Smartphones in 2019
- Michel-Manuel Ampofo
- Mar 7, 2019
- 6 min read
2019 seems to have a lot of great technology in store for us in terms of smartphones. We would go through a few of the supposedly most interesting ones so far.
Foldables
Of course, we cannot start without mentioning the world of the foldables, with Samsung and Huawei taking it off on a strong note. I wouldn’t say what is or will be a better option. I think it will be up to personal preference. I will highlight some key differences. The Samsung folds inwards and has a relatively smaller secondary (phone) screen which is about 4.6 inches. The main display for the Samsung which is an infinity flex AMOLED display as Samsung likes to call it. The Huawei on the, on the other hand, features an 8.0 inch OLED display when opened and has a 6.6 OLED when folded. Both these phones have a plastic screen since glass does not bend. This makes the phone more prone to scratch and also it will also be likely to fold crease making the display lose its quality after a while.
Nevertheless, the two devices do not come at a low price at all. The Galaxy Fold is coming at a whopping $1980 and the Mate X crowning it with the €2299. I believe foldable phone are the future but a lot of work has to be done to get that future. Kudos to Samsung and Huawei and of course the Royole Flex Pai for taking a head start in the foldable industry.
Huawei Mate X (left) and Samsung Galaxy Fold (right)
Nokia 9 All View
Another one of my favorites in 2019 so far is the Nokia 9 Pure view.
Now, this phone is unlike anything we saw in the past years in the mobile smartphone game. This phone has taken the camera game up to 5 rear cameras and one six cameras. Let’s head straight for the camera specs; 5 Cameras - 5 sensors Camera 1 - 12 MP, f/1.8 monochrome sensor Camera 2 – 12 MP f/1.8 monochrome sensor Camera 3 – 12 MP f/1.8 monochrome sensor Camera 4 – 12MP f/1.8 Colour Sensor Camera 4 – 12MP f/1.8 Colour Sensor Camera 4 – 12MP f/1.8 Colour Sensor
Don’t worry, I know it is crazy to see three of the same cameras and two of another, but they offer importance. The three monochrome sensors capture in black and white which is made to offer better detail in pictures. So as you press the shutter all five of the cameras are capturing all the color and detail information and taking it to the processor for well, processing. The file sizes are quite large also partly because it also shoots in RAW-DNG. (this is an image format that keeps all the details of the image when taking it, leading to some pretty large image size some up to like 25-30 MB depending on your sensor). Unfortunately, since the phone is not out yet, I might not be able to get you accurate camera samples since there might be some software tweaks that Nokia can do to even better the overall outcome. On paper the only real problem I think is the processor which is the Snapdragon 845 from last year. It will be okay for most people, but I think with the five camera setup which will need a lot of processing power, they should have gone with the latest and greatest Snapdragon 855 processor from QUALCOMM. Apart from that, I think Nokia nailed it in almost all the aspects of a good smartphone in my previous article. The display is a 5.9 inches OLED display with a high resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels which would total up to a 490 PPI pixel density display which is very good for its screen size. It's design I think is also great. It has a machined aluminum for the body which looks great and makes the screen and the body do great together. For the camera arrangement, I think that’s the best Nokia could do. Putting five cameras at the back of a phone will definitely look creepy but I don’t think it will bother me that much. But that also is a personal preference. It does not have a notch but has a relatively okay bezels at the top and bottom of the screen. I wasn’t a fan of the notch craze so I think this is great , but then again design is a personal preference so it is up to you the user to decide what suits you.
Nokia has always been known for producing the best build quality in phones since the dawn of mobile devices and this no exception. I do not perform bend and drop test yet, so I will leave that for JerryRigEverthing who tests for smartphone durability on YouTube. But it is without a doubt that the Nokia 9 All View has a great build quality. Battery life promises to be good since Nokia is also known for producing one of the best battery expectancies in the smartphone industry. It is going to have a 3320mAh non-removable battery. To be fair, I think the battery would do okay but not as good as the other Nokia phones on a day to day usage since using the camera is going to drain the battery, but we are looking forward to seeing how it stands up. The Nokia 9 All-View is part of the Android One initiative which is great, giving its stock-android-like experience. It is also going to have a 128GB storage option which would be okay for the average consumer and 6GB of RAM. Overall I think the Nokia 9 Pure View will be one of the most exciting phones of 2019.
Oppo 10x Zoom phone
Oppo is also really trying to keep their heads high as the most innovative smartphone company. Last year they came up with the Oppo Find X in all it's motorized glory and this time around they are going to highlight on the cameras as well by providing a whopping 10x optical zoom lens on a mobile device. The phone whose name has not been confirmed yet putting a whole new setup into camera zoom technology. The technology is likened to a periscope setup (mirrors and lenses that arranged in a special way) which makes the light coming to the sensor, meet at unique angles to get more detail in the zoom. Do note that, the system that was tested at Mobile World Congress wasn’t a complete phone and so we are yet to see how the whole system would work out.
Notch or Hole Punch?
The All-Screen bezel-less dream display game is still on and this year, the industries have interesting approaches to it. The honor view 20 and the Samsung Galaxy s10e, s10 and s10+ are the first phones to start the hole punch camera set-up. Last year was the rise of notch. But as to which one is nicer, I will leave that to you. You can do your comparisons and give your comment in the comments section below.
Hole-Punch or Notch , Which is nicer
Now for the usual surprises, we have the rest of the upcoming flagships for the rest of 2018.
Google Pixel 4 and Google Pixel 4XL – We are looking at how Google will improve upon the hardware and surprise us again with their undefeated cameras.
Apple’s 2019 flagship – Apple’s 2019 flagship is still a mystery, but as usual, there will be some minor tweaks here and there in performance and cameras; the usual stuff.
Samsung Note 10 – Samsung has already taken the spotlight, but we’ll see whether the Note 10 will keep the spotlight.
OnePlus - OnePlus has proven that a phone’s quality and performance cannot be justified by the price. I hope they still keep to their mission this year.
Huawei P30 and P30 Pro: Now the previous versions of these phone became highlights of 2017 with their amazing cameras and outstanding performance. I believe Huawei is packing a fun package this year too.
And all the rest of the flagships from LG (palm recognition and gestures), HTC, Xiaomi, and Sony. This year is going to be a fun ride in the smartphone industry. As expected most of the Android devices are going to come with the Snapdragon 855 chipset.
5G
5G is definitely a kick-start in 2019 and most of the smartphone manufacturers are getting ready for the most anticipated 5G. They have started integrating 5G modems in their phones.
5G is approximately 20 times faster than 4G which is pretty exciting. It is theoretically able to max out speeds at about 1-10 gigabits per second. Unfortunately for where I am, it seems I have got to wait for a quite some time before the carriers start upgrading but I still look forward to it.
Stay tuned for more articles from Tech Haven on recent technology.
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