Top 5 smartphones 2022

                                      This is my Top 5 smartphones 2022 list.

                 

Now, there have been lots of great smartphones this year so it's been very difficult to narrow this down to just five.And although I've tested many, many smartphones,of course I have not tested every single one,so no doubt there may be a smartphone that you feel should have been on this list,one of your favorites, which isn't.But that's fine.

Also, another disclaimer,this list is in no particular order.I'm just giving you my top 5 smartphones 2022.I also give you some of my honorable mentions.Now, with all that out the way,let's get to my list,
                                                                      

The first of top 5 smartphones 2022 on my list,I mean, it's kind of a constant and I think you probably expect it,it is one of the first smartphones that released this year,and it is the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.Now, this smartphone for me ticks pretty much all of the boxes.And even though it released very early in the year,still holds up and holds its own
against lots of the other flagships.We've got a beautiful display,amazing all around cameras with I would say the best zoom on any smartphone camera right now.Great performance,
and the S Pen enclosed this year,which essentially makes it a note device,
and although not everybody's a fan of that,me personally being a fan of the Note Series,
it's great to see this now combined into the S Series.Now, it's not perfect.I'd say over time,the battery life hasn't really lived up,and many of the devices out there have much better battery life.
The performance is top notch,but now we have devices with the 8+ Gen 1rather than the 8.
But despite all of that,it's still one of the best smartphones without a doubt of 2022.
Now, some honorable mentions do have to go to the S22,as well as the S22 Plus.
If you're somebody that's not got the money for the S22 Ultra or you don't need the S Pen,
the S22 and the S22 Plus offer a lot of what the S22 Ultra do,but at a lower price.

Now, the next smartphone on my list might be a bit of a surprise,but it is the best compact smartphone you can buy-in my opinion of 2022,and that is ASUS ZenFone 9.Now, this in my opinion is a compact smartphone without really many compromises.You're still getting the 8+ Gen 1.You're getting 120 hertz display.You're getting a six axis gimbals stabilized camera.Serious speakers, fast charging.A 3.5 millimeter headphone jack,I mean, where do you see one of those?And all of that in a comfortable and compact form factor,which I really, really like.Now, it's not perfect.The price has increased quite a bit
compared to what what we had on the ZenFone 8.And we do have a bit of a chin on the front display,
which I'm not a huge fan of.I think they should have gone for something a bit more consistent.
And we don't have wireless charging,which pretty much all of the other flagships
nowadays do have.Having said that,it is still the best compact smartphone that you can buy,
and I really do like it.
 

Now, moving on,let's look at the best iPhones that you can buy.

                                            

And in my opinion,they are the iPhone 14 Pro and the Pro Max.Now, with the iPhone 14,I mean, it is pretty much an incremental update.You can just call it an iPhone 13S really.However, I do think we've got some great improvements on the 14 Pro and Pro Max.And the Pro Max for me in particular has been such a great device.The improved display with the Dynamic Island.I mean, you might not love the Dynamic Island,but you can't deny that it is pretty unique.We've got the brightest display that I've tested this year,which is great for outdoors,especially if you wear sunglasses.Amazing overall experience.And I would say in my opinion the best camera package for consistency and quality.The iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max have amazing cameras,and still the best video on any smartphone.Absolutely amazing video.If I do want to record video,my go-to is always the iPhone.Now, the battery life is also really good,not as good as the iPhone 13 Pro Max.That might be down partly to the always on display,which is pretty much just a dimmed lot screen.Now, it looks like Apple is taking that feedback on board and giving us more options with the always on display.And the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max in particular in the UK and many other regions have increased quite significantly in price.I know that's not Apple's fault and it's down to the economic situation,but something to keep in mind.However, if you are after the best iPhones you can buy,the iPhone 14 Pro or Pro Max are the ones to go for.Now, I do have to give an honorable mention to the iPhone 14 Plus.Again, bit of an incremental update,but if you are after a larger iPhone at a more competitive price,that is going to give you the best battery life on any iPhone.

 

Now, the next smartphone on my list might be a bit of a surprise to you guys.It is the Google Pixel 7, yes.Not the 7 Pro.The 7 Pro is great,don't get me wrong,but I think the Google Pixel 7is really good for most people,and it's the one that I can recommend to most people as well because of its very competitive price point,just under £600 or $600.Now, for that price,you are getting almost everything that you get on the 7 Pro,which is quite a bit more.You're getting the same primary camera-with Google's software processing,which is amazing.I know some people find it a bit too over processed,but I really like it.Google's very own Tensor chip with the software optimizations,which you won't find on other smartphones,such as Photo Unblur,which actually works pretty well in my experience.
You've got the Google phone assistant,as well as the ability to transcribe voice notes,all of which are really useful and unique to the Google Pixel experience.Now, sure, you do just get 90 hertz instead of 120 hertz,which is something that you expect from a flagship,and you don't get a dedicated telephoto camera.However, the Google Pixel 7in my opinion is a great buy and something that I can easily recommend.Now, an honorable mention does have to go to the Google Pixel 7 Pro.It is still a great flagship and it's priced more competitively compared to other flagships,and it has improved quite a bit compared to the Google Pixel 6 Pro,which I had so, so many bugs with.

                           

Right, now moving on to the final pick in my list.Now, this was a really tough one because I did want it to be fold able.I'm somebody who loves fold able smartphones.I wanted to pick my favorite fold able
to be as part of this list,and it was a tricky one because the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4,I did use it for a while and I did really like it and it's got some nice improvement.But in my opinion,Samsung has gotten a little bit lazy over the past few years because there isn't really much competition in the West.
If we look at the international market,we've got amazing fold able from the likes of Xiaomi, OPPO,
and more recently the HONOR Magic Vs,which I actually got a chance to test out.
And in my opinion,all of these have a better overall form factor compared to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4.However, most of these right now are not available in the Western markets.They may be later on,
but at this point in time,Samsung does have a bit of a monopoly,which in my opinion has made them a little bit lazy.So although I do really like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4,especially in terms of the software,great utilization of that folding display,seeing all of the competition internationally cannot make this one of my top five picks.My top fold able of the year is the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4.
Now, don't get me wrong,this is also an incremental update compared to what we had last year.
However, we do have some big improvements in terms of the battery life and cameras in particular,
two of the things which I wanted improved.The Flip 4 still maintains its competitive price
at under $1,000,which makes it a lot more accessible.And it really does flip heads.People, when they see the Z Flip 4,even if they've been iPhone users for all of their lives,they are very, very interested in the Flip 4.And it still does have an IPX4 rating,and still the only fold able as far as I know
that have an official IPX4 rating,which is great.So for all of those reasons,the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4
has made the final pick of my list.Now, as I mentioned,there are some honorable mentions which we do need to cover. 

One of the most unique smartphones I would say of the year has to be the Nothing Phone (1).A new contender,and yes, the glyph lighting might seem like a bit of a gimmick to some people,
but you can't deny that it does look very unique.And it comes in at around £400,and for that you've got no chin for the front display,120 hertz refresh rate,and a really nice and clean software experience.So the Nothing Phone (1)I would say is one of my favorite mid range smartphones.

 

 

Now, the next honorable mention has to go to OnePlus,the OnePlus 10 Pro.Very confusing because it initially released in China,which I think was a very bad decision,and then it came out globally,but it's still a really nice smartphone.I do like the unique design.You get really fast charging out of the box,
you get really nice displays with some really good cameras,and it's actually at a very competitive price now.Now, we can't speak of OnePlus without speaking of OPPO,the parent company,the Find X5 Pro.
An excellent smartphone,but I think it just kind of got over shadowed because there wasn't really anything that massively stood out with that device.It's an excellent all round device with some great cameras and amazing display,a great build,but although it ticks pretty much all of the boxes you need from a flagship,it doesn't scream different and it doesn't really stand outamongst all of the other heavy hitters that we have.Now, on the gaming side of things,I personally really enjoyed the ROG Phone 6 Pro,as well as the ROG Phone 6 Ultimate,which in my experience are still some of the best gaming smartphones you can buy.Built ground up for gamers.And on the budget side of things,in particular from the likes of POCO, Infinix,as well as TECNO,we've got some really nice devices.However, availability for a lot of these devices,it is still quite limited here in the West.Now, I actually didn't get to try out many Xiaomi devices this year,and the vivo devices that I had did come a little bit late for me to cover.I'm not sure why a lot of these are not available here in the West,and review units were difficult to come by.So I know there's a lot of Xiaomi and vivo devices that I would've liked to have tested
and included in these lists which I have not had a chance to do.

 

So that is my list of  Top 5 smartphones 2022,along with some honorable mentions.
What are your favorites?Drop them in the comments below.
Once again, guys, there's no need to argue.We can still be friends.We all have different preferences.

I'll see you next time.