The best Android phones this year aren't necessarily the most expensive. With flagship hardware becoming more affordable by the day, which is the best Android smartphone to buy? These are our nominations based purely on performance, and there can be only be one winner.
Unlike the iPhones, Android phones are diverse and cater to a much wider user-base. As a result, while it’s easy to pick the best iPhone (the latest, most expensive one of course!), picking the best Android phones is a difficult task with way too many options to choose from. The fastest, most powerful Android phones all have mostly similar hardware under the hood but the devil is in the details. Performance is not just raw power anymore. The cameras, the durability, the display and even the design matters. With that in mind, let’s look at the Zero1 award nominations for Best Android Smartphone of 2018
Samsung Galaxy Note 9
“Do what you can’t” is the Galaxy Note 9’s tagline and in a lot of ways, you can do things on the Note 9 that you can’t on other Android phones. It’s also Samsung’s most feature-packed smartphone this year. A giant AMOLED display that looks just stunning, a 10nm chipset that’s just as powerful as the Qualcomm flagship processor, and a brilliant camera that has all the bells and whistles a flagship camera phone should have. In a lot of ways, the Galaxy Note 9, like every other Note series over the years, goes beyond a regular flagship and aims to become a replacement for a bulky PC or a laptop. With features like Dex, an improved S-Pen, cameras with variable apertures and a beautiful design, the Galaxy Note 9 is one of the smartphones we are evaluating for the title of the best Android smartphone of 2018. Click here to buy.
LG G7+ ThinQ
The LG G7+ ThinQ has been criminally underrated. Despite offering everything that a flagship normally offers and then some more, the price is just the same as the OnePlus 6T. The LG G7+ ThinQ is compact, has military-grade durability and offers a Dolby-vision certified display. That’s over and above the usual set of hardware found in flagship Android phones. We are presently testing whether the LG G7+ ThinQ have enough to offer to become the best Android phone this year. Stay tuned for the final winners. Click here to buy.
Google Pixel 3 XL
Third time lucky, the Google Pixel 3 XL covers up for all the hits and misses of its predecessor to become a compelling alternative to the established flagships. The Pixel 3 XL refines the dual-tone finish with textured glass and continues to startle the world with the single camera unit at the back. The third-generation Pixel may not keep up with its peers in terms of sheer hardware, but it more than make up for it in software. The phone’s maintenance and updates are all handled by Google, so you’re assured of the most up-to-date experience as well and as a result, the Google Pixel 3 XL is nominated as the best Android Smartphone of 2018. Click here to buy.
Huawei Mate 20 Pro
While every other Android flagship nominated for the award are running flagship hardware released for this year, the Huawei Mate 20 Pro arrived with next-generation hardware including a 7nm chipset that promises much faster performance than the current Snapdragon-845 powered devices. It also looks stunning with curved edges all around and barely visible bezels. The phone also offers all possible permutation and combination of imaging prowess through a triple-camera setup and there’s the latest Android version out of the box to boot. Will this win the award for the best Android phone in 2018? Stay tuned.
OnePlus 6T
OnePlus is now the most-selling brand among premium Android phones, and for good reason. The OnePlus 6T that launched just a month back is perfectly capable of challenging the more-expensive flagship phones with a high chance of it coming out as a winner. The OnePlus 6T is blazing fast thanks to the optimisations made in the UI, has a decent camera, and a display that’s quite nice to look at. The OnePlus 6T offers good value for its price and that is reason enough to be considered under the category of Best Android Smartphone of 2018. Click here to buy.
Poco F1
The new Pocophone F1 did what even OnePlus couldn’t this year — Offer flagship hardware at the most affordable price range. With up to 8GB RAM and 256GB storage, it’s also right up there with the expensive flagships in terms of the spec-sheet. There’s also a liquid-cooled copper pipe inside to keep the thermals in check. As a result, the phone’s performance is top-notch. The same cannot be said about the other aspects of the phone, although it’s price-to-performance ratio is certainly compelling. We are currently evaluating whether the rock-bottom price of this Snapdragon 845-powered smartphone makes it the best Android phone to buy in 2018. Click here to buy.
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Subhrojit Mallick
Eats smartphones for breakfast. View Full Profile
