Google’s Android OS is clearly the platform of choice – at least from a global perspective – with companies like Samsung, OnePlus, Motorola, and Google itself making hardware powered by Android. Depending on which manufacturer you side with, you’ll experience Android unlike any other. That’s what makes the technology so exciting. You’ve got options. After much debate, ZDNET’s team of mobile experts has gathered the very best Android phones that you can buy for the rest of the holiday season. Whether you’re shopping on a budget, for a specific feature, and/or value one aspect of a smartphone more than another, there’s sure to be a fitting choice below. Also: 12 phones that make great gifts in 2022
Samsung’s Galaxy S22 Ultra is one of the best overall smartphones today and the best that Samsung has to offer for camera performance. With the S Pen now being incorporated into the phone, the Note lives on in the S22 Ultra, turning the Ultra into the ultimate stylus-enabled smartphone. If your job requires you to zoom into subjects from far away, no other phone beats the S22 Ultra in terms of telephoto capability and, more importantly, quality. Zooming up to 30x provides high-quality images, but even beyond this zoom level, there are practical reasons to see the details of the subjects you are shooting. Read the review: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Generally speaking, the S22 Ultra is arguably the most complete, do-it-all smartphone in 2022, with an ample amount of storage, RAM, and battery capacity to power it through. That’s on top of the immersive 6.8-inch OLED panel that proves once again that Samsung is the king of displays. Foldables are inching closer and closer to mainstream acceptance but that doesn’t mean it’s too early to hop on the innovation wagon. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 is the company’s most polished 2-in-1 smartphone yet, and it’s also the best one on the market. Read the review: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 With the latest model, you’ll get up to 12GB of RAM, a new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor powering the system, a flexible display that can expand from 6.2 inches to 7.6 inches, and all the software perks of Android 12L. Samsung has also made some improvements to its industrial design to create a more uniform, durable, and lightweight form factor. The latest flagship Pixel from Google is also its most refined and capable one yet. The 6.7-inch model is now fitted with a more uniform glass-to-aluminum body and sees an updated Google Tensor G2 chip at the helm. With the new processor, the Pixel 7 Pro gets a boost in efficiency, performance, and a series of practical software features like Unblur and Guided Frame, along with last year’s fan-favorite, Magic Eraser. In Pixel fashion, the triple camera array, paired with the company’s computational chops, is what puts the 7 Pro ahead of the competition. From the natural-colored photo and video capture to the new 30x Super Res Zoom that can snap crisp and surprisingly detailed close-up shots, the flagship Pixel’s camera system is more capable than ever before. Read the review: Google Pixel 7 Pro The $899 price tag, which undercuts Samsung and Apple’s very best, is the cherry on top. OnePlus has come a long way since its flagship-killing roots, and while it no longer churns out $300-$400 handsets to chip off Apple and Samsung’s flagship market share, the latest device, the OnePlus 10T, is still a leader in one aspect: fast charging. The OnePlus 10T supports the company’s SuperVOOC 125W technology, which allows the phone to go from 1% to 100% in less than 20 minutes. Seriously. That means gone are the days of plugging in your device right before bed or squeezing every last bit of free time to power it before work. Read the review: OnePlus 10T Charging aside, the 10T is still a formidable Android if you’re eyeing a Google/Samsung alternative and don’t want to pay more than $1,000. It comes with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor that proved its worth during our full review, and a triple camera array that’s sufficient enough for day-to-day shots. Google’s Pixel 6a checks all the boxes of a competitive, mid-range smartphone. instead of focusing on premium-grade materials and flashy features, the Pixel 6a is just a simple, user-friendly device that makes you question if you’ve been paying too much for smartphones. Read the review: Google Pixel 6a At $449, the Pixel 6a offers a useful dual 12MP camera system, with Google’s Tensor chipset powering all that’s within. That also means you’ll be getting the same software tricks as flagship Pixels, like Magic Eraser and Live Translate. If you can live with a 6.1-inch display and are tight on budget, then the Pixel 6a is the budget Android to buy. If there’s one area that Android completely dominates iOS in, it’s gaming. Whether you game on existing mobile apps or take to the cloud for streaming, Android manufacturers have spent the past years forging a new category of gaming-tailored smartphones. If you want the best, check out the Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro. It’s not the most expensive gaming phone on the market, and it certainly doesn’t need a big price tag to do the talking. Read the review: Black Shark 5 Pro To start, the phone can be configured with up to 16GB of RAM for high-graphics gaming and enhanced app management. Then, there’s the external hardware like the 144Hz refresh rate display that makes gameplay look buttery smooth, the two side trigger buttons that can retract into the phone when not in use, and RGB designs etched throughout the body of the phone – because Xiaomi wants you to game in style. Camera performance across the board is solid from just about every phone on the list, but some are better than others. If you plan to capture photos as your primary function, then you should look to Google, Samsung, or even OnePlus. If you plan to spend $1,000 or more, then you may also want your phone to last for at least a couple of years. You should consider companies with a good track record of regular updates, notably Google and Samsung. Over the past year, we tested new Android phones from Google, Samsung, OnePlus, Sony, Motorola, and several others.
