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Hot new phones offer choice at the top
Three powerful new name-brand phones mean anyone in the market for a mid-to-high-end smartphone is spoiled for choice, writes ARTHUR GOLDSTUCK.
A few months ago, only two phone brands were on the lips of consumers in the market for a new high-end smartphone. It seemed a straight choice between Apple and its iPhone X or 8 Plus, and Samsung with its Note 8 and Galaxy S9+.
But the rivals refuse to be written off. Just in the past month, three powerful new contenders have arrived in South Africa. The Huawei P20 Pro, Sony Xperia XZ2 and Nokia 7 plus have all thrown their frames into the ring of high-end features, although not always at high-end prices.
This means that customers for features are spoiled for choice, and it comes down to comparison of features, along with issues like brand preference and design appeal.
Rather than look at each phone separately, let’s look at them feature by feature.
Connectivity
The Sony XZ2 uses LTE-A, the ultimate 4G standard, and claims a 1.2 Gigabit per second maximum speed. However, this is purely theoretical, as no mobile network in South Africa allows for anywhere close to that. The Nokia 7 plus is also an LTE-A phone, but claims “only” 300 Mbps, which is theoretically possible on a network like RAIN. The Huawei P20 Pro is the slow-coach of the three, with basic LTE, offering a “mere” 150 Mbps, the theoretical maximum offered by Telkom Mobile. Any of these speeds are, in reality, still blazing fast and will stream high-definition video without buffering.
Display
The Huawei P20 pro has the largest display and screen-to-body ratio at 6.1 inches and 82% respectively. The Nokia 7 plus is close, with a 6.0 inch display and 77.2% screen-to-body ratio. In comparison, the Sony XZ2 is positively small, with a 5.7 inch display and 76.1% screen-to-body ratio, due to large bezels around the screen, despite similar body dimensions. Because the phone is heavier despite a smaller display, this gives the impression of it being a lower-end phone than it really is.
In terms of display quality, the Huawei P20 Pro takes the lead with an infinite contrast ratio (usually the higher the ratio, the better) due to its AMOLED display. AMOLED currently produces the best colour replication available on the phone market. Both Nokia 7 plus and the Sony XZ2 use IPS LCD 16-million colour, and have roughly the same display quality.
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