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Which smartphone suits your busy London life? iPhone X, the Light Phone, or Google Pixel 2

Which smartphone will fit best into your busy London lifestyle?: DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty
Which smartphone will fit best into your busy London lifestyle?: DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty

London is in the grip of phone fever. The iPhone X is finally out, Google has launched its Pixel 2, and there are Samsungs galore boasting infinity displays and face recognition.

Though they aren’t all souped up: a new anti-smartphone phone, the Light Phone, is also selling fast.

Now comes the tricky part — which one do you choose? The Pixel 2 is said to have the best phone camera on the market but insiders say Samsung’s Galaxy S8 Plus is best for watching Netflix on the train.

Let your personality lead you: from the digital detoxer who doesn’t need Facebook, to the audiophile who’s always plugged in, pick your tribe and find the phone to match.

1) The digital detoxer: The Light Phone

You don’t need a phone to have a good time. Or at least, you’re trying not to after a self-enforced digital detox last month, when you deleted all your social media and limited your screen time. By your (loud, regular) accounts it changed your life. Now every day is a no-phone day, so you got yourself the Light Phone.

It only does two things: sends calls and receives them, forwarding them from your smartphone — so you can keep the same number. There’s no text function, no data allowance and no camera, and it’s designed to be used as little as possible — the battery lasts for days. It’s slim and fits into your wallet like a debit card.

Now that you read your book on the bus into work instead of scrolling through Facebook you’re sleeping better. You did miss your mate’s birthday last week but he probably needed culling anyway — if he didn’t make the nine contacts in your phone, do you even know him?

£113, thelightphone.com

2) The leader of the pack: iPhone X

(Apple)
(Apple)

You’ve been an Apple fan since the first iPhone and sold your soul to the Cloud a long time ago. You chipped the screen of your iPhone 7 on a night out so you were nervous about the all-glass, edge-to-edge screen of the iPhone X but you saw a video on YouTube showing it surviving a drop from head height and you like its new, sleek face without a home button.

It charges wirelessly so you’ll never be offline (your greatest fear), and it unlocks using Face ID, so you can crack into your Instagram at hyperspeed. What’s more, you fancied the two 12-megapixel cameras on the back of the phone and you’re salivating at the thought of 6x zoom video in 4K for sharing Instagram stories from the slopes. Though — whisper it — the main reason you love it is Animoji Karaoke.

From £999, apple.com

3) The artist: Google Pixel 2

(Google)
(Google)

In your dreams you shoot on black-and- white film but for day-to-day you need a brilliant phone camera. It’s obvious from reviews why Google’s new phone is called the Pixel: it’s got the best phone camera out there.

There are two rear cameras and the 12.2MP sensor takes wonderfully sharp, clear images: it actually takes 10 different shots and stitches them together in a matter of milliseconds. In burst mode you can rattle off high-res photos until you release the button, and it handles different lighting conditions well.

Editing is easy: it comes with unlimited Google Photos storage so you can back-up full-resolution photos and videos to the Cloud — even 4K ones in ultra-HD.

From £629, store.google.com

4) The DJ: HTC U11

You’re a music junkie who’s always plugged in so you choose your phone for its sound. The HTC U11’s selling point is its audio quality: it comes with USonic in-ear headphones that cancel out the noise around you so you can focus on the beats. Put them in and you’ll be prompted to set up a sound profile, calibrated to your ears. It takes five seconds to set up — the phone fires a test tone and automatically adjusts the audio according to what it receives back.

When you’re going headphone-free, the U11 uses a brilliant BoomSound speaker system: it comes with two speakers on the handset and the whole phone acts as a resonating chamber to bring you impressive quality and volume. You’ll be in charge of the music this party season — which is just the way you like it.

From £599, htc.com

5) The big screen queen: Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus

(Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
(Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Watching Netflix is your preferred pastime on your commute so you need a phone that’s supersize. On the Galaxy S8, Samsung has got rid of the home button and the needless bezel around the edge so the phone isn’t much bigger than last year’s 5.7in Galaxy S7 Edge — but you get much more screen.

The display is 6.2in, compared with the normal Galaxy S8 and iPhone X at 5.8in, yet it is still easy to hold. This is partly because the screen is gently curved, which makes watching movies a dream and, combined with the rich colours and sharp display, it’s as close to that immersive cinema feel as you can get.

£779, samsung.com

6) The hardware obsessive: Huawei Mate 10 Pro

Everyone you know comes to you for tech advice and you’re fanatical about gadgets with heavy-duty specs. As soon as Huawei’s new Mate 10 Pro launched last week you had to get your hands on it. The phone boasts the first AI processor with a dedicated “neural network processing unit”: this means it uses artificial intelligence to learn and, over time, predict your usage patterns.

It will eventually pre-empt how you use the phone, launching or tweaking apps accordingly. It can also learn when to shut down apps you’re not using, which saves battery and stops the phone’s performance degrading, so you won’t need to upgrade in a year’s time. You are the geek though, so you probably will anyway.

£699, carphonewarehouse.com

7) The maverick: OnePlus 5T

You’re a nonconformist who refuses to follow suit. You hate logos and wouldn’t be seen dead in the Apple Store. You bought the OnePlus 5T because it’s the underdog: it’s half the price of the iPhone X but with many of its features, such as face recognition and a fingerprint scanner.

Like all the latest smartphones, it’s full-screen: the new 6in minimal bezel display is squeezed into the body of a 5.5in device. The screen promises full HD+, so it’s great for watching video and there’s a dual lens system and a main 12MP camera. Crucially, it beats all the big brands on battery: it’ll easily last two days between charges and you’ll get a day’s charge in less than 30 minutes, so you won’t be forced to dash into Pret for a power boost.

From £449, oneplus.net

Follow Katie Strick on Twitter: @katie_strick