5 best smartphones to be out in the market
If you're in the market to buy a new smartphone, this is arguably the best time for you. Tonnes of new phones are getting launched left right and centre. As a reviewer, I have a fair idea of what to expect from most of these devices, solely on the basis of history and also a general idea of how the smartphone market works. So here are my top picks for phones that are worth the wait:
1. The LG G5 is perhaps the biggest smartphone launch in India this summer. While Samsung's Galaxy S7 has hogged all the glory in the first half of the year, the G5 has been proclaimed to be a game changer, as it will be for all intents the first modular smartphone in the world.
It also has sharp looks thanks to its metal body (a first for LG's G line of devices) and has the same innards as the Galaxy S7 (US version). LG does a lot of things well. It always has good cameras and the G5 comes with a unique blend of a wide angle and standard sensor on the back.
This can be handy in multiple scenarios, its modules can supposedly further augment its functionality and it also has a removable battery, which is something of a rarity these days. It will be launched on June 1 for around Rs 52,000 and will be a phone to watch out for.
2. If Samsung's Galaxy is passe and LG is too unreliable, then HTC for sure has an ace up its sleeve that could please many a smartphone enthusiast. The HTC 10 which was unveiled in India on Thursday (May 26) is HTC's attempt to regain lost glory in the high-end smartphone market.
It rages back with the HTC 10 which is a dapper smartphone built almost fully out of a sturdy metal alloy lined with ginormous chamfers on the sides. It also has a 12-megapixel UltraPixel camera with optical image stablisation, which is said to be a champ when it comes down to photography.
I am a believer in the hype because camera benchmark site DxOMark has given it the highest rating ever seen on a smartphone camera and it also is the right implementation of HTC's UltraPixel technology. Let me explain this more clearly. Back in 2013, HTC debuted a 4-megapixel UltraPixel camera and we felt at that time the megapixel count should have been higher, and now finally after three years HTC has tripled it, which should work.
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| HTC 10. |
Even audio junkies will like this phone because it packs some serious speaker technology, digital-to-analogue converter of the highest quality and support for Apple's AirPlay wireless protocol. Besides this, it comes with similar hardware features like the Galaxy S7 and the LG G5. It also has one of cleanest implementations of Android Marshmallow.
3. If you like a big smartphone, then I'll not look beyond the Mi Max which was unveiled earlier this month by Chinese start-up Xiaomi. It is big, bold and beautiful and it packs the same ultra fast processor as the superlative Mi Redmi Note 3. What's the cherry on the top? Well, it looks nicer and packs one of the biggest batteries ever seen on a phone. This one will be for people who are roadrunners. Just like me!
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| Xiaomi Mi Max. |
4. If you just care about brawn, then LeEco's Le Max 2 should do the trick. The Chinese company recently unveiled the phone at an event in China and it is expected to be launched in India in June. This one is all about the spectacle. The best Qualcomm processor, a massive 5.7-inch screen and huge 6GB RAM.
It also comes with oodles of memory and is clubbed together with a 21-megapixel camera on the back and a 8-megapixel camera on the front. The funny thing about this beast is that it has an all-metal body which looks extremely good and it will likely be much cheaper than phones from the likes of Samsung, Apple, LG or HTC. Much value for money!
5. Last but not the least is the OnePlus 3. After a year of tremendous success, OnePlus is expected to come up with a successor. You can expect hardware similar to those of the LG G5 and HTC 10, but in typical OnePlus style, the phone could be significantly cheaper. The only issue could be that the phone may again be launched through the irritating invite system which I really hope is ended.
Other than this, there is buzz that the Lenovo-owned Motorola is bringing back the Razr in a modern avatar. The buzz spawns from an advertisement that Motorola has published on the web which features the Razr, but I feel it has more to do with nostalgia than being a real product. I could be wrong of course.