The Best Radical Smartphone Feature

Nominations –

• Google Night Sight
• In Screen fingerprint scanning
• Samsung DEX
• Google Duplex (Honorary mention)

The way Google had us all smitten by the way it turned their Pixel to a night vision miracle, it was obvious that for 2018, no other phone has been as radically enticing as the Google night shift has been. The night shift is momentous because it signifies the way computational photography is now challenging the camera industry, and with the leap in performance, showing how mobile photography is now toe-to-toe with the Canons and Sonys of this world.

The Best Designed Smartphone

Nominations

• One Plus 6T (Honorary Mention)
• Vivo Nex
• Oppo Find X

With the elegant, cohesive, and just unworldly way the Find X “opens up” to reveal the selfie camera, and the facial recognition system, in addition to having an amazing gradient color glass back, Oppo literally beats everyone else when it comes to the build. [Although, with the software letting everything down, it obviously is a phone that cannot be recommended]

The Best Smartphone for Gaming

Nominations –

• ASUS ROG Phone (Honorary mention)
• Razer Phone 2
• Honor Play

The highest end, overclocked internals you can get in 2018, along with cooling technology taken from flagship gaming notebooks, paired with a gorgeous 1440p LCD Panel with a buttery smooth 120Hz refresh rate, the Razer Phone 2 is a Gamer paradise. The boxy gamer aesthetics, with RGB logo and giant forward firing speakers, this phone screams “Gaming” from every angle.

The Best Smartphone Photography Camera

Nominations –

• Apple iPhone XS/XR (Honorary mention)
• Google Pixel 3
• Huawei Mate 20 Pro
• Samsung Galaxy Note 9

When Google relaunched its smartphones after the Nexus, with the Pixel, it was obvious that much of their focus (pun not intended) was on the smartphone photography stage. Unless you are a professional photographer, if you need consistent, perfect photographs almost every time, Pixel 3 or the 3XL are the phones to take with you!

The Best Smartphone Video Camera

Nominations –

• Samsung Galaxy Note 9
• iPhone XS
• Huawei Mate 20 Pro (Honorary mention)

With native support to record unlimited videos at exceptional 4K resolution @60 FPS, with great stereo audio recording, IOS and EIS onboard both real cameras, the amazing color science and dynamic range, no other smartphone could yet even come close to the iPhone XS or even XR when it comes to shooting videos.

The Best Underdog Flagship

Nominations –

• LG V40 Thinq (Honorary mention)
• Huawei Mate 20 Pro
• Sony Xperia Z2 Premium

With the best processor an android phone could have (Kirin 980), the blistering performance paired with one of the best smartphone camera(s), an exceptional build, and amazing engineering feats like reverse wireless charging, the Huawei Mate 20 Pro is definitely the best Android smartphone today, and thus, with the underdog status the brand today has, compared to the Samsungs and Apples of the world, this phone definitely deserves this award.

The Best Bang for the Buck Flagship

Nominations –

• One Plus 6T
• Huawei Nova 3 (Honorary Mention)
• Honor Play
• Pocophone F1

With the immaculate fit and finish, a buttery smooth performance due to the Snapdragon 845, a strong battery life and a pretty OLED display with a minimal droplet notch; One Plus 6T is just the perfect contender for the best bang for the buck at the $400-500 mark. And the cherry on top of the cake is the in-display fingerprint scanner.

The Smartphone of the Year

Nominations –

• Google Pixel 3
• Apple iPhone XS
• Huawei mate 20 Pro (Honorary mention)
• One Plus 6T
• Samsung Galaxy Note 9

With more power than any other smartphone out there, one of the best displays and cameras in the industry, and a perfect ecosystem to go with, iPhone XS bags the best smartphone award for the year. Despite being an “S” upgrade, the phrase, “If it ain’t wrong, don’t fix it” goes well for this phone. With the software that even provides better Google apps than on Android and the lightning fast A12 Bionic processor, Apple still continues to outshine others in the smartphone segment.