Phones

A 2010 phone that barely works today and was unusable for any real tasks.

Bolder display and denser build with a motorised pop-up camera system, but carries the usual older-flagship drawbacks.

Premium build with ceramic and aluminium and a slider camera, plus a nicer box, but shares the older-flagship battery and support risks.

Modern mid-ranger with better battery life, more cameras and newer software, but it is plastic and lacks stabilisation compared with the No…

An odd, ugly iPod-style music phone with a great spin wheel, which shows Samsung copying rivals before it found its own way.

A 2014 near-bezel-less flagship that still looks impressive, let down by grim software and Sharp giving up too early.

Hugely ahead of its time for camera hardware, but crippled by dead Symbian software, and not as good as an S20 Ultra.

A Samsung Galaxy Fold with Escobar stickers that most buyers never received, with a book sent instead.

The marketing was misleading, but the phone itself is good value for just over $200.

Likeable in the hand with a tall display, but the camera is less reliable and battery life is weak.

The cloud storage system worked well, but it solved a problem a cheap microSD card already fixed.

A holeless phone concept that solves no real problem and never hit its crowdfunding goal.

A sustainable modular phone idea that made no commercial sense and was only a concept, never a product.

The first true gaming phone, but Android wasn't ready and there were hardly any games for the physical controls.

A rebadged Samsung phone with a sticker on it, sent only to reviewers while customer orders never arrived, so he says steer clear.

Nokia made durable, affordable phones but failed to react when the iPhone shifted the battle to software.

The Exynos versions of Samsung flagships lag the Snapdragon ones by up to 20% in battery and performance.

Discontinued within six weeks with no apps and iPhone pricing, and reportedly selling as few as 500 units.

Poor value for only $100 saving, with a plastic build, old chipset and worse camera, though it still sold well.

A sponsored but fairly positive look at a very cheap phone that makes sensible compromises, takes surprisingly good photos and lasted a ful…

A $299 phone similar to the Mi Note 10 Lite that trades away the AMOLED screen and some performance, but its camera and battery are interes…

A one-off prototype showing the phone's real working components, with Mi 10 Pro-like specs, not for sale.

An earlier transparent edition he thought was epic, though the visible parts were not real components.

A $90 phone with a textured back, big display and 5000mAh battery that offers luxuries you don't expect at this price.