In a market as competitive as the smartphone market, companies try to create the best device in terms of cameras, internal specs, and external design, with an attractive price tag. These are called ‘flagship’ phones. Overall, companies tout their flagships as the best devices they can offer, and usually only release one flagship a year.
The Top 5 Best Android Smartphones You Can Get In the Market Today
With the year 2017 finally over, we wanted to take this time to look back on five of the best, top-of-the-line flagship phones! In fact, this might even serve as a fun, useful guide that might help you pick a new phone, especially since 2018’s lineups still haven’t come out. These are the cream of the crop, and are worthy of your hard-earned money.
NUMBER FIVE – LG V30
- Octa-core (4×2.45 GHz Kryo & 4×1.9 GHz Kryo) Qualcomm MSM8998 Snapdragon 835
- 4GB RAM
- 6-inch P-OLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
- Non-removable Li-Po 3,300 mAh battery
- 64 GB
- PHP 40,399 on Lazada
Surpassing the supposed actual flagship, the G6, the LG V30 opens this list as the brand’s best step forward. In fact, we’d say that this acts as LG’s finest smartphone to date. Why? Because we feel that the V30 represents the identity that LG’s experimental smartphone mantra has been looking for. Simply put, LG redeemed itself from past lackluster flagships with the V30. Now let’s see if they can keep the momentum going.
NUMBER FOUR – Sony Xperia XZ Premium
- Octa-core (4×2.45 GHz Kryo & 4×1.9 GHz Kryo) Qualcomm MSM8998 Snapdragon 835
- 4GB RAM
- 5.46-inches IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
- Non-removable Li-Ion 3,230 mAh battery
- 64 GB
- PHP 43,215 to PHP 34,000 on Lazada
The Sony Xperia XZ Premium keeps the designs of prior flagships but goes all out with great features, especially the 19-megapixel sensor that can capture 4K video and super slow motion video at an amazing 960fps. In fact, we’d even say that this super slow-mo camera sets the device apart from its flagship competition. At the very least, it’s enough to overshadow its average battery life, and relatively smaller display size.
NUMBER THREE – Huawei Mate 10
- Octa-core (4×2.4 GHz Cortex-A73 & 4×1.8 GHz Cortex-A53) Hisilicon Kirin 970
- 4GB RAM
- 5.9-inches IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
- Non-removable Li-Po 4000 mAh battery
- 64GB
- PHP 36,999 to PHP 31,680 on Lazada
Huawei’s partnership with Leica for their camera optics pays off! The dual 12 and 20-megapixel lenses produce great images even in low light. Furthermore, there are a lot of good things to be said about its premium design, and powerful internal specs underscored by a Kirin AI processor, the first of its kind to feature a dedicated Neural Network Processing Unit. Overall, this device provides a lot of value for your money.
NUMBER TWO – iPhone X
- Hexa-core 2.39 GHz (2x Monsoon + 4x Mistral) Apple A11 Bionic
- 3 GB RAM
- 5.8-inches Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, 1125 x 2436 pixels, 19.5:9 ratio
- Non-removable Li-Ion 2,716 mAh battery
- 64/256 GB
- Price: PHP 64,490.00 off-contract from Apple
Despite the challenges Apple faced during the last quarter of 2017, the iPhone X dominated the charts in terms of which devices were Googled the most, and which smartphones were most popular in the market. Basically, the iPhone X represents a major gamble on the part of Apple. It removes the singular home button, and drastically altered the original design to a bezel-less, all-screen reboot. Fortunately, these risks pay off. There’s a lot to like with the newest iPhone, especially the premium all-screen design, the TrueDepth camera, and decent specs. In fact, we’d put it at the top if it weren’t for its status as the most expensive flagship on the market today.
NUMBER ONE – Samsung Galaxy Note 8
- Octa-core (4×2.35 GHz Kryo & 4×1.9 GHz Kryo) Qualcomm MSM8998 Snapdragon 835
- 6 GB RAM
- 6.3-inches Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, 1440 x 2960 pixels, 18.5:9 ratio
- Non-removable Li-Ion 3,300 mAh battery
- 64/128/256GB
- Price: PHP 51,599 to PHP 42,290 on Lazada
The biggest member of this list also takes the biggest spot, at Number One. You could argue that the Galaxy Note 8 dug Samsung out of the PR nightmare that was the Note 7 battery controversy. In fact, the device acts as Samsung’s amazing comeback story.
What makes this phone amazing? There’s a plethora of reasons, from the huge, expansive 6.3-inch Infinity Display, to the well-implemented stylus setup, to fast 6GB RAM performance (one of the largest today). As a whole, and unlike others in the same price range, this smartphone is definitely worth the larger price tag.
Related: Top Five Smartphones Under PHP 20k
HONORABLE MENTIONS
These two smartphones didn’t make it to the list because of their limited availability (either online only or limited to one third-party retailer). Nevertheless, they both had great impact on the smartphone market this 2017.
Honorable Mention – Google Pixel 2
- Octa-core (4×2.35 GHz Kryo & 4×1.9 GHz Kryo) Qualcomm MSM8998 Snapdragon 835
- 4 GB RAM
- 5-inch AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, 1080 x 1920 pixels, 16:9 ratio
- Non-removable Li-Ion 2700 mAh battery
- 64/128 GB
- Price: PHP 47,099 to PHP 40,299 on Lazada
In comparison to other designs, the Google Pixel 2 looks relatively plain, and the larger bezels make it stand out against its all-screen competitors. It not only has that, but it also lacks a headphone jack, severely limiting your listening options. However, it more than makes up for it with an great camera setup: a 12-megapixel dual-pixel autofocus sensor on the back and an 8-megapixel sensor on the front. Plus, it delivers possibly the best purely Android experience in the market.
Honorable Mention – OnePlus 5T
- Octa-core (4×2.45 GHz Kryo & 4×1.9 GHz Kryo) Qualcomm MSM8998 Snapdragon 835
- 6 or 8 GB
- 6.01-inches Optic AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
- Non-removable Li-Po 3300 mAh battery
- 64 or 128 GB
- PHP 26,990 (64 GB) and PHP 30,990 (128 GB) from Digital Walker
For a surprisingly affordable price, the OnePlus 5T brings improvements on the original OnePlus 5 formula. It touts a bigger screen, and a re-positioned fingerprint scanner. Not only that, but it touts a generous amount of RAM (6GB and 8GB) in comparison to its competition. The 5T earns its popularity by giving the best bang for your buck.
