Where does the time go? But you guys know that towards the end of each year I usually do a video with my top five smartphone picks for that year. Now the problem with that is devices that are released early in the year are sometimes forgotten or superseded by other devices and lots of you guys might want to buy a new smartphone right now. You might not want to wait a few months and that's why we're making this video, which is the top five best smartphones of 2018 so far. Right now, before we get into it, a few disclaimers. These are smartphones of 2018, so they are devices that have been released this year. Yes, there's some great devices that were released towards the end of last year, but we're not going to be counting those in this video. This is 2018 specifically, and also, devices that you can buy right now, not devices which may have been announced already, but are going to be coming in the next few months. These are devices that you should be able to just go out and buy right now. Now with the disclaimer, I've used lots of smartphones this year, but of course, I've not used every single one, so this is my personal top five list. Of course, it might be different from yours, but that's okay. We can still be friends. We don't have to fight. Just drop your top five list in the comments below. Final disclaimer, this list is in no particular order. I'm just giving you my top five picks, but I will be giving you my overall favorite so far at the end of this video. Let's kick of straight away and the first device on this list, once again in no particular order, is the Huawei P20 Pro. Now, this is actually my favorite device that has come from Huawei. I've seen love be built and designed. The gradient finish is very unique and looks very, very slick. It's also, I believe, one of the first, if not the first, smartphone out there with a proper triple camera setup. It takes great images, especially when it comes to zoom. It's got the best zoom on a smartphone right now. Three times optical zoom as well as five times hybrid zoom, and the night mode is absolutely awesome. It takes a four second exposure or like multiple shots over four seconds and it gives you very bright low light images. It's also got great battery life. We've got a 4,000 mAh battery, which should last you all day long. Now, it's not perfect. There's definitely things that can be improved here. Although the images it takes are absolutely great overall, the same cannot be said for video. You've got no stabilization at 4K, which is very disappointing, and generally, I'm not a fan of the software. There's lot of things such as beauty mode, which you really just cannot switch off, and it blows a resolution of video. There's just a few thing in the UI which I think definitely could be improved. We have a notch, which I know a lot of you guys don't like and we've got a full HD plus resolution, not quite HD and at this price, which is around 800 pounds in the UK, some of these things I would have expected and also the fact that it's got the Kirin 970 which is a great processor but this is last year's processor and if you are charging flagship prices this year, then I would expect a new processor that really competes with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845. However, if you can get over some of those things then the P20 Pro is a great option. Now the next device on my list, of course, is the OnePlus 6. Now what I find about OnePlus devices is that because there's two OnePlus devices that are released throughout the year, we have the regular version, then we have the T toward the end of the year. The main version released earlier in the year tend to get forgotten towards the end of the year so in my top five list last year, the OnePlus 5T was there but the OnePlus 5 wasn't because it was a few months old by that time. This is a very good reason for videos like this.
The OnePlus 6 is an absolutely awesome device and I've said this many times before, but it is the best bang for the buck device that you can buy right now in my opinion. I mean, for 470 pounds for a 64 gigabyte base model is absolutely insane. That's less than half the price of the iPhone 10. You could buy two OnePlus 6 devices and have money left over for maybe some Bullets Wireless earphones compared to something like the iPhone 10. And for that price, you're actually getting the really good package. You've got a great open design. You've got a pretty good full HD Plus AMOLED display. It's also one of the overall fastest devices that I've tested with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845. A base of 6 gigabytes of RAM. You've still got one of the fastest charging methods on a smartphone right now. Cameras have also been improved, although I wouldn't say they are as good as some other devices overall, but generally speaking, they are great cameras for the price and you've still got a 3.5 millimeter headphone jack. Now you do miss certain things like stereo speakers, and you don't have an official IP water-resistant rating although it's absolutely fine and as with the P20 Pro, we do have a notch, which, once again, I know a lot of you guy don't like but overall, for the package that you get for the price, the OnePlus 6 is a great device. I can definitely recommend it. Now the next device on my list is the LG G7. I'm not going to say the full name and although it might not really stand out from the crowd where we've got so many other great smartphones, it comes in at 600 pounds in the UK, which, in my opinion, what you're getting is an absolutely great price. We've got a super bright LCD display with Quad HD+ resolution. And the G7 has something which many of the devices don't have and that is a wide angle camera and actually find myself taking this with me in many places simply because of that wide angle camera. And LG have product take lots of boxes so you've got a nice built in design, you've got water resistance, you've got expandable memory, you also got a 3.5 millimeter headphone jack with a hi-fi plug die and you've got a boom box speaker so although it's not a separate speaker, it does use the space inside the device as a residence chamber. It does sound pretty good, especially if you've got it on a hard surface. And once again as the previous devices, it does have a notch. I know I mention the notch a lot but some of you guys are so passionately against it, something that I do have to mention. And it's got a 3,000 mAh battery which is okay but it's definitely something that I think could have been better. But once again, I have to come back to that price. 600 pounds for the G7 is a great price for what you're getting and for that reason it has made my top five list. Now the next devices on my list and I'm kind of coupling them together are the Sony Xperia XZ2 and the XZ2 Compact would just about made it. Now with the XZ2 Compact, I've said this before, but it is the best compact smartphone that you can buy right now on Android and we really don't see many small smartphones these days but a lot of people still prefer something that's a lot more manageable and the XZ2 Compact really comes in at this category. With both the XZ2 and the XZ2 Compact, they offer something that's not available on any other smartphone right now and that is 4K HDR video recording which is really quite cool to have that on a smartphone. Now images are not as great to be honest, especially when it comes to low light. I don't know why Sony are obsessed with going 419 megapixels. I think they should lower the megapixels and really concentrate on an overall great package. But you do have water resistance which Sony has been doing for a long time. You have expandable memory and you also have three speakers although you don't have a 3.5 headphone jack. But the bezels of them are smaller as lots of the other competition out there. For the price you're paying, especially for the XZ2, which is around 700 pound in the UK, I do definitely think it should be a little bit cheaper for what you're getting but overall these are some pretty good devices if you want something without a notch and with some of these other features. Now the final device in my list is probably no surprise and they are once again joint because they are very similar devices. And they are the Samsung Galaxy S9 and the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus. Although these may be incremental updates compared to last year's devices, they are great all all rounders. They've got a great build and design, the best displays on the market right now, the super AMOLED displays with the Quad HD Plus resolution in my opinion is the best out there.
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We've got super small bevels without a notch. We've got several speakers this year, we've got a 3.5 with the headphone jack. We've got expandable memory, we've got fast charging, we've got fast wireless charging, we've got water resistance. They just take so many of the boxes, they're very smooth devices overall and we've got great cameras. The S9's are the only smartphones out there with a dual aperture which is very cool and the widest aperture on a smartphone at 1.5 which is great for low light photography. Now battery life in my opinion could be a little bit better but for most people, the S9 and the S9 Plus are going to be absolutely fine. Yes, they are a little bit on the pricier side, but in my opinion you do get what you pay for and the all around package that you get on the S9's makes them some of the best smartphones out this year and for all of those reasons, the S9 Plus has been my daily driver for the most part of this year and will not probably be replaced when we do have the (mumbles) run. So those are my top five picks. You might be thinking where are some of the other devices like the HTC U12+. That's not currently available. I checked on the websites, in the UK at least, it's going to be released end of July to August, so I've not had a chance to test this out yet. I'm really impressed with the Oppo Find X as well as the VIVO Nex. These are devices which, unfortunately, I've not had a chance to try out yet. That's my top five list. What is yours? Definitely drop that in the comments below and as mentioned towards the beginning, this video is sponsored by LastPass. Now I've mentioned lots of new smartphones in this video and if you're going to be upgrading to one of them, then you know that that process can be really difficult because you have to remember all of your different passwords for all of your different apps and accounts. LastPass simplifies this process and makes the transition seamless with one place to generate and securely store all of your passwords. Then you'll need just one password to access them all. So let me show you how this works. I've got the app installed here on my phone and I have here my vault where all my passwords will be stored. If I'm at a new site, I can just tap on the plus icon, find the site, and add it to my vault. So, for example, here I have Twitter. I can enter my username and password and I can also generate a new secure password if needed. Now whenever I want to log into Twitter, I can just tap here with auto fill enabled, it's going to automatically fill in all the details for me and it's as easy as that. You can also assign your fingerprint or face ID to LastPass and that's going to make things even easier and if you'd like, you can also set up two factor authentication which is going to make things even more secure. And it doesn't stop there. LastPass also works on computers. So, for instance, if you need to pay a bill or log in from a friend's computer, you can do that easily and securely with LastPass. There's going to be a link to LastPass in the description below so you can go ahead and try it out for yourself. That's it for me guys. I hope you enjoyed this video on (mumbles). If you did, then do the thumbs up for me. If you haven't already, then I'm not sure why you haven't, We've got lots more content coming up on the air. Thanks for Reading.
The OnePlus 6 is an absolutely awesome device and I've said this many times before, but it is the best bang for the buck device that you can buy right now in my opinion. I mean, for 470 pounds for a 64 gigabyte base model is absolutely insane. That's less than half the price of the iPhone 10. You could buy two OnePlus 6 devices and have money left over for maybe some Bullets Wireless earphones compared to something like the iPhone 10. And for that price, you're actually getting the really good package. You've got a great open design. You've got a pretty good full HD Plus AMOLED display. It's also one of the overall fastest devices that I've tested with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845. A base of 6 gigabytes of RAM. You've still got one of the fastest charging methods on a smartphone right now. Cameras have also been improved, although I wouldn't say they are as good as some other devices overall, but generally speaking, they are great cameras for the price and you've still got a 3.5 millimeter headphone jack. Now you do miss certain things like stereo speakers, and you don't have an official IP water-resistant rating although it's absolutely fine and as with the P20 Pro, we do have a notch, which, once again, I know a lot of you guy don't like but overall, for the package that you get for the price, the OnePlus 6 is a great device. I can definitely recommend it. Now the next device on my list is the LG G7. I'm not going to say the full name and although it might not really stand out from the crowd where we've got so many other great smartphones, it comes in at 600 pounds in the UK, which, in my opinion, what you're getting is an absolutely great price. We've got a super bright LCD display with Quad HD+ resolution. And the G7 has something which many of the devices don't have and that is a wide angle camera and actually find myself taking this with me in many places simply because of that wide angle camera. And LG have product take lots of boxes so you've got a nice built in design, you've got water resistance, you've got expandable memory, you also got a 3.5 millimeter headphone jack with a hi-fi plug die and you've got a boom box speaker so although it's not a separate speaker, it does use the space inside the device as a residence chamber. It does sound pretty good, especially if you've got it on a hard surface. And once again as the previous devices, it does have a notch. I know I mention the notch a lot but some of you guys are so passionately against it, something that I do have to mention. And it's got a 3,000 mAh battery which is okay but it's definitely something that I think could have been better. But once again, I have to come back to that price. 600 pounds for the G7 is a great price for what you're getting and for that reason it has made my top five list. Now the next devices on my list and I'm kind of coupling them together are the Sony Xperia XZ2 and the XZ2 Compact would just about made it. Now with the XZ2 Compact, I've said this before, but it is the best compact smartphone that you can buy right now on Android and we really don't see many small smartphones these days but a lot of people still prefer something that's a lot more manageable and the XZ2 Compact really comes in at this category. With both the XZ2 and the XZ2 Compact, they offer something that's not available on any other smartphone right now and that is 4K HDR video recording which is really quite cool to have that on a smartphone. Now images are not as great to be honest, especially when it comes to low light. I don't know why Sony are obsessed with going 419 megapixels. I think they should lower the megapixels and really concentrate on an overall great package. But you do have water resistance which Sony has been doing for a long time. You have expandable memory and you also have three speakers although you don't have a 3.5 headphone jack. But the bezels of them are smaller as lots of the other competition out there. For the price you're paying, especially for the XZ2, which is around 700 pound in the UK, I do definitely think it should be a little bit cheaper for what you're getting but overall these are some pretty good devices if you want something without a notch and with some of these other features. Now the final device in my list is probably no surprise and they are once again joint because they are very similar devices. And they are the Samsung Galaxy S9 and the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus. Although these may be incremental updates compared to last year's devices, they are great all all rounders. They've got a great build and design, the best displays on the market right now, the super AMOLED displays with the Quad HD Plus resolution in my opinion is the best out there.
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We've got super small bevels without a notch. We've got several speakers this year, we've got a 3.5 with the headphone jack. We've got expandable memory, we've got fast charging, we've got fast wireless charging, we've got water resistance. They just take so many of the boxes, they're very smooth devices overall and we've got great cameras. The S9's are the only smartphones out there with a dual aperture which is very cool and the widest aperture on a smartphone at 1.5 which is great for low light photography. Now battery life in my opinion could be a little bit better but for most people, the S9 and the S9 Plus are going to be absolutely fine. Yes, they are a little bit on the pricier side, but in my opinion you do get what you pay for and the all around package that you get on the S9's makes them some of the best smartphones out this year and for all of those reasons, the S9 Plus has been my daily driver for the most part of this year and will not probably be replaced when we do have the (mumbles) run. So those are my top five picks. You might be thinking where are some of the other devices like the HTC U12+. That's not currently available. I checked on the websites, in the UK at least, it's going to be released end of July to August, so I've not had a chance to test this out yet. I'm really impressed with the Oppo Find X as well as the VIVO Nex. These are devices which, unfortunately, I've not had a chance to try out yet. That's my top five list. What is yours? Definitely drop that in the comments below and as mentioned towards the beginning, this video is sponsored by LastPass. Now I've mentioned lots of new smartphones in this video and if you're going to be upgrading to one of them, then you know that that process can be really difficult because you have to remember all of your different passwords for all of your different apps and accounts. LastPass simplifies this process and makes the transition seamless with one place to generate and securely store all of your passwords. Then you'll need just one password to access them all. So let me show you how this works. I've got the app installed here on my phone and I have here my vault where all my passwords will be stored. If I'm at a new site, I can just tap on the plus icon, find the site, and add it to my vault. So, for example, here I have Twitter. I can enter my username and password and I can also generate a new secure password if needed. Now whenever I want to log into Twitter, I can just tap here with auto fill enabled, it's going to automatically fill in all the details for me and it's as easy as that. You can also assign your fingerprint or face ID to LastPass and that's going to make things even easier and if you'd like, you can also set up two factor authentication which is going to make things even more secure. And it doesn't stop there. LastPass also works on computers. So, for instance, if you need to pay a bill or log in from a friend's computer, you can do that easily and securely with LastPass. There's going to be a link to LastPass in the description below so you can go ahead and try it out for yourself. That's it for me guys. I hope you enjoyed this video on (mumbles). If you did, then do the thumbs up for me. If you haven't already, then I'm not sure why you haven't, We've got lots more content coming up on the air. Thanks for Reading.
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