Looking for the best phones of the year? 2015 was not just another year for the Indian smartphone market. India saw a number of new brands enter into the segment, price wars between brands and the rise of 4G devices in India.
During 2015, we have had many phones including new releases to choose from. Each phone had its own strengths and weakness and often we got confused to choose the best phone for own use. It’s time we evaluate them based on their tech specification and functional performance. So here is the list of the Best Phones of 2015, with the right mix of performance and features, you can buy in India.
Samsung Galaxy Note 5: A mighty phone with a mighty pen. It is the best Android smartphone your money can buy. After years of trial and error, the S-Pen finally has great utility. The device also has state of the art hardware and a great camera. Galaxy Note 5 is a combination of power and design. With operating system Antroid, and OS 5.1, Screen size 5and half inches, with a screen resolution 1440 x 2560 and 16 megapixel camera.
Strength – Best in class performance – Good display – Good camera and Good battery life. Weakness – Slippery and prone to falling out of your hand and it is not water-proof.
Its pure style, combined with good performance but it is little expensive. If you’re looking for a flagship phablet, then this is still the one to buy.
Samsung Galaxy S6: This smartphone has a sleek metal and glass design. It has a 5.1-inch Quad HD Super Amoled display with 1440 x 2560 pixels resolution. It runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop and is powered by an octa-core processor coupled with 3GB of RAM (LPDDR4) for advanced multitasking. The Galaxy S6 has a 16 MP rear camera with LED flash and a 5 MP front camera for clicking clear images. It comes with a built in finger print scanner for advanced security. The Galaxy S6 is backed by a 2550mAh battery.
New design elements isn’t the only thing that makes the Galaxy S6 a good phone. It is an out performer that hasn’t been beaten by any other flagship smartphone this year.
Apple iPhone 6s: The iPhone 6s is Apples latest smartphone and it lives up to its name. The smartphone has a great display and the upgraded camera is brilliant. The addition of 3D touch is useful too.
Strength – Best in class performance – Compact and easy to use. Weakness – Expensive – Camera is not the best anymore.
There’s no denying that the iPhone 6S is a good phone. It’s really powerful and the performance is excellent. But if this was an Android phone, we would all have been criticizing it.
OnePlus 2: OnePlus has walked the extra mile to get over the Snapdragon 810’s heating issues and added a nice camera to boot, making this one of the best VFM smartphones out there.
The Sandstone back remains, but it’s on a thin plastic plate this time. The fingerprint sensor can do more than just recognize fingerprints. OnePlus 2 comes with 5.5-inch LTPS LCD display with multi-touch, Snapdragon 810 SoC, Adreno 430 GPU, 13MP/5MP rear and front cameras (The 13MP camera on the back has a laser assisted auto-focus system this time.) 3GB RAM with the 16GB model, and 4GB RAM with the 64GB model, USB Type-C, and Oxygen OS.
Strength – Good camera – No heating issues. Weakness – Oxygen OS is really buggy – Display should have been better.
If you’re buying a new phone, this would be a good choice, but if you currently own a OnePlus One, stick to it. The phone costs around Rs. 25,000.
LG G4: The laser assisted auto-focus camera is the LG G4’s main strength and it is arguably the best camera phones that you can buy today. LG G4 smartphone has a 5.5-inch Quad HD Quantum display with 1440 x 2560 pixels resolution and a pixel density of 538ppi.
Strength – Top class display – Best-in-class camera. Weakness – Mediocre performance – Poor build.
The last of this year’s flagship, the LG G4, may very well be the most intriguing device as well.
The LG G4 is a step back compared to its predecessors, and not a flagship that you should buy. If the camera is your first priority then this is the best you can get, but apart from that, there’s no real reason to buy this phone.
Huawei Nexus 6P: Made by Huawei, the Nexus 6P has a very premium build. The device has aeronautical-grade aluminum and is available in 3 storage options – 32GB 64GB & 128GB. The rear camera is a 12.3MP camera with 1.55 ultra-pixels and laser auto focus.
Strength -Beautiful display – Great camera – Good overall performance – Nexus Imprint is brilliant. Weakness – Inconsistent battery performance – Too big for single handed use.
If you are one looking to pick up a flagship smartphone with stock Android, then by all means, go ahead and pick up the Nexus 6P. The device has impeccable performance, a great camera, vibrant display and a good build. It is too big for one-handed operations. Other than that, this is one smartphone that deserves the title of being the ‘best flagship stock-Android smartphone’.
LG Nexus 5X 16GB: A successor to the LG Nexus 5, the Nexus 5X has a 5.2-inch 1080p IPS display. The smartphone is available in two storage variants – 16GB and 32GB. The smartphone has the Snapdragon 808 chipset, 2GB RAM and a 12.3MP rear camera.
Now we’re at the Nexus 5, a solid smartphone with a 2.3GHz Snapdragon 800 chipset and 2GB RAM. It has a 2,300mAh battery and a 5-inch 1080p display. It also features the latest version of Android – 4.4 KitKat.
Sony Xperia Z5: Sony’s latest flagship smartphone brings with it an incredible design, fingerprint scanner and a great camera. The smartphone has a compact form factor and comes in a bunch of interesting colour options.
Strength – Beautiful build – Excellent display – Fluid performance – Stellar audio – 4K video looks really good. Weakness – Generates heat under heavy usage – Glitches during
prolonged gaming – Oversaturated colours captured by camera – Power button is too dented.
The Sony Xperia Z5 is a beautiful smartphone. It looks good, feels good, sounds good, and almost performs ell, unless you really want to game hard on your smartphone. It bears a price tag of Rs. 52,990. You will love it for what it is, but you will simultaneously realize that there are other smartphones in the market, that are simply better in terms of core performance.
Huawei Honor 7: The Honor 7 is made out of aluminum, is the beast under the hood and has great battery life too. It has an impressive, sturdy design, a great camera, swift fingerprint sensor, and a UI that is a refreshing change from the stock Android-driven smartphones out there, and it really gets the job done well.
Strength – Good display – Good camera – Long battery life – Good overall performance. Weakness – Smart key placement – Heats up with excess power use – 16GB built-in storage.
If you have a budget of Rs. 25,000 and are looking for a smartphone, then the Honor 7 can definitely be at the top of your list.
Apple iPhone 6: Like it or not, you can’t ignore Apple. The iPhone 6 offers a very good camera along with Apple’s trademark fluid performance. That is what puts it in our list of top 10 smartphones to buy.
Strength – Best smartphone camera ever – Very good performance – Display is sharp and auto brightness is very good. Weakness – Battery life needs a lot of work – Design may not please everybody – Very slippery body.
Apple’s devices have always been about premium design combined with good performance. Not the iPhone 6 though. The new device is all performance and though it sports a good design, it’s not the amazing design that we’ve seen before. It’s still one of the best iPhones till date though and if you thought that the iPhone needed a bigger screen, then go ahead and buy this.
