iPhone 6s Plus vs. Lumia 950 XL vs. Galaxy Note5

Introduction

Google's Android dominates the market in sheer numbers while Apple's iOS fights in the premium market and is winning the profit margin game. And then there's Microsoft's Windows 10 Mobile, trying to find its place under the sun. We've handpicked the best phablets from each of these platforms to put them head to head, focusing on the devices rather than the platforms they represent.

There will be several rounds, each focusing on a certain specific aspect - the screen, the battery life, performance, audio and the camera.

The Apple iPhone has defined the must-have smartphone experience for years, even when Androids win on features. If anything, the iPhone 6s Plus is more like an Android than ever before with a focus on higher numbers (12MP camera with 2160p video) and some advanced UI tricks (3D Touch).

Apple iPhone 6s Plus

All-metal unibody 3D touch Fingerprint reader Bespoke chipset with great performance Finely tuned 12MP/2160p camera with OIS

Expensive (especially if you want storage) Smaller, lower resolution screen (5.5" 1080p) Thick bezels No wireless charging Mono audio recording in videos No dual-SIM option No RAW or manual shooting

The Microsoft Lumia 950 XL is the latest in the legendary PureView camera line with its hybrid sensor (4:3 and 16:9), ZEISS lens and full manual controls. Very much a Windows phone, the Lumia 950 XL promises access to Continuum for a desktop-like experience on a bigger screen and a unified app store.

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL

Continuum (desktop-like interface) Iris scanner 20MP camera with ZEISS lens, tri-LED flash Removable battery microSD card slot Excellent loudspeaker Dual-SIM option

Limited app selection No fingerprint reader No mobile payment solution Polycarbonate body doesn't feel premium Battery life is not great (especially for dual-SIM)

The Samsung Galaxy Note5 is the latest device in one of the best-selling Android lineups, but many feel it was a step back from the power-user inclination the series was known for. You've heard it all before - sealed battery, no microSD slot, also this one took its sweet time coming to Europe.

Still, the Samsung-made screen and chipset are bleeding edge and as with all Galaxy flagships, the Note5 has more features per cubic centimeter than anything else out there.

Samsung Galaxy Note5

Metal and glass body Fingerprint reader Fast wireless charging 16MP camera with OIS Heart rate and blood-oxygen sensors Dual-SIM option

Not widely available in Europe for now No TV out Single-LED flash, protruding camera S Pen slot design easy to damage

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Galaxy Note 5 vs. iPhone 6s Plus vs. LG V10

Introduction

When you spend your days in the big city, winter hardly feels like a fun season. But once you step outside of the city's boundaries, the sweeping vistas of the snowy slopes make for some of the best photo opportunities. And regardless whether you ski or not, we bet you would be interested to see which cameraphone is best geared for a winter trip to the mountain. To answer this one, we grabbed some of the hottest phablets of the season - the Apple iPhone 6s Plus, the LG V10, and the Samsung Galaxy Note5 - and took them for a ride up the mountain to see how they handle the cold.

We wanted to include the recently announced Huawei Mate 8 as well, but it turned out most of its photos were out of focus due to reportedly, a software issue, which should be fixed soon. We still snapped a few keepers with it, so you'll see it featured here and there.

Coincidentally, the Meizu Pro 5 was with us on our little mountain trip, and we're glad it was as it will fill in the Mate8 shoes as the fourth phablet competitor. Meizu may not be such a popular brand in Europe or the USA, but the Meizu PRO 5 camera produces some spectacular daylight shots, so we're sure it will be up to the challenge.

Best of all, we captured our field test trip on video. Since it contains potential spoilers regarding the results that we got, we've embedded it on the last page of this article.

On the other hand, if you don't feel reading the whole thing, you can skip directly to the video.

Now, meet our lead stars, the three mountaineers ready to take on a snowy adventure.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus

The Apple iPhone 6s Plus has the smallest screen of all compared phones, but it's the biggest screen Apple offers. The Live Photos feature also provides an innovative way of capturing short, action-packed video scenes on the slopes.

All-metal unibody 12MP/2160p camera with OIS, f/2.2 aperture High-res HDR panoramic photos Live photos Instagram's Hyperlapse app available

Slippery without a case Smaller, lower resolution screen (5.5" 1080p) Touchscreen doesn't work with gloves on Battery non-removable

LG V10

LG has an extra durable design and as a nice break from the current crop of flagships, you can swap its battery for a fresh one once you've gone through its charge. There is also a microSD slot. Our previous camera shootouts confirmed it's also got one of the best cameras - be it day or night. We'll have to see whether it can hold its own up high on the mountain slopes.

Extra durable design (double glass over the screen, rubber back, steel rails on the sides) Replaceable battery Secondary, always-on screen 16MP/2160p camera with OIS, f/1.8 aperture Dual 5MP selfie cameras: having 80° and 120° field-of-view IR blaster, FM radio

Rather heavy, even for its size LCD screen has the lowest contrast in direct sunlight Touchscreen doesn't work with gloves on

Samsung Galaxy Note5

Now that the Samsung Galaxy Note5 is finally about to become available in Europe, the interest in this flagship phablet is higher than ever. And for good reason - it should be cheaper than the identically equipped Galaxy Edge+ and it offers the industry-leading S-Pen. It also provides a high sensitivity touchscreen out of the box so you can use it with the gloves on when out in the cold.

Metal and glass body 16MP/2160p camera with OIS, f/1.9 aperture High-res 360-degree panoramic shots Works with gloves on Heart rate and blood-oxygen sensors

Not widely available in Europe yet Slippery without a case Battery non-removable

You can't replace the batteries of both the Meizu Pro 5 and the Huawei Mate 8, but the Mate 8 is the only other phone besides the Note5 that has a dedicated glove mode. And that's an important consideration when we're talking -10C temperatures.

Okay, this should be enough of a presentation - we bet you already know these devices in and out. Let's see how good their cameras would be when faced with lots of sun and snow.

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Huawei Mate 8 review

Introduction

The Huawei Mate 8 has dropped the Ascend badge, but it offers all the key pros of the Ascend Mate7 and then some. Coming a year after the Mate7, it was only expected that the Mate 8 will show maturity and address its predecessor's shortcomings, most notably the poor graphics performance and the less than stellar camera output.

Huawei's in-house-developed Kirin 950 chipset promises to deliver on the first count, and also brings heaps of CPU oomph. The camera is all-new as well - with a larger, higher-res sensor and phase detection autofocus and optical image stabilization.

And while the Mate7 was a premium device to begin with, the new iteration looks even more refined. The Mate 8 has an unmatched high-end vibe, thanks to precision-machined metal and glass components, and sharper, bolder edges.

Then again, a few things haven't changed. The display is still 1080p, which was a bit of a stretch for a 2014 flagship and is even more so now when the competition has moved to QHD resolution on even smaller diagonals. Huawei insists that's as many pixels as you need at this size, and the tradeoff in battery life and processing power required isn't worth it. Oh, well.

Other than that, we're glad that the large battery is still in place, the fingerprint reader placement and its always-on implementation are also as nice as ever. And there's little to complain about having a 6-inch display in a body as compact as the Mate's.

Huawei Mate 8 key features

• Hybrid DualSIM/microSD card slot (up to 128GB)
• Aluminum unibody, diamond-cut beveled edges, sandblasted satin back finish
• 6" 1080p IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 368ppi
• HiSilicon Kirin 950 chipset: octa-core CPU (4xCortex-A72 @ 2.3GHz plus 4xCortex-A53 @ 1.8GHz), Mali-T880 MP4 GPU
• 3GB of RAM/32GB of built-in storage, or 4GB/64GB;
• Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, Huawei EMUI v4.0 overlay;
• 16MP camera with Sony IMX298 sensor, phase detection autofocus, OIS, f/2.0 aperture; 1080@60fps video recording
• 8MP front camera, f/2.0 aperture; 1080p video recording; wide selfie
• Cat. 6 LTE (300/50Mbps); dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi hotspot, Wi-Fi Direct; Bluetooth 4.2 LE; NFC; GPS/A-GPS/GLONASS/Beidou; microUSB
• 4,000mAh Li-Po battery, fast charging
• 3.5mm headphone jack, active noise cancelation with a dedicated mic

Main disadvantages

• No 4K 2160p video recording
• Low-resolution display by flagship phablet standards
• Non-removable battery
• Hybrid DualSIM/microSD card slot limits options

We were willing to let it slide that the Mate7 couldn't record 4K video, but a year later, it's quite simply unacceptable for a flagship. The 60fps at 1080p resolution is of little consolation when the chipset is clearly plenty powerful to handle 4K video.

     
Huawei Mate 8 press images

The display we already mentioned and the rest are more or less par for the course lately. Flagships with a removable battery are a dying breed, and dedicated microSD slots are steadily making way to the hybrid variety if they are available at all.

But a smartphone is a lot more than the sum of its features (or the lack thereof), and we're not in the habit of relying on the spec sheet alone. We'll be proceeding with the full review on the following pages, with a look at the Mate 8's hardware first on the list.

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Xiaomi Redmi 3 review

Introduction

Xiaomi Redmi 3 is not your usual budget smartphone. The word budget is hardly a good match for an aluminum unibody, a 5" IPS display, a powerful octa-core processor, a 13MP camera, and a beefy 4,100 mAh battery. And yet, here we are. The Xiaomi Redmi 3 may be cheap in price but it does not skimp on features.

Unlike the Redmi Note 3, the Redmi 3 is a massive upgrade over its predecessor - it bumps the screen size, switches from glossy plastic to metal, opts for a much more powerful Snapdragon 616 chip, upgrades the two cameras, and doubles the RAM, the storage and the battery capacity. How about the price? It stays the same - about €150 or less.

Key features

• Hybrid DualSIM/microSD card slot (up to 128GB)
• 5" IPS display of 720p resolution; 294ppi
• Snapdragon 616 chipset; octa-core Cortex-A53 processor (4x 1.5GHz and 4x 1.2GHz cores); Adreno 405 GPU; 2GB of RAM
• 13MP main camera with hybrid phase detect autofocus, LED flash
• 1080p video capture at 30fps
• 5MP front-facing camera, 1080p at 30fps video recording
• MIUI v.7 based on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop
• 16GB of built-in storage
• 4G LTE Cat.4 (150Mbps); Wi-Fi b/g/n; Bluetooth 4.1; GPS, GLONASS and Beidou; FM radio
• IR port
• Dual-microphone active noise canceling
• 4,100 mAh non-removable battery, fast charging

Main disadvantages

• No scratch resistant front glass
• No NFC
• Battery not removable

Just like before, Xiaomi didn't bother to announce any details on the screen's protective glass, so are guessing there is no special protection, probably to keep the price as low as possible. The lack of NFC isn't surprising while the non-removable battery may be a bummer for some.

The Redmi 3 is indeed shaping as an excellent successor to an already quite popular device. But is it as good as the sum of all these parts suggests it will be? Let's find out!

Special thanks to HonorBuy.com for providing the review unit.

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LG G2 mini review

Introduction

With the new season well under way, the LG G2 mini is trying to have the last word in the compact class just like the original did last year at the high end. With the same design as the flagship (slim bezel, rear buttons and such) and the biggest screen among the minis, LG's compact smartphone is putting its best foot forward.

But then, just like the flagship, the LG G2 mini is going after a certain competitor and not exactly keeping it a secret. The screen resolution, the chipset, the imaging skill are the same as the Galaxy S4 mini's. In other words, if anyone was hoping for something along the lines of the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact, they'll be disappointed.

   
LG G2 mini official photos

No, the G2 mini isn't a compact powerhouse. It's a well-rounded package still, and one that even does a couple of things better than the flagship, in hope to find a place in the crowded place where minis have to deal with ex-flagships and aggressively priced mid-rangers.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
• Quad-band 3G with HSPA; Optional Penta-band LTE cat4
• 4.7" 16M-color qHD (960 x 540) IPS LCD, Gorilla Glass 2 display protection
• Android OS v4.4.2 KitKat; LG Optimus UI
• Quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7 CPU, 1 GB RAM, Adreno 305 GPU, Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chipset
• 8 MP autofocus camera with LED flash, geotagging, smart shutter and VR panoramas
• 1080p video recording @ 30fps with mono sound; HDR mode
• 1.3 MP front-facing camera, 720p video recording
• 8GB of built-in storage
• microUSB port
• Bluetooth v4.0
• NFC (in the LTE version only)
• Wi-Fi b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct and DLNA
• GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• FM radio with RDS
• Voice commands
• Multi-tasking with mini-apps and optional transparency (QSlide)
• Knock Code unlocks the phone with a screen tap combination
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor
• Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
• User-replaceable 2440mAh Li-Ion battery
• IR emitter for remote control of home appliances

Main disadvantages

• Screen could've used some extra resolution at that size
• Snapdragon 400 is blatantly midrange stuff
• Below average loudspeaker performance
• No ambient light sensor
• Confusingly comes in different versions with different internal hardware

The qHD resolution is only just enough for the 4.7" diagonal, especially considering the competition will offer 720p screens in the same price range. The Snapdragon 400 chipset places the G2 mini squarely in the Android midrange - in fact, the quad-core variety (four Cortex-A7's at 1.2GHz) is not necessarily better than the dual Krait setup in the Galaxy S4 mini.

What's definitely a step in the right direction is the removable battery and the added microSD card slot - the phone could've been slimmer perhaps without them but we'd have the added flexibility any day over a couple of millimeters less around the waistline. The latest Android 4.4.2 KitKat and the matching edition of the Optimus skin are another point in favor, offering some features that are only available on the premium G2 and G Pro 2.

The LG G2 mini is quite compact for the screen size as well - and handling quite comfortably - the rear-mounted keys contributing handsomely.

   
The LG G2 mini hanging around in our office

Follow us for a tour of the exterior to find out more about how the LG G2 mini feels and handles. The usual stops include the display and battery performance.

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