Gadgetory

20:16 was a tumultuous year for technology some highs some lows and some fun surprises summing up the smartphone landscape in a single video is a tough proposition but it's a challenge we're ready to handle I reached out to the whole editorial team at PocketNow and brought back an old face to use as a tiebreaker so this isn't just my personal ramblings on which phones I liked best this is vetted by the entire staff divided by price categories were recognizing the top three phones in the budget range the mid-range and devices with a premium price tag with all that info out of the way here are the best of the best smartphones for 2016 starting with phones under $300 the number 3 pick the honor 5x Huawei had a really good year at the number 3 spot is a phone which punches well above its price tag the honor 5x brought some killer features to the entry level price tier and introduced the honor brand to North America number 2 the Moto G 4 Plus no shame in taking second with so many terrific phones released this year motorola helped invent the budget tier as we understand it today and this year's G family of phones provides fantastic options at a range of different price points and number one the axon 7 Mini it's not really that small but the more petite axon 7 scored a lot of love for delivering great performance and very good speakers bringing great multimedia features to this price tear is no small feat all three of these phones help continue the conversation that consumers deserve good performance even at lower price points more than just covering the basics we should all expect a solid experience even when we're trying to save some cash moving to a higher price point this was the most brutal area of competition for 2016 the barrier between mid Ranger and flagship is eroding fast number 3 the honor 8 my personal favorite surprise of 2016 the Huawei honor 8 took everything we liked about the p9 added a few fun features dressed it up in a shiny new glass back and cut the price looking at one company's lineup it's tough to find a more winning combination against the whole of the mid Ranger tier the honor eight surprised with the terrific dual sensor camera and great performance but likely lost a couple votes because of the software on board number two the axon 7 we're noticing a bit of a trend Huawei and ZTE offering up terrific options at accessible prices the full-size axon 7 is a monster all-rounder some of the best multimedia performance we've tested at any price point a ton of storage good battery life and flagship grade performance the recent price cut certainly doesn't hurt either and the number one the one plus 3t the company which tried it out the notion of killing flagships takes the top spot for 2016 the 3t shook up our vote as this was the first time we've seen this company deliver a same year refresh touching up a number of areas from the oneplus 3 shipped earlier in the year a best-in-class chipset very good headphone performance and a respectable camera it's a winning combination for the sub $500 category and here we go folks stepping up to the big leagues the flagship market should bring the best overall experience available in a pocketable mini computer and a price tag to match at number three we've got a tie the iPhone 7 plus and the galaxy s7 edge the only time we couldn't properly break using our secret ballots PocketNow editors awarded the same number of points to both of the larger Samsung and Apple phones this year maybe it's a sign of how these two companies have been racing to the middle but consumers will be well served by either water resistance camera performance big bright screens battery life these two set the standard for friendly consumer all-rounder smartphones number two the Google pixel where the larger options one out for Samsung and Apple the smaller pixel took our overall second place position for 2016 likely weighing the price to performance differences between the two the smaller pixel one out google killed the Nexus this year and shipped it to a more consumer oriented device strategy it's still early days for this new line of phones but we're inclined to say this move is a successful one delivering one of the fastest performers of the year showcasing some new virtual reality capabilities and offering a very good camera there's still a little room for refinement but the pixel is off to a great start and now for the number-one flagship phone of 2016 and maybe the most surprising upset of the entire vote pocket now editor's awarded the top spot to the LG v20 it's not entirely surprising as this team is a collection of writers and producers that a big productivity focused phone would win out had it not been for some consumer safety issues we can easily imagine which other phone might have won this year but for all the devices currently available to buy there is no more complete option for content creation fantastic camera software best-in-class audio for playback monitoring and recording good battery life on one of the few phones to offer a removable battery and enhanced drop protection it's not the prettiest or the friendliest but where other phones on this list might be cute roadsters or flashy sports cars the v20 is a big old diesel truck with a great stereo there you have it folks the best phones of 2016 at any price and of course we want to hear from you did your phone make the list in a year with so many fantastic devices will leave the honorable mentions for you to debate in the comments down below this video as always thanks so much for watching be sure to subscribe to this channel for our full coverage on all of the phones released in 2016 be on the lookout as we gear up to tackle a whole new year of gadgets soon and help us out with some sharing on your favorite social networks for the entire PocketNow team we hope your holidays have been happy and we'll catch you all on the next video