Introduction
As 2017 draws to a close, we take a look back at the phones, which impressed us, and the ones which disappointed us. This end-of-year edition of our Editors Talk series will give you a glimpse at the love-and-hate relationship we have with smartphones and their design and features.It was a busy year over here at GSMArena. We've thoroughly reviewed more than 100 new devices over the past 12 months with numerous hands-on articles, first impressions, and in-depth comparisons sprinkled in between those.
Aside from the text articles, we also put a lot of effort into making high-quality video reviews and it's been paying off as our YouTube channel subscriber base has crossed both the 200,000 and 300,000 mark over the course of 2017.
The team grew and so did we - in readership, coverage, and expertise and we are excited to see what 2018 has in store for us.
But this post is not a year-end review of GSMArena, but rather our
look back at the smartphones which had us excited this past year and
also about the ones which raised a few eyebrows around the house.We're sure you have your own favorites and we don't intend on arguing which is the ultimate phone. On the following pages we will try to list our personal favorites and you will get the chance to know us better in the process. We hope you enjoy this end-of-year edition of our Editors Talk series. Here's to an even better year ahead!
Question: Which are your favorite phones of 2017?
I'm relatively new here at GSMArena, but I have to say, I fell in head over heels for this year's Oneplus phones. We've had many amazing devices in the office, but once I started using the Oneplus 5, I couldn't let it go.
It struck a beautiful balance with its lightning fast near-stock Android, its great camera for both photos and videos, its elegant (albeit unoriginal) design, and its insane charging speed.
Basically, the phone was great at doing what I needed the most. The Oneplus 5T further built on that by greatly improving the screen and improving the camera's night game.
For me, the perfect phone would be the Oneplus 5t with IP68 protection and the Pixel 2's camera. Yeah, yeah, I know that's not happening anytime soon, but I can dream.
Other than my love affair with Oneplus, I'd say seeing the Samsung Galaxy S8 was a major wow moment. It was the first time in a long time I'd held a device and thought "Oh, I'm in the future!"
However, as beautiful as the S8's design was, I think the Note 8 deserves my honorable mention. It took the great parts of the Galaxy S8 and made them even better. Where the Oneplus phones had balanced simplicity, the Note 8 had pretty much every feature you could think of plus a gorgeous design.
Being a Galaxy Note fan myself, I was super excited about the Note8 after the gap year caused by the Note7's battery woes. And sure enough, I got one. I enjoyed the marvelous display, the battery life, the camera - portraits and zooming alike. I missed an S-Pen in my life and as soon as I had one again, I loved every bit of it. I sent Live messages left and right, I pinned Screen-off memo shopping lists, even did some coloring in Pen Up (perhaps too much).
All for a total of two weeks.
Then a certain retailer announced a €200 discount on the Pixel 2 and 2 XL. I didn't think twice and ordered it straight ahead. Not residing in one of Google's official markets however, meant things weren't so straighforward. I had to go through a number of hoops to get the Pixel 2 XL shipped across borders and wait for a good three weeks to hold it in my hands. During which time I used the small Pixel 2 review unit we had lying around, as the Note was put up for sale, and eventually went into the hands of an LG V20 owner. I'd call it an upgrade. Anyway, we've been happy together for a whole week now, me and my Pixel 2 XL, and I can't see that changing.
So, um, yeah, if it wasn't clear enough, I'd give the 2017 best phone title to the Pixel 2 XL for its awesome camera but I still consider the Note8 a close second. Now if only we could have a Pixel with an S-Pen. Or a Note with the Pixel's camera. Either one. Pretty please?
Disclaimer: I am an out-and-out Android user, so you won't find the latest iPhones on my list.
My list of best phones for the year includes Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+, Galaxy Note8, and the Pixel 2/2 XL. I'd have easily picked up Pixel 2 as my favorite, had it not been for the plethora of issues (both hardware and software related) that have come to light in the past couple of months. So that reduces the competition to Samsung's flagships. Now, as I am not particularly inclined towards very large phones, I'd say the Galaxy S8 series takes the crown for me - I have to admit the phone looks drop dead gorgeous.
That's just my opinion. But it doesn't take away the fact that each of these devices has some standout features. For example, the Pixel 2 gives you arguably the best camera experience, while the Note8 is a very solid all-rounder, with the bundled software features deserving a special mention.
Another point worth mentioning here is that almost all these phones carry premium price tags. So if someone's not willing to spend that much, but still wants a high-end smartphone, I'd suggest taking a look at the OnePlus 5T or the Essential Phone (yeah, it has received a solid price cut). While both offer flagship-level specs, they are not without a fair share of downsides as well. However, given their price tags, it's likely one of them will fit the bill for you.
To me 2017 was the year of nearly there - so many great phones, not one to go the whole nine yards. So I'll just list a few phones worth mentioning (in no particular order).
The iPhone X is the first properly hot iPhone since the iPhone 5 came around. The notch and clumsy software solutions it has led to, unfortunately, prevented this device from being a home run in my eyes.
Then there was the Galaxy Note8, which was arguably the company's most important smartphone launch ever. It did well to match the best display around with the most comfortable iteration of the curved phone so far. The battery, which was smaller than the Galaxy S8+ let it down for me, as well as that awkward fingerprint sensor location.
LG V30 is another excellent package, but unfortunately, one that took just a little too long to actually come to the market this year (December!!!). Still, it's a clear indication that LG can still make flagship ready to take on the best on the market and beat them rather than relying on undercutting their prices. Here's hoping we see more of that next year.
Huawei's rapid rise continues and the Mate 10 and 10 Pro are a pair of awesome flagships and probably the ones to offer the best value for money in the segment. The only problem is you simply can't get the best of both worlds - it's either expandable storage or IP protection, or either OLED screen or a 3.5mm audio jack. With Huawei forcing you to make these choices, it's not the flagship treatment you'd expect. It's a good thing the two phones are not simultaneously available in the same markets
Here at GSMArena, I'm probably the person who changes phones most often - and I don't mean loaned review units but I straight up buy the phones that strike my fancy so I can use and abuse them as I see fit. So I've come to realize these are the main ingredients which make a phone "the best" for me - good screen, stereo speakers, great battery life and a superb camera. I don't care about design, bezels, if the screen is AMOLED or not nor price.
So my picks are the Google Pixel 2 XL, the iPhone X and the Huawei Mate 10 Pro.
The first time I saw the Pixel 2 XL it landed on my desk whilst I was just enjoying the recent purchase of a Samsung Galaxy Note8 and I didn't think much of it at the time. As part of my work I had a few other encounters with it and it spiked my curiosity. I decided to try it out as my main driver and a few days later I had forgotten all about the Galaxy Note8.
I love the Pixel 2 XL's battery life, I love the front-facing speakers, I'm happy with the screen and haven't had any hardware issues whatsoever, touch wood! And the camera is undoubtedly the best I've used on a phone - and I am photographer, so my expectations are probably as high as they get.
I'm not a fan of the Apple iPhone X but I think it deserves a place as "best of 2017" purely because it's the best iPhone this year.
I'm also a fan of the Mate 10 Pro. I think it's fair to say Huawei has made one of the best phones of 2017. Adding an AMOLED screen and waterproofing to an already good smartphone formula pushed the Mate to another level.
The first of my favorite devices this year is the Apple iPhone X. Well, it may be the most controversial iPhone to date, with numerous issues, a few odd design and UI decisions. But the new Apple hardware seems to be light years ahead of the competition, the screen is a real treat, and for the first time in a while, iOS feels fresh and new.
My decision to buy one was based not so much on practicality but out of emotion - but it's the first unique looking iPhone in years and has all the character you'd expect from a hight end smartphone. So I was enamoured with it as soon as I saw it in person for the first time.
With that said, I realize it's not a universal recommendation´I still feel like a beta tester and some aspects of the iOS interaction certainly can use more polishing, but for me it's one of the best phones this year when it comes to speed, display, design, and camera in 2017.
Then comes the Nokia 8. Call me old-fashioned, but when the Nokia 8 arrived in the office it became my favorite Android smartphone in an instant and I realize a lot of it was due to the Nokia and ZEISS logos on the back. The no-nonsense design and the vanilla OS are two of the most important things I want on an Android smartphone, but the Nokia 8 has a lot more to offer.
The color+mono camera combo is my personal favorite ever since the Huawei P9. It's also got portrait mode, manual mode for low-light shots, while the videos benefit from class-leading audio thanks to the Nokia OZO's mics. Even the selfie camera on the Nokia 8 has a high-end sensor with phase-detection AF and ZEISS lens.
Finally, it's the the top-notch performance that made me pick the Nokia 8 as my best Android smartphone for 2017.
But wait, there is one more device - the Oppo R11. I had the chance to use this one in the summer and I was quite impressed by its imaging skills. It had the camera of the OnePlus 5 sans the OIS, and captured some great photos and awesome portraits. The selfie camera, and I say this as a non-selfie person, was a revelation and I've put this through some heavy use! The selfie portraits with defocused backgrounds turned out superb, too, which was a real surprise for me.
Oppo's Color OS may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it has rich theme support and I enjoyed a new skin each week. Then there is the Snapdragon 660 chip, which managed to impress me with its high-end performance.
I am not sure how the Oppo R11 fared in Asia, but if it was available in Europe, I would have most definitely recommended it to my friends.
I'm so sure my colleagues will have covered this in detail that I'm not going to repeat it here, but suffice to say that if I could choose 'any' phone today it would the Pixel 2 XL in Black and White. With its 'storm trooper' or 'panda-like' appearance (call it however you like) it stands out without seeming to try. With its flagship innards it was going to be a foregone conclusion it would perform with its camera again punching above its weight and I've always been a fan of using an unadulterated version of Android.
I attempted migrating from iOS to Android over this Autumn but I hit a road block because it turned out that, as a family, we are too entrenched in the Apple ecosystem to make the transition as smooth as it was supposed to be. The phone I chose to migrate to was the LG V30, and even though the entire move never happened, I got to use the phone as a daily driver for a while. I originally chose the LG V30 as the Pixels and Galaxys seemed a tad to obvious a choice and with my initial brief hands-on, I liked the V30, and I liked it a lot.
Its build quality and design are up there with the best and whilst I wont pretend to be a fan of rear fingerprint sensors it surprised me the sensor was located exactly where I needed it to be. In daily use its P-OLED display was excellent, offering me a display that was bigger and better than my iPhone 6s Plus in a slightly smaller and lighter package. Whilst not completely without its quirks LGs implementation of Android is relatively pure (though I admit I spent far too long digging features in Settings menu).
Whilst it lacks stereo speakers, I tend to listen to my tunes through headphones and as a result, its audio playback, with its Hi-Fi Quad-DAC, was simply sublime. Camera quality is up there with the best and as I need to take interior architecture shots I found myself reaching for the LG V30 more frequently as opposed to my DSLR/wide angle lens combo.
As a result, this was one of those rare occasions where I didn't want to give a review unit back.
It's easy here at GSMArena Towers to get pulled along with flagship specs, etc... so an honorable (pardon the pun) mention goes to Honor with its recently announced Honor 7X. Few phones at this price point offer the design, build quality and specs and I'm looking forward to spending more time with it.
Oh, and what phone did I buy this year? Well, that turned out to be a 256GB iPhone 8 Plus, as I'm kinda trapped in the Apple ecosystem. I say this with regret, depsite the fact that this is a high quality, great performing phone. It's just that it has an overly familiar aging design, from which I wanted a break, but perhaps some other time, right?
My favorite phone this year is the Xiaomi Mi A1 and that's for a number of reasons. I like Xiaomi hardware, I especially like their prices, but I just can't get over MIUI. I know it has many fans and with good reason - it's one of the most polished, feature-rich maker ROMs out there. But it's not my thing.
Holo is still my favorite UI style and Material is a close second. Plus, I tend to use my own set of preferred apps rather than the ones that come as default with the phone. I'm a creature of habit and third-party apps really smooth the transition from one phone over to another (even better when they have a desktop counterpart).
All of this builds up to the reason I like the Xiaomi Mi A1 - it's the first Xiaomi phone with stock Android and also, it's the first Android One phone with decent hardware that I can actually buy. It's partly a regional thing, Android One hasn't been very common in Europe. But it tended to run on low-end hardware too.
I will probably not buy a Mi A1 in the end, OnePlus is doing a decent job of keeping Android clean. But I think that the A1 is just the first of many phones to come. Maybe I will get one of them or at least recommend them to friends and family - and not have to explain that some Chinese ROMs kill apps in the background even when you told them not to.
2017 has been a great year for smartphones, with several noteworthy options to choose from but if I had to pick one phone as the best of 2017 then that would be the iPhone X. For me, the iPhone X is not just the best phone Apple has made but also easily the coolest thing to have come out of the company in a really long time. It is also the first proper redesign of the iPhone since the original came out ten years ago, something that people have been asking for a few years now, which makes it that much more exciting now that it's finally here.
Apple also came closest to perfecting the edge-to-edge screen design that we have been seeing all year. We also get Face ID, which will likely revolutionize biometric security the way Touch ID did four years ago. Even though Apple wasn't the first to adopt either technology, it was the first to get it right and forced other manufacturers to follow suit. Apart from that it's a great phone all-around, with a stunning display, excellent cameras and powerful hardware. Sure, it costs well over a $1000, but Apple doesn't make phones for everyone just like Lamborghini doesn't make cars for everyone.
A very close second for me would be the Google Pixel 2 XL. While the original Pixel often felt like Google came with a knife to a gunfight when compared to its similarly priced rivals, the Pixel 2 phones come all guns blazing. Great hardware? Check. Great cameras? Check. Great software experience? Check. Great display? Yeah, maybe not but that's pretty much the only thing that's holding this phone back from greatness. That and the myriad software and hardware issues that people have experienced to a varying degree. Still, it has been a great effort from Google this year and the Pixel 2 XL is easily the best Android phone you can buy today.
The third best option from me would be the OnePlus 5 and the 5T. While it's easy to gravitate towards the most expensive phones on the market, OnePlus once again showed you don't have to spend the big bucks to get the high-end experience. Sure, it's not as good as either the iPhone X or the Pixel 2 XL above, but it's almost there and at nearly half the price, and that's a massive achievement. It's also heartening to see how far OnePlus has come in just a span of three years and continues to improve at a much greater pace than the rest of the industry. So much so that you wish they calmed down a bit and maybe not launch a new version of their last flagship after just six months. And then another version a month after that.
In honorary mentions, I would like to give a shout out to the Galaxy Note8 for having some of the best hardware of 2017, the Redmi Note 4 for redefining people's expectations from a budget smartphone, and the Razer Phone for being the first to have a 120Hz display on the market. Hopefully, we will see more of that in 2018. Oh wait, this was supposed to go in one of the next chapters.
During the first half of the year, I'd have to say the HTC U11 was probably my favorite phone. The 3D glass was so beautiful and the phone ran like a dream. The U11's camera was also very good thanks to HDR Boost (a similar implementation of the original Pixel's HDR+). It was one of the first smartphones to arrive with the Snapdragon 835 and the best top-tier flagship value for $650.
I have to give credit to Samsung for making some really nice-looking hardware on the Galaxy S8 and S8+. Although it wasn't the first to do the ultra-wide display, it certainly did it well with an excellent-looking display and great camera performance to go along with it. Still, I don't think Samsung's software was polished enough (in terms of stability and smoothness) until the Galaxy Note8 launched. The Note8 is the best all-around phone this year.
Despite all the flak that the Google Pixel 2 XL got soon after its release due to its display, it still stands in my book as the best Android experience this year. The hardware looks great and the camera performance with both the front and rear cameras is quite hard to beat. Combine that with the most polished version of Android to date for an excellent smartphone package.
I believe that people need more versatile and usable phones, one that deliver on basics like dependable speed and camera performance, coupled with quality and battery efficient components. Most people don't realistically need to run a powerhouse Snapdragon 835 in their pocket and chips like the Snapdragon 625/626 and the Exynos 7870 still strike an amazing balance of perfectly adequate performance and great battery efficiency. The trend is growing as well and thankfully trickling down to even cheaper silicon, like the Snapdragon 450.
The Xiaomi Mi A1 and Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro are fan favorites for a reason. Both have the benefit of efficient chipsets and great battery life. Samsung's offer also brings a superior Super AMOLED panel to the table and its own heavily custom and feature-rich take on Android. If that is not your cup of tea, the Mi A1 has you covered with a similarly balanced specs sheet and a clean vanilla version of Google's OS. Even a trendy and very decent dual-camera setup is part of the mix, all without breaking the bank.
No year-end review of 2017 would be complete without mentioning Samsung's flagship roster - the Galaxy S8, S8+, and Note8. From a design standpoint, these manage to impress me even today, as they still look like they are glass-and-metal technology sandwiches from the future with their curved Infinity Displays and minimal bezels. This year was all about the war on bezels, and Samsung has been at the forefront of the fight all along. These three devices are obviously no slouches in other areas either, but what still stands out most to me is the way they look. On this note, I'd like to also say the LG V30 is probably the most underrated smartphone of the year in terms of design, and it's good to see the other Korean company finally giving up on its weird experimentation streak and churning out very modern-looking flagships.
Switching gears, Google's Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL deserve applause for their (shared) cameras, which have somehow managed to improve upon the already excellent snappers of their predecessors. You may call the Pixel line 'overpriced Nexuses', but in doing that you're choosing to ignore one of the biggest things that actually differentiates the two series (aside from price, yes), and that's the relentless focus on computational photography for the Pixels. This has paid off for Google even in the first-gen devices, and continues to with this year's phones.
And then there's the iPhone X. In my mind, this is undoubtedly the most exciting iPhone in quite a few years, and that's thanks in large part to the design. The notch may be controversial, but the mere fact that the iPhone X doesn't look like an iPhone is something to celebrate. For a company that loves to rehash designs year after year, this was one bold step forward. And of course it doesn't hurt that the Face ID system is the most advanced facial recognition technology ever put in a device so small. Sure, Apple could have just settled for a fingerprint sensor on the back, but I think it deserves praise for not going that route: developing Face ID was a much bigger challenge, technologically speaking, so I commend the company for not choosing the easy way out. To paraphrase JFK, Apple did this not because it was easy, but because it was hard - and we always need more of that, in the mobile world but not just.
Of all the phones I tried and used this past year, I enjoyed the Huawei P10 the most - it's far from the latest and greatest today, but for me, it was the most comfortable to use. I feel like phones just keep getting bigger and bigger, but with the P10's light weight and small size, there was never any need for thumb gymnastics. The textured finish on the back felt nice and grippy compared to all-glass builds, and I never had this one fly out of my pocket. Plus, with the front fingerprint reader, I never missed a step, especially when using the phone on a table.
2017 was still unfolding when Asus introduced the Zenfone AR. I thought this is going to be a strong year for the augmented reality platforms but all we got was taller screens. In the echo chamber of unusual ratios and brand names like Infinity Display and Full Vision not more than two phones managed to stick out for me.
One of the more impressive devices that I handled throughout 2017 is the Samsung Galaxy Note8. It is essentially the top-notch specs of Galaxy S8 with a more exciting dual camera. The device looks good and performs well; it also pleases the senses with the AMOLED screen and glass-sandwiched body. The reason why I don't pick the Galaxy Note8 to be my lawfully wedded top 2017 smartphone is the uncomfortable fingerprint scanner and the completely useless Bixby (sorry, Samsung fans) that still needs fixing.
The other phone that impressed me is the Huawei Mate 10. I am a simple man who likes to take simple minimalistic photos and the Leica-branded camera does a perfect job. Long exposure and detailed ISO setup is all I need. Sadly, Huawei skipped on the AMOLED and the UI is not the friendliest out there, but you can look past it. Sure, the Mate 10 Pro would be a better choice, but scratching off the microSD and audio jack was not the innovation I am looking for in 2017.
Angie
I'm relatively new here at GSMArena, but I have to say, I fell in head over heels for this year's Oneplus phones. We've had many amazing devices in the office, but once I started using the Oneplus 5, I couldn't let it go.
It struck a beautiful balance with its lightning fast near-stock Android, its great camera for both photos and videos, its elegant (albeit unoriginal) design, and its insane charging speed.
Basically, the phone was great at doing what I needed the most. The Oneplus 5T further built on that by greatly improving the screen and improving the camera's night game.
For me, the perfect phone would be the Oneplus 5t with IP68 protection and the Pixel 2's camera. Yeah, yeah, I know that's not happening anytime soon, but I can dream.
Other than my love affair with Oneplus, I'd say seeing the Samsung Galaxy S8 was a major wow moment. It was the first time in a long time I'd held a device and thought "Oh, I'm in the future!"
However, as beautiful as the S8's design was, I think the Note 8 deserves my honorable mention. It took the great parts of the Galaxy S8 and made them even better. Where the Oneplus phones had balanced simplicity, the Note 8 had pretty much every feature you could think of plus a gorgeous design.
George
Being a Galaxy Note fan myself, I was super excited about the Note8 after the gap year caused by the Note7's battery woes. And sure enough, I got one. I enjoyed the marvelous display, the battery life, the camera - portraits and zooming alike. I missed an S-Pen in my life and as soon as I had one again, I loved every bit of it. I sent Live messages left and right, I pinned Screen-off memo shopping lists, even did some coloring in Pen Up (perhaps too much).
All for a total of two weeks.
Then a certain retailer announced a €200 discount on the Pixel 2 and 2 XL. I didn't think twice and ordered it straight ahead. Not residing in one of Google's official markets however, meant things weren't so straighforward. I had to go through a number of hoops to get the Pixel 2 XL shipped across borders and wait for a good three weeks to hold it in my hands. During which time I used the small Pixel 2 review unit we had lying around, as the Note was put up for sale, and eventually went into the hands of an LG V20 owner. I'd call it an upgrade. Anyway, we've been happy together for a whole week now, me and my Pixel 2 XL, and I can't see that changing.
So, um, yeah, if it wasn't clear enough, I'd give the 2017 best phone title to the Pixel 2 XL for its awesome camera but I still consider the Note8 a close second. Now if only we could have a Pixel with an S-Pen. Or a Note with the Pixel's camera. Either one. Pretty please?
Himanshu
Disclaimer: I am an out-and-out Android user, so you won't find the latest iPhones on my list.
My list of best phones for the year includes Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+, Galaxy Note8, and the Pixel 2/2 XL. I'd have easily picked up Pixel 2 as my favorite, had it not been for the plethora of issues (both hardware and software related) that have come to light in the past couple of months. So that reduces the competition to Samsung's flagships. Now, as I am not particularly inclined towards very large phones, I'd say the Galaxy S8 series takes the crown for me - I have to admit the phone looks drop dead gorgeous.
That's just my opinion. But it doesn't take away the fact that each of these devices has some standout features. For example, the Pixel 2 gives you arguably the best camera experience, while the Note8 is a very solid all-rounder, with the bundled software features deserving a special mention.
Another point worth mentioning here is that almost all these phones carry premium price tags. So if someone's not willing to spend that much, but still wants a high-end smartphone, I'd suggest taking a look at the OnePlus 5T or the Essential Phone (yeah, it has received a solid price cut). While both offer flagship-level specs, they are not without a fair share of downsides as well. However, given their price tags, it's likely one of them will fit the bill for you.
Chip
To me 2017 was the year of nearly there - so many great phones, not one to go the whole nine yards. So I'll just list a few phones worth mentioning (in no particular order).
The iPhone X is the first properly hot iPhone since the iPhone 5 came around. The notch and clumsy software solutions it has led to, unfortunately, prevented this device from being a home run in my eyes.
Then there was the Galaxy Note8, which was arguably the company's most important smartphone launch ever. It did well to match the best display around with the most comfortable iteration of the curved phone so far. The battery, which was smaller than the Galaxy S8+ let it down for me, as well as that awkward fingerprint sensor location.
LG V30 is another excellent package, but unfortunately, one that took just a little too long to actually come to the market this year (December!!!). Still, it's a clear indication that LG can still make flagship ready to take on the best on the market and beat them rather than relying on undercutting their prices. Here's hoping we see more of that next year.
Huawei's rapid rise continues and the Mate 10 and 10 Pro are a pair of awesome flagships and probably the ones to offer the best value for money in the segment. The only problem is you simply can't get the best of both worlds - it's either expandable storage or IP protection, or either OLED screen or a 3.5mm audio jack. With Huawei forcing you to make these choices, it's not the flagship treatment you'd expect. It's a good thing the two phones are not simultaneously available in the same markets
Ivan
Here at GSMArena, I'm probably the person who changes phones most often - and I don't mean loaned review units but I straight up buy the phones that strike my fancy so I can use and abuse them as I see fit. So I've come to realize these are the main ingredients which make a phone "the best" for me - good screen, stereo speakers, great battery life and a superb camera. I don't care about design, bezels, if the screen is AMOLED or not nor price.
So my picks are the Google Pixel 2 XL, the iPhone X and the Huawei Mate 10 Pro.
The first time I saw the Pixel 2 XL it landed on my desk whilst I was just enjoying the recent purchase of a Samsung Galaxy Note8 and I didn't think much of it at the time. As part of my work I had a few other encounters with it and it spiked my curiosity. I decided to try it out as my main driver and a few days later I had forgotten all about the Galaxy Note8.
I love the Pixel 2 XL's battery life, I love the front-facing speakers, I'm happy with the screen and haven't had any hardware issues whatsoever, touch wood! And the camera is undoubtedly the best I've used on a phone - and I am photographer, so my expectations are probably as high as they get.
I'm not a fan of the Apple iPhone X but I think it deserves a place as "best of 2017" purely because it's the best iPhone this year.
I'm also a fan of the Mate 10 Pro. I think it's fair to say Huawei has made one of the best phones of 2017. Adding an AMOLED screen and waterproofing to an already good smartphone formula pushed the Mate to another level.
Kaloyan
The first of my favorite devices this year is the Apple iPhone X. Well, it may be the most controversial iPhone to date, with numerous issues, a few odd design and UI decisions. But the new Apple hardware seems to be light years ahead of the competition, the screen is a real treat, and for the first time in a while, iOS feels fresh and new.
My decision to buy one was based not so much on practicality but out of emotion - but it's the first unique looking iPhone in years and has all the character you'd expect from a hight end smartphone. So I was enamoured with it as soon as I saw it in person for the first time.
With that said, I realize it's not a universal recommendation´I still feel like a beta tester and some aspects of the iOS interaction certainly can use more polishing, but for me it's one of the best phones this year when it comes to speed, display, design, and camera in 2017.
Then comes the Nokia 8. Call me old-fashioned, but when the Nokia 8 arrived in the office it became my favorite Android smartphone in an instant and I realize a lot of it was due to the Nokia and ZEISS logos on the back. The no-nonsense design and the vanilla OS are two of the most important things I want on an Android smartphone, but the Nokia 8 has a lot more to offer.
The color+mono camera combo is my personal favorite ever since the Huawei P9. It's also got portrait mode, manual mode for low-light shots, while the videos benefit from class-leading audio thanks to the Nokia OZO's mics. Even the selfie camera on the Nokia 8 has a high-end sensor with phase-detection AF and ZEISS lens.
Finally, it's the the top-notch performance that made me pick the Nokia 8 as my best Android smartphone for 2017.
But wait, there is one more device - the Oppo R11. I had the chance to use this one in the summer and I was quite impressed by its imaging skills. It had the camera of the OnePlus 5 sans the OIS, and captured some great photos and awesome portraits. The selfie camera, and I say this as a non-selfie person, was a revelation and I've put this through some heavy use! The selfie portraits with defocused backgrounds turned out superb, too, which was a real surprise for me.
Oppo's Color OS may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it has rich theme support and I enjoyed a new skin each week. Then there is the Snapdragon 660 chip, which managed to impress me with its high-end performance.
I am not sure how the Oppo R11 fared in Asia, but if it was available in Europe, I would have most definitely recommended it to my friends.
Paul
I'm so sure my colleagues will have covered this in detail that I'm not going to repeat it here, but suffice to say that if I could choose 'any' phone today it would the Pixel 2 XL in Black and White. With its 'storm trooper' or 'panda-like' appearance (call it however you like) it stands out without seeming to try. With its flagship innards it was going to be a foregone conclusion it would perform with its camera again punching above its weight and I've always been a fan of using an unadulterated version of Android.
I attempted migrating from iOS to Android over this Autumn but I hit a road block because it turned out that, as a family, we are too entrenched in the Apple ecosystem to make the transition as smooth as it was supposed to be. The phone I chose to migrate to was the LG V30, and even though the entire move never happened, I got to use the phone as a daily driver for a while. I originally chose the LG V30 as the Pixels and Galaxys seemed a tad to obvious a choice and with my initial brief hands-on, I liked the V30, and I liked it a lot.
Its build quality and design are up there with the best and whilst I wont pretend to be a fan of rear fingerprint sensors it surprised me the sensor was located exactly where I needed it to be. In daily use its P-OLED display was excellent, offering me a display that was bigger and better than my iPhone 6s Plus in a slightly smaller and lighter package. Whilst not completely without its quirks LGs implementation of Android is relatively pure (though I admit I spent far too long digging features in Settings menu).
Whilst it lacks stereo speakers, I tend to listen to my tunes through headphones and as a result, its audio playback, with its Hi-Fi Quad-DAC, was simply sublime. Camera quality is up there with the best and as I need to take interior architecture shots I found myself reaching for the LG V30 more frequently as opposed to my DSLR/wide angle lens combo.
As a result, this was one of those rare occasions where I didn't want to give a review unit back.
It's easy here at GSMArena Towers to get pulled along with flagship specs, etc... so an honorable (pardon the pun) mention goes to Honor with its recently announced Honor 7X. Few phones at this price point offer the design, build quality and specs and I'm looking forward to spending more time with it.
Oh, and what phone did I buy this year? Well, that turned out to be a 256GB iPhone 8 Plus, as I'm kinda trapped in the Apple ecosystem. I say this with regret, depsite the fact that this is a high quality, great performing phone. It's just that it has an overly familiar aging design, from which I wanted a break, but perhaps some other time, right?
Peter
My favorite phone this year is the Xiaomi Mi A1 and that's for a number of reasons. I like Xiaomi hardware, I especially like their prices, but I just can't get over MIUI. I know it has many fans and with good reason - it's one of the most polished, feature-rich maker ROMs out there. But it's not my thing.
Holo is still my favorite UI style and Material is a close second. Plus, I tend to use my own set of preferred apps rather than the ones that come as default with the phone. I'm a creature of habit and third-party apps really smooth the transition from one phone over to another (even better when they have a desktop counterpart).
All of this builds up to the reason I like the Xiaomi Mi A1 - it's the first Xiaomi phone with stock Android and also, it's the first Android One phone with decent hardware that I can actually buy. It's partly a regional thing, Android One hasn't been very common in Europe. But it tended to run on low-end hardware too.
I will probably not buy a Mi A1 in the end, OnePlus is doing a decent job of keeping Android clean. But I think that the A1 is just the first of many phones to come. Maybe I will get one of them or at least recommend them to friends and family - and not have to explain that some Chinese ROMs kill apps in the background even when you told them not to.
Prasad
2017 has been a great year for smartphones, with several noteworthy options to choose from but if I had to pick one phone as the best of 2017 then that would be the iPhone X. For me, the iPhone X is not just the best phone Apple has made but also easily the coolest thing to have come out of the company in a really long time. It is also the first proper redesign of the iPhone since the original came out ten years ago, something that people have been asking for a few years now, which makes it that much more exciting now that it's finally here.
Apple also came closest to perfecting the edge-to-edge screen design that we have been seeing all year. We also get Face ID, which will likely revolutionize biometric security the way Touch ID did four years ago. Even though Apple wasn't the first to adopt either technology, it was the first to get it right and forced other manufacturers to follow suit. Apart from that it's a great phone all-around, with a stunning display, excellent cameras and powerful hardware. Sure, it costs well over a $1000, but Apple doesn't make phones for everyone just like Lamborghini doesn't make cars for everyone.
A very close second for me would be the Google Pixel 2 XL. While the original Pixel often felt like Google came with a knife to a gunfight when compared to its similarly priced rivals, the Pixel 2 phones come all guns blazing. Great hardware? Check. Great cameras? Check. Great software experience? Check. Great display? Yeah, maybe not but that's pretty much the only thing that's holding this phone back from greatness. That and the myriad software and hardware issues that people have experienced to a varying degree. Still, it has been a great effort from Google this year and the Pixel 2 XL is easily the best Android phone you can buy today.
The third best option from me would be the OnePlus 5 and the 5T. While it's easy to gravitate towards the most expensive phones on the market, OnePlus once again showed you don't have to spend the big bucks to get the high-end experience. Sure, it's not as good as either the iPhone X or the Pixel 2 XL above, but it's almost there and at nearly half the price, and that's a massive achievement. It's also heartening to see how far OnePlus has come in just a span of three years and continues to improve at a much greater pace than the rest of the industry. So much so that you wish they calmed down a bit and maybe not launch a new version of their last flagship after just six months. And then another version a month after that.
In honorary mentions, I would like to give a shout out to the Galaxy Note8 for having some of the best hardware of 2017, the Redmi Note 4 for redefining people's expectations from a budget smartphone, and the Razer Phone for being the first to have a 120Hz display on the market. Hopefully, we will see more of that in 2018. Oh wait, this was supposed to go in one of the next chapters.
Ricky
During the first half of the year, I'd have to say the HTC U11 was probably my favorite phone. The 3D glass was so beautiful and the phone ran like a dream. The U11's camera was also very good thanks to HDR Boost (a similar implementation of the original Pixel's HDR+). It was one of the first smartphones to arrive with the Snapdragon 835 and the best top-tier flagship value for $650.
I have to give credit to Samsung for making some really nice-looking hardware on the Galaxy S8 and S8+. Although it wasn't the first to do the ultra-wide display, it certainly did it well with an excellent-looking display and great camera performance to go along with it. Still, I don't think Samsung's software was polished enough (in terms of stability and smoothness) until the Galaxy Note8 launched. The Note8 is the best all-around phone this year.
Despite all the flak that the Google Pixel 2 XL got soon after its release due to its display, it still stands in my book as the best Android experience this year. The hardware looks great and the camera performance with both the front and rear cameras is quite hard to beat. Combine that with the most polished version of Android to date for an excellent smartphone package.
Victor
I believe that people need more versatile and usable phones, one that deliver on basics like dependable speed and camera performance, coupled with quality and battery efficient components. Most people don't realistically need to run a powerhouse Snapdragon 835 in their pocket and chips like the Snapdragon 625/626 and the Exynos 7870 still strike an amazing balance of perfectly adequate performance and great battery efficiency. The trend is growing as well and thankfully trickling down to even cheaper silicon, like the Snapdragon 450.
The Xiaomi Mi A1 and Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro are fan favorites for a reason. Both have the benefit of efficient chipsets and great battery life. Samsung's offer also brings a superior Super AMOLED panel to the table and its own heavily custom and feature-rich take on Android. If that is not your cup of tea, the Mi A1 has you covered with a similarly balanced specs sheet and a clean vanilla version of Google's OS. Even a trendy and very decent dual-camera setup is part of the mix, all without breaking the bank.
Vlad
No year-end review of 2017 would be complete without mentioning Samsung's flagship roster - the Galaxy S8, S8+, and Note8. From a design standpoint, these manage to impress me even today, as they still look like they are glass-and-metal technology sandwiches from the future with their curved Infinity Displays and minimal bezels. This year was all about the war on bezels, and Samsung has been at the forefront of the fight all along. These three devices are obviously no slouches in other areas either, but what still stands out most to me is the way they look. On this note, I'd like to also say the LG V30 is probably the most underrated smartphone of the year in terms of design, and it's good to see the other Korean company finally giving up on its weird experimentation streak and churning out very modern-looking flagships.
Switching gears, Google's Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL deserve applause for their (shared) cameras, which have somehow managed to improve upon the already excellent snappers of their predecessors. You may call the Pixel line 'overpriced Nexuses', but in doing that you're choosing to ignore one of the biggest things that actually differentiates the two series (aside from price, yes), and that's the relentless focus on computational photography for the Pixels. This has paid off for Google even in the first-gen devices, and continues to with this year's phones.
And then there's the iPhone X. In my mind, this is undoubtedly the most exciting iPhone in quite a few years, and that's thanks in large part to the design. The notch may be controversial, but the mere fact that the iPhone X doesn't look like an iPhone is something to celebrate. For a company that loves to rehash designs year after year, this was one bold step forward. And of course it doesn't hurt that the Face ID system is the most advanced facial recognition technology ever put in a device so small. Sure, Apple could have just settled for a fingerprint sensor on the back, but I think it deserves praise for not going that route: developing Face ID was a much bigger challenge, technologically speaking, so I commend the company for not choosing the easy way out. To paraphrase JFK, Apple did this not because it was easy, but because it was hard - and we always need more of that, in the mobile world but not just.
Will
Of all the phones I tried and used this past year, I enjoyed the Huawei P10 the most - it's far from the latest and greatest today, but for me, it was the most comfortable to use. I feel like phones just keep getting bigger and bigger, but with the P10's light weight and small size, there was never any need for thumb gymnastics. The textured finish on the back felt nice and grippy compared to all-glass builds, and I never had this one fly out of my pocket. Plus, with the front fingerprint reader, I never missed a step, especially when using the phone on a table.
Yordan
2017 was still unfolding when Asus introduced the Zenfone AR. I thought this is going to be a strong year for the augmented reality platforms but all we got was taller screens. In the echo chamber of unusual ratios and brand names like Infinity Display and Full Vision not more than two phones managed to stick out for me.
One of the more impressive devices that I handled throughout 2017 is the Samsung Galaxy Note8. It is essentially the top-notch specs of Galaxy S8 with a more exciting dual camera. The device looks good and performs well; it also pleases the senses with the AMOLED screen and glass-sandwiched body. The reason why I don't pick the Galaxy Note8 to be my lawfully wedded top 2017 smartphone is the uncomfortable fingerprint scanner and the completely useless Bixby (sorry, Samsung fans) that still needs fixing.
The other phone that impressed me is the Huawei Mate 10. I am a simple man who likes to take simple minimalistic photos and the Leica-branded camera does a perfect job. Long exposure and detailed ISO setup is all I need. Sadly, Huawei skipped on the AMOLED and the UI is not the friendliest out there, but you can look past it. Sure, the Mate 10 Pro would be a better choice, but scratching off the microSD and audio jack was not the innovation I am looking for in 2017.
Question: What phone or tech trend disappointed you the most in the 2017?
I had high hopes for the Essential PH-1 because who doesn't like to root for the new guy challenging the status quo. I even briefly considered getting one, when it got discounted by $200 (you might spot my shopping patterns if you've paid attention). Top-tier internals in a body like no other for $500? I could have made that work.
Even then, however, it would have been a serious compromise. I'm into OLED displays (even if I have 'settled' for the Pixel 2 XL's less than exceptional one) and the Essential's LCD wasn't amazing. Then there was the camera - itself far from the best on the market. And the notch - the notch that no software update would have fixed. Ultimately, reason got the better of me, for a change.
In a way, the Note8 is a disappointment too, objectively speaking. After all, it only managed to keep me hooked for a fortnight and now that I've switched to the Pixel 2 XL there is no going back.
The year 2017 mostly saw decent phones being launched. But if have to pick some disappointments, the foldable, ZTE Axon M that was launched last month is the first device that comes to my mind.
ZTE became the first company to bring a foldable smartphone to the market, but the product was far from what we all were expecting or have been dreaming of. Instead of a foldable display in the true sense, the Axon M features two screens with a hinge in the middle. The design may be useful in some scenarios (like you and someone sitting across can view the same video easily), but it's definitely not appealing. Not to mention the size and the weight of the handset. Looks like a brick. Ugh.
Moving on, although Google's Pixel 2 series has been highly admired (both critically and commercially), the fact remains the devices are heavily plagued with issues. That, for me - and many other Pixel fans I am sure - has been a big disappointment. While it's good that the company has already fixed quite a few issues and is working to fix the others, I think the damage has already been done.
Apple is selling a three-year-old design for over €800, which to borrow the popular quote is the worst trade deal in the history of trade deals, maybe ever. That's what the small iPhone 8 costs in Europe and it doesn't even have the fancy camera or the larger screen estate of the Plus to make its existence worthwhile.
In more general terms the huge price hikes that flagships got this year are rather shocking, and there's probably another similarly large jump incoming next year when the large-screened bezelless iPhone breaks through the $999 barrier in the US - chances are we'll see phones go very close to the €1500 mark in 2018.
I'm also rather disappointed that Xiaomi didn't manage to put all the pieces they have together and produce a truly great phone this year. You know, Mi 6 camera, but Mi Mix 2 bezels. A 3.5mm audio jack and an OLED screen would be nice too.
Sony taking too long to give their phones a much-needed design overhaul and HMD going overly safe with the first Nokia flagship also turned a few smiles upside down in 2017. The two companies clearly have huge engineering potential and no shortage of good ideas, so them being unable to identify the basic trends and respond to them is rather frustrating. Fingers crossed that those rumors end up correct and 2018 brings us proper flagships from both of those companies.
I'll forego the obvious and not talk about 3.5mm audio jacks. What I'm disappointed with this year is scratch-prone glass on phones. Technically it's not a 2017-exclusive issue but it seems to have exasperated this year. It took less than 1 hour for Apple's "most durable glass ever in a smartphone" to scratch and about the same for Samsung's all-glass Galaxies.
But the biggest disappointment of 2017 so far has to be phone prices. All of a sudden a €500 phone is considered midrange and that's outrageous. And next year things will probably get even worse.
The most disappointing phone for me this year has to be the Apple iPhone X. I remember last year writing how the anniversary iPhone will remind us of the Steve Jobs era, and may as well change everything while doing it. I was so wrong. The only thing that changed since the X is the iPhone jokes.
The X is the best iPhone to date, and probably the most powerful smartphone on the planet, yes, but it's the most unpolished and rushed one I've ever seen since the first iPhone. The new iOS gestures are an utter nonsense, which could have been totally avoided if only Apple made the effort to put to better use the 3D Touch they "invented" a while ago.
Then there is the notch. And the line. Numerous bugs. Lots incompatible apps. THAT PRICE! And no Jobs spirit, whatsoever.
Up next is the Google Pixel 2 XL. It's like the Galaxy Note7 fiasco, but with OLEDs. The screen lottery became a thing, and there was a moment there I feared Google might pull a Samsung here. Just like Apple, the giant Google pretty much had a whole year to polish and test just this phone. But they ended up distributing a problematic device and it was not just one issue - more are encountered each week.
It's a shame for the Pixel 2 XL, because, on paper, it's one of the best smartphones out there.
And the final phone that gets me ranting is the OnePlus 5T. What were you thinking, OnePlus? At least the 5's camera had the telephoto thing going on, but the 5T has probably the most meaningless dual-camera setup. What's worse is that the Oppo R11s has the same illogical duo of sensors, which means this is spreading through the BBK's companies. Just stop it. Drop it, scratch it, forget it, move on, and pretend this has never happened. I will.
My biggest disappointment was the iPhone X, this was the phone that I planned on purchasing this year without fail. However, two things kept me from doing exactly that.
The rumor mill and usual leaks told me that I wasn't going to get a screen size equal to my iPhone 6s Plus, but I'd already conceded that point and was willing to wait for the 2018 iPhones. However, the show stopper for me was the complete removal of the home button with a reliance on pure gestures, combined with Face ID resulting in a device that I simply didn't enjoy using as I felt it was too compromised. We could argue this all day long but the analogy I often show people is car interior design. Not naming brands but my wives car had migrated most of its functions to a touch screen and using a touch screen whilst driving to change even the simplest thing is not only dangerous but needlessly slower. I find this so problematical that I purchased an iPhone 8 Plus instead as all next years iPhones will in all likelihood adopt this approach.
You see, sometimes buttons are good, buttons are needed and like the headphone jack, I'm concerned other manufacturers will follow Apple's example. In the quest for clawing back every millimeter of space, I guarantee that Apple will remove the volume buttons either next year or 2019. Remember, you read it here first.
Moving on, here we learn to reign in our expectations on new phones from new manufactures, but with the heritage of Andy Rubin attached to the Essential PH-1 phone, I had unrealistically high expectations. As we've all read, it wasn't quite ready to mix it up with the big boys. As a result, I'm expecting big things from the Essential PH-2 next year, and I predict it will be one the surprise launches of 2018.
Having grown up during the dawn of GSM, the Nokia 3310 is a part of my childhood. I never had one, too expensive. Now, however, I'm a grown-up with a job and can afford things... I was this close to buying a Nokia 8855 just because it's one of the most beautiful phones ever (and that's unlikely to change in the "slab phone" era).
So I would have loved a nostalgia-filled 3310 remake. Go back to a black & white screen (at least B&W graphics), a single Navi-Key, give me a monophonic Nokia tune and a manual ringtone composer.
The Nokia 3310 (2017) does none of those things, it just feels like a money grab. It doesn't even look the same! It's more of a Nokia 150 with the name on the box switched out.
It's a shame really as Nintendo, Sega, ZX Spectrum and others are making a killing by selling remakes of classic consoles. Why couldn't Nokia/HMD do the same?
This category gets harder and harder to write for every year. Most companies just don't make bad phones anymore and the ones that do, well, we avoid them altogether. Some disappointments do stick out, such as the HTC U Ultra (did they even try?), LG Q6 (way too underpowered), Nokia 2 (underpowered and underequipped, even for its price), BlackBerry KeyONE (who is this for really?), Xiaomi Redmi Y1 (SELFIES! MARKETING! CELEBRITY PROMOTIONS!), Sony Xperia XZ1 (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+ V), Google Pixel 2 ("do you think they will notice this one doesn't have the 18:9 display?"), iPhone 8 and 8 Plus (why do these even exist?) and the Essential Phone (expected better from the 'Father of Android') but none of these phones are so terrible to warrant talking at length about them.
Instead, I'll talk about some annoying trends of 2017, starting with the dual rear cameras. Or should I say triple rear cameras now? There doesn't seem to be any end to this madness. Gone are the times when companies focused on having just one great camera on the back. In case you haven't noticed, camera quality on most phones didn't really get all that better this year. It's because companies now have a second camera to distract you with, which in most cases doesn't add much value at all. At least the wide-angle and telephoto lenses have some use, but most phones only come with a secondary depth sensor, responsible for some of the fakest looking bokeh you have ever seen. These don't make your photos better. All they do is distract you from the fact that your phone takes the same mediocre photos as last year.
If that wasn't bad enough, we now even have dual front cameras. The result of these is bearable at best and nauseating at worst. The rise of the 'selfie phone' is even more nauseating, especially when you consider most of these phones don't have a good front camera, a thing you'd assume is a given considering their title. Instead, most of them focus on an absurd megapixel count, which they then render completely pointless with heavy-handed 'beauty' filters that can make a porcupine look like a Pomeranian. The selfie crazed populace then buys into this marketing to share barely recognizable versions of themselves with others.
Then, of course, there is the widescale removal of the headphone jack. Admittedly, I am a big supporter of Bluetooth headphones. I use mine every day and couldn't be more satisfied with them. There are occasions when I want to plug in my more expensive wired headphones into a phone, or just don't feel like going through the process of pairing my Bluetooth headphones with a phone, or they might be charging, a problem wired headphones don't have. At this point, I have to come face to face with the dreaded dongle, which is never where you want it to be. And if you do find it, there is the off chance the phone you are trying to plug it in is itself charging, leaving you with just one option: throw all of it out the window.
By the way, does anyone remember VR on mobile? Because it seems we are now expected to believe it never happened and just accept AR as our new lord and savior. Last year Google promised big things with its Daydream VR, which just like the name turned out to be a daydream. I'm not even sure if Samsung's Gear VR is still a thing. Apple probably saw all this coming and never even bothered. Microsoft doesn't even have a horse in this race anymore. No one else seems to care, either. I guess VR on phones is dead, then.
My final disappointment with 2017 is this: voice assistants still kinda suck. Sure, they are better than they used to be but there isn't a single one out there that will work perfectly fine and do what you ask of it every single time without throwing the occasional error. I know this is a bit of uncanny valley territory, and the better these things get the more unforgiving we are of them but the weird faltering with even basic queries on occasion shows we are still far away from an entirely voice-operated future.
As far as disappointments go, I would have to say that Apple gets that title for the second year in a row. We were expecting a drastic physical change with the iPhone 7, and for Apple - a company that was once innovative - to release an iPhone 8 that looks pretty much like the iPhone 7, and iPhone 6 before that, it's another slap in the face to Apple fans. Apple has been pushing the limit of what it can get away with and how much it can get its customers pay for it.
The phone design trends of 2017 are my biggest disappointment of the year. Curved panels, bezel-less profiles and glass bodies are the tune of the day. It's not that these are not pretty because they are, but they are anything but practical. I still find a flat panel better suited for viewing, holding, swiping, as well as easier to protect. I also appreciate a comfortable device to hold, which for me, means having a place to rest a finger or two, or being able to grip something other than display when playing a game, or trying desperately to hold my curvy Samsung Galaxy Note8 with one hand out into the air to get a few people in frame.
That being said, I've made my peace with the "deprecation" of a lot of things I loved about phones - removable backs and swappable batteries, plastic and leather components, physical controls, or at least home buttons - the list goes on. However, I can't shake the feeling that the latest design trends are a desperate attempt to shake things up before the flexible display revolution inevitably rolls in. And that is one of the things I am most excited about in 2018. But I will talk more about that on one of the next page.
Smartphones have gotten so good lately (and I don't just mean flagships) that it's really tough to single out any one of those launched in 2017 as a complete blunder. On the other hand, my quest for the perfect smartphone is still ongoing, as every one of them still has at least one trait that will make you scratch your head in disbelief.
Here's a short list: the S8/S8+/Note8's fingerprint sensor position; the Pixel 2's bezels; the Pixel 2 XL's screen; every single Sony device's bezels; every single Nokia device's bezels; the OnePlus 5T's secondary rear camera; the Honor 7X's and the iPhone X's price in Europe; the differentiating features between the Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro, some of which make the Pro not look that much like a Pro; and of course the software update situation for every single handset that isn't a Pixel or iPhone.
Additionally, I want to say that while I understand why the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus came to be, they probably shouldn't have. Yes, Apple couldn't possibly make enough iPhone X units to satisfy the demand if that was the only phone it had released this year. And yet buying an iPhone 8 or 8 Plus in a world where the iPhone X exists just seems sad to me. You may say you hate the notch, or don't want to spend that much money on a phone, or come up with another excuse, but the truth is that with the 8 or 8 Plus you're just settling. Settling for a device that looks like it's from 2014.
My biggest disappointment was the Galaxy S8 - or rather, using it as a daily driver was. It's a beautiful piece of tech to behold but not so much to use. Of course, it has an impressive camera and an fantastic curved infinity display. But I wish the S8 was more user-friendly - accidental activation from the wraparound screen or the Bixby button happened way too often, and I quickly gave up on the fingerprint reader. These might be small downsides for some, but the S8 just isn't designed for me.
As a news editor, there were times when in a single day I wrote three separate leaks on the new iPhone. Everything and everyone was hyping over the magical "anniversary iPhone." Finally it came out, a month and a half later than expected, and still felt unfinished, mostly due to the updated UI. More gestures and swipes are something you least want when a phone is your entire world. It should be simpler. Sure, muscle memory takes care of the new app-switching swipe, but the bitter taste is still there.
The whole tall display trend of 2017 should inspire streaming services and game companies to offer a better cinematic experience. I fear it might take them a while to unify the new standard. Developers are currently back at Step 1 in the quest of making black bars disappear, let's see how long it takes them. My bet - longer than needed.
The iPhone X's design was definitely a letdown. I was super excited about the modernization of the iPhone and the new form factor, but when it finally arrived, the software was less intuitive than ever before and the notch just stood there, eating up screen space for no good reason.
What really pained me this past year was the continued demise of the headphone jack. You can't justify its removal because it doesn't take up that much space, there is no alternative that's truly good enough at the moment and it doesn't get in the way of increasing water resistance. Did I mention that it's the standard at any professional audio studio?
But other things about its removal do influence consumers really negatively: it forces people to pad the pockets of conglomerates in order to buy those ridiculous dongles, and more importantly, it hastens the adaption of bluetooth headsets. It doesn't matter that bluetooth headphones have mediocre sound quality, but it really freaks me out that they emit radio waves right next to your skull for hours on end every day. The technology has only recently become widespread, so we actually don't know how much they affect our brains over the long term.
I can already see people berating me for being too cautious. Yeah, it's not a lot of radiation, but over time, the negative effects (if there are any) can add up. I know safety is a dismal topic, but these are questions worth asking and companies aren't willing to do it unless something explodes, like last year. So although everyone is pushing for a wireless future, at the very least, I hope those stupid dongles stick around.
George
I had high hopes for the Essential PH-1 because who doesn't like to root for the new guy challenging the status quo. I even briefly considered getting one, when it got discounted by $200 (you might spot my shopping patterns if you've paid attention). Top-tier internals in a body like no other for $500? I could have made that work.
Even then, however, it would have been a serious compromise. I'm into OLED displays (even if I have 'settled' for the Pixel 2 XL's less than exceptional one) and the Essential's LCD wasn't amazing. Then there was the camera - itself far from the best on the market. And the notch - the notch that no software update would have fixed. Ultimately, reason got the better of me, for a change.
In a way, the Note8 is a disappointment too, objectively speaking. After all, it only managed to keep me hooked for a fortnight and now that I've switched to the Pixel 2 XL there is no going back.
Himanshu
The year 2017 mostly saw decent phones being launched. But if have to pick some disappointments, the foldable, ZTE Axon M that was launched last month is the first device that comes to my mind.
ZTE became the first company to bring a foldable smartphone to the market, but the product was far from what we all were expecting or have been dreaming of. Instead of a foldable display in the true sense, the Axon M features two screens with a hinge in the middle. The design may be useful in some scenarios (like you and someone sitting across can view the same video easily), but it's definitely not appealing. Not to mention the size and the weight of the handset. Looks like a brick. Ugh.
Moving on, although Google's Pixel 2 series has been highly admired (both critically and commercially), the fact remains the devices are heavily plagued with issues. That, for me - and many other Pixel fans I am sure - has been a big disappointment. While it's good that the company has already fixed quite a few issues and is working to fix the others, I think the damage has already been done.
Chip
Apple is selling a three-year-old design for over €800, which to borrow the popular quote is the worst trade deal in the history of trade deals, maybe ever. That's what the small iPhone 8 costs in Europe and it doesn't even have the fancy camera or the larger screen estate of the Plus to make its existence worthwhile.
In more general terms the huge price hikes that flagships got this year are rather shocking, and there's probably another similarly large jump incoming next year when the large-screened bezelless iPhone breaks through the $999 barrier in the US - chances are we'll see phones go very close to the €1500 mark in 2018.
I'm also rather disappointed that Xiaomi didn't manage to put all the pieces they have together and produce a truly great phone this year. You know, Mi 6 camera, but Mi Mix 2 bezels. A 3.5mm audio jack and an OLED screen would be nice too.
Sony taking too long to give their phones a much-needed design overhaul and HMD going overly safe with the first Nokia flagship also turned a few smiles upside down in 2017. The two companies clearly have huge engineering potential and no shortage of good ideas, so them being unable to identify the basic trends and respond to them is rather frustrating. Fingers crossed that those rumors end up correct and 2018 brings us proper flagships from both of those companies.
Ivan
I'll forego the obvious and not talk about 3.5mm audio jacks. What I'm disappointed with this year is scratch-prone glass on phones. Technically it's not a 2017-exclusive issue but it seems to have exasperated this year. It took less than 1 hour for Apple's "most durable glass ever in a smartphone" to scratch and about the same for Samsung's all-glass Galaxies.
But the biggest disappointment of 2017 so far has to be phone prices. All of a sudden a €500 phone is considered midrange and that's outrageous. And next year things will probably get even worse.
Kaloyan
The most disappointing phone for me this year has to be the Apple iPhone X. I remember last year writing how the anniversary iPhone will remind us of the Steve Jobs era, and may as well change everything while doing it. I was so wrong. The only thing that changed since the X is the iPhone jokes.
The X is the best iPhone to date, and probably the most powerful smartphone on the planet, yes, but it's the most unpolished and rushed one I've ever seen since the first iPhone. The new iOS gestures are an utter nonsense, which could have been totally avoided if only Apple made the effort to put to better use the 3D Touch they "invented" a while ago.
Then there is the notch. And the line. Numerous bugs. Lots incompatible apps. THAT PRICE! And no Jobs spirit, whatsoever.
Up next is the Google Pixel 2 XL. It's like the Galaxy Note7 fiasco, but with OLEDs. The screen lottery became a thing, and there was a moment there I feared Google might pull a Samsung here. Just like Apple, the giant Google pretty much had a whole year to polish and test just this phone. But they ended up distributing a problematic device and it was not just one issue - more are encountered each week.
It's a shame for the Pixel 2 XL, because, on paper, it's one of the best smartphones out there.
And the final phone that gets me ranting is the OnePlus 5T. What were you thinking, OnePlus? At least the 5's camera had the telephoto thing going on, but the 5T has probably the most meaningless dual-camera setup. What's worse is that the Oppo R11s has the same illogical duo of sensors, which means this is spreading through the BBK's companies. Just stop it. Drop it, scratch it, forget it, move on, and pretend this has never happened. I will.
Paul
My biggest disappointment was the iPhone X, this was the phone that I planned on purchasing this year without fail. However, two things kept me from doing exactly that.
The rumor mill and usual leaks told me that I wasn't going to get a screen size equal to my iPhone 6s Plus, but I'd already conceded that point and was willing to wait for the 2018 iPhones. However, the show stopper for me was the complete removal of the home button with a reliance on pure gestures, combined with Face ID resulting in a device that I simply didn't enjoy using as I felt it was too compromised. We could argue this all day long but the analogy I often show people is car interior design. Not naming brands but my wives car had migrated most of its functions to a touch screen and using a touch screen whilst driving to change even the simplest thing is not only dangerous but needlessly slower. I find this so problematical that I purchased an iPhone 8 Plus instead as all next years iPhones will in all likelihood adopt this approach.
You see, sometimes buttons are good, buttons are needed and like the headphone jack, I'm concerned other manufacturers will follow Apple's example. In the quest for clawing back every millimeter of space, I guarantee that Apple will remove the volume buttons either next year or 2019. Remember, you read it here first.
Moving on, here we learn to reign in our expectations on new phones from new manufactures, but with the heritage of Andy Rubin attached to the Essential PH-1 phone, I had unrealistically high expectations. As we've all read, it wasn't quite ready to mix it up with the big boys. As a result, I'm expecting big things from the Essential PH-2 next year, and I predict it will be one the surprise launches of 2018.
Peter
Having grown up during the dawn of GSM, the Nokia 3310 is a part of my childhood. I never had one, too expensive. Now, however, I'm a grown-up with a job and can afford things... I was this close to buying a Nokia 8855 just because it's one of the most beautiful phones ever (and that's unlikely to change in the "slab phone" era).
So I would have loved a nostalgia-filled 3310 remake. Go back to a black & white screen (at least B&W graphics), a single Navi-Key, give me a monophonic Nokia tune and a manual ringtone composer.
The Nokia 3310 (2017) does none of those things, it just feels like a money grab. It doesn't even look the same! It's more of a Nokia 150 with the name on the box switched out.
It's a shame really as Nintendo, Sega, ZX Spectrum and others are making a killing by selling remakes of classic consoles. Why couldn't Nokia/HMD do the same?
Prasad
This category gets harder and harder to write for every year. Most companies just don't make bad phones anymore and the ones that do, well, we avoid them altogether. Some disappointments do stick out, such as the HTC U Ultra (did they even try?), LG Q6 (way too underpowered), Nokia 2 (underpowered and underequipped, even for its price), BlackBerry KeyONE (who is this for really?), Xiaomi Redmi Y1 (SELFIES! MARKETING! CELEBRITY PROMOTIONS!), Sony Xperia XZ1 (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+ V), Google Pixel 2 ("do you think they will notice this one doesn't have the 18:9 display?"), iPhone 8 and 8 Plus (why do these even exist?) and the Essential Phone (expected better from the 'Father of Android') but none of these phones are so terrible to warrant talking at length about them.
Instead, I'll talk about some annoying trends of 2017, starting with the dual rear cameras. Or should I say triple rear cameras now? There doesn't seem to be any end to this madness. Gone are the times when companies focused on having just one great camera on the back. In case you haven't noticed, camera quality on most phones didn't really get all that better this year. It's because companies now have a second camera to distract you with, which in most cases doesn't add much value at all. At least the wide-angle and telephoto lenses have some use, but most phones only come with a secondary depth sensor, responsible for some of the fakest looking bokeh you have ever seen. These don't make your photos better. All they do is distract you from the fact that your phone takes the same mediocre photos as last year.
If that wasn't bad enough, we now even have dual front cameras. The result of these is bearable at best and nauseating at worst. The rise of the 'selfie phone' is even more nauseating, especially when you consider most of these phones don't have a good front camera, a thing you'd assume is a given considering their title. Instead, most of them focus on an absurd megapixel count, which they then render completely pointless with heavy-handed 'beauty' filters that can make a porcupine look like a Pomeranian. The selfie crazed populace then buys into this marketing to share barely recognizable versions of themselves with others.
Then, of course, there is the widescale removal of the headphone jack. Admittedly, I am a big supporter of Bluetooth headphones. I use mine every day and couldn't be more satisfied with them. There are occasions when I want to plug in my more expensive wired headphones into a phone, or just don't feel like going through the process of pairing my Bluetooth headphones with a phone, or they might be charging, a problem wired headphones don't have. At this point, I have to come face to face with the dreaded dongle, which is never where you want it to be. And if you do find it, there is the off chance the phone you are trying to plug it in is itself charging, leaving you with just one option: throw all of it out the window.
By the way, does anyone remember VR on mobile? Because it seems we are now expected to believe it never happened and just accept AR as our new lord and savior. Last year Google promised big things with its Daydream VR, which just like the name turned out to be a daydream. I'm not even sure if Samsung's Gear VR is still a thing. Apple probably saw all this coming and never even bothered. Microsoft doesn't even have a horse in this race anymore. No one else seems to care, either. I guess VR on phones is dead, then.
My final disappointment with 2017 is this: voice assistants still kinda suck. Sure, they are better than they used to be but there isn't a single one out there that will work perfectly fine and do what you ask of it every single time without throwing the occasional error. I know this is a bit of uncanny valley territory, and the better these things get the more unforgiving we are of them but the weird faltering with even basic queries on occasion shows we are still far away from an entirely voice-operated future.
Ricky
As far as disappointments go, I would have to say that Apple gets that title for the second year in a row. We were expecting a drastic physical change with the iPhone 7, and for Apple - a company that was once innovative - to release an iPhone 8 that looks pretty much like the iPhone 7, and iPhone 6 before that, it's another slap in the face to Apple fans. Apple has been pushing the limit of what it can get away with and how much it can get its customers pay for it.
Victor
The phone design trends of 2017 are my biggest disappointment of the year. Curved panels, bezel-less profiles and glass bodies are the tune of the day. It's not that these are not pretty because they are, but they are anything but practical. I still find a flat panel better suited for viewing, holding, swiping, as well as easier to protect. I also appreciate a comfortable device to hold, which for me, means having a place to rest a finger or two, or being able to grip something other than display when playing a game, or trying desperately to hold my curvy Samsung Galaxy Note8 with one hand out into the air to get a few people in frame.
That being said, I've made my peace with the "deprecation" of a lot of things I loved about phones - removable backs and swappable batteries, plastic and leather components, physical controls, or at least home buttons - the list goes on. However, I can't shake the feeling that the latest design trends are a desperate attempt to shake things up before the flexible display revolution inevitably rolls in. And that is one of the things I am most excited about in 2018. But I will talk more about that on one of the next page.
Vlad
Smartphones have gotten so good lately (and I don't just mean flagships) that it's really tough to single out any one of those launched in 2017 as a complete blunder. On the other hand, my quest for the perfect smartphone is still ongoing, as every one of them still has at least one trait that will make you scratch your head in disbelief.
Here's a short list: the S8/S8+/Note8's fingerprint sensor position; the Pixel 2's bezels; the Pixel 2 XL's screen; every single Sony device's bezels; every single Nokia device's bezels; the OnePlus 5T's secondary rear camera; the Honor 7X's and the iPhone X's price in Europe; the differentiating features between the Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro, some of which make the Pro not look that much like a Pro; and of course the software update situation for every single handset that isn't a Pixel or iPhone.
Additionally, I want to say that while I understand why the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus came to be, they probably shouldn't have. Yes, Apple couldn't possibly make enough iPhone X units to satisfy the demand if that was the only phone it had released this year. And yet buying an iPhone 8 or 8 Plus in a world where the iPhone X exists just seems sad to me. You may say you hate the notch, or don't want to spend that much money on a phone, or come up with another excuse, but the truth is that with the 8 or 8 Plus you're just settling. Settling for a device that looks like it's from 2014.
Will
My biggest disappointment was the Galaxy S8 - or rather, using it as a daily driver was. It's a beautiful piece of tech to behold but not so much to use. Of course, it has an impressive camera and an fantastic curved infinity display. But I wish the S8 was more user-friendly - accidental activation from the wraparound screen or the Bixby button happened way too often, and I quickly gave up on the fingerprint reader. These might be small downsides for some, but the S8 just isn't designed for me.
Yordan
As a news editor, there were times when in a single day I wrote three separate leaks on the new iPhone. Everything and everyone was hyping over the magical "anniversary iPhone." Finally it came out, a month and a half later than expected, and still felt unfinished, mostly due to the updated UI. More gestures and swipes are something you least want when a phone is your entire world. It should be simpler. Sure, muscle memory takes care of the new app-switching swipe, but the bitter taste is still there.
The whole tall display trend of 2017 should inspire streaming services and game companies to offer a better cinematic experience. I fear it might take them a while to unify the new standard. Developers are currently back at Step 1 in the quest of making black bars disappear, let's see how long it takes them. My bet - longer than needed.
Angie
The iPhone X's design was definitely a letdown. I was super excited about the modernization of the iPhone and the new form factor, but when it finally arrived, the software was less intuitive than ever before and the notch just stood there, eating up screen space for no good reason.
What really pained me this past year was the continued demise of the headphone jack. You can't justify its removal because it doesn't take up that much space, there is no alternative that's truly good enough at the moment and it doesn't get in the way of increasing water resistance. Did I mention that it's the standard at any professional audio studio?
But other things about its removal do influence consumers really negatively: it forces people to pad the pockets of conglomerates in order to buy those ridiculous dongles, and more importantly, it hastens the adaption of bluetooth headsets. It doesn't matter that bluetooth headphones have mediocre sound quality, but it really freaks me out that they emit radio waves right next to your skull for hours on end every day. The technology has only recently become widespread, so we actually don't know how much they affect our brains over the long term.
I can already see people berating me for being too cautious. Yeah, it's not a lot of radiation, but over time, the negative effects (if there are any) can add up. I know safety is a dismal topic, but these are questions worth asking and companies aren't willing to do it unless something explodes, like last year. So although everyone is pushing for a wireless future, at the very least, I hope those stupid dongles stick around.
Question: What tech you are looking forward to seeing/using more in 2018?
As for most exciting tech I am looking forward to, the list includes under screen fingerprint sensor (we could see a device featuring the tech as soon as next month, so fingers crossed) and phones featuring an actual foldable display - that would be just awesome. Also, I'd like to see driverless cars being adopted by countries worldwide (assuming the tech is well tested).
And finally, I know this will not be happening next year, but I won't mind traveling from one country to another in an Ellon Musk-envisioned rocket, provided it saves a lot of time and, more importantly, is safe.
Triple camera setups and even better bokeh modes would be an excellent start. I also wouldn't mind a slight reversal of the slimness trend and get slightly thicker phones with larger batteries. And while at it put in some larger camera sensors - the extra thickness will mean they won't protrude and ruin the design.
Also, if someone can actually pull off the fingerprint sensor under the display thing that would be great. Otherwise please stick to fingerprint at the back below the camera (I'm looking at you, Samsung and Apple).
Finally, I'm looking to see how much of a game-changer Project Treble will be. Manufacturers can only avoid for so long so 2018 should be able to reveal if it truly has the potential. Particularly it's latter months when Android P will already be around.
I'm looking forward to under the display fingerprint scanners. I also hope that fingerprint scanners survive 2018 and not move aside for face scanning, which is slower and less convenient 90% of the time.
In our previous installment of Our Editors Talk I said I'm looking forward to having stereo speakers as standard on flagship phones so I'll reiterate. I hope Samsung, Xiaomi, OnePlus and LG all start putting stereo speakers on their pricier phones. And I'll finish with a little add-on - I hope speakers get better too - louder, cleaner, more dynamic.
The sequel to the Apple iPhone X. I'm kidding! Enough with the iPhone. It's safe to say the iPhone X design will be recycled for a few generations along with the all-screen front, the notch, Face ID and animojis before we move to the next big thing.
I'm sure 2018 will bring us faster processors, GPUs, more RAM, enhanced cameras, better VR tech. I will always be looking forward for the battery to replace the Li-Ion cells we are currently using, but I doubt it will come in 2018.
What I am trying to say is that there is no technology on the horizon that will give me the chills in a 2018 phone. But there is something I want to see happening ASAP. I want every company selling me a flagship smartphone to bundle it with the fastest available charger, cable, all the necessary adapters for that cable and charger, and a high-quality pair of wired or wireless earbuds.
If I am buying a $1000 smartphone with fast charging and no audio jack or a praised high-end DAC - then I want to be able to use these features out of the box, immediately. Your PR has won me as a customer and I want to open that box, turn on the phone and fast charge the promised % in 15 mins.
If you ditched the audio jack because it was better to go wireless - give me some wireless earbuds in the box. If you ditched it because the high-end DAC you've put - give me some compatible headphones to enjoy it.
I know most of you saw me accusing Apple, but that's not about Apple per se. It's the same with Google and Sony. But I don't want to point fingers. I just wish to be able to enjoy all the features of a device right away, instead of going for online research and boring shopping sessions for adapters and headphones. That's not what I paid for, and it should not be this hard to enjoy a device which costs about as much as a used compact car.
I'm going to have two bites at the cherry here, firstly.
For me, it's how new technology will bring about change in the look and feel of our phones. In design we often talk about an emotional connection with products, on the surface, this sounds pompous but emotion is described as an intense mental activity and a certain degree of pleasure or displeasure. I'm going to show my age now but I was excited when Motorola launched the original Razr, its look, how it felt in the hand through the use of materials and those back-lit keys - you see my point. I simply had to have one, right there and then. I felt the same way about the original iPhone and I'm waiting to truly feel that way again.
Among other things, I anticipate that as a result of the advances in screen technology we'll start to see the influx of new designs afforded by the flexibility of the next gen of display tech. I'm not a fan of the terms fold-able and bendable but it best sums up where we're at with a flexible display bringing about a paradigm shift in design.
Not only in the ability to have a larger display when unfolded or extended but to have the same size display as today in a smaller phone. The ZTE Axon M isn't this though as I believe twin screen designs are to compromised and the rumored Samsung Galaxy X may also take this approach. My long shot hope for 2018 would be that the mythical Microsoft Surface Phone sees the light of day.
And secondly, Airplay 2. I love music and have various products that allow me to listen to music no matter where I am or what I'm doing. I didn't go down the Sonos route for home though as I used ceiling speakers and as a result, I have various solutions that include Apple TV's, Bluetooth adapters and Bluetooth speakers to fill my home with sound. When I want to stream to them ALL at the same time though I use the Mac in the den, this isn't without its problems though.
Apple announced Airplay 2 at WWDC but we've yet to receive it. If I were a betting man I'd wager that we'll see a full Airplay 2 deployment around the time that the Apple HomePod ships early next year. Airplay 2 will be the first major upgrade since its launch 7 years ago and provides the ability to stream to multiple Airplay 2 compatible sources with a high level of buffering to avoid sound breakup. We'll have to wait and see it's full capabilities but I'm already laying the ground work to convince my wife that two HomePods will be better than one.
I gave up on gaming quite a while ago but I think that VR is the one thing that can lure me back. However, the current systems are just not exciting enough for me to spend money on the - PC/console headsets are stuck with annoying cables, mobile headsets suffer from lack of good content.
Both Oculus and Vive announced stand-alone headsets that are built with smartphone parts. But I would prefer an accessory - Gear VR, Daydream, that kind of thing. And (and this is a must) let me wirelessly stream the game from a computer or console.
Going forward, machine learning and AI are going to be a big part of our lives. We have already seen a few demonstrations this year, with Google, in particular, being very vocal about its endeavors and even Apple and Huawei having dedicated Neural Engine chips on their custom mobile processors. Both ML and AI are meant to an end, so it's hard to say what we will be getting from them but as these things improve, our phones will get a lot smarter about how they handle our data. Is that scary? A little bit but hey, at least now you can search for pictures of your dog from your photo gallery, which is kinda cool.
AR obviously seems to have some potential, now that both Apple and Google are throwing their weight behind it. The first few demonstrations of AR we have seen so far seem cool but we aren't even beginning to scratch the surface with this. This could have some seriously profound applications and I can't wait to see what they will be like.
I am also glad HDR video is making its way into mobile. HDR Video has much more obvious advantages thanks to its wider color gamut, higher contrast, and wider dynamic range. It's something even a layperson can notice, unlike improvement in resolution. I hope to see more high-quality HDR displays on phones by this time next year.
Another display-based technology I would like to see is high frame rate. It was disappointing to see Apple not implement it on the iPhone X after introducing it with the iPad Pro this year, but I guess it's hard to implement on OLED. Still, the Razer Phone showed us it can be done on a mobile device, so now I'm excited to see more manufacturers build it into their next phones. Like HDR, HFR has incredibly obvious real-world advantages and just makes the experience that much better, so hope to see more of this in 2018.
Also, can we all just get rid of micro USB now? We saw a whole bunch of USB-C devices this year but there are still those that come with micro USB, especially in the budget category. Then there is the whole host of accessories, such as Bluetooth headphones and speakers who don't seem to have received the memo and are still deploying micro USB. If you are a manufacturer still making micro USB devices in 2018, just stop. No one wants to see which way their cable is pointing before plugging it in anymore. We have better things to do. Just USB-C everything in 2018.
2017 was definitely the year of the "taller display", almost every smartphone company has made one this year. It's still too early to tell what trend we'll see in most of 2018, but we can certainly look forward to seeing the further expansion of smart home products as smart home voice assistants become more accessible and popular. The Google Home Mini and Echo Dot are two really hot products this holiday season for $30 and the industry is slowly expanding to new regions.
Contemplating the future always seems to be a very easy task, especially if we let our thoughts and wishes run wild. I'm at least going to try and keep a level head. Circling back to the practicality point I made on previous pages, I really would like to see more emphasis on sensible devices with mass-marketable qualities. Sure, flagships are fun to play with and clearly a catalyst for innovation, but I would like to see a more competitive battle for the ultimate mid-range take place. The Xiaomi Mi A1 and Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro, I mentioned, both come close, but why not an amalgam of the two? Why not an AMOLED panel and a dual camera setup, to put it into specifics?
Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018) and A8+ (2018) dropped just recently and are a perfect illustration of my point. All the tech is there already, we just need to make it cheaper, better, more attainable and universally beneficial.
As for some bolder and more ambitious 2018 wishes - flexible displays is definitely at the top of my list. The potential implications are huge. For one, I am personally getting increasingly tired of watching the same old, tired "slab" design. Flexible panels could finally be the catalyst needed to revive some alternative form factors from the past, perhaps enable some new ones as well. (Phone bracelet, anyone?).
Plus, it might just put the breaks on the bezel-less and curvy tendencies of late. Again, I will admit those look great, but also have questionable ergonomics, at best. In my mind, angling and bending spacious display surfaces around might just be a better alternative.
If you take a look at my list of disappointments, it will instantly make sense that I'm looking forward to Samsung putting the fingerprint scanner on the S9 duo and the Note9 in a decent position. Sony and Nokia should finally join the bezel-killing game, which is definitely both overdue and exciting. I'm also anxious to see if there will be a Pixel 3 or if Google will simply scrap the whole project and start anew, perhaps releasing another messaging app in the process. Jokes aside, I hope 2018's Pixels will look more alike than 2017's, and will finally come with properly trimmed bezels. If Google keeps focusing on the camera, then that should be even better than this year's, which would be a nice achievement.
2018 should be the first year during which we'll have two OLED iPhones launching. I'm no Ming-Chi Kuo, but I assume one will keep the iPhone X's screen size, while the other will be bigger - an iPhone XI Plus if you will (but hopefully Apple will come up with saner branding). This handset I expect to start at $1,199 or even $1,299 in the US, so it could go for around €1,399 to 1,499 in Europe. That would be the second year in a row of Apple breaking psychological thresholds in terms of pricing, and I'm interested to see how it all pans out. I don't think we've reached the maximum of what people are willing to spend on a smartphone with the iPhone X, and its sales numbers back that, but perhaps next year we will be at a point of 'enough is enough'. Doubtful in my opinion, but we'll see.
Next year could also be the year when no iPhone has a Home button anymore, and iOS will be all about the gestures introduced with the iPhone X. That's a welcome development, I think, because of that gesture-based interface, while not perfect, is a step forward in user experience. After all, you kind of use gestures on your smartphone all the time already - you just don't think of them like that. But what is scrolling (in any direction), or pinching to zoom? So why should one then break that paradigm by pressing a physical button to do certain things?
I've remained intrigued by the way Samsung and Huawei, and even Sony, have been finding ways to integrate Android into larger platforms- either the desktop PC route with Dex or Projection or a touchscreen projector with the Xperia Touch. I really think that as mobile processors become more powerful, the line between mobile device and home device will become blurred- until eventually, you can just have one in your pocket that does it all.
This probably won't happen in 2018. But, I'm looking forward to seeing developers push the capabilities of the newest chipsets in this direction, and hopefully, we'll see a new (and more practical) generation of projection/touch recognition technology.
Chinese companies Huawei, vivo, Oppo, and Xiaomi are among the top manufacturers even without appearing at the most influential markets like the US, the UK, and Germany. Next year we might see the big picture getting redrawn with the vivo sponsorship of the World Cup in Russia. The company will get unprecedented brand coverage, compared only with the Samsung partnership with the International Olympic Committee.
At the same time Huawei is joining hands with AT&T and we may finally see more Chinese companies in "the land of the free, home of the brave". We can't know yet if they will manage to disrupt the market. Users are yet to choose between the prejudice of Chinese companies being spies and the ability to have powerful smart devices for a fraction of what they were paying until now.
With the release of the Snapdragon 845, I've heard that HDR videos recording will finally pick up. Smartphone cameras are quite limited in video recording quality, especially at night or when you need a lot of dynamic range. Although they still have ways to go, smartphone videos are already beating videos from my 5-year-old, entry-level DSLR in everything but the detail and dynamic range. I'm super excited to see how far the tech will advance by next year.
I've also heard some rumors about RED's upcoming smartphone and its holographic screen. I'm super curious what that will look like and I love technology that is nothing like what I've seen before.
An ongoing debate at the office, scratched smartphone screens are still an issue. I'd assume that the big names in the field aren't sitting on their hands, but all too often we get minor scratches between the unboxing in the middle of the office (huge crowd) and hitting the studio 20 minutes later 20 meters away. And, mind you, this involves some properly meticulous folks (which is all of us, what do you mean, no, we definitely didn't stick an S-Pen the wrong way into a Note5 back then!). So let's get them display glasses all sorted out before getting excited about other stuff.
I've been rambling on about multiple cameras on a single smartphone, and since it hasn't quite happened the way I want it yet, I'll go on rambling. And I don't mean two rear ones, and two front ones, no - put them all on the back. Or at least put three specific ones - ultra-wide (LG-style), regular wide (24-26mm equivalent), and a normal one (~50mm equivalent). Something longer would be nice too but seeing as how space is a constraint, and no maker is particularly fond of making thick phones, I'm managing my expectations.
I'd love to be able to get excited about a new battery tech, but not to be used in a smartphone - the daily charging has become so routine that I don't really notice it. But start adding other stuff - Bluetooth headphones every three days, a smartwatch every day (another device I got rid of after owning it for two weeks), a power bank that turns out empty when you need it - when's this madness going to end?! Thing is though, batteries are the one area I don't really see an actual breakthrough happening. Or should I try to stay more positive?
Himanshu
As for most exciting tech I am looking forward to, the list includes under screen fingerprint sensor (we could see a device featuring the tech as soon as next month, so fingers crossed) and phones featuring an actual foldable display - that would be just awesome. Also, I'd like to see driverless cars being adopted by countries worldwide (assuming the tech is well tested).
And finally, I know this will not be happening next year, but I won't mind traveling from one country to another in an Ellon Musk-envisioned rocket, provided it saves a lot of time and, more importantly, is safe.
Chip
Triple camera setups and even better bokeh modes would be an excellent start. I also wouldn't mind a slight reversal of the slimness trend and get slightly thicker phones with larger batteries. And while at it put in some larger camera sensors - the extra thickness will mean they won't protrude and ruin the design.
Also, if someone can actually pull off the fingerprint sensor under the display thing that would be great. Otherwise please stick to fingerprint at the back below the camera (I'm looking at you, Samsung and Apple).
Finally, I'm looking to see how much of a game-changer Project Treble will be. Manufacturers can only avoid for so long so 2018 should be able to reveal if it truly has the potential. Particularly it's latter months when Android P will already be around.
Ivan
I'm looking forward to under the display fingerprint scanners. I also hope that fingerprint scanners survive 2018 and not move aside for face scanning, which is slower and less convenient 90% of the time.
In our previous installment of Our Editors Talk I said I'm looking forward to having stereo speakers as standard on flagship phones so I'll reiterate. I hope Samsung, Xiaomi, OnePlus and LG all start putting stereo speakers on their pricier phones. And I'll finish with a little add-on - I hope speakers get better too - louder, cleaner, more dynamic.
Kaloyan
The sequel to the Apple iPhone X. I'm kidding! Enough with the iPhone. It's safe to say the iPhone X design will be recycled for a few generations along with the all-screen front, the notch, Face ID and animojis before we move to the next big thing.
I'm sure 2018 will bring us faster processors, GPUs, more RAM, enhanced cameras, better VR tech. I will always be looking forward for the battery to replace the Li-Ion cells we are currently using, but I doubt it will come in 2018.
What I am trying to say is that there is no technology on the horizon that will give me the chills in a 2018 phone. But there is something I want to see happening ASAP. I want every company selling me a flagship smartphone to bundle it with the fastest available charger, cable, all the necessary adapters for that cable and charger, and a high-quality pair of wired or wireless earbuds.
If I am buying a $1000 smartphone with fast charging and no audio jack or a praised high-end DAC - then I want to be able to use these features out of the box, immediately. Your PR has won me as a customer and I want to open that box, turn on the phone and fast charge the promised % in 15 mins.
If you ditched the audio jack because it was better to go wireless - give me some wireless earbuds in the box. If you ditched it because the high-end DAC you've put - give me some compatible headphones to enjoy it.
I know most of you saw me accusing Apple, but that's not about Apple per se. It's the same with Google and Sony. But I don't want to point fingers. I just wish to be able to enjoy all the features of a device right away, instead of going for online research and boring shopping sessions for adapters and headphones. That's not what I paid for, and it should not be this hard to enjoy a device which costs about as much as a used compact car.
Paul
I'm going to have two bites at the cherry here, firstly.
For me, it's how new technology will bring about change in the look and feel of our phones. In design we often talk about an emotional connection with products, on the surface, this sounds pompous but emotion is described as an intense mental activity and a certain degree of pleasure or displeasure. I'm going to show my age now but I was excited when Motorola launched the original Razr, its look, how it felt in the hand through the use of materials and those back-lit keys - you see my point. I simply had to have one, right there and then. I felt the same way about the original iPhone and I'm waiting to truly feel that way again.
Among other things, I anticipate that as a result of the advances in screen technology we'll start to see the influx of new designs afforded by the flexibility of the next gen of display tech. I'm not a fan of the terms fold-able and bendable but it best sums up where we're at with a flexible display bringing about a paradigm shift in design.
Not only in the ability to have a larger display when unfolded or extended but to have the same size display as today in a smaller phone. The ZTE Axon M isn't this though as I believe twin screen designs are to compromised and the rumored Samsung Galaxy X may also take this approach. My long shot hope for 2018 would be that the mythical Microsoft Surface Phone sees the light of day.
And secondly, Airplay 2. I love music and have various products that allow me to listen to music no matter where I am or what I'm doing. I didn't go down the Sonos route for home though as I used ceiling speakers and as a result, I have various solutions that include Apple TV's, Bluetooth adapters and Bluetooth speakers to fill my home with sound. When I want to stream to them ALL at the same time though I use the Mac in the den, this isn't without its problems though.
Apple announced Airplay 2 at WWDC but we've yet to receive it. If I were a betting man I'd wager that we'll see a full Airplay 2 deployment around the time that the Apple HomePod ships early next year. Airplay 2 will be the first major upgrade since its launch 7 years ago and provides the ability to stream to multiple Airplay 2 compatible sources with a high level of buffering to avoid sound breakup. We'll have to wait and see it's full capabilities but I'm already laying the ground work to convince my wife that two HomePods will be better than one.
Peter
I gave up on gaming quite a while ago but I think that VR is the one thing that can lure me back. However, the current systems are just not exciting enough for me to spend money on the - PC/console headsets are stuck with annoying cables, mobile headsets suffer from lack of good content.
Both Oculus and Vive announced stand-alone headsets that are built with smartphone parts. But I would prefer an accessory - Gear VR, Daydream, that kind of thing. And (and this is a must) let me wirelessly stream the game from a computer or console.
Prasad
Going forward, machine learning and AI are going to be a big part of our lives. We have already seen a few demonstrations this year, with Google, in particular, being very vocal about its endeavors and even Apple and Huawei having dedicated Neural Engine chips on their custom mobile processors. Both ML and AI are meant to an end, so it's hard to say what we will be getting from them but as these things improve, our phones will get a lot smarter about how they handle our data. Is that scary? A little bit but hey, at least now you can search for pictures of your dog from your photo gallery, which is kinda cool.
AR obviously seems to have some potential, now that both Apple and Google are throwing their weight behind it. The first few demonstrations of AR we have seen so far seem cool but we aren't even beginning to scratch the surface with this. This could have some seriously profound applications and I can't wait to see what they will be like.
I am also glad HDR video is making its way into mobile. HDR Video has much more obvious advantages thanks to its wider color gamut, higher contrast, and wider dynamic range. It's something even a layperson can notice, unlike improvement in resolution. I hope to see more high-quality HDR displays on phones by this time next year.
Another display-based technology I would like to see is high frame rate. It was disappointing to see Apple not implement it on the iPhone X after introducing it with the iPad Pro this year, but I guess it's hard to implement on OLED. Still, the Razer Phone showed us it can be done on a mobile device, so now I'm excited to see more manufacturers build it into their next phones. Like HDR, HFR has incredibly obvious real-world advantages and just makes the experience that much better, so hope to see more of this in 2018.
Also, can we all just get rid of micro USB now? We saw a whole bunch of USB-C devices this year but there are still those that come with micro USB, especially in the budget category. Then there is the whole host of accessories, such as Bluetooth headphones and speakers who don't seem to have received the memo and are still deploying micro USB. If you are a manufacturer still making micro USB devices in 2018, just stop. No one wants to see which way their cable is pointing before plugging it in anymore. We have better things to do. Just USB-C everything in 2018.
Ricky
2017 was definitely the year of the "taller display", almost every smartphone company has made one this year. It's still too early to tell what trend we'll see in most of 2018, but we can certainly look forward to seeing the further expansion of smart home products as smart home voice assistants become more accessible and popular. The Google Home Mini and Echo Dot are two really hot products this holiday season for $30 and the industry is slowly expanding to new regions.
Victor
Contemplating the future always seems to be a very easy task, especially if we let our thoughts and wishes run wild. I'm at least going to try and keep a level head. Circling back to the practicality point I made on previous pages, I really would like to see more emphasis on sensible devices with mass-marketable qualities. Sure, flagships are fun to play with and clearly a catalyst for innovation, but I would like to see a more competitive battle for the ultimate mid-range take place. The Xiaomi Mi A1 and Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro, I mentioned, both come close, but why not an amalgam of the two? Why not an AMOLED panel and a dual camera setup, to put it into specifics?
Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018) and A8+ (2018) dropped just recently and are a perfect illustration of my point. All the tech is there already, we just need to make it cheaper, better, more attainable and universally beneficial.
As for some bolder and more ambitious 2018 wishes - flexible displays is definitely at the top of my list. The potential implications are huge. For one, I am personally getting increasingly tired of watching the same old, tired "slab" design. Flexible panels could finally be the catalyst needed to revive some alternative form factors from the past, perhaps enable some new ones as well. (Phone bracelet, anyone?).
Plus, it might just put the breaks on the bezel-less and curvy tendencies of late. Again, I will admit those look great, but also have questionable ergonomics, at best. In my mind, angling and bending spacious display surfaces around might just be a better alternative.
Vlad
If you take a look at my list of disappointments, it will instantly make sense that I'm looking forward to Samsung putting the fingerprint scanner on the S9 duo and the Note9 in a decent position. Sony and Nokia should finally join the bezel-killing game, which is definitely both overdue and exciting. I'm also anxious to see if there will be a Pixel 3 or if Google will simply scrap the whole project and start anew, perhaps releasing another messaging app in the process. Jokes aside, I hope 2018's Pixels will look more alike than 2017's, and will finally come with properly trimmed bezels. If Google keeps focusing on the camera, then that should be even better than this year's, which would be a nice achievement.
2018 should be the first year during which we'll have two OLED iPhones launching. I'm no Ming-Chi Kuo, but I assume one will keep the iPhone X's screen size, while the other will be bigger - an iPhone XI Plus if you will (but hopefully Apple will come up with saner branding). This handset I expect to start at $1,199 or even $1,299 in the US, so it could go for around €1,399 to 1,499 in Europe. That would be the second year in a row of Apple breaking psychological thresholds in terms of pricing, and I'm interested to see how it all pans out. I don't think we've reached the maximum of what people are willing to spend on a smartphone with the iPhone X, and its sales numbers back that, but perhaps next year we will be at a point of 'enough is enough'. Doubtful in my opinion, but we'll see.
Next year could also be the year when no iPhone has a Home button anymore, and iOS will be all about the gestures introduced with the iPhone X. That's a welcome development, I think, because of that gesture-based interface, while not perfect, is a step forward in user experience. After all, you kind of use gestures on your smartphone all the time already - you just don't think of them like that. But what is scrolling (in any direction), or pinching to zoom? So why should one then break that paradigm by pressing a physical button to do certain things?
Will
I've remained intrigued by the way Samsung and Huawei, and even Sony, have been finding ways to integrate Android into larger platforms- either the desktop PC route with Dex or Projection or a touchscreen projector with the Xperia Touch. I really think that as mobile processors become more powerful, the line between mobile device and home device will become blurred- until eventually, you can just have one in your pocket that does it all.
This probably won't happen in 2018. But, I'm looking forward to seeing developers push the capabilities of the newest chipsets in this direction, and hopefully, we'll see a new (and more practical) generation of projection/touch recognition technology.
Yordan
Chinese companies Huawei, vivo, Oppo, and Xiaomi are among the top manufacturers even without appearing at the most influential markets like the US, the UK, and Germany. Next year we might see the big picture getting redrawn with the vivo sponsorship of the World Cup in Russia. The company will get unprecedented brand coverage, compared only with the Samsung partnership with the International Olympic Committee.
At the same time Huawei is joining hands with AT&T and we may finally see more Chinese companies in "the land of the free, home of the brave". We can't know yet if they will manage to disrupt the market. Users are yet to choose between the prejudice of Chinese companies being spies and the ability to have powerful smart devices for a fraction of what they were paying until now.
Angie
With the release of the Snapdragon 845, I've heard that HDR videos recording will finally pick up. Smartphone cameras are quite limited in video recording quality, especially at night or when you need a lot of dynamic range. Although they still have ways to go, smartphone videos are already beating videos from my 5-year-old, entry-level DSLR in everything but the detail and dynamic range. I'm super excited to see how far the tech will advance by next year.
I've also heard some rumors about RED's upcoming smartphone and its holographic screen. I'm super curious what that will look like and I love technology that is nothing like what I've seen before.
George
An ongoing debate at the office, scratched smartphone screens are still an issue. I'd assume that the big names in the field aren't sitting on their hands, but all too often we get minor scratches between the unboxing in the middle of the office (huge crowd) and hitting the studio 20 minutes later 20 meters away. And, mind you, this involves some properly meticulous folks (which is all of us, what do you mean, no, we definitely didn't stick an S-Pen the wrong way into a Note5 back then!). So let's get them display glasses all sorted out before getting excited about other stuff.
I've been rambling on about multiple cameras on a single smartphone, and since it hasn't quite happened the way I want it yet, I'll go on rambling. And I don't mean two rear ones, and two front ones, no - put them all on the back. Or at least put three specific ones - ultra-wide (LG-style), regular wide (24-26mm equivalent), and a normal one (~50mm equivalent). Something longer would be nice too but seeing as how space is a constraint, and no maker is particularly fond of making thick phones, I'm managing my expectations.
I'd love to be able to get excited about a new battery tech, but not to be used in a smartphone - the daily charging has become so routine that I don't really notice it. But start adding other stuff - Bluetooth headphones every three days, a smartwatch every day (another device I got rid of after owning it for two weeks), a power bank that turns out empty when you need it - when's this madness going to end?! Thing is though, batteries are the one area I don't really see an actual breakthrough happening. Or should I try to stay more positive?
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