Top 5 Smartphones of 2018
The New Year is just days away. Manufacturers have already released all their new products, and now we can evaluate them by declared specs and user reviews.
In this article, we will talk about 5 smartphone models that ranked best in 2018. We will not assign any numbers in our rating because they all are highly commendable and are currently market leaders. In addition, each user has their own requirements and criteria for evaluating devices.
So, meet our list of brands that have released best smartphones.
Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus
Just its design makes this phone a leader. The display curved edges make the smartphone visually frameless, while there are no random touches, and the device is very comfortable to hold. Besides, many users duly appreciated the fingerprint scanner location (it is under the camera).
When it comes to the display quality, tears of joy prevent you from speaking. S9 Plus has got a 6.2" 2960×1440 Super AMOLED screen. It is perfectly calibrated, everything perfectly works out. The brightness of this display is also worth noting – it is well regulated both indoors and outdoors. If you look at the screen at an angle, there are almost no shades of blue or green. In short, this is the best screen for today!
S9 Plus is equipped with a dual 12 MP camera with 1.5 aperture, optical stabilization and the ability to reduce aperture to 2.4. Tangible benefits are speed and instant focus.
Thanks to stereo speakers, S9 Plus delivers a really cool sound, and with Dolby Atmos it’s mega cool! If you like shooting videos or video blogging, then this smartphone will become just an indispensable assistant. A lav mic can be easily connected to it, and you can shoot videos without losing the sound quality.
S9 Plus hardware is powerful. It is Samsung Exynos 9810 processor with 8 cores of the third generation and the core speed of 2.9 GHz.
The smartphone has an 18-core Mali-G72 video accelerator, which provides greater performance and improved VR image quality. High frame rate games are played perfectly on this smartphone.
Now let’s talk about the battery. It’s Li-Ion battery again with 3500 mAh capacity. S9 Plus supports Fast Adaptive Charge. A charger for quick charging is included in the package, which allows you to charge the device in about 80 minutes, and wireless charging can be both fast and normal. If you use the phone actively – making calls, spending time in social networks, shooting videos, etc. – then the battery charge is enough for one day of work. But in the evening your smartphone will need to be “fed”.
This device also has a trendy feature – Bixby assistant. It will help you download something from Google Play or translate a text in a frame into another language. However, for those who don’t speak at least English, it’s useless. Bixby doesn’t support Ukrainian or Russian.
Galaxy S9 Plus is a cool phone that truly deserves its place at the top.
Huawei P20 Pro
The Huawei novelty product won users’ hearts with its design, or rather the handset color with a very romantic name, Twilight (it’s probably for Twilight fans ☺). The smartphone isn’t just purple or violet, its color is obtained by layering the NVMC optical coating. When the light hits the surface, it’s refracted, and as a result, the gradient effect from blue to violet is created. The gadget will be available in 4 colors: Pink Gold, Black, Midnight Blue, and Twilight.
It’s a dual-SIM smartphone, although for a phone of this class it’s now a bit strange.
P20 Pro has a 6.1" 2240×1080 (408 PPI) OLED display. Ultra-thin frames, maximum viewing angles and a perfect white color make this screen one of the best. In the settings, you can choose the color temperature: cold, warm or default settings. Also, there is a screen scaling, so you can change the font size and deactivate the notch. There is another cool feature, an ability to display information on another additional screen.
Unlocking the screen is done by scanning the face or finger. In P20 Pro, both options work in a blink.
They chose an 8-core HiSilicon Kirin 970 processor (4xCortex-A73 2.36 GHz + 4xCortex-A53 1.8 GHz) as the smartphone hardware. It’s one of the most productive and energy efficient chipsets today. Even at maximum load the phone doesn’t heat up.
There’s one interesting clone application allowing you to have two working shortcuts, for example, 2 Facebook shortcuts, and log into two different accounts at the same time.
All these features are supported by a 4000 mAh battery. A full charge lasts almost 2 days of operation. The battery charges pretty quickly +/- 100% in 60 minutes./p>
P20 Pro’s specific feature is its 3 cameras. Now we will figure out why this device has so many eyes.
- The first and main camera has 40 MP, a lens with 1.8 aperture and a focal length of 27 mm. It is used for color photographs.
- The second 20 MP camera – monochrome (black and white) – is used for detail and bokeh effect.
- The third 8 MP camera with a telephoto lens is used for portrait modes and zoom. This is an interesting mix of cameras from Huawei.
For fast and accurate focusing there is a special laser focusing system. Due to the simultaneous use of multiple cameras and AI algorithms, the cameras automatically adjust to the shooting conditions. Huawei P20 Pro can be safely called the best smartphone for shooting at night.
Apple iPhone XS
It’s become a custom that Apple smartphones are always included in the list of best smartphones. This year won’t be an exception. In 2018, the Apple Corporation has introduced three new products: iPhone XR, XS and XS Max.
According to critics, users and specs, iPhone XS has turned out to be the best.
XS is offered in 3 colors: gold, silver and gray shades called “Gray Cosmos”. By design, it practically doesn’t differ from X, but Apple fans like it more.
All X-series models have got OLED-displays. With XS, this is a 5.8" 2436×1125 (458 PPI) Super Retina HD. The screen works fine both indoors and outdoors. Even on a bright sunny day, there won’t be any problem reading the screen.
To unlock, you can use a password or Face ID. The XS Face ID is faster than in previous models, but it's difficult to notice with the naked eye.
What really changed in XS is the degree of protection. IP 68 means that the smartphone can be immersed to a depth of 2 m for 30 minutes.
Even though design doesn’t take the first place in Apple devices, the hardware clearly doesn’t trail behind. Every year the power of gadgets is increasing. It is the A12 Bionic processor and the Neural Engine chipset that run the show from inside. The Neural Engine chipset is involved in AI work.
XS has iOS12 installed. The interface works pretty fast. Applications work smoothly. Apple can be really praised for that; in fact, iOS12 along with A12 make this smartphone really fast.
iPhone XS has a dual 12-megapixel camera with a wide-angle lens with 1.8 aperture and a telephoto lens with 2.4 aperture. Also, in this camera there is a double optical stabilization, a double optical zoom and a tenfold digital zoom. The pixel size has increased, which allows for collecting more light. More and more machine learning algorithms are used in the camera.
The front camera has 7 MP with 2.2 aperture and Retina Flash. TrueDepth allows you to blur the background and control the degree of blur.
It is interesting that they release a gadget with one SIM card for America and EU, and a gadget with two SIN cards for the Chinese market.
Among all gadgets above, the XS battery has the smallest capacity of 2659 mAh. But thanks to the good hardware and the correct power consumption, the smartphone can last a full day without recharging. The device supports both normal and fast charging. However, for fast charging you will have to buy a power supply separately; it is not included in the package. In general, Apple gadgets love when you buy something to use with them.
The XS is the smallest and lightest smartphone in X series. But in terms of convenience, it’s the best.
Google Pixel 3 XL
There was a lot of conflicting information about Google Pixel 3 XL. It cannot be sold officially in all countries and, probably, for this reason it’s received such a round of criticism.
Pixel 3 XL design is virtually no different from its predecessors. The back cover is made of glass with a special coating, which is very pleasant to the touch and doesn’t slip out of hands.
For 3 XL, Google has chosen a Samsung 6.3" 2960×1440 OLED display.
There is an interesting new feature in this gadget – a frame compression system that allows you to launch Google Assistant or turn on the camera. You doubled your fist with the smartphone and the camera is on. Basically, it's convenient.
As hardware for this flagship, one of the best Snapdragon 845 processors with 8 cores and Adreno 630 graphics processor are used.
The device uses Android 9.0 Pie. It’s the most advanced interface to date. In this regard, 3 XL can be called a good example for all Android smartphones.
RAM is only 4 GB. Well, for such a gadget it isn’t enough, and the smartphone may eventually start slowing down.
Read-only memory is 64 or 128 GB without the ability to be extended, that is, there is nowhere to insert a memory card. 3 XL is single-value gadget.
The camera deserves special attention. Here, Google has worked fine.
The smartphone has only one 12 MP camera with Duo Pixel technology with a pixel size of 1.4 microns and an aperture ratio of 1.8. There is optical stabilization. An important point about the camera is artificial intelligence. A new feature of 3 XL is the Nightshift, which makes possible to take photos in low light conditions.
Now Google’s smartphone can also zoom perfectly thanks to the ReZoom feature. The camera takes several pictures with a double zoom and then adds them into one shot with maximum detail.
If we compare photos taken with this smartphone and with flagships from Samsung, Huawei, Apple, etc., then we should note that Google 3 XL with one camera showed the result no worse than its competitors, and in some respects images with this camera turn out to be even better.
Let's move to the front camera. Surprise! There are two of them here. The second camera is used for wide group selfies.
The Google 3 XL battery has a capacity of 3430 mAh. Full charge is enough for a day of active operation.
In general, it's a good gadget for Android and quality Google hardware lovers.
OnePlus 6T
Many people like this smartphone, and it probably deserved love mostly for its price. OnePlus 6T can be called a budget flagship.
6T design has offered some changes, for example, there is no “monobrow”. It was made into a drop, and it looks pretty cool.
The fingerprint scanner is located directly on the screen. It’s strange, but users find it very convenient. It should be noted that the scanner works very fast.
The optic 6.41" AMOLED-display occupies most part of the smartphone front panel (86%).
The 6T battery is better than its OnePlus predecessors had. But if we talk about power consumption, 6T uses significantly more charge than, for example, Galaxy S9 Plus or P20 Pro.
Capacity increased by 400 mAh and is now equal to 3700 mAh. The battery lasts for the whole day if you use social networks, record videos, take photos, use GPS and Google Maps. This gadget can be used in full. Of course, there is fast charge, which allows you to charge your smartphone by 52% in 30 minutes.
As in Google 3 XL, the smartphone has a Snapdragon 845 processor and an Adreno 630 video processor. In this model, the shell has been optimized, and the smartphone has become significantly faster.
In terms of sound quality, these smartphones are lagging behind other flagships. But in 6T there is a powerful external speaker, which produces a pretty good sound.
Cameras in 6T are the same as in OnePlus 6 models. Developers claimed they optimized them. But if you take a photo in daylight and compare it with photos taken by OnePlus 6 models, you won’t notice any difference. There is a tangible difference between photos in low light conditions. Here, indeed, the 6T camera works better.
The front camera is somewhere on the same level as Google 3 XL. Perhaps a little worse as to color transfer, but the price of this gadget is much lower. Unfortunately, in 6T there is no protection against dust and moisture. Diving into water or digging sand with this gadget is not recommended.
It may be surprising for some of you that OnePlus 6T is on the same list with Samsung, Huawei and Apple smartphones. But there is a simple explanation for this – in its parameters, this gadget is quite close to the top flagships, but its price is significantly lower. Many users love this brand and have used it for years, moving from the old model to the new one. People’s favorite so to speak
Here is the top five for 2018. Some of you may not agree with our choice, but, as they say, tastes differ. We look forward to seeing new products in 2019.
You can buy spare parts for the best smartphones of 2018 here: displays, housings, flat cables, batteries, processors, connectors.
By All Spares Team