With Christmas holidays in sight, smartphone brands are getting their flagship phones ready. Some have already been announced, others are getting their keynotes ready. Our holidays are now, and this is the best time to round up the best phones that money can buy. We decided on narrowing the list down to the top five phones which in today’s day and age is a difficult ask. Still, we are not ones to shy away from a challenge. So, here’s the list in no particular order.
Starting the list off at the cutting edge of mobile technology is the Samsung Galaxy Fold 4, and there are a bunch of reasons why we picked Samsung’s offering over others like Oppo, Huawei and the bunch. To start with, the folks over at Samsung have had quite a few attempts to perfect their version of a foldable smartphone. Between the Fold and the Flip series, the tech giant has over half a dozen variants in the market, and it shows.
Besides the usual year-to-year hardware advancements, the Samsung experience is quite a bit more refined in the software front. The phone comes with a 6.2 inch Dynamic AMOLED display in a tall 23.1:9 aspect ratio and a 7.6 inch mini-tablet like screen when unfolded. Add to that, stylus support and this is a productivity machine that you might not know you needed. The Samsung flagship level triple camera on the back can also be used as a selfie cam if you use the front display with the screen unfolded.
The two major drawbacks of the device would be the unusually tall aspect ratio of the front screen that would hinder content consumption and the selfie camera on the foldable screen is fuzzy. However, if you are looking for a device that would let you handle documents and spreadsheets on the go, this one is for you.
ROG stands for Republic of Gamers. So, to say that the ROG Phone 6 Pro is built for gaming is no surprise. This one is an absolute beast when it comes to raw horsepower. The device comes with a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 paired with Qualcomm’s Adreno 730 and, get this, 18 gigabites of LPDDR5 RAM. We get 512 gigs of fast UFS 3.1 storage too!
One of the fastest displays on a smartphone, ROG Phone 6 Pro comes with a 6.78-inch screen with 165Hz refresh rate. The forehead and chin might give the phone a slightly dated look but the massive speakers housed in there make multimedia consumption that much more immersive. The cameras are nothing to write home about, but they take decent photos in well-lit environment.
There are cooling systems — yes plural — in the phone and you can even get accessories to cool the devices even further for those longer gaming sessions. There are dedicated haptic shoulder buttons to keep your screen decluttered while doing so.
The thing is what makes a gaming phone great is also what makes a phone great in general, minus the camera apparently. So, if you don’t mind the flashy gamer aesthetic and don’t take many photos, maybe you should give this one a shot.
Right off the bat, Google Pixel 7 is not as powerful as the rest of the devices on this list in terms of raw hardware. Then again, Google is first and foremost a software company, and they somehow manage to find software solutions to hardware problems. The Pixel 7's advance machine learning and AI paired with the second generation of its in-house Tensor chip means that the software experience should be very well optimised.
The Pixel series has long been the king in smartphone photography and it is next to certain that this one will not disappoint. Although there aren’t many photo samples floating around yet to know for certain.
The Pixel is a well-rounded device that comes with a bunch of nifty features and a clean Android experience. Not to mention, you’d be the first in line to receive the next version of Android when that goes live.
So, this one is for those who need a well-rounded phone with, dare I say, the best camera system but don’t mind if their device doesn’t have the best hardware available in the market today.
Yup, there is another Samsung in the list!
When Samsung announced that they were discontinuing their Note series, admittedly, I was a little disappointed. I was a fan of the boxy design and the inbuilt stylus. In retrospect, the Note series was a little redundant. It was supposed to be for the ‘Productivity’ focused user and had a lot of overlap with the S-series.
Hence, it is obvious Samsung S22 Ultra is the perfect replacement. As the name suggests, the phone is a beast in the hardware department. It has everything you would expect from a revamped Samsung Note-series phone — a big-beautiful display, a truly versatile array of cameras, a place to keep your stylus, a big battery and an industrial design. You really can’t go wrong with this one.
At this point, the iPhone doesn’t even have to be on the list for it to be on your radar. Just when everyone was tired of complaining about the hideous notch on the last iPhone, Apple released the new iPhone 14 Pro models with a pill-shaped cut-out that works as a UI tool — Dynamic Island.
The new iPhone comes with a new chipset, a slightly better display, an upgraded camera module, and some impressive Action Mode video stabilisation. The thing is, the iPhones have been the fastest phones around for a while now, and this time is no different. Thankfully the new chip is also not as hungry, so the battery life is better than, as Apple likes to put it, the last iPhone. On a more personal note, if you are looking for a reliable all-rounder and don’t mind being tied into the Apple ecosystem, this is 100% the device you should get. Just keep in mind, you will only truly appreciate the iPhone 14 Pro Max from within the scope of the Apple Ecosystem — in there, this is the perfect phone!
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Samsung Galaxy Fold 4
Starting the list off at the cutting edge of mobile technology is the Samsung Galaxy Fold 4, and there are a bunch of reasons why we picked Samsung’s offering over others like Oppo, Huawei and the bunch. To start with, the folks over at Samsung have had quite a few attempts to perfect their version of a foldable smartphone. Between the Fold and the Flip series, the tech giant has over half a dozen variants in the market, and it shows.
Besides the usual year-to-year hardware advancements, the Samsung experience is quite a bit more refined in the software front. The phone comes with a 6.2 inch Dynamic AMOLED display in a tall 23.1:9 aspect ratio and a 7.6 inch mini-tablet like screen when unfolded. Add to that, stylus support and this is a productivity machine that you might not know you needed. The Samsung flagship level triple camera on the back can also be used as a selfie cam if you use the front display with the screen unfolded.
The two major drawbacks of the device would be the unusually tall aspect ratio of the front screen that would hinder content consumption and the selfie camera on the foldable screen is fuzzy. However, if you are looking for a device that would let you handle documents and spreadsheets on the go, this one is for you.
ROG Phone 6 Pro
ROG stands for Republic of Gamers. So, to say that the ROG Phone 6 Pro is built for gaming is no surprise. This one is an absolute beast when it comes to raw horsepower. The device comes with a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 paired with Qualcomm’s Adreno 730 and, get this, 18 gigabites of LPDDR5 RAM. We get 512 gigs of fast UFS 3.1 storage too!
One of the fastest displays on a smartphone, ROG Phone 6 Pro comes with a 6.78-inch screen with 165Hz refresh rate. The forehead and chin might give the phone a slightly dated look but the massive speakers housed in there make multimedia consumption that much more immersive. The cameras are nothing to write home about, but they take decent photos in well-lit environment.
There are cooling systems — yes plural — in the phone and you can even get accessories to cool the devices even further for those longer gaming sessions. There are dedicated haptic shoulder buttons to keep your screen decluttered while doing so.
The thing is what makes a gaming phone great is also what makes a phone great in general, minus the camera apparently. So, if you don’t mind the flashy gamer aesthetic and don’t take many photos, maybe you should give this one a shot.
Google Pixel 7 Pro
Right off the bat, Google Pixel 7 is not as powerful as the rest of the devices on this list in terms of raw hardware. Then again, Google is first and foremost a software company, and they somehow manage to find software solutions to hardware problems. The Pixel 7's advance machine learning and AI paired with the second generation of its in-house Tensor chip means that the software experience should be very well optimised.
The Pixel series has long been the king in smartphone photography and it is next to certain that this one will not disappoint. Although there aren’t many photo samples floating around yet to know for certain.
The Pixel is a well-rounded device that comes with a bunch of nifty features and a clean Android experience. Not to mention, you’d be the first in line to receive the next version of Android when that goes live.
So, this one is for those who need a well-rounded phone with, dare I say, the best camera system but don’t mind if their device doesn’t have the best hardware available in the market today.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra
Yup, there is another Samsung in the list!
When Samsung announced that they were discontinuing their Note series, admittedly, I was a little disappointed. I was a fan of the boxy design and the inbuilt stylus. In retrospect, the Note series was a little redundant. It was supposed to be for the ‘Productivity’ focused user and had a lot of overlap with the S-series.
Hence, it is obvious Samsung S22 Ultra is the perfect replacement. As the name suggests, the phone is a beast in the hardware department. It has everything you would expect from a revamped Samsung Note-series phone — a big-beautiful display, a truly versatile array of cameras, a place to keep your stylus, a big battery and an industrial design. You really can’t go wrong with this one.
iPhone 14 Pro Max
At this point, the iPhone doesn’t even have to be on the list for it to be on your radar. Just when everyone was tired of complaining about the hideous notch on the last iPhone, Apple released the new iPhone 14 Pro models with a pill-shaped cut-out that works as a UI tool — Dynamic Island.
The new iPhone comes with a new chipset, a slightly better display, an upgraded camera module, and some impressive Action Mode video stabilisation. The thing is, the iPhones have been the fastest phones around for a while now, and this time is no different. Thankfully the new chip is also not as hungry, so the battery life is better than, as Apple likes to put it, the last iPhone. On a more personal note, if you are looking for a reliable all-rounder and don’t mind being tied into the Apple ecosystem, this is 100% the device you should get. Just keep in mind, you will only truly appreciate the iPhone 14 Pro Max from within the scope of the Apple Ecosystem — in there, this is the perfect phone!
READ ALSO:
Published Date: November 11, 2022, 12:00 am
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