So, you need a smartphone. You are going to a new college. You outgrew your good old java phone. Monkeys liked the shiny exterior of your old one and took off with it. You were drunk and thought of baiting the fish with your phone instead of worms. N number of reasons. The bottom line is, you have to buy a new one. Finito.

The first thing you need to remember is, All that glitters is probably cheap chrome. The time for selecting a phone based on its looks is long gone. You gotta remember certain things while choosing the right device for yourself. Search the market, ask people about their opinions on their smartphones and  how you are going to use your own one.

When you need a smartphone, you should select it on the following criteria:

Budget : 
Remember the good old advertisement that asks, "Is your dad an ATM machine?" If yes, good. If no, you'd do well by watching it. Yeah, everyone wants the HTC One X. But getting it shouldn't burn a hole (or tunnel, for that matter) in your pocket. Decide what's your budget going to be. If you have no such constraints, spoil yourself. Waaaaaah! 
Requirement: 
now that you're decided on the  budget, let's think about how you're going to use your phone. Consider a person who needs a phone for making calls, a few texts, an hour or so of music and video playback, with not much care for a huge application base. Even a new born infant can tell you that this person will be more than happy with a symbian phone, the most imporatnt factors being sturdiness and good battery life. Likewise, if you're a businessman, you need a phone with good and secure connectivity options with encryption. (Blackberry! Blackberry! ) If you're a student, you need it all. Music, social networking, internet, and other bling bling features. (Android) Moral : You don't need an android or iPhone if you're going to use your phone for basic purposes.
Reliability:
So you just checked out that new smartphone from Meizu. It fits your budget, It's a quad core beast, perfect for your requirements and looks great. So you'll buy it. *Coughs a little* Really? Ever trusted a chinese phone maker before? One fall, end of the story, and in most cases, the phone too. (Don't think that I'm stereotyping, just user feedback) You need a decent build quality, and service centers located near you in case anything goes wrong. People with a wild side who constantly go trekking or need adventure as a daily nutritional supplement should look at devices with  IP67 certified phones. One word of caution : Don't read to much into tech sites reviews, it's a common practice for the so called tech experts to be drunk while reviewing the gadgets. Rather, ask people who've owned the phone for a definite amount of time.
Ergonomics:
Small factors like the position of the lock button and shape of the device affect the user experience a great deal. It's a common observation that people with small hands (usually ladies) have trouble operating a phone with display greater than 4.3 in. size. Also, if you're a big man with sausage hands, typing on a small touchscreen can be nothing short of hell. What I basically want to say is, the phone should be made to suit you, not the other way round.
Miscellaneous :
This is an open category. If any one factor is so important for you that it can become a deal breaker, make that factor your primary area of focus. You need to customize your phone every other week? Go for android. Need the best entertainment features? iOS. Beautiful interface with great functionality? Windows phone. Reliability and good battery life? Symbian. (Exception: Droid Razr Maxx, android device) . Enterprise features? Blackberry. A Camera that you can carry anywhere? Nokia pureview 808. Avid texter? A phone with slider keypad. There's something for everyone.

P.S. I haven't given a list of the best smartphones here. It's subjective and varies from person to person. If you need the list, you can contact me here.