Event Coverage

HWM+HardwareZone.com Tech Awards 2016: Editor's Choice - Part 1

By Team HardwareZone - 20 Feb 2016

Best High-end Smartphone

Best High-end Smartphone

The high-end smartphone category is one of the most competitive consumer markets out there. It’s the place where manufacturers get to showcase their latest and greatest research and development and most luxurious designs. For this category we’re looking at benchmark performance, battery life, camera performance, display quality, audio quality, design and build, handling, as well as any other extra features like a fingerprint scanner or a waterproof build.

Nominees: 

 

  • Apple iPhone 6s Plus
  • HTC One M9
  • Huawei Nexus 6P
  • LG V10
  • Samsung Galaxy Note 5
  • Sony Xperia Z5 Premium

 

And the winner is...

Samsung Galaxy Note 5

The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 is our winner in this category. While each of the other phones has some area where it’s not that great (price, performance, battery life etc.), the Note 5 is practically flawless, performing well in each category. It boasts a gorgeous metal and glass build, it has a powerful and more importantly power efficient processor, it has the best display out of all of our smartphones, with deep blacks and gorgeous colors, and its unique S-pen stylus is practical and easy to use.

Scoring Breakdown
Criteria/Model Apple iPhone 6s Plus HTC One M9 Huawei Nexus 6P LG V10 Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Sony Xperia Z5 Premium
Design 8.5 8.5 8.5 8.5 8.5 (adjusted down from 9.0 in original review) 8.0
Features 9.0 8.0 8.0 8.5 9.5 8.5
User-Friendliness 9.0 8.5 8.5 8.5 9.0 8.5
Performance 9.0 8.0 8.5 7.5 9.0 8.0
Value 8.0 7.5 8.5 8.0 8.5 8.0
Overall 9.0 8.0 8.5 8.0 9.0 8.0
Price S$1,048 S$1,008 S$949 S$1,088 S$1,088 S$1,098

*Note: Prices and ratings listed are accurate at the time of individual product evaluation.

For more details on how we selected our winners, check out the full reviews and articles listed at the References section at the end.

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