Amartya Baidya
MWC Barcelona has come and gone for 2016 and most of the major smartphone launches for the first half od the year are done and dusted with. Now that the dust has settled a bit and initial excitement has worn off, it’s time to make some difficult choices.
Among the plethora of phones launched this summer, we have handpicked 5 best phones that we think will top the charts in 2016. You can pick any one of these bad boys up and trust me, you won’t feel let down.
However, just as the best defense has some chinks in their armor, even the latest flagships also have some flaws. Today we will take apart the top 5 flagships for 2016 and break them into a series of pros and cons so that you can judge which one is the best phone for you.
#1. LG G5
Pro
- The first modular phone to make it to the mainstream market, the Lg G5 certainly has a lot of innovation packed into the metal casing. The dual cameras on the back stand out as one of the best implementations of the dual-camera setup both hardware and software wise.
Con
- As is the norm with being the pioneer in a new field, the G5 does have its fair share of flaws stemming from the modular design, especially the construction of the device and the fit and finishing doesn’t befit a flagship device.
#2. Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge
Pro
- Improving in nearly ever aspect from its predecessor the Galaxy S6 Edge, the new iteration of the Edge lineup boasts newer upgraded internals, optics, larger battery life, and adds water resistance and micro sd expandability into the mix.
Con
- Possibly as a trade off due to the water resistance, we find that the speaker on the S7 Edge is incredibly tiny both in volume and depth of the sound produced.
#3. HTC 10
Pro
- HTC seems to have gotten over the disaster that was the HTC M9 and dropped the M moniker for their latest flagship the HTC 10. Coupled with a lighter Sense UI and a 12mp ultra pixel camera, HTC seems right on track with this iteration of their premium lineup.
Con
- The fingerprint on the sensor on the home button has forced HTC to abandon their trademark HTC Boom Sound Front Facing Stereo Speakers, a feature that is to be sorely missed by many of their loyal patrons.
#4. Xiaomi Mi5
Pro
- Xiaomi’s latest offering, the Mi5 packs a mean punch as it sports top of the line hardware at a jaw-dropping price point. Long touted as an Apple copycat, the Mi5 has shown that Xiaomi as a company can come up with a beautiful design and a sleek handset that is unique.
Con
- MIUI is still a huge mess, and their take on Android is not very popular outside of the Chinese market, which also brings us to another major problem for this device- availability outside the Chinese market.
#5. Huawei P9
Pro
- One of the first phones to come with 3D Touch on Android’s side, the Huawei P9 is a stellar performer all round and comes in at an affordable price point and the much-anticipated refresh of the Kirin processor.
Con
- Huawei’s Emotion UI may be a major deterrent to this phone gaining much traction outside of China as the drawerless Android UI, and the slow software upgrades have kept many customers away from the brand.
And with that, we come to the end of our list of the 5 best phones of 2016! Which one of these do you want to pickup? Did you get any one of them? Drop a comment down below and we will continue the discussion in there!
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