Deutsch
Español
Français
Italiano
Nederlands
Polski
Português
Русский
Türkçe
Svenska
Chinese
Magyar4 stellar Pixel 7 Pro alternatives that forego the bugs but keep the stunning cameras
1. Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra
The obvious contender, Samsung's Galaxy S22 Ultra, counts itself among the best of the best in the Android market, both in terms of overall performance and camera quality. Snapping duties are handled by a quad-camera setup featuring a massive, 108 MP, 1/1.33-inch wide-angle lens alongside a 12 MP ultrawide setup with Super Steady video, and two telephoto efforts. The Galaxy S22 Ultra has both a 10 MP, 10x optical zoom periscope lens and a 10 MP, 3x telephoto to make sure you're covered from near to far.
The Galaxy S22 Ultra comes with all the other bells and whistles you'd expect from a US$1,200 device, including a bright, 1440p, LTPO, AMOLED display, Gorilla Glass Victus protection, and more RAM and CPU horsepower than most will ever need. It also has the added convenience of the built-in S Pen.
The Galaxy S22 Ultra, like many flagships these days, doesn't have a 3.5 mm headphone jack. In cases like these, a good pair of wireless headphones is essential — like the Sony LinkBuds Truly Wireless Headphones, available on Amazon.
2. ASUS Zenfone 9
The ASUS Zenfone series has long been underrated in the Android world. The devices never seem to make the same waves as the likes of Samsung and its other contemporaries, despite delivering excellent all-round performance in a compact package. The ASUS Zenfone 9 and its compact 5.9-inch display, simplified dual-lens camera setup, and 3.5 mm headphone jack, stand out in a world of mammoth, portless flagships.
The aforementioned dual-camera setup features a 50 MP, 1/1.56-inch main sensor with six-axis gimbal OIS alongside the more modest 12 MP ultrawide sensor. The Zenfone's Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 performs admirably given the size, while the 4300 mAh Li-Po battery and 1080p display are both perfectly acceptable. If you're on the hunt for a small phone with great performance and cameras, the Zenfone 9 is at the top of the list for 2022, unless you want to hop over to Apple-land and snag an iPhone 13 mini.
3. Sony Xperia 1 IV and 5 IV
Sony's Xperia 1 IV and the smaller, equally capable Xperia 5 IV are reminiscent of the flagships of old. Not only do they come packing top specs like the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, up to 12 GB of RAM, and top-notch displays, they also make no compromises. Both the Xperia 1 IV and 5 IV come with microSD expansion, 3.5 mm headphone jacks, and uninterrupted 21:9 format displays with tiny bezels.
The only significant differences between the Xperia 1 IV and its smaller sibling are found in the camera, and display equipment. The Xperia 1 IV has a 12 MP, 1/1.7-inch main sensor with OIS, backed up by by a 12 MP ultrawide, a 12 MP 85 mm to 125 mm continuous zoom telephoto lens, and a time-of-flight sensor to help with autofocus. The Xperia 5 IV, on the other hand, ditches the TOF sensor entirely, and downgrades to a fixed 60 mm equivalent zoom lens.
Both the 6.5-inch Xperia 1 IV and the 6.1-inch Xperia 5 IV perform admirably in everyday use, and give users far greater control over the camera experience and image quality than any of the competition. It also helps that apart from adding a few tweaks here and there, the OS experience is mostly stock Android, so things are nice and smooth.
4. Oppo Find X5 Pro
The Oppo Find X5 Pro is an interesting take on a flagship device, with its unique rear panel design and exotic ceramic or vegan leather finish options, offering a look and feel that hearkens back to the days of the Samsung Galaxy Note 4. The Find X5 Pro doesn't stop at aesthetics, though — it delivers a full flagship package, from the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset to the 6.7-inch, 1300 nit, 1440p, LTPO2 AMOLED display and 5000 mAh battery.
The camera system on the Find X5 Pro delivers some of the most consistent low-light shots around. Whether you're taking the photos with the main camera or the ultrawide lens, or even shooting videos, the MariSilicon X NPU in the Find X5 Pro deftly reduces noise and brightens images. One factor in Oppo's favour in the photography department is that it didn't cheap out on the ultrawide setup, using the exact same 50 MP, 1/1.56-inch sensor as the main camera. The consistency in sensor selection, combined with colour tuning by Hasselblad means that the Find X5 Pro delivers consistent images in a variety of conditions.
