The Essential Pax East 2014 Survival Kit

Image via HTC

Smartphone: HTC One M8

Price: $200 (w/two-year contract), $600 – $650 (off contract)
The best Android phone out is the premier smartphone at the moment. On top of looking gorgeous, the One M8 sports a beautiful 5-inch Super LCD3 panel that looks stunning when playing games and streaming HD content, while housing dominant hardware spearheaded by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor. Its new Duo Camera flaunts a great editing suite stacked with cool filters and shooting modes that add flavor to captured footage too. Verizon is doing a BOGO (buy one, get one) deal right now.