BATTLE OF THE ANDROIDS

LOOKING TO SPLASH OUT ON A FLAGSHIP PHONE? LUCY HEDGES PUTS SOME OF THE FINEST 5G ANDROIDS THROUGH THEIR PACES

BEST FOR… CAMERA OnePlus 9 Pro

With phenomenal power and good looks, chances are that whatever you need, this lovely metal-and-glass sandwich is up to the task.

With a strong emphasis on photography, as you might gather from the iconic Hasselblad logo etched on its glass booty, this camera means business. Its 48-megapixel sensor and 50-megapixel ultra-wide lenses spit out stunning snaps, with impressive brightness and detail in virtually all conditions, while autofocus and optical image stabilisation complement the camera set-up.

It also shoots stabilised 4K video at 120fps and 8K at up to 30fps, and that 16-megapixel snapper around front is more than capable of capturing your good side. Its 8-megapixel telephoto lens with 3.3x optical zoom gets you closer to subjects but disappoints in dimly lit environments. But with a top-notch Pro Mode, this is easily the brand’s best snapper to date.

Elsewhere, it’s business as usual: powerful guts, a beautifully pin-sharp 6.7in QHD screen with HDR10+ credentials and a smooth 120Hz refresh rate, loud stereo speakers, a whippet-quick in-screen fingerprint scanner and a massive battery. That’s complemented by its slick Oxygen OS Android skin, incredibly fast charging and 128/256GB storage options.

Overall, there’s little the 9 Pro doesn’t do, it still undercuts a lot of the competition and its decision to up its camera game is a welcome one.

From £829, oneplus.com

BEST FOR…

ENTERTAINMENT

Sony Xperia 5 II

Sony continues its wonderful tradition of launching phones with a 21:9 design, giving the Xperia 5 II a tall and skinny form factor and unique design edge, even if it is a massive fingerprint magnet.

There’s no 4K screen but it’s rocking a colour-accurate 120Hz refresh-rate screen. That makes scrolling through social media feeds or having a Call Of Duty gaming sesh a visual treat on that 6.1in OLED screen. Slim top and bottom bezels don’t ’t just disguise the selfie camera, they house decent stereo speakers too. Throw in the cinema-like screen and you won’t mind gawping at it for hours.

Shutterbugs will love Sony’s trademark physical camera button for its 12-megapixel triple camera and will also enjoy tinkering with settings in manual mode. The power button and fingerprint sensor have been merged into one, so there’s no in-display scanner, but it’s very quick to bypass the lock screen.

Expect a water-resistant overcoat, serious grunt courtesy of the slightly lower-specced 865 Snapdragon silicon, strong battery life and the triumphant return of the 3.5mm headphone jack. Side Sense, Sony’s customised Android experience, is back too, pulling up a mini menu of shortcuts for smug one-handed use. £799, sony.co.uk