Smartphone Awards 2024: Best phones of the year!
Guys, 2024 is about to end, 2025 is about to come. So here on ReviewsPK, our team thought why not make a video on the best phones of the year. So for the first time for ReviewsPK, these are the best smartphones of 2024. Hello and welcome to ReviewsPK, my name is Ameer. And in today's video, we'll be looking for the best phones of different categories.
And I hope that after watching this video, you'll be able to understand my thought process as to how I select my phones. In today's video, we'll cover five broad categories. Best Display, Best Battery and Charging Setup, Best Camera, Best Gaming Phone, and Best Phone Overall.
And then in these categories, we'll look at five different price points. So, Ultra Budget, which will be phones worth Rs.15,000 to Rs.30,000. Budget Phones, which will be phones worth Rs.31,000 to Rs.60,000. Mid Range Phones, from Rs.61,000 to Rs.120,000.
Flagship Killers, from Rs.121,000 to Rs.220,000. And then flagship phones, which cost more than Rs.220,000. So, in total, we have more than 20 phones in today's video. And, I also know that the die hard fans of our ReviewsPK community will watch this video till the end. Well, you guys have to give your feedback after seeing our list.
Maybe we missed some phones. No list is perfect. And, when you share your opinion in the comments below, it benefits our entire ReviewsPK community a lot. And yes, I remembered from the ReviewsPK community that in the future, I will share with you the opinions of our ReviewsPK community, as to which phones you liked the most this year.
So, this video is going to be long. Prepare your popcorn, watch it till the end, and if you like it, then like, share, and subscribe. So, let's start with ReviewsPK Smartphone Awards 2024, and our first category is Best Display. A good display is very important for any phone's experience because you interact with your phone through the display.
And there are a lot of different options and features in terms of displays in phones. And while choosing a display, I focus more on four things. Display type, IPS LCD or AMOLED. AMOLED displays are a little better. Their colors are more punchy, blacks are deeper, and they consume less battery.
But AMOLED technology is expensive, so we normally see AMOLED displays only in premium and flagship phones. Then comes the resolution. In my opinion, it should be at least 1080p. Unless you have a budget issue, then you can go for 720p. The third thing is the refresh rate.
120Hz is my sweet spot. I can tolerate 90Hz, But 60Hz is a no-go for me in 2024. 60Hz is a deal-breaker. I won't buy a phone with that. And the fourth thing is brightness, which is measured in nits. The maximum brightness of the display, the better the display is in bright sunlight. Then there are some other features, like LTPO panels, which we see in premium and flagship phones, we'll talk about that later.
But now, let's come to our first category, that is, the best display at ultra budget price point. So in this category, I think it was pretty easy to select a winner. Because at this price point, we don't have many options. We don't normally get many features at this price point. Most phones have IPS LCD displays. And 720p resolution is available.
1080p resolution is available at this price point. These displays are also not very bright. In this ultra budget category, basically competition comes down to refresh rate. So here, I have selected the Tecno Spark Go 1 as a winning display. Right now, this phone is being retailed for Rs.26,000. You will get it around Rs.24,000.
And the special thing about this phone is that at the price point of Rs.25, 000, we get a 120Hz display. Now, if you want to go completely ultra budget, then as an honorable mention, I am including the Xiaomi Redmi A3X as well, which comes with a 90Hz display and its retail price is Rs.21,000. But you will get it for around Rs.17,000. If we come up in the budget category, then the game here is a little more interesting.
Because here, there are a few more features in the equation, like Full HD resolution, AMOLED technology, and high refresh rate. And there are a lot of phone options. But in my opinion, here, Infinix Hot 50 Pro Plus is the most well rounded.
The retail price is Rs.59,000. Full HD AMOLED display, refresh rate of 120Hz, 1 billion colors, and peak brightness of 1300 nits. And along with all of this, we also get Gorilla Glass protection. Then there is a curved display, which at this price point, most of you like it a lot. It makes the phone look more modern and more slim. And at least I find such 3D curved display phones very beautiful.
And one advantage of such curved displays is that their bezels will always feel a little thinner. Well, now here I think that Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 also gets an honorable mention. It's a retail price of Rs.53,000, but you can easily find it in the market right now for less than Rs.45,000.
It has a full HD AMOLED display, a refresh rate of 120Hz, a peak brightness of 1800 nits, and with all of this, it's giving protection of Gorilla Glass 3. And I'll also mention the Tecno Spark 30 Pro here. Which is one of the cheapest phones with a Rs.46,000,
which is giving a 120Hz AMOLED display. Well. now let's come to the mid range. So here, my decision was primarily based on the refresh rate. Because here, in most phones, we get full HD AMOLED displays with a 120Hz refresh rate. And in a lot of phones, there is a support of 1 billion colors. But, here, one phone stood out for me, and that was Infinix GT 20 Pro, which has a 144Hz refresh rate.
When this phone was launched, even then, and even today, I don't think that at a price point of less than Rs.100,000. there is any phone that gives you a 144Hz refresh rate. And this phone also supported 120FPS gaming. Well, let me give an honorable mention to Oppo Reno 12 5G. At a retail price of Rs.80,000, its display specs are also very well rounded.
Full HD, AMOLED, 120Hz refresh rate, and peak brightness of 2100 nits. And now, let's talk about the flagship killer displays. Well, at this price point, normally, we see Full HD, AMOLED, 120Hz, high brightness, all of them together. And all of these features are compulsory at this price point, in my opinion. You can't live without them.
Here, the most important feature for me comes, which normally differentiates premium displays from flagship displays. And that's LTPO technology. What exactly is it? Well, basically LTPO displays can control their refresh rate according to the usage and normally these displays can go down to 1Hz.
The advantage of this is that when you are using such a display, then the refresh rate is And as soon as you stop using it, it lowers the refresh rate to 1Hz, which affects the battery a lot because your processor is not being used, pixels are not being used, and such displays are normally considered more battery efficient and improve battery life. But obviously, such LTPO displays are also more expensive, so we only see them in flagship phones. So when it comes to flagship killers, The LTPO display is a very important feature. And the cheapest LTPO display phone I've seen at this flagship killer price point. That's the Realme GT6.
Which is at a retail price of Rs.150,000. it has a 120Hz refresh rate, 1 billion colors and a peak brightness of 6000 nits. along with LTPO technology. So, in my opinion, the best display in flagship killers is the Realme GT 6.
Now, I would like to give an honorable mention to the Xiaomi 14T. It doesn't have LTPO technology, but it can display 68 billion colors, 144Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ and 4000nits peak brightness. So that's a good display as well. And guys, as far as flagship displays are concerned, unfortunately, we only have two options in Pakistan.
One is the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and the other is the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. I personally will select the iPhone 16 Pro Max because of its dynamic island, which, strictly speaking, is not a display feature. It's more of an interface feature. I like it a lot. But if you look at the side by side specs of both these phones, then both have very good displays. You can take your pick.
At the end of the day, I think this decision will be based on your personal preference. I would choose iPhone 16 prom max. So guys, that was about displays, now our next category is best battery and charging setup. And here we'll also be using the same five price categories. But when it comes to the battery and charging setup, you basically need to focus on two things.
One thing is battery size; that is, a larger battery is better. And the second thing is charging speed. The faster a phone charges, the better it is. Then there are some other supporting features like wireless charging, reverse wireless, reverse wired charging, and bypass charging.
We'll talk about those later. So here in the ultra budget category, I found the Samsung Galaxy A06 to be a very good option. Probably best in class with 5000 mAh battery, it has a 25W super fast charging.
At a retail price Rs.27,000, no other phone is offering this. And you can easily get this phone for Rs.23,000 to Rs.24,000. Coming to the budget price point, I will pick the recently launched Realme C75.
In its unboxing video itself, I called it the best in class in terms of battery and charging setup. It has a 6000 mAh monster battery, along with a 45W super fast charging. In the Rs.50,000 retail price range, If there is any better option than this, please let me know in the comments.
I'd like to give an honourable mention to the ZTE Nubia Neo 2 5G. At a retail price of Rs 55000, this 6000 mAh battery provides 33W super fast charging along with bypass charging. Which I think is a more gamer centric feature, but still a good feature to have. And the second honorable mention I want to give to the Infinix Note 40 It has a 5,000 mAh battery with 45W super fast charging It has MagCharge features, and reverse wired and reverse wireless charging Infinix has put a lot of effort this year on new innovations and charging technologies.
And if you remember, we even started this year with Infinix at CES Las Vegas. Coming to the mid range price point, where we gave honorable mention to the Note 40 in the previous category. In that category, I consider Infinix's Note 40 Pro to be best in class. At price point of Rs.80,000, this phone has a 5,000 mAh
battery, 70W fast charging, Infinix's MagCharge capabilities, and wired and wireless reverse charging. In terms of battery and charging, this phone has a very solid setup. And then if we talk about the best battery and charging setup in Flagship Killers, then here I normally look for a battery bigger than 5000 mAh and a super fast charging speed of 120W. So here too, I found Realme GT 6 again to be the best. With a bigger battery of 5500 mAh and a super fast charging of 120W.
And wait till realme GT 7 Pro launches in Pakistan. I can already tell that that phone will be the best in class phone of its price point. It has a big 6500 mAh battery and 120W charging. I'm really looking forward to that. And then come to flagship phones.
I mean, unfortunately, there are only two options in Pakistan. So, iPhone 16 Pro Max or Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. I will obviously select iPhone 16 Pro Max being an Apple fan.
But I know a lot of people who use the Galaxy S24 Ultra as a daily driver and those people praise its battery life a lot. Yes, it is true that the Galaxy S24 Ultra has 45W super fast charging and I'm sure that phone charges faster than the iPhone. The iPhone maxes out at 25W but its battery is also a bit small and it has a lot of optimizations.
But I'm still sure that S24 Ultra takes it. But at the end of the day, in terms of battery size and battery life, the Galaxy S24 Both phones are quite evenly matched. So these were the phones with the best battery and charging setup. Now our next category is of the best cameras.
So while choosing a good phone camera, you have to keep 2/3 things in mind. First thing is resolution. The higher resolution of your main and selfie camera, the better. But keep in mind that resolution isn't everything. So, the second thing is software and algorithms. Normally, Samsung, Realme, Oppo, Vivo, their software algorithms are liked a lot in the market.
The post processing of their photos is of better quality. The third thing is how many perspectives your camera is giving. That is, with the main camera, whether there are ultrawide and telephoto cameras or not. I don't give much importance to macro cameras, but main, ultrawide, and telephoto, these three perspectives are the most important.
And as you go up in price, optical image stabilization will become an important feature for you. And then, laser autofocus, LiDAR, and in body stabilization, etc. So again, let's talk about the ultra budget category first. So here, the options are very limited. Normally, cheap phones don't have very good cameras.
In budget phones, the biggest compromise is in the cameras. So here, we'll just focus on resolution and software. In my opinion, the best phone here is the Samsung Galaxy A06 because it has a 50MP main camera and along with it, Samsung's camera algorithms which are generally considered superior in the Android space because Samsung invests a lot in the R&D of their flagship phones and spends a lot of money and the benefit of that R&D also goes to Samsung's entry level budget phones. Then when we leave the ultra budget and come to the budget price point, the camera features start to improve here.
We have a bit more to choose from. So here, I price of Techno Camon 30, Rs.58,000. 50MP main camera with optical image stabilization and a 50MP selfie shooter. This is a killer combo. Here, I want to give an honorable mention to the OPPO Reno12F 4G.
Which is priced at Rs.60,000. It doesn't have Optical Image Stabilization, but it has a 50MP main camera, 8MP ultrawide camera, and a 32MP selfie shooter, plus OPPO's amazing camera algorithms. Coming to the mid range price point, here, for me, Optical Image Stabilization has become a compulsory feature. It is present in most phones. If it is not present in the phone, then it is a personal deal breaker for me.
So, at this price point, you have to see which phone is giving the best combination with Optical Image Stabilization. Here, I really liked the Vivo V40e. At a retail price of Rs.100,000,
it has a 50MP Optically Stabilized Main Camera, 8MP Ultrawide Camera, and a 50MP Selfie Shooter. And personally, I really like Vivo's selfie game. For a long time, Vivo's mid range phones were considered the selfie kings. Here, I would also like to give an, honorable mention to the Realme 12+ 5G, which was launched in Rs.80,000. And to a large extent, it was giving the same type of features.
50MP Optically Stabilized Main Camera, 8MP Ultrawide, along with Realme's camera algorithms. The only thing is that the selfie camera here, at 16MP, had a bit lower resolution. Keep in mind that Realme 12+ 5G has been discontinued, instead Realme 13+ has arrived.
It was a little more expensive, so I didn't put it in the honorable mention, but you can also go to it. And now come to the flagship killer range, and here, there is a very tough competition between two phones. Xiaomi 14T, which has a 50MP main camera, 50MP telephoto, 12MP ultrawide, and a 32MP selfie shooter. It's made in collaboration with Leica.
We were taken to Berlin by Xiaomi for this launch, where we also visited the Leica factory. It's retail price is Rs.176,000. And on the other side is the Vivo V40 whose retail price is Rs.140,000. It has a 50MP main camera.
50MP ultrawide and 50MP selfie shooter. And it's made in collaboration with Zeiss. But keep in mind that there is no telephoto camera present here.
So, for completeness of experience and presence of ultrawide camera, i am selecting Xiaomi 14T as the winner here. And I am giving honorable mention to Vivo V40. That okay, there is no telephoto camera here. But this camera is doing a fantastic job. As far as flagship phones are concerned, where it comes to photos, Google Pixel phones are the talk of the town, so Pixel 9 Pro XL is probably your best bet. And as far as videos are concerned, I'm convinced that the best phone in the world is currently the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
In my opinion, this phone currently takes the best videos in mobile phones. But having said that, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is also not a cheap phone. It also has a very good level of photos and videos. So if you're thinking of buying that, So, without any hesitation, buy that phone, its cameras are not bad at all. And now, come to our next category, which is best gaming phones.
Now, in my opinion, in a good gaming phone, three features are very important. The power of the processor, screen refresh rate, and battery size, charging speed, and bypass charging. And then, there are other goodies, like built in triggers. Gamer vibe, RGB lights, and mechatronic designs, etc. Now, in the ultra budget category, We are helpless, Muhid had declared that there can be no winner at this price point.
But in my opinion, Galaxy A06 is a good option again. At Rs.26,000, it offers a Helio G85 chipset and a 5000 mAh battery, and a 25W super fast charging. I mean, at this price point, I don't think it gets any better than this. If we go a little higher in price, then we have selected the ZTE Nubia Neo 2 5G.
At a retail price of Rs.55,000, we have the Unisoc T820 5G chipset, which gives an Antutu score of around 500,000. It has UFS 3.1storage, a 6000 mAh battery, with a 33W super fast charging, then 120 Hertz display check. Even though yeah, I-P-S-L-C-D panel here.
Bypass charging check. Builtin triggers check, designed check. I mean it's no surprise, Because ZTE's Nubia, especially the Redmagic phones, are known specifically for gaming. Coming to the mid-range price point - here I found the Infinix GT20 Pro to be the best.
When it was launched, it was the only phone in Rs.100,000 that had a 144Hz AMOLED display and could handle 120 FPS games. Along with it, MediaTek Dimensity 8200 Ultimate Chipset, UFS 3.1 Storage, Gamer Mechatronic Design, and here, there is also a bypass charging with a charging speed of 45W. As far as flagship killer phones are concerned, there are very few phones that are specifically gaming oriented.
But one phone does stand out, surprise surprise, Realme's GT6. At a price of Rs.150,000 Snapdragon 8S Gen 3 chipset. Antutu score is above 15,000,00 16GB RAM 512GB UFS 4.0 storage. Then here the battery is also of 5500 mAh and 120W turbo charging. 120 Hz LTPO AMOLED display.
There's just one thing missing in this phone, and that is bypass charging. Other than that, this phone is a great option for gamers. I mean, the name says it all, it's called GT. And in flagship phones, again, the playing field is very small. iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Galaxy S24 Ultra.
I personally, I mean, the comments below which phone you think I'll choose. And now, let's get to our last and the best category, that is, the Best Phones Overall. So, in the Ultra budget category, I think the Galaxy A06 stands out. It has already won in 2/3 categories.
At a retail price of Rs.26,000. Helio G85 chipset, 5000 mAh battery, 25W super fast charging, 50MP main camera, and with that, Samsung's brand name and warranty support. If you have any other overall winner in the ultra budget category, let me know in the comments below. In the budget category, we have the Tecno Camon 30, which is a good option.
This has also been in one or two categories before. The retail price is Rs.58,000. Helio G99 chipset, 5000 mAh battery, 70W turbo charging. 50MP Optically Stabilized Main Camera, 50MP Selfie Shooter, 120Hz AMOLED Display, Dual Speakers, I mean, all the bases have been covered by this phone. This has been an absolute fan favorite this year. A lot of people have commented and told me everywhere how much they liked the Tecno Cam in 30.
And personally, I haven't seen a big compromise in this phone. Yes, I will say this much that Tecno needs to work hard on its software and camera algorithms. Now, let's come to the mid range price point. So, here, I liked the Vivo V40e as an overall winner. In a retail price of Rs.100, 000, the Dimensity 7300 4nm chipset, 5. 00mAh
battery, 80W turbo charging, 50MP optically stabilized main camera, 8MP ultrawide, 50MP selfie shooter, along with 120Hz AMOLED display with 1 billion colors, And dual speakers, which are very rare in Vivo phones, I think we've seen only 2 or 3 phones from Vivo this year that have dual speakers. So I think it's a very well rounded phone. You can't really go wrong with it.
Then let's come to the flagship killer price point. So here, obviously, Realme GT 6. Which has already won in 3 other categories in this video. And I'm not surprised because at a retail price of Rs.150,000. Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, 4nm chipset, 5500mAh big battery, 120W Turbo Charging, 50MP Optically Stabilized Main Camera, 50MP Telephoto Camera, 8MP Ultrawide, 32MP Selfie Shooter, along with that gorgeous 120Hz LTPO AMOLED Display, which supports 1 billion colors, and then dual speakers, I mean, it's a completely stacked spec sheet of this phone. I didn't see any compromise except for bypass charging.
Other than that, I really liked this phone overall. And it looks good too. I think Realme has made a beautiful phone. And wait till you see GT 7 Pro. I can't wait for GT 7 Pro. I'm very excited to use it as soon as it comes.
And then come to our flagship phones. So once again, I would choose iPhone 16 Pro Max. Any day of the week.
And the reason for that is that I am fully involved in Apple's ecosystem. Macbooks, iPads, Airpods. So I have a lot of benefit from the ecosystem. Build quality is very good. I mean, it looks good. I like the software a lot.
I just, overall, really like this phone. So, I mean, it's my personal bias. You know that I am an Apple fanboy. So, overall, as a flagship phone, whoever comes to me and asks, It's a privacy protector by the way. Whoever comes to me and asks which flagship phone to buy, I recommend the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
Obviously, it might not be for everyone. There's a big game of preferences here. You might like Android Space more.
There, as an honorable mention, Galaxy S24 Ultra and Google Pixel 9 Pro XL I can definitely recommend. I like both phones a lot. In fact, I'm thinking I might switch from iPhone to the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL. Let me know your thoughts on this in the comments below. So friends, these are my choices for the year 2024. You can check out all our winners and honourable mentions in this table.
For a quick recap. Let me know your choices in the comments below. I hope you liked this video.
Even if you disagree with it, do let me know in the comments below. Because, obviously, no list is perfect. It's possible something was missed. Maybe we said something wrong. Let us know in the comments below so that we and our entire ReviewsPK community can benefit from your opinion. And I hope this video will help you select your next phone.
If you're new to the channel, subscribe and follow us. If you liked the video, please share it with your friends. Thank you so much for watching this long video till the end. i'll see you in the next video. Goodbye. By the way, shoutout to Dastan Clothing.
It's my friend's company. I'll leave its Instagram page in the description below. If you're interested, you can check it out.
2025-01-02 23:17
