display but was the first LTE-ready, HTC-branded Windows Phone, and the first 4G-ready Windows Phone on the AT&T network. Also befitting its name is its camera—which, at 16MP, is double the industry standard. Â

HTC has no shortage of overgrown models to choose from. Among its most impressive is AT&T’s One X. Despite its 4.7-inch display, the One X, which is constructed of a single piece of polycarbonate, weighs just 4.6 ounces and feels cool and light in the hand.

The Sprint-offered Evo 4G LTE, like the One X, manages to pair its size with a certain discretion—it’s a light-in-the-hand, easy-to-use smartphone. The included kickstand, however, leaves little question about the good use HTC expects the Evo’s 4.7-inch display to be put to.

The Galaxy Nexus features a 4.65-inch Super AMOLED (active-matrix organic LED) Contour Display. While a looker, in these days of enormous displays, its more interesting details are that it’s sold directly from Google, without the need for a contract, and will soon be upgraded from Android Ice Cream Sandwich to the recently unveiled Jelly Bean.

Motorola bills this update to its earlier Atrix as slimmer, stronger and smarter. Its 4.5-inch high-definition ColorBoost display is paired with DuPont Kevlar fiber “in a distinctive microweave pattern, for incredible strength and stability,” says Motorola. It’s even splash-resistant.

Available from AT&T, the Xperia Ion is Sony’s first Long-Term Evolution (LTE) smartphone. It has a 4.6-inch 1080p HD Reality Display, a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, a 12.1MP camera and weighs just 5.1 ounces.

Don’t call it a tablet. In addition to being a Samsung Approved for the Enterprise (SAFE) device, this smartphone has a cool S Pen stylus that lets users write, draw on and annotate documents; the phone also includes a suite of apps intended to appeal to business users. It weighs 6.28 ounces and measures 5.78 by 3.27 by 0.38 inches.

For those who consider the Galaxy Note a tablet, the Galaxy S III, with its 4.8-inch display, is the largest smartphone around. The device’s attractive but slippery finish, and its rounded edges, make it feel a bit unsteady in the hand and every bit its size—which is 5.4 by 2.78 by 0.34 inches. Still, it weighs only 4.6 ounces.

LG has also joined the big-screen party, and though its 4.5-ounce Nitro HD has received mixed reviews, only superlatives have been expressed about its 4.5-inch, 720p AH-IPS (Advanced High-Performance In-Plane Switching) display. The swift speeds it achieves on AT&T’s LTE network also get a thumbs-up.