The best 10 smartphones in comparison

With hundreds of smartphones being released each year, you have a wide range of choices, from entry-level smartphones or budget-friendly smartphones to the latest flagships. Whether you want your phone to be your trusted assistant, your non-stop source of entertainment, or your wallet, you have to make sure that its screen won't shatter the first time you drop it and that the battery won't die when you need it the most.

Here are some of the essential aspects you should take into account when making a phone comparison.

Design and build

Since your smartphone is probably always in your pocket or by your side, sometimes tracking every step you take and every move you make (especially if you use fitness apps), the size should be comfortable.

Some prefer phablets, some prefer compact smartphones, but everybody wants a phone with a high screen-to-body ratio, with thin bezels and a screen that takes up more than 75% of the smartphone's surface. To check out iPhone size comparison (or any other brand for that matter), you simply have to click on the image of the phone on our comparison pages to view a side-by-side comparison of each phone.

The main types of screen technologies are LCD and OLED/AMOLED, both presenting advantages and disadvantages.

• Plastic, usually polycarbonate, has good heat and shock resistance. Any tech nostalgic remembers the bulky Nokia 5110 released in 1998, recognized as one of the most longevous mobile phones ever made.
• Metal, usually under the form of an aluminum alloy, is widely used for flagship devices because it allows manufacturers to produce a light, thin, and resistant casing. Metal is also better for heat dispersion, making it possible to use more powerful SoCs. However, unlike plastic or glass casings, devices with metal casing require an external antenna.
• Glass is probably the best choice for those concerned about scratches, being the most rigid. In terms of conduciveness, it’s between polycarbonate plastic and aluminum. Glass is sometimes used for the back panel.

The infamous "bendgate," which forced Apple to withdraw a batch of iPhone 6 devices from shops, drew more attention to the importance of materials. Soon after "bendgate," Apple improved the aluminum alloy used for its iPhones and iPads, switching to the 7000 series. The 7000 series combines aluminum with zinc and is also a common material for aircraft construction, due to its high strength-to-weight ratio and durability.

HTC and Huawei also use aluminum unibody designs for most of their product lines. Most manufacturers combine materials and sometimes use them in combination with leather (LG G4), ballistic nylon (Moto Droid Turbo 2), or other materials.

Battery

One of the most frequent requirements users have is long battery life. The battery power is an important indicator when choosing a smartphone, but it alone is not a guarantee that your smartphone can last for a long time on one charge. To get a better idea about the relation between battery life and battery power, you can read our detailed explanation. To make sure your phone won't run out of battery when you need it the most, make sure that you also check the following specs:

• Battery life (talk-time): for how long you can talk on your smartphone on one charge.
• Battery life (standby): how much time your smartphone lasts on one charge in standby mode.

The conditions in which these tests are performed vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, so these are not reliable indicators by themselves. To make an informed decision about the battery capacity you need while making a phone comparison, you should put these specs in relation to others, such as screen size and CPU speed. In addition, you should take into account your usage habits: how many apps do you use at the same time, how much time you spend on your phone each day. Other things you should watch out for are:

• Fast charging: a technology developed by Qualcomm, which speeds up the charging time significantly, making it possible to charge a smartphone’s battery to 80% in just 30 minutes.
• Wireless charging using a charging base. Check the phone specs of a specific model to see if it has wireless charging capabilities.
• Removable battery: batteries tend to age pretty quickly. If you want to keep your phone for a long time, it's crucial to be able to replace the battery.

Also, there are many options to make sure that your precious companion is 'awake' all the time - portable power banks come in all shapes and sizes and are very affordable. They'll be able to prolong the life of your cell phone battery while you're out and about.

Processor

A performant processor is vital for any device. It determines how well apps and games run on your smartphone, how fast you can switch between apps, and how many things you can do at the same time on your phone. The most basic evaluation of processors takes into account the number of cores and the clock speed (CPU speed).

However, recent technologies made it possible to improve a processor's performance by using cores clocked at different speeds. Known as big.LITTLE, the technology developed by ARM, the leading semiconductor company, makes it possible to use cores clocked at different speeds. The cores with low clock speeds have the advantage of being power-efficient and are used for tasks that don't require a lot of processing power.

The big, powerful cores come into action for complex tasks that require a lot of computing power, such as gaming. When all cores work at the same time - in the case of heterogeneous multi-processing (HMP) - the background tasks are performed by the little cores, while the big cores perform the high priority tasks.

Cameras

Evaluating a smartphone's camera is a complicated topic. Most users judge a camera's performance by the number of megapixels, but it takes more than that to get good photos, which is why it helps to also take a look at the DXOMARK mobile score.

The sensor size and quality of the lens are crucial factors affecting image quality. Huawei and Sony devices generally hold the record for the smartphone-cameras with the highest number of megapixels.

In recent years, manufacturers focused on improving the lenses. Dual-lens cameras can offer better image quality in low-light conditions and better zoom by using two lenses with different focal lengths. Huawei was one of the first manufacturers to employ completely different lenses and sensors on dual-camera modules. Some of Huawei flagships have one camera sensor shooting in color and one in black-and-white. The black-and-white camera captures details in high-contrast, while the color sensor offers vibrant colors. By combining the images captured with these two cameras, the images are sharp even in low light conditions because the black-and-white sensor can capture more light than conventional sensors, and special effects such as Bokeh are easy to achieve.

Each year brings exciting new features in smartphone photography. Dual-lens cameras have become common even on mid-range phones, and flagships are now using complex multi-camera setups, with up to five main cameras. Advanced features such as phase detection autofocus (PDAF), HDR mode, and 4K video recording are also becoming more and more common. If you're interested in comparing phones purely based on their camera quality, we've rounded up 9 of the best smartphone cameras for you.

Since the word 'selfie' made it to the Oxford Dictionary in 2013 and people realized we're not going to get over this frenzy too soon (for better or for worse), more and more smartphones with outstanding front cameras are being released.

OS

There are two main mobile operating systems available: Android and iOS. In 2016, Android and iOS combined had 93.85% of the worldwide market share, while Windows covered only 2.47% (source: netmarketshare.com).

In 2017, Microsoft discontinued smartphone production, and the Windows mobile operating system for phones disappeared. At the same time, Blackberry started using Android instead of its proprietary OS. Android gained a lot of traction in emerging markets, primarily through the Android One program. All these factors contributed to Android's popularity. In the past years, more than 70% of the smartphones sold worldwide run on Android.

Choosing the operating system depends a lot on what other devices you are using since it's easier to sync your data across devices running on the same OS. Each mobile operating system has advantages and disadvantages, and it's worth taking a deeper look at them as you compare Samsung phones to Apple phones, for example.

Android's source code is open, and it's used to create various operating systems based on Android, such as CyanogenMod or MIUI. Many smartphone manufacturers who produce Android-based devices add proprietary components. There is a much more extensive range of devices to choose from if you opt for an Android device. However, there are many concerns regarding the variety of Android OS versions available and the interoperability between devices running different versions, an issue known as Android fragmentation.

iOS is a closed system, powering Apple devices exclusively. Therefore, Apple has complete control over its operating system, offering direct iOS updates every year for iPhone users. Updates for Android devices come at a slower pace, except for Google devices, which run on 'pure' Android, like the Google Pixel series.