1. Samsung Galaxy Note 8
Say what you may about Samsung but they have one hell of a device in the Galaxy Note 8. It is stylish, as beastly as its predecessors in the Galaxy Note lineup and, this time around, it won’t explode. How about that?
I liked the Galaxy Note 7 when I briefly interacted with it last year. I liked the Galaxy S8 when I had it for some time earlier in the year. I absolutely fell in love with the Galaxy Note 8 when I got to play with it last weekend. It’s the Galaxy S8, refined.
The device is expected to officially go on sale next month but some third parties have already shipped in the device and are selling it for as much as Kshs 115,000 as if the Kshs 105,000 recommended retail pricing is not high enough... As usual, you can bet on getting the best deal at Nairobi Smartphones.
2. Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus
I spent some quality time with the Samsung Galaxy S8 and I loved it. However, my main quarrel with it was the battery life. Although I am never that far away from a socket (I don’t like carrying portable chargers), it’s always a good thing if the device I am using is able to catch up with my heavy internet-on-the-go use. It’s frustrating to have to put down the best camera that you have in favour of a mid-range smartphone’s or another on a November 2016 device simply because the former’s battery gave up long before you got halfway towards what you set out to do.
3. Huawei P10 Plus
This is the one phone that I have not used. I have just seen it in showrooms/shops. However, I have used its sibling, the Huawei P10, extensively over the last two months. The Huawei P10 is the best way to experience Huawei’s technological advancements. Sure, there will be much more to be said on that front when a phone I am eagerly awaiting, the Huawei Mate 10, launches next month but as far as things stand, this is it. The P10 Plus takes all that and makes it better.
With the P10 Plus, you get a much bigger (5.5-inch) display at a much higher resolution, Quad HD. That’s a huge contrast to the 5.1-inch full HD display one gets on the standard P10. The difference? About Kshs 10,000 damage to your wallet. I wouldn’t mind that if I had a loose Kshs 75,000 lying around but, well, life (insert sad emoji here)!
4. OnePlus 5
Best doesn’t always mean the most expensive, the impression you get when you look at the first three devices on this list. This is where OnePlus, a Chinese device brand dedicated to providing the best features on a smartphone without necessarily driving its target customers to the point of selling body parts.
The OnePlus 5 happens to be OnePlus’ latest device in the market. Since OnePlus has no official presence in the country, for its devices, we have to turn to Nairobi Smartphones, a longtime retailer of mobile devices targeting the online masses.
The OnePlus 5 is unlikely to turn your head if you owned its predecessors, the OnePlus 3 and the OnePlus 3T but it makes perfect financial sense if you’re an Android geek on the loose or just after a good smartphone experience that is devoid of the blemishes Huawei, Samsung and other Android device makers introduce on top of the software that Google has gone to great lengths to make sure is as functional as it can be. Through Avechi.com, one has a choice of either the 6GB RAM+64GB internal storage or the 8GB RAM+128GB onboard storage. They cost kshs 52,000 and 61,500 respectively.
5. Nokia 8
Nokia is back in the mobile device market. Or something like that since technically, it’s the Nokia brand at play thanks to some licensing deals signed between the old Nokia that we knew and HMD Global, the brand’s current custodians. The Nokia brand is not just back in the global phone market, it’s also back in Kenya!