Warning! Not a budget friendly post…not even slightly!
As much as we love to show you how much you get out of tech these days on a tighter budget than ever, we also love gawping at some of the highest-end devices that the market has to offer; you know, we can dream! So here is a compilation of some of the most impressive smartphones that money can buy! Just, don’t look at the price tag.
First up is the extremely impressive Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge. Samsung has really outdone themselves with this device, smashing their ‘copycat’ stereotype with a sleek, powerful smartphone that offers some of the best tech on the market! Featuring a wraparound style, curved screen, the Edge could appear slightly gimmicky. Look closer however, and you realise that there’s definitely a place for this style. Samsung has cleverly incorporated the wraparound style into an efficient and easy way to check messages and notifications when your phone is face down; the notification will appear on the edges and you can choose whether or not to view them without feeling like you’re constantly looking at you phone. What’s more, the edges can light up to notify you of a call when in silent mode; replacing the far-from-silent vibration we’re all too familiar with.
And it’s not just the screen’s design that’s impressive, it packs a serious punch too! Boosting a whopping 577ppi QHD resolution, supported by an AMOLED panel, this display blows most others out of the water! To put this is perspective, that pip is almost 80% more than Apple’s ‘Retina’ display…we’re impressed.
Samsung hasn’t stopped with the high-end feel here though, oh no. The modern design uses Gorilla Glass 4, so that it’s sturdy as well as stylish and…there’s no plastic in sight! Samsung has done away with the cheap stuff for this model, and it’s glorious.
However, there isn’t a micro SD slot, which means you’re forced to fork out more if you want the extra memory, but this post isn’t supposed to be about money so it’s almost a moot point…still, it’s cheeky.
Our attention is somewhat taken away from this however, as the Edge has more impressive features under its hood. These take the form of an octa-core Exynos processor with 3GB of LPDDR4 RAM…let’s just let that sink in…octa-core. See? You’ve forgotten all about the lack of a micro SD slot! What’s more, you can pretty much have uninterrupted quality time with this little powerhouse thanks to its incredibly efficient 13 hour battery life, even with all of its power!
The icing on the cake is really the quality of the extra features, which bring everything together in a lovely user-friendly package. Such as its 16MP rear camera and seriously improved speakers. All in all, we’re extremely taken with the Galaxy S6 Edge and give our congratulations to Samsung for a really excellent device.
Available here
Our second device is from HTC and comes in the form of their new One M9. With a brushed aluminium design, a 20MP camera and a 441ppi display, the M9 is also looking pretty good to us! What’s more, its BoomSound speakers give excellent listening experience, it does have a memory card slot, which means you can bump the memory up to a 
crazy 160GB and what’s more, it’s thoughtful. Yes you heard us right; this phone thinks of you. You choose a photo for your home screen, it will choose the colour scheme that best suits it; feeling peckish around lunchtime? It’ll show you reviews of nearby restaurants. Cycle to work? The M9 will notify you an hour before sunset, just in case you need to charge your lights before your ride. Seriously, this phone is more attentive than most of our exes! And hotter. Ok, maybe that’s not what you want from a phone, especially as the rumours surrounding this particular device make it out to be a scolding beacon of danger, but to put your minds at ease; it isn’t. Yes, it generates heat and yes, its metal body highlights this, but you’re not going to be admitted to the burns unit any time soon.
A feature that may be a potential downside however, is the battery life. Lasting roughly 9.5 hours, it’s almost half as much as some of its competitors, but a full charge at night should leave you with a fair amount of gadget time. Besides, its Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 means its performance is seriously smooth, and it has a 4mega-pixel front camera; so you can totally distract yourself from the dwindling battery by taking selfies.
So, despite Samsung obliterating the market this year, if you’re a fan of the HTC way, then you’ll definitely get on with the One M9.
Available here
Want to stay up to date with tech, but also enhance your bad-boy (or girl) status? Then the LG G4 could be just up your street. The tough kid on the block this year even comes complete with its own leather jacket! Ok, it’s more like a super-thin layer of leather, stretched over a metal endoskeleton… wait, no sorry, that’s a different bit of leathery tech. Anyway, the thinning process here means that it’s not motorbike-jacket level, but it’s still pretty durable. It also pops off relatively easily, making changing the battery a very simple process and extending its lifespan far beyond what you think it would last…also like that other piece of leathery tech.
Its display is seriously impressive too. It has 538ppi on a 5.5 inch screen with Quantum Display tech, which supplies an incredibly vivid screen; easily one of the best around! It also runs Snapdragon 808, which isn’t the most powerful or speedy processor, but unless you’re power-greedy gamer, you probably won’t notice too much, but in comparison to the rest of the market, this isn’t great.
Something that LG really did get right? The camera. With a mouth-watering 16megapixel rear camera, complimented by with an f1.8 aperture, the G4 is designed to give excellent results in all conditions. It’s especially great if you know what you’re doing with mobile photography and can have a play with the settings; this is a great phone for photography enthusiasts, but its go-to settings perform really well for the rest of us too.
Whilst the feel of the phone may not be the most luxurious and its processor isn’t exactly up to speed, this is still an excellent phone with huge improvements from LG.
Available here
Our next appearance is from Google’s Nexus 6. This guy is Google’s most expensive smartphone ever, so let’s see how it compares. The Nexus 6 has been created with a no-holds-barred approach, and with a screen that measures 5.96 inches on a diagonal, the big kid on the block is drawing a lot of attention. The size of this device could very well put you off straight away; even though we are used to larger phones, this is pretty excessive and could make using it very difficult. However, with the “OK Google” software being extremely responsive and accurate, there is a big crisis averted. This feature means that even if you’re hands are too full to properly handle the Nexus 6, it will be able to respond to and carry out most commands, like calling Lucy or setting reminders, without needing hands on supervision.
Its design is extremely sleek and classy, thanks to input from Motorola, and boasts a curved screen of Gorilla Glass 3, creating a very user-friendly tactical experience. The Nexus 6 has also hit a home-run with the speakers. They deliver excellent volume, without compromising with distortion.
Obviously, with such an enormous screen, display was always going to need to be a huge part of the Nexus 6’s appeal. Here, Motorola has used an AMOLED panel to give great depth and contrast to colours with a Quad HD resolution of 493ppi; which isn’t exactly unimpressive. However, the device does itself an injustice by employing content-based dynamic contrast, that you can’t disable. This means that the colour accuracy is in constant flux. For such a huge screen, we’re surprised it isn’t better quite frankly. It doesn’t even stand up to its competitors, like the Galaxy Note 4 or the iPhone 6.
However, beneath the surface, and in true Nexus style, it packs a punch. With its Quad-core Snapdragon 805 processor, running 2.7GHz and 3GB of RAM the Nexus 6 is sure to deliver and is definitely competitive. Although, if you’re wanting to multi-task and run high-performance sites or games, be warned; it does generate a fair amount of heat. Nothing too dangerous, but definitely uncomfortable. The battery is also less than impressive, but with the device’s built-in wireless charging and a ‘Turbo AC’ charger, it’s manageable.
Feature performance looks promising when we see its camera. Boasting 13 megapixels there is definitely potential here for great pictures. That being said, when compared to similar devices on the market, it does come up a little short; due to the absence of phase-detect autofocus. This means you would be forgiven for feeling a sense of disappointment or like you were missing out. We’re not saying it’s bad, by any means, the competition is just a step ahead.
Finally, storage on the Nexus 6 is between 32GB and 64GB, which, for its price, ensures excellent value for money compared to other devices, such as the 64GB iPhone 6 plus (£699). Which, to be honest, is just as well. This is a great device, that is extremely sleek and stylish, but when put up against the excellent standard of its competitors, it falls a little short.
Available here
We like to think that we provide pretty comprehensive lists here at Reviveaphone, so in the spirit of being all encompassing, Samsung’s phablet is up next, and is doing very well indeed. The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is the 
company’s 4th generation device since innovating the phablet concept. Its appearance bodes well, with a modern design, but does get overshadowed when compared to the luxury feel of the S6 Edge as it has a cheap feeling plastic back.
That feeling of low-quality doesn’t last long once you actually start using the device. Sporting a 16MP rear camera, LED flash and a heart rate monitor, the Note 4 is packed with features that are actually accurate and useful! Sporting a 5.7” QHD display, the large screen gives an excellent visual, supported by Samsung’s super AMOLED tech and an ‘adaptive’ display; which makes this feature extremely impressive. A good thing too, as it makes doing work on the device a pleasure…almost.
Available here
Finally (and yes we know there aren’t 10 devices on here, but we wanted the crème de la crème) we have the very famous iPhone 6 Plus. Coming from the Apple family, this device is obviously beautifully designed; it’s modern, feels
expensive and feels great in your hand. Its 5.5” display, whilst not huge in the grand scheme of things, is pretty giant for Apple. They’ve done it justice with a gorgeous full HD display which has been described as the “best performing smartphone LCD display…” for its record breaking performance in day-to-day actions and use in tests carried out by Displaymate. Check out the full article here. This is thanks to clever feature such as the fingerprint-resistant (not fingerprint-proof) oleophobic coating and reflection reducing tech that make a big difference in small ways.
As well as a great screen, the 6 Plus boosts an impressive camera. Whilst it doesn’t have the megapixels of some of its competitors – 
Nexus 6 we’re looking at you – the device knows how to work what it’s got. The camera uses optical image stabilisation to ensure sharp, bright images that really pop on that brilliant screen.
What’s more, Apple has gone above and beyond (for Apple) and included A GOOD BATTERY!! Yes, Apple fans can rejoice in the novelty of a legitimately decent battery, making good use of all that extra space with some extra mAh.
The 6 Plus has some pretty decent gear under its hood too. A 64-bit processor and 1GB of RAM might not be the flashiest of specs, but it gives a smooth and responsive performance and is very user-friendly. One feature it is missing however is a micro SD slot, but the new 128GB model means that those with the right sized budget can very easily work around this.
We were always expecting good things from the iPhone 6 Plus and we weren’t disappointed…we’re just trying our best to avoid looking at the price!
