Year in review: Best smartphones with great displays launched in 2017
2017 turned out to be the year when the smartphone industry finally moved away from just focusing on the spec sheet to putting its efforts in refining the already powerful devices available in the market. User interface, AI, cameras and most of all aesthetics were given great importance while crafting new phones this year.
In an attempt to bring sleeker, better-looking smartphones, the industry took up to the all screen bezel-less trend along with adopting FULL HD+, Quad HD resolutions, 18:9 aspect ratios and OLED panels. These moves, however, also led to a number changes that have enhanced the smartphone experience considerably.
For starters, the bezel-less trend saw displays becoming bigger without enhancing the form factor of the devices and the use of OLED panels translated into a far more immersive viewing experience on phones than before.
But regardless of bezels or not, 2017 has been the year of beautiful displays. Here are the best that we saw during the year.
Razer Phone
With industry giants like Samsung, LG, Xiaomi, OnePlus and Apple stepping up efforts to bring phones with bigger and better displays, it would come as a surprise to many that arguably the best display on a phone this year was seen on a device from the stables of a first-timer, Razer – a company previously known for bringing gaming peripherals and laptops.
The Razer Phone came with no 18:9 bezel-less screen but what it did come with are top-of-the-line-specs, a Nextbit Robin inspired design and an extremely fast display.
The smartphone sports a 5.72-inch Quad HD IGZO LCD display that Razer claims is the first 120Hz Ultramotion panel ever fitted on a smartphone. It is important to note that a display with such a high frame rate is unheard for smartphones as most of them max out at 60Hz, but this excess that the company has introduced for gaming eventually helps the Razer Phone truly shine.
Apart from the display, the phone comes on board with a Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 SoC paired with 8 Gigs of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. To power all this, the phone has a 4,000mAh battery with QuickCharge 4.0+ technology neatly tucked inside the boxy frame of the Razer Phone.
Samsung Galaxy Note 8
The device comes with an impressive spec sheet that features an Exynos' 8895 SoC paired with 6GB of RAM and up to 64GB of built-in storage that can be expanded using a MicroSD card. However, like many of its Galaxy Note predecessors, the Note 8's biggest USP is its big, but beautiful, infinity display that has been crafted to catch your attention.
The display is designed along the lines of the Samsung Galaxy S8's screen, but the ultra-widescreen Super AMOLED infinity display on the Note 8 is slightly less curved than the one found on the S8 series.
The massive 6.3 inch 1,440x2,960 QHD+ display with a pixel density of 521 pixels per inch merges seamlessly into the phone's intimidating metallic frame. However, the phone's design scheme is such that despite the Note 8's size, it still remains a device that fits in your palm really nice and feels like a perfect fit for two handed use.
OnePlus 5T
next up is the latest contender for mid-range flagship crown, the OnePlus 5T. The phone comes with Qualcomm’s top-of-the-line 64-bit Octa-core Snapdragon 835 SoC which helps it stand in league with premium flagships such as the Samsung Galaxy S8 and the HTC U11. Depending on the variant, the phone's SoC is paired with 6GB/8GB of RAM and 64GB/128 of storage memory. It also has a 3300mAh battery under the hood with Dash Charging capabilities.
However, the standout feature of the phone is it's beautiful edge-to-edge 18:9 FHD+ AMOLED panel, which is also bigger in size at six-inches and gives the device a more futuristic look. The phone also brings with it a number of colour modes – including SRGB and DCI-P3 – to make the details on the display pop or fade according to the user's taste.
Mi Mix 2
The successor to the phone that kicked off the bezel-less trend, the Mi Mix 2 uses premium materials such as ceramic and a display that occupies almost the entirety of the phone’s front, and quite frankly is stunning to look at.
The phone comes with a display that is slightly smaller at 5.99-inch but is again Full HD+ with an 18:9 aspect ratio. Xiaomi claims that despite the size, the phone is only as big as a typical 5.5-inch display smartphone currently available in the market.
The move to the smaller display as such was made to make the phone more manageable for one-handed usage. However, in our time with the device, single-handed use still remains an issue. As was the case with its predecessors, reaching corners while using the phone with one hand is a problem. Apart from that, the display looks great and performs as it should when used indoors or out under bright sunlight.
In terms of specs, the phone comes with top-of-the-line hardware and boasts of Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 835 processor and Adreno 540 GPU coupled with 6GB of RAM and built-in 128 storage – something that shows through when you interact with the phone.
iPhone X
The 10th-anniversary edition of the first iPhone is a device that was crafted with an eye towards the future. The device comes with a drastic redesign that sees it coming on board with a 5.8-inch edge-to-edge OLED curved display dominating the front which melts into the device's metal frame that again melts into a reinforced sheet of glass at the back of the phone.
The full-screen OLED display on the phone is also HDR ready, and has a great contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1, making it is so far the best display Apple has put on its iPhone.