Abstract
- Over time, I’ve owned a various vary of smartphones.
- I’ve examined out many alternative makes and fashions, however some handsets have stood out to me greater than others.
- Listed here are 5 smartphones that I’ve beforehand each day pushed, and that maintain a particular place in my coronary heart.
Over time, I’ve owned a large number of wonderful smartphones. From a younger age, I keep in mind being fascinated by telephones as a product class, and I’ve remained so to this very day. For me, I perceive telephones to be a microcosm of human ingenuity, technological prowess, and modern spirit.
In all honesty, referring to our handsets as ‘telephones’ is a little bit of a misnomer. For all intents and functions, our modern-day cellphones are pocket computer systems, the likes of which our ancestors would not have believed attainable to engineer, not to mention mass produce at an industrial scale.
There are sure cellphone fashions which have left an enduring impression on me — each personally and professionally — extra so than any of their contemporaries. Listed here are 5 handsets particularly that I’ve personally used as my each day driver, and that maintain a particular place in my coronary heart.

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This is what it is like utilizing my very first smartphone 14 years later
I booted up my very first smartphone, the 2011 HTC Wildfire S, and took it for a spin in 2025 – this is what my expertise was like.
1 HTC 10 (2016)
My favourite smartphone of all time
Pocket-lint / HTC

HTC 10
The ten is HTC’s flagship smartphone for 2016, competing instantly with Samsung’s Galaxy S7 inside the Android house.
Bar none, my all-time private favourite smartphone is the HTC 10. I’ve all the time been keen on HTC as a cellphone maker, with its eye for stunning industrial designs, slick software program packages, and an early embrace of the Android OS.
In my eyes, the HTC 10 was the final cellphone of an period for HTC — it was the ultimate flagship from the corporate to embrace an aluminum unibody chassis, the final to incorporate a robust 3.5mm headphone jack, and the (first) and final to supply up an optically stabilized front-facing selfie shooter.

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How the iPhone 4s grew to become certainly one of Apple’s most iconic telephones
Let’s take a nostalgic journey again in time and unpack Apple’s 2011-released iPhone 4s.
2 Apple iPhone 4 (2010)
The very first cellphone design I fell in love with
Pocket-lint / Apple

iPhone 4
The iPhone 4 was a milestone launch for Apple, with its high-resolution show, its front-facing digicam, and its now-iconic design language.
I used to be in center faculty across the time that the iPhone 4 launched, and I keep in mind it being a really large deal. This was a time wherein followers would camp outdoors Apple Shops to be first in line for product launches, and it was a time when year-over-year generational jumps have been important.
The iPhone 4 was a milestone launch for Apple in quite a few methods. It was the primary iPhone with a pixel-perfect ‘Retina Show,’ and the primary with a front-facing digicam for FaceTime. Maybe most notably, it was additionally the primary iPhone to ship with a bodily design that regarded and felt like a finely-crafted luxurious good.

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The Honor Magic V3 shocked me with its skinny, light-weight kind issue
Honor has crafted the world’s thinnest book-style foldable, and it makes me excited for the way forward for the class.
3 Honor Magic V3 (2024)
My first foldable cellphone was a magical expertise
Pocket-lint / Honor

Magic V3
Honor’s newest book-style foldable cellphone is extremely skinny and lightweight — extra so than many slab-style gadgets.
After I reviewed the Honor Magic V3 final yr, it was the primary time I had ever skilled utilizing a book-style foldable cellphone. Looking back, I contemplate myself fortunate to have gotten to interrupt the proverbial foldable ice by the use of the V3.
Sadly, the Magic V3 by no means launched inside the North American market. This can be a disgrace because the cellphone is just sensible. It is a remarkably mild gadget, and it is as skinny as most common sweet bar-style slab telephones — a critically spectacular feat of engineering.

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Samsung Galaxy S9 overview: A refined evolution
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4 Samsung Galaxy S9 (2018)
The magnum opus of Galaxy handsets
Pocket-lint / Samsung

Galaxy S9
The Galaxy S9 is Samsung’s base-level Android flagship for 2018, serving as a refined continuation of the earlier yr’s S8 mannequin.
After I consider a Samsung Galaxy smartphone, I consider the Galaxy S9. In some ways, I view the S9 as the head of Samsung’s cell phone efforts, with no different S sequence mannequin even coming near dethroning it.
At its core, the Galaxy S9 is a refined model of Samsung’s S8 from the yr prior, and it nails nearly each side of smartphone excellence. The attractive waterfall or edge ‘Infinity’ show, the hidden pressure-sensitive dwelling button, and extra — it is all right here.

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Keep in mind when Google’s Nexus 5 turned the Android world on its head?
Again in 2013, Google teamed up with LG to launch the Nexus 5 — the cellphone would briefly go on to set the Android world ablaze.
5 LG / Google Nexus 5 (2013)
The cellphone that gave rise to my love of Android
Pocket-lint / LG / Google

Nexus 5
The Nexus 5 was a 2013 collaborative effort between Android maker Google, and {hardware} maker LG. The cellphone encompasses a 4.95-inch FHD show, the Snapdragon 800 processor, and a pair of GB of RAM.
I attribute the Nexus 5 for uplifting my love for the Android working system. This downright-iconic cellphone was made in collaboration between LG and Google, and it was my first expertise with ‘inventory’ or the ‘vanilla’ taste of Android.
The Nexus 5 was an early instance of a ‘ flagship killer,’ providing unbelievable worth and {hardware} bang-for-your-buck at a time when smartphone costs have been starting to creep up on a yearly foundation. I am additionally a fan of the Nexus 5’s bodily design — to this present day, the cellphone is what I’d describe to be the proper dimension when it comes to show and footprint dimensions.

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Keep in mind these cell telephones? Sure, you are formally previous
Let’s make a journey down reminiscence lane and revisit some downright iconic telephones.