Smartphones & Mobile Phones

In short, iOS largely appeals to those who've bought into the 'Apple ecosystem'. iOS synchronises with other Apple devices effortlessly. Get a message on your iPhone and it'll also pop up on your iPad and MacBook. It's a great quality-of-life feature, but once you're in this ecosystem, it's hard to get out of. Apple's commitment to supporting their devices is impressive as well. You can expect a new iPhone to receive at least 5 years' worth of iOS updates, if not more - far longer than what most Android smartphone manufacturers offer.

To maintain this ecosystem, however, iOS can feel quite restrictive and controlled. Compared to Android, iOS has little in the way of customisation, and what's there is limited. We're not just talking about visual customisation; it extends to all aspects of the operating system. Android is much more powerful in this regard. You can side-load third-party apps and app stores on Android, replace the home screen launcher entirely, and a whole lot more. If you like to tinker with your device, Android lets you do so. What's more, there's hundreds of Android smartphones to choose from, catering to a wide range of budgets. You're not just limited to a handful of expensive iPhones.

Processor

Smartphones have gotten ridiculously fast, to the point where they can run actual console-quality games, like Resident Evil Village. This is an astonishing level of performance to have in a device that fits in your pocket. But when buying a new smartphone, you've got to ask yourself whether you need the latest-and-greatest, or if you'd be just as well-served by last-generation's flagship processor or a lower-end chip.

If you're a power-user who uses their smartphone day-in, day-out, multi-taking between editing photos and streaming on social media, then it'd make sense to spend extra for the highest-end model. A serious mobile gamer chasing the fastest frame rates would of course benefit from the snappier performance, too. But for those who use their smartphone sporadically, modern budget models are perfectly serviceable for everyday tasks.

Display

A bigger display isn't necessarily better for a smartphone. A large, wide aspect ratio display will make watching videos and playing games all that more immersive, but it's at the expense of the phone's one-handed usability. You may not be able to comfortably reach for the notification shade if a phone is too big. On the contrary, a compact display may feel too cramped for your liking, making it hard to see what you're taking a photo of, for example. Fortunately, most smartphones come in standard and 'Plus' or 'Pro' versions, giving you the choice of an extra-large display.

Then there's the specification of the display itself. Without getting too technical, we wouldn't get hung up on the resolution of a phone's display. 1080p and similar, while old hat in the world of TVs, is still plenty sharp on the comparatively small screen of a smartphone. Instead, look at the display's rated brightness and refresh rate. A high brightness is crucial when using a smartphone outside on a blinding summer's day, and a high refresh rate makes the display look smoother and feel more responsive.

Camera

Today's sma