Compare the best smartphones

Kagoo smartphone guide

Mobile phones have been around since the 1980s and are an invaluable part of modern society - most of us couldn't function without a phone with us at all times. Although originally capable of making and receiving telephone calls, mobile phones have seen a massive increase in their capabilities, especially over the past 20 years. Today, almost all mobiles are no longer just phones - they are

smart phones

.

What are smartphones?

Smartphones are simply a mobile device capable of running programs, accessing the Internet and transferring data, as well as standard calls/text messages. A modern smartphone is more than just a communication device - it's a portable entertainment hub, capable of storing/streaming hours of music, taking professional quality photos and playing a vast collection of games. It's hard to go back to a time when you couldn't just pull out your phone and distract yourself for 5 minutes while waiting for the bus!

What is 3g/4g/5g?

Smartphones use dedicated cellular networks to transfer calls and data. Over time, networks have become more powerful, allowing for faster data transfer speeds, which means your phone will download apps or stream videos faster. They are named by “generation”. So a 4G (4th generation) capable phone will be able to access the internet and download data faster than a 3G phone, but not as fast as a 5G-capable model.

What are apps?

One of the main features of the smartphone is the ability to download & run programs to provide additional functionality to the phone. These are called "apps", universally abbreviated as "apps".

You can download apps for just about anything you want - many websites and companies offer dedicated apps to make it easier for you to access/use their services. Popular examples include Facebook for social media, The Guardian for news, Deliveroo for takeaways, etc. daily exercises, for self-care & meditation support.

Of course, a lot of the apps available are games - smartphones are a powerful tool for killing time or getting distracted, so it's no surprise that there's a huge selection of video games available to mess around with.

All these apps are available on special portals called app stores. These pull it all together and try to tame the flood of apps with personalized suggestions and searches, so you can find exactly what you're looking for. On the iPhone, this is simply called the "

Google Play Store

".

Pricing structures for apps on smartphones can be a bit confusing. Typically, apps are free or cost little money, but there are a number of important considerations:

Free

- does not require you to pay, totally free to use

Free (Addition Supported)

- no need to pay, but developers raise funds by displaying ads while you use the app. These can be more or less annoying, depending on how invasive they are.

Subscription

- users will need an ongoing subscription (usually billed monthly) to continue using the app. You can normally get a week or a month free to try it before you buy. Sometimes you will be able to use the app for free in a limited format without paying a subscription.

Premium

- the app costs money to purchase, but there are no additional fees and no ads once you have paid.

What are the main types of smartphones?

Smartphones are extremely varied and cover a wide range of different specifications, features and prices. Some models are small and focus on the basics, while others are miniature computers, packed with powerful graphics chips for the latest games. There are compact phones that fit neatly in a back pocket, or larger sizes to better watch movies on the tube. There are even models with special foldable screens, so they can unfold to provide twice the screen space!

Over time however, 2 major smartphone camps have emerged based on the operating system powering the phone. Those are:

iOS

- the software powering Apple's iPhones, iPads and related devices. Offers a streamlined and easy-to-use experience, though tightly controlled by Apple. There is little (official) third-party customization possible with iOS, and the apps available are carefully selected. While it limits what can be done with the phone, having only one version of the system means Apple can limit compatibility issues and ensure users can always get the latest version of software.

android

- if your phone isn't an iPhone, it's probably running Android. Based on the Linux operating system, Android is an extremely customizable open source system. While not always as sleek or user-friendly as iOS, developers can tweak every part of the system, allowing them to change how it works or looks. It's a double-edged sword - on the one hand, phone makers can tweak Android to suit their needs perfectly. On the other hand, the large number of Android variants available can make choosing a phone difficult: there can be compatibility issues with apps, and a phone model is not guaranteed to have the version latest in the system.

In general, iPhones have a more refined selection of apps and have better camera functionality, while Android phones are cheaper, offer greater customization and can be upgraded/improved.

How to choose the best smartphone for you

There are great phones available, whether you're looking at Android or an iPhone, and your choice will largely come down to personal preference. Some important considerations when browsing our list of the best smartphones:

Screen size

: Larger screen size will make it easier to watch movies, but will also increase the size of the device. Some people with small hands find large phones difficult to handle effectively.

Storage capacity

: the larger the internal capacity, the more applications, videos and amp; the music the phone can hold at a time. Some models allow you to add larger memory cards to improve storage.

Camera

: Smartphone cameras can vary widely - from reasonably good to professional level. There's a lot to watch out for: optical zoom (much better than digital zoom), a front camera for video calls/selfies, low-light mode for night shots, and 3D depth perception are just some of the extras added by smartphone manufacturers. to improve the cameras of their phones.

Headphone support

: as phones have become thinner and sleeker, manufacturers have to make sacrifices. One of the most controversial is the removal of physical headphone jacks from phones - without this port you'll have to use Bluetooth headphones to listen to music.

Water resistance

: Smartphones are expensive gadgets, and they can be very expensive to repair or replace. Improvements to the construction process in recent years have allowed for water resistance - some models are even fully waterproof. Look for the

IP index

of a phone to see if it can survive the humidity - if not, it would be wise to invest in a case!

Cell phone prices

The price range of smartphones ranges from £12 to £1790 and in total we found prices for 194 smartphones. A new mobile phone costs an average of £251 and 80% of smartphones sell for between £83 and £535. The cheapest mobile phone we found is the Huawei Y6 at just £12, and the most expensive is the Huawei Mate XS at £1790.

Smartphone Brands - Price Range

Mobile Razer phones start at £599 and their most expensive smartphone costs £599. The average price of Razer mobile phones is £599, which is the highest average price of any smartphone brand.

The price of HP mobile phones ranges from £532 to £532, and the average price of HP mobile phones is £532, which is the second highest average price of all smartphone brands.

Fairphone smartphones range between £344 and £379, and the third highest average smartphone price of any brand is Fairphone smartphones with an average price of £362.

Mobile Phone Brands - Average Ratings

We checked 29945 expert reviews and 17074 user reviews for smartphones and used these reviews to calculate the average rating for each mobile phone brand. The three main mobile phone brands are Samsung, Apple and Huawei. Samsung has an average rating of 84%, Apple has an average rating of 77%, and Huawei has an average rating of 77%.

The biggest mobile phone retailers

The largest mobile phone retailer by number of products currently on sale is eBay. We found 171 mobile phone deals on eBay. The second largest retailer is Quzo with 114 offers. This means that eBay is significantly bigger than Quzo when it comes to smartphones. Laptops Direct is the third largest retailer with 86 current offers.

When were most new cell phones released?

In the past 3 years, we could not see any noticeable trend in the release month for new mobile phones. 13 new mobile phones were released in May 2020, making it the biggest month that year for new smartphone releases. August was the biggest month in 2019 for new mobile phones, with 24 new mobile phones released that month. In November 2018, seven new mobile phones were launched, making it the most important month of the year for new mobile phone releases.

How fast do smartphone prices drop after release?

New mobile phones drop 17% on average in the first 6 months after release.

If you're willing to wait, you can save an average of £42 on a typical £251 new smartphone by waiting 6 months before purchase.

Display diagonals

“Display Diagonal” is a measurement of screen size on a smartphone, measured from the top left corner to the bottom right corner.

Mobile phone display diagonals range from 2.8" to 7.6". The display diagonals of most mobile phones range from 6.4" to 6.8". The mobile phone with the largest screen diagonal is the

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2

, which is a 7.6" screen diagonal smartphone priced at £410.00. The smartphone with the smallest diagonal screen is the

Nokia 2720 Flip

, which is a mobile phone with a screen diagonal of 2.8" and is on sale for £45.25.

Storage capacities

The amount, for example, of data that can be stored inside the device.

Comparing all mobile phones, the storage capacities range from 4GB to 512GB. The storage capacities of most mobile phones range from 110 GB to 160 GB.

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra

, priced at £733.78, has the largest storage capacity and is a 512GB storage capacity mobile phone. The smartphone with the smallest storage capacity is the

Nokia 2720 Flip

, which is a smartphone with a storage capacity of 4GB and currently costs £45.25.

5G< /p>

5g indicates whether the smartphone supports 5g networks.

Of the 198 new mobile phones currently listed on Kagoo, the vast majority are mobile phones that do not support 5G. 142 cellphones (72%) are cellphones that do not support 5G, and only 56 cellphones (28%) are smartphones that support 5G.

Which are the cheapest retailers for cell phones?

The table below helps you determine which retailer is normally the cheapest to buy smartphones from. For each retailer, it shows the total number of smartphones for which they currently have a market-leading price. The table below helps you decide which retailer is normally the cheapest to buy cell phones from. For each retailer, we took all of their prices and looked at what proportion of those prices were the cheapest in the market. The cheapest retailer we found was eBay. 99 of their smartphone prices were the cheapest you could find anywhere.

Proportion of smartphones for which each retailer is the cheapest?

Evaluating how cheap each retailer is for mobile phones by counting the number of cheapest prices for that retailer, makes retailers that offer the most smartphone prices more likely to offer the most prices the cheapest. The chart below considers the proportion of each retailer's smartphone prices that are the cheapest compared to other retailers. The cheapest retailer we found using this approach was eBay. 57.9% of their cell phone prices were the cheapest you could find anywhere.