5G ready phones

With the all the great news around at the moment about the marvels of 5G and how it’s already going live in some cities across the UK, we thought we’d provide a list of 5g ready handsets you can already get your hands on in preparation for when your town gets 5g switched on!

Currently there are six phones available in the UK that support 5G. These are –

•          Samsung Galaxy S10 5G
•          Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 5G
•          LG V50 ThinQ
•          OnePlus 7 Pro 5G
•          Oppo Reno 5G
•          Royole FlexPai

SAMSUNG GALAXY S10 5G

This is the 5G version of the latest flagship Galaxy S10, but it’s also an upgrade on its non-5g sibling. The 5G ready S10 comes with all the standard Galaxy specs but it’s better in a number of other ways too, including its bigger 6.7-inch QHD+ curved screen for all your 5G streaming and gaming, its larger 4,500mAh battery to better cope with the amount of work these 5G handsets are going to be doing, and six cameras, with four on the back (a 12MP telephoto lens, a 12MP lens that can switch between f/1.5 and f/2.4, a 16MP ultra-wide lens, and a TOF 3D camera), and two on the front (a 10MP lens and another TOF 3D camera).

The Samsung Galaxy S10 5G is the only one of the S10 family to have the 3D camera lenses added, as these along with 5G capabilities and speeds could help power augmented and virtual reality uses.

The Samsung Galaxy S10 5G also benefits from features standard to the S10 family such as an under-display fingerprint scanner, a top-end Exynos 9820 chipset, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and a water-resistant body with light-weight aluminium frame and Gorilla Glass screen.

Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 5G

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 5G is similar to the standard model, with a 6.39-inch screen and a slide-out dual-lens selfie camera, which in turn means there’s no notch and very little bezel.

In addition to all the standard specs the Mi Mix 3 5G has a powerful Snapdragon 855 chipset, a pair of 12MP cameras on the back (one telephoto lens), a 3,800mAh battery with wireless charging, a dedicated Google Assistant button and a ceramic body. It was the first 5G handset available in the UK with Vodafone launching the phone on May 23^rd this year, it’s also one of the cheapest initial 5G handsets around right now.

LG V50 ThinQ

This 5G handset from LG has a 6.4-inch with a top-end Snapdragon 855 chipset, 128GB internal storage with a microSD slot for up to a 1TB card! That is epic expandable storage so you can download all your box sets super speedy over your 5G network to watch later. It also has 3 rear cameras (a 12MP standard lens, a 12MP telephoto lens and a 16MP ultra-wide lens) and 2 front cameras (an 8MP standard lens and 5MP wide lens) and a 4,000mAh battery.

It also has stereo speakers that are enhanced with DTS:X technology which can create a surround sound-like experience, making your 5G media experience even better.

The most exciting offering from the V50 ThinQ though is its optional DualScreen accessory. This is LG’s solution to the folding phone conundrum which lets you attach a second 6.2-inch screen to the handset which can be used independently. Two screens, one phone, no folding!

OnePlus 7 Pro 5G

It’s a great 5G flagship handset and it’s less expensive than most other early 5G phones.

The 5G offering from OnePlus has a 6.67-inch curved screen with almost no bezel, designed for watching videos and gaming with no distractions. To achieve this infinity pool like display screen OnePlus have made the selfie camera pop out of the top of the phone when it’s needed, and built the fingerprint scanner in under the display.

It also has three rear cameras (a 48 MP main lens, a 16 MP wide-angle lens and an 8 MP telephoto lens), a 4,000mAh battery, a top-end Snapdragon 855 chipset and 256GB of storage.

Oppo Reno 5G

The Oppo Reno 5G has a 6.6-inch screen with no notch as they have also adopted the pop-up selfie camera. There are 3 rear cameras (a 48MP main lens, a 13MP telephoto lens with 5x optical zoom, and an 8MP wide-angle lens).

The phone has a top-end Snapdragon 855 chipset, 256GB of internal storage with the same again available through your expandable microSD slot should you wish. There is a large 4,065mAh battery, and an under-screen fingerprint scanner.

This handset is only available on EE in the UK, as that’s the exclusive network partner for the device.

ROYOLE FLEXPAI

This is not only the first foldable phone to actually launch but it will at some point get a software update to enable 5G – but that hasn’t arrived yet and there is currently no date given for when it will.

It’s also very expensive and based on early reviews not a particularly great handset for the money.

It does have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset, 7.8-inch screen so a good view, 128GB internal storage and up to 256GB expandable storage via microSD card, a 3970mAh battery and a dual camera with a 16MP and 20MP lens. So, compared to the other 5G phones you don’t really get much bang for your buck on specs here, it’s all about the foldable screen and that it may or may not be getting 5G enabled in the near future (we think).

What 5G phones are coming soon?

The Huawei Mate X, Huawei Mate 20X and ZTE Axon 10 Pro have all been officially announced and there are a fair few rumoured 5G phones to. Honor, Sony, Apple and Motorola are all thought to bringing their 5G capable handsets to the market either late this year or in 2020.