First came the Samsung S8 and S8+. Right now I think it's the phone in the perfect price point. It has a great screen at 5.8" edge to edge screen, wonderful technology like iris, face, and fingerprint recognition, heart rate monitor, great camera, and did I mention the screen? It is also at a good price point of $620 on Amazon. It comes with 64MB RAM, Qualcomm 835, 4GB RAM, and expanded memory slot up to 256GB. How far ahead is Samsung? Google Pixel 2 just released with the same specs but without a micro USB storage, without headphone jack, AND only a 5-inch screen using a Samsung OLED available to $749.
If you want the bigger Samsung S8+ with the same, it's only $723 on Amazon (prices back to $800 as of 1/26/2018. The Google Pixel 2 XL is $849 for the 6" model.
Samsung S8's large screen, minimal bezel, and Samsung's OLED are really tough to beat. Samsung wins hands down in the design category as well. It has elegant and user friendly design, edge to edge curved screen, minimal bezel on the bottom and slim one on top. I have no idea why people complain about the fingerprint scanner location, because I think it's perfect. The location of the fingerprint scanner is great, perfect for when I'm reading or watching the screen and need to unlock it constantly. I use it combination with the Iris Recognition unlock feature and it works great. The S8s also have a heart beat monitor on the back (next to the camera lens) and health software to keep you on your toes and guess what, the GPS will work overseas as well since it not only supports North America positioning satellites but Asia's as well. Also, bloatware is minimal, but I also think they can all be useful. I thought I was going to disable most of them but I've kept them around since I'm new to Samsung's ecosystem. They also have themes, selfie masks, customized icons and background themes, and lots more.
Then comes in the iPhone X... A phone I would have considered if I bought into the Apple ecosystem. Don't get me wrong, I love the hardware but I personally feel iOS (and Android for that matter) are just OK. It's not very customizable or open for creativeness when it comes to adding personality to your phone. Don't get me wrong, I think the iPhone X is the best phone that Apple has ever made and it's the only iPhone that I have considered. I think as Android (specifically custom versions from from Samsung, LG, and OnePlus) and iOS start to diverge on features and UX design behaviors, it'll be easier to switch between the two but for now, the price point of the iPhone X is astronomical even if it has the biggest design change in years and captivated the iPhone audience. It is one cool and beautiful phone.I'm not going to even link to the other contenders this year because these two phone make the other phones seem boring. If not considering a Samsung S8 or Apple iPhone X, try Motorola. Their Z series phones are modular, adding some gimmicks and additional usefulness, such as a projector, JBL speaker, battery case, and 360 camera.
Google Pixel 2 - like the others in this final list are dated looking. The tech features or gimmicks are not as fun, there's OS originality but no personality. No fun.
LG V30 - which has an amplified headphone jack for you audiophiles is a big draw on top of the excellent version of Android.
OnePlus 5 - with the Oxygen Android OS is better than stock Android, which is releasing in a few weeks according to rumors and at a fair price point, delivering spec that are sometimes better than the big players at lower prices.
