Back when the wireless industry was set in its ways, and there was no light at the end of the tunnel away from subsidies or contracts, I can still remember how exciting it was to finally, finally land on that upgrade date. That moment your contract goes from un-eligible to eligible was pretty glorious, and suddenly it was like being a kid in a candy shop. So many options, so little time! Upgrading as quickly as I could after that long wait was usually instantaneous (if I had the means to do so).

Those scenarios still exist, obviously, but I think the transition to being able to upgrade whenever you want kind of degrades the build-up of anticipation, and therefore the overall excitement. I know that, for me, getting a new phone whenever I want is exciting in its own way, but not nearly as exciting as it was when I had to wait for that upgrade date to switch over.

Being forced to wait was never great, but that moment at the end was pretty awesome.

That shouldn't diminish the fun of getting a new device, though. There are a lot of people out there that are going to have the option of picking up a new handset this year, at some point before the close of 2014, and thankfully we've got plenty of options to choose from. Or, we will, anyway.

When LG announced that their 5.5-inch QHD panel had been certified, and confirmed that it would be coming to a device soon, I couldn't help but start thinking ahead. Looking down the line, and weighing the options that phone manufacturers are going to have for consumers throughout 2014. And hey, we can't ignore HTC and Samsung, who have already released a device of their own, with the One M8 and Galaxy S5.

To be honest, though, it's the devices that haven't been announced yet that I'm still really looking forward to. Maybe even more so than what's already arrived. I can't help but get a little excited when I see things like Motorola's X+1 show up briefly online, or see a leak of LG's G3 (especially if it does end up looking like the just-announced Isai FL).

But then we've also got a new Galaxy Note from Samsung, to replace last year's Galaxy Note 3, and a new iPhone from Apple. And if the rumors are true, and Samsung and HTC are going to release "better" variants of their Galaxy S5 and One M8 later this year? That's certainly something to look forward to.

And those are just the devices that we've heard about, from the biggest manufacturers. There's no telling what else is coming, or from who and when. 2014's always felt like it could be an exciting year for mobile devices, and I'm not sure that feeling's gone away quite yet.

So, I'm curious: What are you most excited about? If you've got the ability to upgrade to a new device this year, what are you holding out for? Or did you already upgrade to one of the newest phones released in 2014? Let me know!