The mid-tier phones market right now is ripe there are a lot of really good and best phones options in that $500 price point and I thought I'd just write a blog that showed I guess my 5 top best phones of 2019 picks of the bunch as well as talked about my personal favorite of this group in order to make this list every phone here is really good like there's no particular order when I'm actually talking about the different phones they're all good but the ones that have been excluded from this list I've purposely excluded like a lot of brands out there like some of the Huawei phones in light of recent events they're not in here but if they're in here they're all best phones of 2019.
Top 5 Best phones 2019
1) Samsung S9 and S9 plus
So right of the bat the Samsung S9 and S9 Plus come first in the list of best phones of 2019. The Samsung S9 and S9 Plus are the best smartphones under $500. It such an easy phone and recommend.
The best things about it are really that it's an all-rounder phone everything about this phone is solid like the speaker's the headphone jack the camera system the screen like it's just such a good all-rounder phone it covers all the bases and it does everything really well and these all things make the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 plus one of the best smartphones under 500 you can buy.
The camera is not like the best thing in the world I would say that the pixel cameras are better in my opinion but it is just a great all-around best phone of 2019.
But there's one thing I would knock on it it's their software, not the actual software that it's running like some people are going to love one UI some people may not it's more of personal preference. I am talking about their lack of updates of software updates. Samsung is a company that makes tons of phones tons of people have these phones around the world but for whatever reason they're just slow to update their phones I mean every year you're going to get two maybe three major software updates which is a lot less than some of the other competitors out there also because this phone is over a year old at this point whatever lifespan that Samsung had originally planned for supporting this phone like if they were going to support it for two or three years it's now one year less so this is not going to be updated forever by Samsung so that's probably it only disadvantages.
Fantastic and one the best phones of 2019 overall but if you care a lot about frequent and long-term updates that may not be the best pick.
2) Google Pixel 3 XL
The best pick next up in the list of Best phones 2019 is google pixel 3 XL. This is Google's answer to the whole mid-tier phone market they did an awesome job on this phone. it's plastic but it still feels like a relatively premium phone like if you tell me that smells like polycarbonate shell I would have believed that it was glass and metal like it's just that well made.
Weaknesses of this phone are its performance it has a great camera great software but if you really want a fast experience this thing is noticeably slower compared to other $500 phones out there.
It also doesn't have wireless charging if that matters to you but if you're looking for just a good overall experience you don't care too much of a performance. This is the best phone in 2019 and a great pick.
3) One Plus 60
The next up best phone 2019 is OnePlus 60 you can pick up this phone for $489 on their website.
Traditionally The OnePlus as a brand has been known as like the budget brand, budgets are the wrong word but like value brand, you get good value for this phone. Over the years, it’s held up to that name but I would say that right now in mid-2019 their brand isn't as press competitive as it used to be not that it's a bad phone or anything. I mean it's a great phone that's why it's even in this Best phones 2019 List but in terms of its price point, I don't think it stands out as being like a value brand anymore. It is still one of the nicest looking phones in this bunch.
In my opinion, it has a relatively small notch and the software is clean. It has Dash charging. It does not, however, have a headphone jack and I think that this price point headphone jacks are important Sham does not have it but that is the OnePlus 60 One of the Best phones 2019 but just not as clear of a price leader as it used to be.
4) Asus Zenfone 6
So the Other best phone 2019 to this lineup is zenfone 6, I really like this phone. I do not want to just oversell it because I feel like it is easy to do when you get something that is new and novel like this. My initial impressions of this phone were that the hinge on the flip camera was questionable but I have actually tried to bust this thing like I've been rough with it I've been torquing it around. I think this thing will actually hold up quite well to real-world use.
The advantages of this phone I would say are it's aesthetic it's a really nice clean looking front. I also say the software is quite clean the flip-up camera makes water resistance on a device like this extremely difficult. So I just I'm not going to do water tests on this because just looking at the mechanism makes me feel like this thing would bust immediately. Also the camera this is something that I feel like Asus has always been not like their camera software just doesn't process images as nicely to my eye I hope that they fix this but that's really its only major flaw to me like everything about this phone feels right for five hundred dollars and it is also one of the best phones 2019.
5) Razer Phone 2
Last up in the list of Best phones 2019 is razor phone. This phone launched for eight hundred bucks. At that price point just it was a bad recommendation no one was going to say like, hey this is a great phone buy for 800 bucks. It is now a $500 phone it's such a best smartphone under $500.
See I find it unfortunate when companies do that when they launch a phone and they price it wrong. When this thing goes out at eight hundred bucks and the camera software isn't great at launch it kills the product like they just can't recover from that. we've seen this happen with the essential phone a couple of years ago we now see it happen with the razor phone where the phone is good but because the price tag is so high the initial reviews are just like it's not worth the money and then they can't sell it like at this point for 500 bucks. This is such a good phone it's not perfect but I think it can sit with the rest of these comfortably its main strengths is that 120 Hertz screen super smooth superfluid it just looks really nice. I wish it was brighter but still a good screen.
The biggest weakness I would say is the uncertainty of future updates for this phone. Razor as a company had some shifts internally and there were rumors that they were pulling some of the resources out of mobile hardware development including software. So you know it is possible that this phone may not be supported long term but they have seemed to hold up over the past couple months I just hope that they keep it up.
Conclusion
All these are Best phones 2019 but if I had to choose one as like the best or my favorite of the five if you had asked me two weeks ago, I would have gone with the s9 plus easy phone to recommend.
I like it a lot but because of the introduction of the zenfone 6 this is my favorite right now they've done a fantastic job on this device I didn't expect it. I think the world did not expect them to make something this good and if you're interested to buy a phone from the Best phones 2019 list I highly recommend checking this thing out.
I will say this is kind of a message for Asus but this is a phone that has finally gotten the attention of a lot of eyeballs like they've made phones for a bunch of years but they've never been like massively popular.
This phone I think will be wildly popular it has a lot of eyeballs in North America which is something Asus has never really had with their zenfone lineup I hope they kind of appreciate that and I hope they respect that because this is a great phone but they got to keep it updated and they got to work on the camera software because as it stands I mean it could be a lot better ok that's my favorite from the best phone 2019 list I think you can't go wrong with any of these.