Julian Chokkattu/Digital TrendsTechnology often moves at terrific pace, but owning the latest and greatest products will cost you a hefty premium. Smartphone innovation is slowing. The best phones from a year or two ago are still great phones. They may lack the latest style trends, but they’re plenty powerful enough for most people. If you want to stretch your budget further, starting with last year’s flagships is a great idea because some of them are now heavily discounted. Here are five of our favorite phones from 2016 that are easy to recommend.
Note: One problem with buying older smartphones is that they will not get software updates as long as the latest releases. Two years is standard for flagships, which means this crop of 2016 phones should keep getting updated for at least another year, but schedules vary by manufacturer.
The perfect phone for the Android purist, the Pixel from Google offers the most slick, stylish, and elegant experience you can find on the Android platform. It’s fast and smooth in performance, it has a stylish design with a bright AMOLED display, and the camera is nothing short of superb. It also comes with free unlimited cloud storage for your snaps and videos through Google Photos. Add in the fact it already has Android 8.0 Oreo, the latest version of the operating system, and continues to get the latest security patches, and you can forgive the average battery life and lack of water resistance.
A stylish, solid metal slate with powerful front-facing speakers flanking a high-resolution AMOLED screen, the ZTE Axon 7 was one of the biggest bargains of 2016. It matched far more expensive Android smartphones on the spec sheet and managed to come in hundreds of dollars cheaper. The lack of water resistance and ZTE’s user interface are weak points for an otherwise strong all-rounder. It has also been relatively quick to receive Android updates, but there’s no word on whether it will get the latest Android 8.0 Oreo just yet.
We can’t blame you if the $1,000 price tag of the iPhone X has given you pause. Why spend that much when you can get a great iPhone for just over half that amount? The iPhone 7 offers lightning fast performance, an excellent camera, decent battery life, and water resistance in a well-designed package. There’s no headphone jack and it lacks the dual camera setup of the 7 Plus, but it’s still a solid smartphone that will serve you well. If you can scrape together an extra $120, the iPhone 7 Plus is also worth a look. Apple continues to update its devices for longer than its competitors, so you can expect to keep getting software updates for several years to come.
Shop around and you should be able to find some hefty discounts on perhaps the most desirable smartphone of 2016 in terms of style. Curved glass front and back blends into a metal frame to produce a phone that’s comfortable to hold and packs a sizeable, stunning, 5.5-inch Super AMOLED screen into a relatively svelte body. It’s fast, water resistant, and boasts a camera that performs admirably in low light conditions. Samsung’s bloatware and the fragility of the S7 Edge may put you off, but the user interface has been much improved with post-release software updates and this is a phone that’s hard to put down.
It failed to attract the audience it deserved, but the HTC 10 is a stylish smartphone with plenty of power under the hood. It feels nice in hand and offers almost everything you’d expect from a flagship phone. You’ll find a sharp, 5.2-inch screen in an aluminum body, powerful stereo speakers, and a very capable camera here. The lack of water resistance and average battery life are the only real disappointments. Shop around and you should be able to find some aggressive discounts on this handset, which make it even more enticing.
Once mocked as the home of “filthy casuals,” mobile gaming has advanced over the last few years, with games like Genshin Impact, PUBG: Mobile, and Call of Duty showing that the humble smartphone can provide just as much enjoyment as the console parked in front of the TV.
While almost all of the best smartphones can play mobile games, some are better at it than others. If you’re really serious about games, perhaps even at a competitive level, there are phones built expressly for the purpose. Our top choice is the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro because it’s made specifically for gamers.
The 20 best Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max cases for 2024
The Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max has been making waves since its release in September 2024, and with its impressive upgrades comes a wave of new cases designed to protect this premium device. Sporting the largest display ever on an iPhone at 6.9 inches, with slimmer bezels for a more immersive viewing experience, the 16 Pro Max retains the elegant design of its predecessors while introducing exciting new features.
One standout addition is the dedicated Camera Control button that offers quicker access to capturing photos and videos, along with enhanced camera capabilities for both. Under the hood, the new A18 Pro chip promises greater efficiency, translating to longer battery life and even smoother performance. And for those who love a fresh aesthetic, the iPhone 16 Pro is now available in a striking new color: Desert Titanium.
iOS 18.1 brings two sorely needed email features to the iPhone
With the introduction of iOS 18.1, Apple has made a crucial change that will make life easier for users eyeing an inbox address change for their account activities. Up till now, if you sought to change the primary email associated with your Apple account, the existing email address had to be deleted first.
Only after deleting the current email address were users able to add a new one for their Apple account. Following the iOS 18.1 update, users can simply change it without any erasure hassle.
