The 3 most interesting smartphones of 2020 according to Stefan

December 27, 2020 Luisa Rey

Last year I started a similar article with that there is plenty of variety in smartphone land; foldable, with punch-hole, notch or with five cameras. This is no different this year, but which smartphones are the most interesting? These are the favorites of 2020 according to Stefan.

Contents

1 Smartphones of 2020: Stefan

Smartphones of 2020: Stefan

The year 2020 was another year in which smartphones were released in abundance; big, smaller (we don’t know small anymore), with a rotating screen, foldable or with another technology. We have seen enough of them at the editorial office. In this article I, Stefan, list the three most interesting Android smartphones of this year.

1. OnePlus 8 Pro

I have been walking around with the OnePlus 8 Pro almost all year round. For me it was the successor to the acclaimed Huawei P30 Pro, which I had put in the overview of the most interesting smartphone of 2019 last year. I published the OnePlus 8 Pro review earlier this year, and it is actually still correct. The very nice OxygenOS, a great camera during the day, a beautiful screen and a nice and fast device. Since a few weeks the device has been equipped with Android 11. I also see points for improvement; OnePlus, for example, rolls out a security update about once every two months and the endurance of the battery is not special. Further; a very nice smartphone!

Samsung Galaxy S20 FE front

2. Samsung Galaxy S20 FE

The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G to be precise, I was really impressed. It has a hefty price tag, but basically everything was right on the device. I discussed this in the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE review. To be honest; with many Samsung devices I just notice that the battery life is not as nice as with other devices; this is probably due to the less energy-efficient Exynos processor. The 5G version of the S20 FE contains a super-fast Snapdragon chipset that delivers an excellent battery life. In addition, you have an excellent camera and you can be sure of Android version updates for three years. However, the device is very smooth and only a 15W charger is included (instead of 25 watts).

Oppo Find X2 Pro back

3. Oppo Find X2 Pro

The Oppo Find X2 Pro also belongs in this overview, especially in the leather color. I was already fond of the leather design with the LG G4, and we also saw this material with the Oppo Find X2 Pro. This made the device feel great in hand. It also had a nice screen and I think ColorOS is one of the finer launchers above Android. With 65W, the battery was quickly charged, and that was necessary. The battery life was very substandard and I thought that was a real shame. I hope Oppo tackles this with a successor; and they release it with a leather case. You can read all the details in the Oppo Find X2 Pro review.

The miss (s)

I can name more devices that actually belong in this list; think of Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 9 Pro. Yet there were also a number of misses this year. Unfortunately, I have to conclude that the Galaxy S20 from Samsung also falls under this, as can be read in the Samsung Galaxy S20 review. The camera regularly hit with the saturation, the battery life was very bad and the device also had more downsides. No, not a winner this year.

Another device that did not make me happy was the Sony Xperia L4. Launched together with the Xperia 10 II and Xperia 1 II, but the L4 was right behind the competition. The phone still runs on Android 9 Pie and that is really not possible for a device of 200 euros.

For the coming year I am very curious about the 5G devices in the more affordable segment. At the end of this year, we were already seeing more and more 5G smartphones for a more reasonable price, and I expect this to be even more in 2021. I also expect devices that can be charged even faster and perhaps a front camera behind the display. I also sincerely hope that Huawei will get good news that it can use Google services again.