The Best Smartphones You Can Buy, From $200 to $1,000+

[Capaill]

But a bigger omission is 3D Touch, I use it daily on iPhones to turn the keyboard into effectively a touchpad to move the cursor like a mouse when typing, I still can’t believe most Android devices don’t have this yet as this has been on iPhones since the 6S!

If you are referring to the ability to move your finger from one key to another without lifting it, then it's called swiping. The Swiftkey keyboard app has had that feature for a very long time (I had it on a Samsung Galaxy S2) and I think that app is the main keyboard app installed by most users on Android devices.

 

[joe1946]

I still love my LG V20 with replaceable battery, mSDXC slot, Quad DAC with headphone jack and low price . Paid $269 a year ago (12/1/17) for the AT&T version that now has Android 8.0 Oreo.

 

[PEnnn]

Stop saying "Memory" when you mean "Storage Space"!!

Sheesh, this is a tech website after all!!

 

[Jackwoz]

I've never purchased a phone and also think most prices are outrageous! My first smart phone came with a $15 p month plan. It's when they were giving phones away and charging for calls! Then my wife couldn't live without her phone when it failed and bought a new one, but Samsung eventually replaced her Galaxy S2 on warranty, so I got it. Then my sister upgrades every couple of years on her expensive plan and so I've scored her S4 and then her S6 edge which I'm still using. I guess one day I'll actually buy one but as I'm not fussed with using tiny screens for much I'll put it off as long as I can and invest in big screens for TV or PC!

Cool story bro

 

[Mike89]

Just can't imagine paying $1000 for a cellphone. Just ain't gonna do it. I'll stick with my G6 and laugh at Apple users.

 

[Capaill]

I still love my LG V20 with replaceable battery, mSDXC slot, Quad DAC with headphone jack and low price . Paid $269 a year ago (12/1/17) for the AT&T version that now has Android 8.0 Oreo.

That's a very good phone. I hope you get a few years out of it. I had an LG G4 for 2 years and I loved it. Right up until it died and would not turn on. I checked online and there were many MANY LG users saying the same thing. I now associate LG with a short life span and will not be buying one again.

 

[mark kram]

Personally I prefer the cheapest phone I can find online.

 

[Cycloid Torus]

I have a 'smartphone' which cost less than $30 from tracfone (tied to buying 60 days service for about $30). It comes with 2GB RAM, 16GB storage, a microSD slot, and a lowly quad-core - and it uses Android 7.1.1.

It works pretty well, but seems too lowly to be reviewed.

Alcatel Zip ( A577VL )

 

[mbrowne5061]

My list
Needs a headphone jack- bluetooth headphone quality is awful cant stand charging it either
Good battery life
Fingerprint sensor
Micro sd card slot
Not touchwiz, getting sick of it, its bloated and laggy
water resistant

...Stop buying garbage Bluetooth headphones...

I can say the same thing about regular wired headphones. The difference is, for the money, I can get better wired headphones than I can Bluetooth headphones.

Also, Bluetooth is objectively worse quality, and aptX is a detractor, not a selling point. Any digital music, aside from lossless files, going through aptX get yet another layer of compression applied to them. So you have the original MP3 or AAC compression that causes data loss, then you have aptX that compresses it again, causing further data loss. Yes, Qualcom calls aptX "lossless", but that seems to be marketing buzz; it certainly is not adding data back into MP3 or AAC files, that is for sure, and is more likely causing further data loss.

tl;dr - if you care about audio quality, buy wired. If you just want to get rid of the cord, BT5 is finally getting to the point where their sound quality will match that of wired headphones that are half the price of the BT version.

 

[Sausagemeat]

I’m an iPhone user and despite owning many Android devices always come back to Apple. I’m currently using the 8plus as it was a lot cheaper than the X and I prefer the wider display, I thoroughly love the camera on it. But after seeing and trying the OnePlus 6 I must say that for the money I think that’s the best phone around at the moment. But it might just be Android envy. I always get it, get an Android device then end up regretting it and crawling back to Apple. I do think the best smartphones of 2018 might be different if we look at them at the end of 2018. The IPhone X(s?) will be out yet and the Note 9. Oh and the Pixel 3, isn’t that coming out this year?

I don’t own any Apple products and I wouldn’t buy them. That doesn’t mean I don’t use wireless headphones. How can you say that running a cable to connect any two bits of personal tech isn’t out of date? There is literally nothing else anyone connects to a phone anymore. We even wirelessly charge!

And correcting the price of the adapter is more my lack of tolerance for bullshit than anything else.

At the end of the day Apple know exactly what they are doing, they will sell millions of devices no matter how angry grumpy has-beens like you slag off Apple and the people who buy their products.

Just saw this. I don’t own Apple products I am supplied them (I work in Telecoms). I do own Android devices though however I always use Apple because their phones absolutely humiliate Android devices at the moment.

 

[DelJo63]

I still use an Apple 5s and will continue to do so until it becomes obsolete.

I use it as a phone along with some simple apps like note sharing. I do not need or want it to play music or be my constant internet companion. I have a desk top and an iPad for that. Plus
it's small and fits in my pocket.

Paying $1,000 for a phone is nuts!

I'm on the 5SE, loaded with music for Bluetooth when driving w/o descent radio access. TXTing, Email, GPS are primary services AND it fits in my shirt pocket too. Happy as a clam

 

[Edito]

Sorry Techspot but the list is just terrible...

 

[FliGuyRyan]

We'll see in another month or so where the Samsung Galaxy S10 lands...

Game on Apple.

:-D

 

[Dosahka]

But a bigger omission is 3D Touch, I use it daily on iPhones to turn the keyboard into effectively a touchpad to move the cursor like a mouse when typing, I still can’t believe most Android devices don’t have this yet as this has been on iPhones since the 6S!

If you are referring to the ability to move your finger from one key to another without lifting it, then it's called swiping. The Swiftkey keyboard app has had that feature for a very long time (I had it on a Samsung Galaxy S2) and I think that app is the main keyboard app installed by most users on Android devices.

He is referring to freely move the typing cursor kinda like a mouse without a click to place your typing cursor (ppl barely even knew about it until iphone 7 or 8).
Also peek on links/pictures to share is useful, I can't imagine myself without it.
Although Swiftkey is a relief for me (old Android and WP user) and I agree that keyboard is extremely useful and accurate, can't believe it's a Microsoft product (like my immortal white WMO 1.1a which is my travel mouse to work with everything)

The list is a bit misleading as others pointed out that there are more alternatives for budged or mid category too, and yes pixel phones are just ugly AF, period.
Only thing I don't like in the galaxy S series phones is the "infinity edge" screen, it just makes your life harder by no protective case can protect properly your phone, accidentally touched on the side when you grab it a bit harder, but that's just me and my humble opinion.

Also iOS devices (tablets and phones) way more optimised than Android counterparts and has less software issues, but there is one iOS software for nearly the same devices and in Android's case one system with slight changes to many different hardwares, also high memory and cpu usage.
IMHO

 

[joe1946]

I just got the 6.1" 256GB iPhone XR from Xfinity Mobile with a free $200 visa card coming after 90 days and so far it beats the heck out of my old LG V20. The battery life is amazing.

 

[Jyrkz]

1 of mates got me a chines phone Umidig F1 Play.
Specs are::
48MP + 8MP | Helio P60 | FHD+ Waterdrop Full Screen
5150mAh | 6GB + 64GB | Android 9 P(stock!!)

Paid 180eur for it. Battery at full use(web and music+bt+gps+max brightness gives me 2 days of use.

I dont play games.
Cam is ok if u can stay still ahah
But for regular use just to surf,use gps and listen to music.
Best phone for that price.

 

[trgz]

Best sub 5" screen?

 

[Arris]

For me it’s speed of the OS, reliability, battery life, compatibility of apps and accessories and resale value

Just about every Android phone I've owned has had better battery life(and hardware in general in most cases) than the equivalent iOS device at the time I owned it. I'd say one thing the battery drain when not in use does seem to be less of an issue with iPhones.

As for a back button, yes the iPhone lacks one but most apps support swipe right to go back, something I always try to do on an Android device and generally isn’t there. But a bigger omission is 3D Touch, I use it daily on iPhones to turn the keyboard into effectively a touchpad to move the cursor like a mouse when typing

Hate to be the bearer of bad news but they are killing off 3D touch in favor of "long press". The cursor control isn't reliant on it and is being integrated into iOS 13 anyway.

I still can’t believe most Android devices don’t have this yet as this has been on iPhones since the 6S!

As pointed out Apple themselves have decided it's not that great and are doing away with it. The cursor control thing is because its nigh on impossible to place the cursor in the position you want it with a tap on iOS devices. A problem I've not had on any Android device.

 

[bluetooth fairy]

Best sub 5" screen?

Same question for years. But I'd rephrase it to: best phone 60-70 mm / 2.35-2.75" in width. Pixel 3/3a, Galaxy 9/10e, mentioned in the article, are all at the higher boundary of width. Galaxy A40 and Sony Xperia 10 are more affordable alternatives.

Two years ago there were iPhone 8, Galaxy A3, Xperia XZ1 compact with 4.6-4.7" displays.

 

[Arris]

I always use Apple because their phones absolutely humiliate Android devices at the moment.

This is laughable. Absolutely humilate.... perhaps their users by their marketing ability to encourage users to buy the next "revolutionary" or "evolutionary" iPhone.

- Wow, the new iPhone has wireless charging. (iPhone 8 2017, Nexus 4 2012)....

- Oh cool, NFC on my phone. (iPhone until recently only use for Apple Pay, Android for anything. Used to pair and transfer images from my camera to phone. iPhone users were out of luck)...

- Apple support their devices better with iOS updates for all but the oldest devices (true, and Android only get 2 years of updates... but most owners of older iOS devices complain that the latest updates make their devices slow and unusable)....

- But the iPhone camera is the best!...
DXOMark ratings:
112
Huawei P30 Pro
112
Samsung Galaxy S10 5G
111
Honor 20 Pro
111
OnePlus 7 Pro
109
Huawei Mate 20 Pro
109
Huawei P20 Pro
109
Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus
107
Xiaomi Mi 9
105
Apple iPhone XS Max


I could go on and on. Since Jobs passed away Apple have not been innovating in the way they used to. To be fair though smartphones for me have reached a plateau in a similar way to desktop processors. Not much advancement, just small incremental improvements. Up until around a year ago I still used a Sony Z3 as it did everything I needed. If it wasn't for the short 2 year support that Android makes hardware manufacturers provide and the fact it eventually broke from a drop I'd probably still be using it.

 

[Arris]

Same question for years. But I'd rephrase it to: best phone 60-70 mm / 2.35-2.75" in width. Pixel 3/3a, Galaxy 9/10e, mentioned in the article, are all at the higher boundary of width. Galaxy A40 and Sony Xperia 10 are more affordable alternatives.

Two years ago there were iPhone 8, Galaxy A3, Xperia XZ1 compact with 4.6-4.7" displays.

I loved my Sony Z5 compact for a powerhouse small phone. Something that just isn't catered for much by manufacturers anymore.

 

[Badvok]

Interesting comment on Huawei with all their troubles but there is no escaping the fact that if you are at all concerned about phone security and timely patches, Huawei and its sub-brands are ones to avoid like the plague. For more info on how bad they are at support browse: https://uk.community.huawei.com/software-40

 

[Toju Mikie]

You guys should look at the Asus Zenfone 6. Incredible value, phone is just $499 and it even has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855.

 

[treetops]

Ah dang I spent all my money on Apples new monitor stand, $999.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/05/tech/apple-monitor-expensive-intl-scli/index.html

 

[Fearghast]

Well, 2019 is certainly immensely boring when it comes to smartphones.
Something new? Yeah, "every" phone has a notch now and does not have a headphone jack ... well, that's exciting.
OnePlus certainly looks like a nice step in the right direction, but it's far from perfect.