Best 5G phones 2020
2019 was the year that 5G phones started appearing on store shelves. 2020 is the year that the technology really took off; with the country’s major mobile carriers now all supporting this new super-fast network infrastructure and a wealth of manufacturers now offering top-tier phones with 5G modems onboard.
BEFORE YOU BUY
Getting a 5G phone is only one piece of the puzzle, of course. To actually take advantage of this next-gen connectivity you need to:
• Have a 5G-capable phone
• Subscribe to a network that actively offers 5G connectivity
• Subscribe to a contract that actively includes 5G connectivity
• Be in an area with good 5G coverage
EE and Vodafone were the first networks to get their 5G networks up and running, with O2 joining the fray in October 2019. Three’s 5G network was technically up and running in 2019 too but the carrier didn’t start offering 5G phone plans until earlier this year.
There’s also the matter of the nation’s MVNOs (mobile virtual network operators) – carriers that effectively piggyback off of other networks’ existing 5G infrastructure. Right now, BT Mobile (using EE’s 5G network), Sky Mobile (using O2’s 5G network), Tesco Mobile (using O2’s 5G network) and Voxi (using Vodafone’s 5G network) all also offer 5G plans/phones.
Before you splash out on a 5G phone, it’s worth checking to see what the quality of 5G coverage in your area is like. Check out RootMetrics’ coverage map for an independent evaluation of mobile coverage (including 5G coverage) from the UK’s major carriers, across the nation – see fave.co/3ldvnFT.
WHY UPGRADE TO 5G?
5G is around 20 times faster than 4G, with the potential for even better speeds in future. With 5G, you’ll be able to stream video in 4K resolution without buffering and make high-resolution video calls if you so wish. There are also benefits for mobile gaming, because of 5G’s lower latency.
BEST OVERALL: ONEPLUS 8 PRO
Price: £799 from fave.co/2SnYKc1
The OnePlus 8 Pro ushers in a bunch of firsts for the humble Android phone maker. It’s the first OnePlus display with a hole-punch camera and a 120Hz refresh rate. It’s the first OnePlus phone with wireless charging and a quad-camera. It’s the first time OnePlus has made Wi-Fi 6 and 5G standard. It’s even the first OnePlus phone with IP-rated water resistance.
The top-of-the-range 256GB model (our review unit is the 128GB version) is also the first OnePlus handset to cots almost £900. To be fair, things have changed a lot since 2014, when Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S5 cost just £549 off-contract. But even though OnePlus can claim the 8 Pro costs hundreds of pounds less than the closest apples-to-apples comparison Galaxy phone, the price is still much more shocking on a OnePlus phone than a Samsung one.
While the 8 Pro is a fantastic phone that continues to shine a light on just how expensive premium Android phones have become, the light is less illuminative this time around. By throwing out its own playbook to give diehard fans everything they wanted, the OnePlus 8 Pro has joined the ranks of the phones it was supposed to undercut.
Design
The design of the OnePlus 8 Pro doesn’t deviate much from that of its predecessor, the 7 Pro. Its dimensions are a touch bigger, and it’s a bit lighter (199g versus 210g) and thinner (8.5mm versus 8.8mm). There’s one noticeable deviation: the curved display now has a hole in the upper left corner for the selfie cam, rather than the delightful pop-up cam introduced on the 7 Pro.
It’s probably for the best that OnePlus removed the moving and inherently breakable parts, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I missed it. The pop-up selfie cam might have been a little gimmicky, but it gave the 7 Pro a unique feature that set it apart from other premium Android phones. The hole-punch camera gives it a sameness that makes it feel less special, amplified by the fact that the bezels haven’t really shrunk much either.
But while the overall look may be a little on the safe side, the OnePlus 8 Pro is still a very nice phone. My chief complaint is the rather bulbous camera bump, which is once again centred and vertical but noticeably thicker, making the OnePlus 8 Pro all but impossible to use on a flat surface. It’s better with one of OnePlus’s bumper cases, but with such a beautiful, fingerprint-repelling frosted glass finish in Ultramarine Blue or Glacial Green, you won’t want to cover it with a slab of silicone.
Display
While there are plenty of ‘pro’ components inside the OnePlus 8 Pro, none of them matter more than the display. OnePlus isn’t often at the forefront of screen tech – its first OLED screen didn’t arrive until late 2015, in fact – but the Fluid Display on the 8 Pro is on the absolute cutting edge of smartphone screen tech, belying the seemingly minor spec-sheet improvements over the 7 Pro:
OnePlus 7 Pro: 6.67in 3,120x1,440, 516ppi, 19.5:9, 90Hz refresh rate
OnePlus 8 Pro: 6.78in 3,168x1,440, 513ppi, 19.8:9, 120Hz refresh rate
We’re talking about a tenth of an inch more screen, a slightly taller aspect ratio, 30 more hertz of refresh, and three fewer pixels per inch. Taken together, though, all those small changes make a huge difference. The faster refresh rate is the most noticeable, with simply effortless scrolling and super-smooth transitions. But even when you’re not touching the screen, the brightness, refined motion interpolation algorithms and HDR Boost are noticeable. My only complaint is with edge rejection, which is a constant nuisance on a phone this size.
The brightness of the display helps the optical fingerprint scanner. On the whole, it’s speedier and more reliable than the S20’s ultrasonic sensor, but despite conscious effort from OnePlus to improve the experience, it’s still very hit-and-miss. All things being equal, I’d much rather have 3D facial recognition such as the Google Pixel 4’s Face Unlock, even if that meant a return to a notch.
Biometrics aside, the OnePlus 8 Pro isn’t just the best screen OnePlus has made – it’s the first I’ve used that rivals the latest from Apple and Samsung. The brightness, colour gamut and colour accuracy truly raise the bar. But I’m not sure anyone who would consider a OnePlus phone necessarily needs a screen this good. It’s not that OnePlus customers aren’t discerning, but when faced with a £899 price tag, I wonder how many would-be buyers would just pick up a Galaxy or an iPhone instead. Besides, the display on the £549 OnePlus 7T is very good too.
Performance
With the Snapdragon 865 processor and next-gen Wi-Fi onboard, the OnePlus 8 Pro is every bit the screamer you’d think it is. I regularly topped 10,000 in PCMark Work 2.0 benchmarks, and my gigabit home Internet with an Orbi Wi-Fi 6 System delivered consistently fast speeds better than 600Mb/s (versus 450Mb/s on the OnePlus 7T). The S20 Ultra benchmarked a little better overall, but the 8 Pro is insanely fast. I didn’t get a chance to test the 5G modem. We’re still years away from super-fast 5G being as ubiquitous as 4G, so the extra expense for the 5G modem in the OnePlus 8 Pro won’t pay off for awhile.
What’s more impressive about the 8 Pro is the 4,500mAh battery. It’s a good size, but it performs like it’s much bigger. Even with the 120Hz screen turned on, I was able to make it through a full day of heavy use with juice to spare, rivalling the performance of the 5,000mAh battery in the S20 Ultra. Benchmarks bore this out, topping 10 hours in PCMark’s tests, an impressive feat for a battery under 5,000mAh in an Android phone.
The OnePlus 8 also introduces wireless charging for the first time. It’s a welcome addition, even though third-party charges are only supplying slow 5-watt charging. You’ll need to buy a separate Warp Charge 30 Wireless Charger (priced £70) to get the full 30 watts of power that the OnePlus 8 Pro is capable of, but most people should probably skip it. Not only is it pricey, but the built-in fan is so loud that OnePlus built a configurable bedtime mode that limits the charger to 10 watts, so it won’t disturb your sleep.
Helping the speed and power management is OnePlus’s delightfully minimal Oxygen OS. The new parts are relatively slight – most notably dark mode has been enhanced a bit, and Live
