Best smartphone: Find the best mobile phone for you

Picking the best of the finest smartphones in 2018 is tricky and difficult. Actually, there is no such thing as a universally-accepted king of smartphones. The vast majority of premium mobile phones have similar hardware and software. Packing the smallest and fastest processors, brightest displays, clearest cameras, tremendously large memory, biometric identification, and running user-friendly operating systems, the hi-end smartphones are specifically designed to offer the best of what mobile technology has to offer for the users.

While cell phones are not all made the same, the premium ones that sometimes exceed the price of $1,000 are manufactured to meet certain expectations. And, as most of the members of this line of phones do meet those expectations, it is hard to pick one that stands above its competition. Thus, rather than looking for the best cell phone, start looking for the right phone for you.

Which phone is the best for you? Well, that varies on what you need and what you expect for the target smartphone to do for you. For instance, handsets with speedy processors, swift on-screen graphics and visuals GPU units, and a mammoth amount of storage make excellent gaming smartphones. If you want your phone to shoot pics and vids at an exceptional clarity, you will be needing an excellent camera phone, or if you happen to use your phone often for purchases and transactions a secure smartphone is what you need, and so on.

Android vs. iPhone

Android and iOS are not the only operating systems around, the largest alternative OS to that of Google and Apple is Windows mobile. However, Windows phones account for around one percent of all sold phones, and you will probably be going for either an iPhone or an Android smartphone.

To get started, the iOS operating system is developed by Apple exclusively for its devices, in the smartphone league, the OS is shared only across Apple’s iPhone smartphones. In the other side, Google’s OS powers a long range of smartphones developed and manufactured by different companies that differ in specs, features, and price. Android is better regarding affordability. There are cheap Android phones, mid-rangers, and hi-end options if you’re willing to get yourself a smartphone that’s powered by Android.

iOS is characterized by a simplified user interface with easier navigation than Android. Its UI remains the same across iPhone devices while Android manufacturers often add customized skins that make phones from different brand differ from one another. An iPhone is generally more secure than an Android, the mobile games often hit iTunes app store first and sometimes they never launch on Android at all (not the best games though), although, Google’s Play Store has a larger number of apps, and often, apps that are available to download for free on the Play Store bear a minimal price tag on the App Store.

Android offers more customizing support for its devices than iOS. It is relatively easy to gain complete access on your Android device by rooting the Android phone or tablet. While in iOS you are allowed to bypass jailbreaking and install apps from outside the App Store, on Android you can do more than that, manufacturers often offer a way to unlock the bootloader and customize the way the operating system loads into your device or add custom OS skins that entirely adjust Android interfaces.

Should you buy a locked or unlocked phone?

A locked phone is usually sold by a network or carrier such as Verizon, AT&T, T-mobile, and others that offer you the opportunity of purchasing the device via a long-term deal. These deals can last for years, and you’ll be paying a monthly fee for as long as it lasts. iPhones make an exception because operators subsidize the cost of buying an iPhone and will supply you with newer models (demanding you return your old phone back) in extremely prolonged contracts. Generally speaking, buying an unlocked phone will cost less than purchasing the device as locked with a monthly contract.

Another pro for buying an unlocked smartphone with a higher upfront cost but a much lower lifetime price is that you’re free to get another phone whenever you want without having to purchase your way out of a contract and there will be no two-year contract. Always, if you can afford the upfront cost of a smartphone.

To help keep your expensive smartphone protected from scratches and shock we recommend phone cases made at https://caseface.ie/.

Best smartphone 2018

Whether you want an Android or iPhone and whether you want to purchase your phone unlocked or via a two-year contract, these are the best unlocked smartphones your money can buy in 2018.

Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus

The Galaxy S9 Plus and its smaller sibling, the Galaxy S9, are two of the best phones in the world and the best Android devices out there. What’s the best about Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus? Its dual-camera setup of two 12MP units with dual aperture and low-light that’s capable of shooting videos at super slow motion at an incredible speed of 960 frames per second.

Design: The Galaxy S9+ is one of the best, if not the best-looking smartphone by far. It had its frame re-designed to sit better in hand and still maintaining the slim figure. The most of its front-facing panel is taken by the curved display that is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5 and a 3D Touch-enabled Home button. The rear panel is also made from the same durable glass from Corning and there sit the dual 12MP cameras. Finally, in case you care, the Galaxy S9+ and S9 do have a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Display: The Galaxy S9+, along with the Galaxy S9, are dubbed to feature the best screens on a mobile phone. The edge-to-edge Super AMOLED screen that Samsung likes to call Infinity display, is curved on both edges and boasts a quad-HD+ resolution of 2960 x 1440 pixels that covers almost the whole front-facing glass panel. The unit on Galaxy S9 Plus measures a 6.2-inch and has a pixel density of 529 pixel-per-inch, the 5.8-inch unit on the Galaxy S9 has the same resolution, and due to the smaller size, there is a higher pixel density and a little more clarity. Both glass panels are held together by a minimalist frame. The bezels are almost invisible, this, also due to the curved edges which kinda hide them from the naked eye.

Camera: The dual 12MP camera sported on the rear of the S9+ is one of the features that makes this phone stand out from the crowd. The handset is capable of shooting stunning photos and videos at low light, and the AI makes it easier to capture the right shots at the right time. Both models of Galaxy S9 equip 8MP selfie cameras that offer the best video chat quality on mobile handsets while only the S9+ has a second 12MP telephoto camera unit on the rear.

Performance: Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ have variants that run the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 and Exynos 9810 combined with either Mali-G72 MP18 or Adreno 630 graphics processor to deliver immersive visual experiences that include X Reality, improved graphics rendering, and video processing, and can potentially deliver download speeds of up to 1Gbps.

Both versions of the Galaxy S9 has versions with 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB of flash memory that can be further expanded via a microSD card by up to 512GB. Whereas, the S9+ has six gigs of RAM while the S9 has only four.

The gigantic S9 Plus gets its fuel from a 3,500 mAh, battery and it can keep it going for an entire day. Samsung could do better with the power supply, but that’s not a bad performance either. There’s fast charging support for both models that include the wired USB Type-C and wireless charging.

Regarding privacy and security, Samsung offers a package of completely sealing the phone from the rest of the world. There is Iris scanner, face detection, and fingerprint scanner for as far as biometric identification is concerned and on-display patterns, pin, and password. The Knox real-time protection and McAfee antimalware and antivirus apps are on-board to enhance security further when using the phone.

Samsung pre-loads the Galaxy S9 with Bixby virtual assistant, a health app, a large collection of themes to customize the always-on-display widgets, and Samsung pay for secure contactless payments amongst other things.

iPhone Xs Max

Apple recently updated the iPhone Ten with three new iPhone X smartphones that are larger, have more screen, sport clearer, and improved cameras, and run on the newest iOS 12 operating system that makes animojis to wink and show their tongues. The largest of the three new iPhones is the iPhone Xs Max, measuring a body of 6.5-inches it sets to take on the Galaxy Note 9 and any other phablet.

Design: The iPhone Xs and Xs Max look very similar to last year’s iPhone X, that’s why Apple decided to pull it out from the stores. The iPhone Ten Ess Max and Ten Ess differ from one another in size, but they quite resemble the first generation of iPhone Ten. Both new models of the iPhone Xs pack glass panels on both sides that are held together via a stainless steel alloy casing. There is the edge-to-edge retina display and the lack of a physical Home button and fingerprint sensor.

Display: The new iPhone Xs Max brings the biggest display in an iPhone by far. It has a massive 6.5-inch OLED panel with a resolution of 2688×1242 and a pixel density of 458 pixels per inch. The same pixel density goes for the iPhone Xs that sports a 5.8-inch Retina screen. There is 3D Touch support for the high-resolution screen but no fingerprint.

Camera: With the new iPhone, you get dual cameras regardless of which edition of Xs you opt for. Both models house a 12MP camera setup capable of recording videos at the 4K resolution and are supported by AI to capture the colors even at low light. The camera setup is similar to that you can find on the Galaxy S9 Plus, but the Samsung phone can shoot at more frames per second when recording at super slow motion. The 7MP TrueDepth selfie camera now has a video stabilizer, shoots full HD videos at 60fps and combines its powers with the AI behind iOS 12 to turn portrait selfies into memoji.

Performance: There’s no doubt about it. The iPhones are some of the fastest mobile phones you can put your hands on. Obviously, you can expect nothing but meteoric speed when playing with your new iPhone Xs Max.

To bless you with the most outburst performance the Apple phablet houses the Apple-made A-12 Bionic chipset. According to Apple, it is the fastest processor to come in an iPhone, by far and it is 15% faster than the A-11 housed by the iPhone X and uses the power 50% more efficiently than it. In addition, Apple packs the 2018 iPhone flagship with a custom-made quad-core GPU that’s also has a 50% better performance than the unit on the last year’s iPhone. Gamers also have the Metal 2 API that further enhances the gaming experience on iPhone. There are versions of the Apple handset with 64GB, 256GB, and 512GB of flash storage backed by four gigs of RAM.

Apple keeps the capacity of batteries that power iPhone away from the public, although there always are teardown videos that reveal the truth. Until that happens, the iPhone Xs Max and the iPhone X are expected to remain functional for an entire day with a single charge.

An exceptionally amazing news that came with the trio of new iPhone handsets was the debut of iOS 12. Apple’s latest operating system for iPhone will support group FaceTiming with up to 32 people, allows you to create emoticon versions of yourself, enhancement of virtual reality games, recognizes your friends and lets you share photos with them when you browse the gallery, and what’s most important, it can turn even older iPhones into faster smartphones. iOS 12 will be coming for every iPhone that was upgradable to iOS 11. Can’t give up on your iPhone 5S? You might not have to because it will become faster now.

The new iPhone Ten handsets have dual-SIM support where one of the units is an eSIM.

Concerning iPhone security, Apple uses only one major way of protecting data on your iPhone, and that involves using your face as a password. All of the data on your Apple phone stays encrypted, and only your face can be used to access it in a recognizable way. Apple equips the iPhone with a projector that creates over than 30,000 invisible dots on your face to generate your unique facial map and reads those dots via an infrared camera to unlock it. You can make your face the password of any particular file or app on your device, and it’ll be locked for good.

Samsung Galaxy Note 9

None will forget the iconic Galaxy Note phablet by Samsung and its S Pen. The Galaxy Note was the first handset to sport a curved display signature that has now become a Samsung signature for mobile phones. This now-popular featured has been adopted by other manufacturers and there are a series of non-Samsung phones with curved edge displays.

Design: The Note 9 is the largest of all Galaxy Note phablets, it is one inch bigger than the Galaxy Note 8 for instance. It sports the largest Samsung Infinity display, has durable glass made by Corning that’s squashed together by an extremely slim bezel and equips the same dual-camera setup as the Galaxy S9 Plus but the placement of the cameras, fingerprint, and LED flash differs from both Galaxy S9 Plus and Note 8. On the Note 8, the cameras, LED flash, and fingerprint sensor were in a straight horizontal line on the top-upper side of the phone’s rear. Note 9 has the dual 12MP and flash placed along each other in a horizontal line while the fingerprint sits below them. This design adjustment makes it easier for the finger to reach the fingerprint and you’ll not by placing your finger by mistake on one of the cameras.

Display: Samsung dresses the premium Galaxy Note 9 phone with the largest curved display on a smartphone. The Super AMOLED QHD+ panel on the Note 9 measures 6.4 inches and boasts a pixel density of 516 pixels per inch. The panel on this massive phone has more pixels than both iPhone Ten models that house OLED screens.

Camera: The dual camera setup on the Note 9 consists of the same equipment found on the Galaxy S9 Plus. Dubbed as the best camera on a mobile phone, it offers photography and video recording capabilities that you might expect only on a DSL camera. There’s AI backing you to shoot pics at the right time and the dual cameras make the most of the available light. The 8MP camera shoots videos at 1440 pixel resolution, it technically is better than the primary camera on some mid-range smartphones.

Performance: Galaxy Note 9 has models running the Exynos 9810 and Snapdragon 845 chipset similarly to the S9, but there’s a notch, the Note 9 has much more memory. It has 6GB of RAM models with 128GB of memory and 8GB of RAM editions with a whopping of 512GB of flash memory. Furthermore, the memory is expandable for every version of the phablet by an additional 512GB.

The battery backing this handset is a 4,000 mAh unit that has enough juice to keep your Note handset going for an entire day.

It has the Iris sensor that uses your eye patterns for a password, fingerprint sensor, face recognition, and what’s the most important, it has a headphone jack. The phablet is optimized for playing games and makes the most of the CPU and GPU for smooth gameplay and fantastic graphics.

On top of that, there’s the Bixby assistant, Android 8.1 Oreo for easy navigation, themes and customization options to adjust the patterns of the handset to match your personality.

Huawei P20 Pro

Huawei P20 Pro is the ultimate alternative to Samsung and Apple. It still maintains the physical Home button and the front-mounted fingerprint for anyone that loves it, the 3.5mm headphone jack, is massive in size, and has a triple Leica-made camera setup on the rear, amongst them, a whopping 40MP camera. Regarding selfies, The P20 Pro sports a mind-boggling 24MP front-facing camera. You just can’t ask more than that from a smartphone, Huawei P20 Pro has it all.

Design: The P20 Pro has a sleek and fine body design with glass panels on both sides and an aluminum frame that keeps them together. The large body where only the touchscreen display measures 6.1-inch makes it comparable to the Galaxy Note 9, S9+, and iPhone Xs Max and the best alternative phone to them. In addition, the display panel on this handset goes up to the, top and it has a notch similarly to the iPhone X, but here the front camera is packed tightly and the notch is much smaller than the one on iPhone Ten series.

Display: The AMOLED panel on the P20 Pro sports a body of 6.1 inches and has a resolution of 2240 x 1080 pixels. The pixel density is at 408 PPI while the screen-to-body ratio is around 82%.

Camera:  Photography is the signature of the Huawei P20 Pro mobile phone. The handset sports on the back side a trio of a 40MP RGB lens, an 8MP telephoto camera unit, and a 20MP mono lens camera. All these cameras are made by Leica and they can make super slow-mo videos just like the Galaxy S9 Plus at 960 frames per second. This premium cell phone has sensors that recognize the objects appearing on the screen and automatically balance colors to make them more realistic. The 24MP selfie camera on the front shoots excellent vids and features 3D facial modeling tech to convert any selfie into a flattering portrait.

Performance: Huawei packs the P20 Pro with the Kirin 970, a mobile processor that reportedly outperforms the Snapdragon 845. Whether that’s true or not is a subject of debate, the important thing is that the Huawei P20 Pro is an extremely fast phone. It has no microSD support but has 2560GB of flash memory with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage with 6GB of RAM models instead.

There’s a 4,000 mAh battery powering up the Huawei flagship phablet that should give it sufficient juice to last an entire day.

With the Huawei P20 Pro you get the front-mounted fingerprint sensor on the Home button, a large and clear display to play movies and games, NFC for contactless payments, and a smooth user interface provided by Android 8.1 Oreo with Huawei’s EMUI 8.1 touch on the top.

Xiaomi Pocophone F1

If you want to buy a premium smartphone that can stand its ground against any other phone and save money at the same time, you need to get for yourself the Xiaomi Pocophone F1. The cheapest high-end smartphone your money can buy. This Xiaomi phone has the same processor found on the Galaxy Note 9 and a quite similar size but costs three times less. It isn’t quite as good as the Samsung flagship but it certainly is the best premium smartphone $380 can buy.

Design: The Pocophone F1 sports a front panel made of Corning Gorilla Glass and a plastic body design in the back. On the top of the screen the handset packs on both sides of the speaker the front-facing camera and an infrared sensor that’s used for face recognition and forms a notch. On the top-middle of the back design are placed in a vertical row the two cameras and the fingerprint sensor with the LED flash sitting horizontally to the cameras.

Display: The Xiaomi Pocophone F1 sports a 6.18-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 2246 x 1080 pixels, an 18.7:9 ratio, and a pixel density of 403 pixels per inch. There are phones with better screens but none of them packing everything the budget Xiaomi flagship has cost as little as it.

Camera: Regarding photography, the Pocophone F1 packs a 12MP dual-pixel PDAF camera and a secondary 5MP for depth measuring camera unit to shoot 4K videos at 30 frames per second. Xiaomi upgraded the dual camera setup to outperform the similar cameras found on the Xiaomi Mi 8, the units on the Pocophone capture more light and shoot clearer images at low light. For selfies, this phone features a 20MP camera that records clear 1080p vids and has AI support for better selfies.

Performance: The Poco F1 runs the Snapdragon 845 chipset with Adreno 630 GPU and has 6GB of RAM versions with 64GB and 128GB of memory and an advanced 8GB of RAM with 256GB of flash storage edition. For every model of the handset, there’s microSD support of up to 256GB. Due to the advanced SoC, the Pcophone F1 handles games like any other high-end smartphone.

The Xiaomi handset revolves around several methods to protect your data. It has a rear-mounted fingerprint and supports face detection for locking and unlocking your phone. There are two SIM card slots on the equipment where one of them serves as a microSD card slot.

There’s an impressive 4,000 mAh battery to provide fuel for your games, videos, and music with quick charge support. The smooth user interface is provided by MIUI 9.6, a specifically designed skin that’s built on Android 8.1 Orea only for the Poco phone.

iPhone XR

The iPhone XR makes an exception from the two other iPhones released in 2018 and even from the first generation of iPhone X, one of the best smartphones in 2017. It drops the OLED screen upgrade Apple only recently added to the iPhone series for an improved LCD display panel. If you’re a fan of LCD phones, Apple’s iPhone XR might just be the right phone for you.

Design: The iPhone XR launches as the cheapest new iPhone although the price starts at $750. It is very similar in design to the iPhone Xs and with its 6.1-inch body size stands somewhere in between the iPhone Xs and Xs Max. This particular version of the iPhone Ten does not include a combo of two cameras in the rear, it instead has only the 12MP and the LED flash placed underneath it.

Display: Liquid crystal screens make a cameo with the iPhone XR. According to Apple, the XR features the most advanced LCD screen on an iPhone that deals better with colors than the iPhone 8 Plus. The 6.1-inch panel on the XR has a resolution of 1792 x 828 pixels, an aspect ratio of 19.5:9, and pixel density of 326 pixels per inch.

Camera: The downside with the XR is that Apple decided not to implement the second 12MP camera for capturing depth in detail. Although the single 12MP PDAF unit with OIS and a large f/1.8 aperture can still shoot outstanding pics and videos at 2160p. The selfie camera remains the same 7MP unit that is a remarkable camera for selfies and video chat.

Performance: iPhone XR has the same Apple-designed A-12 Bionic chipset and it has the same speed and graphics performance to that of iPhone Xs or Xs Max. It has three gigs of RAM with storage versions varying with 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB. Unfortunately, there is no 512GB of storage version for the iPhone XR.

XR houses a 2,942 mAh battery (a slightly larger unit than the one on Xs) and it will keep the phone running for an entire day. Due to glass design on both sides, it has wireless charging support and is compatible to any Qi charging pot.

There’s face detection to prevent breaching into your privacy and an excellent user interface provided by the iOS 12 operating system.

OnePlus 6

OnePlus and its phones that never settle have been for a while a worthy alternative to Samsung and Apple pricey phones. The OnePlus 6 is a remarkable smartphone that runs on the latest mobile processor made by Snapdragon, has excellent photography capabilities, a ton of storage, and costs relatively less than the iPhone or Samsung Galaxy.

Design: The design of OnePlus phones changed with the OnePlus 5T, one of the best Android phones of 2017, launched at the end of last year. The 5T dropped the home button, grew in size, and gave away more screen. The OnePlus 6 has significant design changes when compared to the 5T and is an entirely different concept phone if compared to OnePlus 5 and older generations. OnePlus 6 is bigger, has a 6.28-inch screen and has its selfie camera and the infrared sensor packed tight together at the top-middle of the screen to form a notch. The screen expands further down to the bottom and it is touch-enabled almost down to the corner. The dual camera setup finds its self in the center of the back side with the dual-tone LED flash and the back-mounted fingerprint standing below it in a vertical line.

Display: OnePlus 6 sports a 6.28-inch Optic AMOLED display with a resolution of 2280 x 1080 pixels, an aspect ratio of 19:9, a decent 402 PPI density, and has it protected by the durable Corning Gorilla Glass 5. The screen on the OnePlus flagship is large and the minimalist notch at the top is too small to mess with your gaming experience or any other functionality.

Camera: All the three cameras packed within the elegant body of the OnePlus 6 are made by Sony. The dual setup on the rear consists of the 16MP Sony IMX519 and the 20MP Sony IMX376K. Both these cameras have phase detection autofocus, optical image stabilization, and a large f/1.7 aperture. When snapping pics and recording vids together can shoot 4K videos at 60 frames per second and shoot slow-mo FHD videos at 240 frames per second. The front-facing Sony IMX371 finds its self again as the selfie snapper of choice for the OnePlus flagship phone.

Performance: OnePlus had to go through tough competition. Its flagship phones competed and for since a long time have been a recommended alternative to iPhone and Samsung Galaxy. To keep up with the competition, OnePlus equipped its flagships with the latest processors made by Qualcomm. The OnePlus 6 makes no exclusion, it houses the Snapdragon 845 and has 6GB of RAM and 8GB of RAM models with versions varying by storage, from 64GB to 256GB. Unfortunately, even this OnePlus has no support for expandable memory.

The battery set to power one of the best smartphones of 2018 designed and manufactured by OnePlus is a 3,300 mAh unit. It lasts an entire day, but considering the massive size of this one, OnePlus could’ve done a little battery with the battery.

The premium handset runs smoothly on Android 8.1 Oreo with Oxygen OS 5.1.11 skin on top. It utilizes a rear-mounted fingerprint and face detection to lock and unlock the phone, has two SIM cards, and NFC. Despite having a glass body on both sides, this particular phone does not support wireless charging.

LG G7 ThinQ

LG G7 ThinQ is another flagship phone that adapts to the widely-favorable edge-to-edge display. The LG G7 ThinQ smartphone drops the standard outlook from the previous generations and unlike the G6 it didn’t have to drop the latest Snapdragon chipset for an earlier generation of mobile SoC because of unavailability. The only reason LG G6 couldn’t come with the Snapdragon 835 was that Samsung had pre-ordered all the available units and there wasn’t any left for the LG flagship phone of 2017. This year, LG packs the G7 ThinQ with Snapdragon 845 and gives to its phone a better chance at competing against Samsung, Apple, and Huawei.

Design: LG G7 ThinQ drastically differs in design from G6. It has a large edge-to-edge screen of 6.1-inches with a notch at the top where the selfie camera, speaker, and the infrared sensor sit close to one another. The cameras on the rear are vertically placed one above the over, with the dual-tone LED flash located on the side and a fingerprint sensor underneath.

Display: Surprisingly, LG remained loyal to LCD. The G7 ThinQ has an LCD panel with a resolution of 3120 x 1440 pixels, a screen-to-body ratio of 19.5:9, where 561 pixels are for every inch. Despite what Apple says, LG appears to really be having the best LCD screen on a smartphone.

Camera: Lg packs the G7 ThinQ with a duo of a 16MP camera with PDAF, OIS, laser autofocus and a large aperture of f/1.6 and a second 16MP unit with an ultrawide field of view that when combined shoot 4K videos at 60 frames per second. The primary cameras on the G7 ThinQ are one of the bests featured on a mobile phone. The 8MP selfie unit at the front does an excellent job and it can record full HD videos at 60fps.

Performance: The Lg G7 doesn’t mind getting loaded with the heaviest of games. Snapdragon 845 and Adreno 630 combined by either 4GB or 6GB of RAM with 64GB and 128GB of respective flash memory that can be expanded further by an addition of up to 512GB and Android 8 Oreo will make it hard for you to force the phone out of storage.

There’s a 3,000 mAh battery unit to fuel up the elite LG phone, fingerprint for security, NFC for contactless payments and wireless charging.

LG V35 ThinQ

The LV V35 ThinQ does not have a notch like the G7 ThinQ and its screen is indeed an OLED panel. With these two LG high-end smartphones, you are allowed to choose amongst either the LCD or OLED phone and the notch. Although the G7 ThinQ is actually the better phone, camera on the V35 ThinQ is not even close to the unit on the other ThinQ phone.

Design: The LG V35 ThinQ is physically larger although its screen is .1-inch smaller, is notch-free, and has an OLED panel with a lower pixel density than the LCD panel found on the G7. It has a slightly larger battery and considering that OLED panels use the energy more efficiently, it is supposed to last a little longer than its other sibling. LG attempted to maintain some design signatures of the V line of phones, like the two cameras on the rear positioned parallel to each other with the dual-tone LED flesh next to them and the rear fingerprint located below them. Cameras on the V30 were esthetically superior, the ones on the V35 make the phone look like Wall-E the robot.

Display: As noted, the V35 ThinQ has a P-OLED screen with a resolution of 2880 x 1440 pixels and measures 6-inch in the diagonal angle. The pixel density here is a bit lower than the one found on the G7’s LCD panel, although it still beats the Galaxy S9+ in that. The screen is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5 and is durable to shock and scratches.

Camera: The two 16MP cameras on the back of V35 ThinQ can capture pictures and videos at high resolution but they don’t have much AI orienting those sensors for enhanced photography. There’s an 8MP selfie shooter at the front.

Performance: The V35 ThinQ phone by LG has an outburst operation. It packs Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 845 SoC and it runs the Android Oreo with LG UX 6.0+ custom skin on top. Just like every Android handset on this listing, it is also set to upgrade to Android 9 Pie very soon. Manufacturers delay upgrades due to their internal testings and adjustments for their handsets to offer the best of what Google’s operating system for mobile phones has on offer. This phone has 6GB of RAM with 64GB of storage and a model dubbed as LG V35+ ThinQ with six gigs of RAM and 128 gigs of flash memory. There’s support for memory expansion for up to 512GB via microSD for both editions as well.

This second LG flagship houses a 3,300 mAh battery, a unit with a slightly larger capacity than the 3,000 mAh battery on the inside of the LG G7. It also has quick charge and wireless charging support and a rear-mounted fingerprint. Despite the V35 being a pricey phone, it still sells cheaper than the Samsung flagship and might be an excellent alternative to it.

Sony Xperia XZ3

If you are a fan of curved display smartphones and looking for an alternative to Samsung, the Sony Xperia XZ3 might just be what you are looking for. There are many reasons to opt for a Sony smartphone. First of all, photography. A good portion of hi-end smartphones feature Sony Exmor camera sensors and as you might expect, the best Exmor camera sensors will be preserved for Sony phones. The curved OLED screen, powerful processor, and the neat design built for style are some of the reasons why the Xperia XZ3 should become your default smartphone.

Design: The Xperia XZ3 looks quite similar to the Note 9, but its smaller size turns it into a more compact alternative to it. The handset has curves on its both edges and a glass body design on both sides. The minimalist aluminum frame and bezels are styled to look invisible. Sony remains loyal to the single camera design on the rear that Sony designs to appear tremendously good. The LED flash, camera, and the back-centered fingerprint sensor are placed in a vertical line and they do make the phone look better.

Display: Screen of the Xperia XZ3 is one of the most appealing features on this phone. It consists of a 6-inch OLED panel with curves on the edges and a resolution of 2880 x 1440 pixels. The touchscreen panel boasting a pixel density of 537 pixels per inch and an aspect ratio of 18:9 is protected by the durable 5th generation of Corning Gorilla glass.

Camera: Hasn’t opted yet for a dual camera flagship, however, the company does have a mid range smartphone with two selfie cameras branded as Xperia XA2 Ultra and several non-Sony flagship handsets equip two Sony-made cameras on the rear. The Xperia flagship for 2018 instead opts for a 19MP Motion Eye unit that records 4K videos and slow-mo ones at 960 frames per second. There’s a front-facing 13MP selfie snapper that offers superior video chat and selfie framing. The AI housed by this handset lets you turn any object captured by the lens into 3D avatars.

Performance: The Xperia XZ3 undoubtedly is as fast as a smartphone in 2018 can be. It loads the Snapdragon 845 with 4GB and 6GB of RAM versions containing 64GB of flash memory. Memory expansion of up to 512GB is supported by both versions. The Sony flagship is one of the few handsets that will be running on Android 9.0 Pie out of the box, as the phone isn’t on sale yet. Although it expects pre-orders and official shipments will begin by October 5.

It has a 3,300 mAh battery on the back and due to the not-so-large size specifically painted for a compact design the handset might outperform a good portion of the competition. There’s also support for two SIM cards, NFC, fingerprint, and Qi wireless charging. Sony decided not to bring the headphone jack and shattered some dreams on the go.

ZTE Axon 9 Pro

ZTE, a major Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturer often blows us away with phones that not only receive a rating as the best China phones but also take a ranking position as the best smartphones in the world. One of the best phones your money can buy is without a doubt the ZTE Axon 9 Pro.

Design: ZTE updated its Axon series with the edge-to-edge screen trend but for some reason decided to downgrade the screen resolution, returning back to 1080p. The two glass pieces that make the front and back side of the phone are sandwiched together by an aluminum frame. Sensors, the speaker for phone calls and the infrared sensor at the top of the cell phone are bordered by the touch-enabled screen to form a notch. The phone does look good but it bears a quite hefty price, furthermore, there’s no headphone jack.

Display: The screen of the Axon 9 Pro might be a major turn off for this phone. It has a decent size of 6.21 inches but its resolution is not that great. It casts a resolution of 2248 x 1080 pixels with an unusual aspect ratio of 18.7:9 and a pixel density of 401PPI. The display is OLED and covered by Gorilla Glass Five or Four. It should be resistant to scratches.

Camera: Axon 9 Pro sports a 12MP Sony IMX363 sensor with a large aperture of f/1.75 and a secondary 20MP with a wide angle of view measuring at 130 degrees that when combined can record 4K videos at 30 frames per second. For selfies, there’s a 20MP unit with AI support for taking better selfies.

Performance: The ZTE flagship phone is very fast. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 with Adreno 630 GPU offer excellent graphics and the smoothest gameplay experience on cell phones. The handset also has 6 gigs of RAM and 128GB of flash memory to deal with issues regarding memory. If 128 gigs are not enough for you, you can expand the onboard storage via a microSD of up to 512GB.

A 4,000 mAh battery offers a decent period of time you can spend playing mobile games, watching movies, or anything else after every single charge. You can charge this phone wirelessly also and faster via the Quick Charge 4+ technology.

There’s also a fingerprint for quick and secure access to the phone, NFC for payments, and two SIM cards. As this is an Android One smartphone, it comes with the stock Android Oreo OS and you won’t have to worry about upgrades, security, and AI. Google handles them on your behalf.