What new smartphone to buy?

Our reader Roman, who is looking for a new phone, called us recently. This is the only way to recommend a new phone in general, because everyone has different preferences. Some prefer small smartphones, some a little bigger.

For example, some prefer good cameras over performance, while others prefer great battery life over thickness and weight. This time, however, we will look at Roman’s preferences and try to give him some smartphones that might suit him. We will be happy if you give him some tips in the comments.

We are looking for a small, more durable smartphone, with great cameras and long battery life

To begin with, we would start with the requirements that Roman gave us. A small smartphone with good battery life is quite difficult to find, but of course, it is necessary to make a few compromises.

Hello, I would like to ask you for advice on whether you can advise me on choosing a phone. I drowned my Samsung S7, and now I need a replacement. No matter how I look at it, I still can’t find the right piece.

1. What am I looking for? In short, I would rather need a quality camera with excellent (better) battery life, which can be called telefon and is not the size of a roof covering. I want to use this especially for multi-day wanderings in nature, or any outdoor activities, where I need to rely on the fact that I will not have to constantly recharge it with an external power bank even during winter trips to the ski alps.
2. Something that fits comfortably in your pocket, so I imagine something up to max. 6 inches, or at least the 6.1 inches, as I see more adepts moving there.
3. I want a quality camera with which I will capture especially scenery from nature and will also enjoy night shooting.
4. I don’t care what the resolution of the display is, because of the savings I always used the lowest resolution, saving by reducing power, etc.
5. Ideally something a little more resistant to dust and water, at least IP66
6. The price and OS do not matter

I found the Galaxy S10 plus and the Huawei P30 Pro, but both have approximately 6.4-inch screen diagonals. Then I found a smaller iPhone XR. Or I will reach for older models from Huawei (P20 Pro or P30).

Thank you in advance for your help.

It will probably also be a mini-war Android with iOS

The Huawei P20 Pro and P30 are very good choices, as their photographic capabilities can still be somewhere on the level of today’s upper middle class modern smartphones. It will also please the battery life, provided you find a relatively new piece that does not have natural battery wear.

The mentioned iPhone XR is also not bad, but a more modern solution is the iPhone 12 Mini. However, the aforementioned pair of Apple devices is a little worse in terms of battery life per charge. You’ll get better results with the iPhone 11 Pro, which is very compact, durable and has really great battery life.

Although it has a low paper capacity, Apple has a perfectly optimized iOS operating system, so in this case it is almost not a question of what hardware is in these phones.

Since the operating system does not matter, we think that you will be satisfied with the mentioned portfolio from the Apple workshop. As for the world of Android devices, of course, it is more diverse. You can choose from different brands, but we will stick to the better ones.

Many modern smartphones are very large and it is quite difficult to find something that is small in size and at the same time offers long battery life. However, a high-capacity battery still needs some space inside the device. So let’s move on to the selection of individual smartphones. We would recommend the following phones to Roman, with the Asus ZenFone 8 being the absolute favorite.

Asus ZenFone 8

The Asus ZenFone 8 is the perfect buyer for Roman. It is a compact, and at the same time durable smartphone, which will not be surprised by the task of taking photos or lasting one whole day on a single charge. At the front is a high-quality Super AMOLED display with a 5.9-inch diagonal and a high refresh rate of 5.9 inches. It is characterized by a high maximum brightness at the level of 1100 rivets, which is definitely suitable during outdoor activities. Support for HDR10 + will also be pleased.

Resolution stopped at Full HD + (1080 x 2400 pixels). The performance is currently taken care of by the most powerful processor for Android smartphones, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888. Excellent memory values ​​are also available. The primary camera has a high resolution of 64 MP. It has a 12 MP ultra wide angle sensor. The Asus ZenFone 8 also has stereo speakers and boasts IP68 water and dust resistance certification. The battery has a sufficient capacity of 4000 mAh.

Asus ZenFone 8

Samsung Galaxy S10e

We would continue with the very compact Samsung Galaxy S10e smartphone. Despite the fact that today we already have the latest Samsung Galaxy S21 series, the series from two years ago can offer something nowadays. Specifically, the Samsung Galaxy S10e has a 5.8-inch diagonal. This is a Dynamic AMOLED panel, which is characterized by HDR10 + technology. The screen resolution is Full HD + (1080 x 2280 pixels).

At the back we find a pair of cameras. Their resolution is 12 MP for the primary sensor and 16 MP for the ultra widescreen. It will please the presence of stereo speakers, the possibility to choose from several colorful colors and increased resistance to water and dust according to IP68 certification. The battery has a capacity of 3100 mAh and is a potential weakness of this smartphone. After all, everything has its pros and cons.

Samsung Galaxy S10e

Samsung Galaxy S10

The Samsung Galaxy S10 is a better equipped alternative to the mobile phone described above. At the same time, however, it is a slightly larger smartphone. Its Dynamic AMOLED display has a 6.1-inch diagonal, supports HDR10 + and its resolution is a great 1440 x 3040 pixels, which is Quad HD +. However, the user can reduce it in the system itself, to save battery power more easily.

There are three cameras on the back of the mobile phone. The primary has a resolution of 12 MP, the telephoto lens with double optical zoom also has 12 MP, and the ultra-wide angle sensor then has 16 MP. Also in this case, stereo speakers and IP68 water and dust resistance certification are a matter of course. The battery has a capacity of 3400 mAh.

Huawei P30

Huawei P30 is the latest flagship device of the brand, which still had Google services. A suitable alternative is the Huawei P30 Pro, which is still a fairly compact smartphone by today’s standards, but Roman demands something even smaller. The Huawei P30 has a 6.1-inch OLED HDR10 display with Full HD + resolution (1080 x 2340 pixels).

During his time, he excelled in photographic skills. The primary camera has 40 MP. It has an 8 MP telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom. The trio of sensors is closed by a 16 MP ultra wide-angle sensor. Water and dust resistance certification is slightly lower than Samsung’s competition and IP53 resistance protection is. The battery has a capacity of 3650 mAh and thanks to the economical optimization of the MIUI superstructure, we expect that the endurance per charge will be suitable.

Huawei P30

Huawei P40

Unless the absence of Google services is a big obstacle for you, the next step will not be an investment in the Huawei P40 smartphone. He is very nice, which is also helped by the compact dimensions. In our opinion, 6.1 inches is the ideal size, but we understand that some are looking for something even smaller. This OLED panel has a Full HD + resolution, which gives us 1080 x 2340 pixels.

Huawei P40 has brutal photographic equipment for the money. The primary sensor has 50 MP and is able to create very nice photos. It has an 8 MP telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom. The ultra wide angle camera has 16 MP. There is also a 3800 mAh battery inside the device, which offers typical one-day endurance. In this case, the resistance protection is also at the level of the IP53 standard.

Huawei P40

Google Pixel 4a

Finally, we decided to add Google Pixel 4a to this selection. Pleasant compact dimensions. The OLED HDR display of the smartphone has a 5.81-inch diagonal and Full HD + resolution (1080 x 2340 pixels). On the back we find only one single sensor, which is very high quality and the huge charm is mainly done by the software and post-processing as such. The sensor has 12.2 MP.

They will please the stereo speakers and in this case probably also the plastic construction, which is definitely more durable than the glass alternative. The battery has a capacity of 3140 mAh. The operating system and its debugging will be very pleasing. This is pure Android, coming directly from Google. Of course, fast and regular updates are guaranteed. Unfortunately, this phone does not have official protection against water and dust.

Google Pixel 4a