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5G is finally here, EE was the first company to launch it in the UK and this is being followed up by Vodafone on the 3rd of July and Three sometime in the near future.

So after so many years of hype is it worth it and what is the best phone to get 5G on?

Coverage

Before you commit to a 5G phone you may want to check your coverage, as usual with a new network, it can be patchy at best.

At the moment there is just EE with a 5G network and that covers London, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh, Belfast and Cardiff.

By the end of 2019, there will be ten pore cities including Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Glasgow and more.

Vodafone launches on the 3rd of July in Glasgow, London, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Cardiff and Bristol.

5G will then arrive in Birkenhead, Blackpool, Bournemouth, Guildford, Newbury, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Reading, Southampton, Stoke-on-Trent, Warrington and Wolverhampton later this year.

Three are launching in 25 towns but there is no specific date for their launch yet, it should be within the next few months though.

Even if you do have 5G coverage, don’t expect the best speeds all the time, certainly not the gigabit speeds that have been claimed with 5G. Many users are reporting 400Mbit/s down though, but it can go as low as 200Mbit/s. This is still faster than most home broadband packages.

Phone & Contract Prices

Early adopters will get stung with a premium price. If you look at the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G which has with 256GB/8GB, the phone costs £1099 SIM-free, which is £200 more than the 128/8GB S10+.

A 30GB EE contract is £10+£79pcm or £1996 in total, so that makes the contract £897 or £37.38pcm. Alternatively, a 5G sim only plan is £37 with 40GB of data.

A 4G 50GB will set you back just £27pcm. EE muddies the water a little by offering swappable benefits on the 5G contracts, this can include a music data or video data pass, which allows you to use data without it eating into your allowance.

However you look at it though, 5G is going to cost you a premium.

The other two phones comes in a fair bit cheaper than the Samsung. The OnePlus 7 Pro 5G is £50 + £69pcm for a £1706 total contract price.

The Oppo Reno 5G is the cheapest at just £50 + 64pcm for a £1586 total contract price.

Phone Comparison

All the phones are amazing, each one has its own strengths and weaknesses. There is no clear winner.

Both the Oppo and OP7 use pop out cameras which give you a beatiful screen with no notch. The OP7 has that 1440 x 3120 pixels display running at 90Hz and it also uses UFS3.0 for storage so it should be faster for real world usage than the other two.

Both the Oppo and OP7 use the Snapdragon 855 chipset while Samsung uses their own Exynos 9820. The Exynos 9820 is known to be less efficient for your battery than the SD855.

The Oppo has the periscope lens which gives it a 5x optical zoom and 10 times hybrid. It is also the only one with a microSD slot.

Samsung is the market leader and it has retained this position for good reason, they make great phones. The spec sheet doesn’t necessarily make it look the best, but numbers are not everything, and many people would argue the camera performance is better than the OP7Pro.

The Samsung has the largest battery, and is the only phone on the market to feature Wi-Fi 6

Full Specification Comparison

Samsung Galaxy S10 5GOnePlus 7 Pro 5GOppo Reno 5G
Announced2019, February2019, May2019, April
StatusAvailable. Released 2019, AprilAvailable. Released 2019, JuneAvailable. Released 2019, May
Dimensions162.6 x 77.1 x 7.9 mm (6.40 x 3.04 x 0.31 in)162.6 x 75.9 x 8.8 mm (6.40 x 2.99 x 0.35 in)162 x 77.2 x 9.3 mm (6.38 x 3.04 x 0.37 in)
Weight198 g (6.98 oz)206 g (7.27 oz)215 g (7.58 oz)
BuildFront/back glass (Gorilla Glass 6), aluminum frameFront/back glass, aluminum frame
SIMSingle SIM (Nano-SIM) or Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)Hybrid Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)
Samsung Pay (Visa, MasterCard certified)
IP68 dust/water proof (up to 1.5m for 30 mins)
TypeDynamic AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colorsFluid AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colorsAMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size6.7 inches, 112.0 cm2 (~89.4% screen-to-body ratio)6.67 inches, 109.2 cm2 (~88.5% screen-to-body ratio)6.6 inches, 106.9 cm2 (~85.5% screen-to-body ratio)
Resolution1440 x 3040 pixels, 19:9 ratio (~502 ppi density)1440 x 3120 pixels, 19.5:9 ratio (~515 ppi density)1080 x 2340 pixels, 19.5:9 ratio (~390 ppi density)
ProtectionCorning Gorilla Glass 6Corning Gorilla GlassCorning Gorilla Glass 6
HDR10+DCI-P3DCI-P3
Always-on displayHDR10+
90Hz
OSAndroid 9.0 (Pie); One UIAndroid 9.0 (Pie); OxygenOS 9Android 9.0 (Pie); ColorOS 6
ChipsetExynos 9820 (8 nm) - Global/ChinaQualcomm SDM855 Snapdragon 855 (7 nm)Qualcomm SDM855 Snapdragon 855 (7 nm)
Qualcomm SDM855 Snapdragon 855 (7 nm) - USA
CPUOcta-core (2x2.73 GHz Mongoose M4 & 2x2.31 GHz Cortex-A75 & 4x1.95 GHz Cortex-A55) - Global/ChinaOcta-core (1x2.84 GHz Kryo 485 & 3x2.42 GHz Kryo 485 & 4x1.80 GHz Kryo 485)Octa-core (1x2.84 GHz Kryo 485 & 3x2.42 GHz Kryo 485 & 4x1.8 GHz Kryo 485)
Octa-core (1x2.84 GHz Kryo 485 & 3x2.41 GHz Kryo 485 & 4x1.78 GHz Kryo 485) - USA
GPUMali-G76 MP12 - Global/ChinaAdreno 640Adreno 640
Adreno 640 - USA
Card slotNoNomicroSD, up to 256 GB (uses shared SIM slot)
Internal256/512 GB, 8 GB RAM256 GB, 8/12 GB RAM or 128 GB, 6 GB RAM256 GB, 8 GB RAM
Main Camera12 MP, f/1.5-2.4, 26mm (wide), 1/2.55", 1.4µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS48 MP, f/1.6, (wide), 1/2", 0.8µm, Laser/PDAF, OIS48 MP, f/1.7, 26mm (wide), 1/2.0", 0.8µm, Laser/PDAF, OIS
12 MP, f/2.4, 52mm (telephoto), 1/3.6", 1.0µm, AF, OIS, 2x optical zoom8 MP, f/2.4, 78mm (telephoto), 3x zoom, Laser/PDAF, OISPeriscope 13 MP, f/3.0, 130mm (telephoto), 5x optical zoom, Laser/PDAF, OIS
16 MP, f/2.2, 12mm (ultrawide)16 MP, f/2.2, 13mm (ultrawide)8 MP, f/2.2, 16mm (ultrawide)
TOF 3D camera
FeaturesLED flash, auto-HDR, panoramaDual-LED dual-tone flash, panorama, HDRDual-LED flash, HDR, panorama
Video2160p@60fps, 1080p@240fps, 720p@960fps, HDR, dual-video rec.2160p@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/240fps, 720p@480fps, Auto HDR, gyro-EIS2160p@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/240fps, gyro-EIS
Selfie10 MP, f/1.9, 26mm (wide), Dual Pixel PDAFMotorized pop-up 16 MP, f/2.0, 25mm (wide), 1/3.1", 1.0µmMotorized pop-up 16 MP, f/2.0, 26mm (wide)
TOF camera
FeaturesDual video call, Auto-HDRAuto-HDRHDR
Video2160p@30fps, 1080p@30fps1080p@30fps, gyro-EIS1080p@30fps
LoudspeakerYes, with stereo speakersYes, with stereo speakersYes
3.5mm jackYesNoNo
32-bit/384kHz audioActive noise cancellation with dedicated micActive noise cancellation with dedicated mic
Active noise cancellation with dedicated micDolby Atmos sound24-bit/192kHz audio
Dolby Atmos/AKG soundDolby Audio
WLANWi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspotWi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, hotspotWi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot
Bluetooth5.0, A2DP, LE, aptX5.0, A2DP, LE, aptX HD5.0, A2DP, EDR, LE, aptX HD
GPSYes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEOYes, with dual-band A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO, SBASYes, with dual-band A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO, QZSS
NFCYesYesYes
Infrared portNoNoNo
RadioFM radio (USA & Canada only)NoNo
USB3.1, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector3.1, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector, USB On-The-GoType-C 1.0 reversible connector, USB On-The-Go
SensorsFingerprint (under display), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, heart rate, SpO2Fingerprint (under display), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compassFingerprint (under display), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass
ANT+
Bixby natural language commands and dictation
Samsung DeX (desktop experience support)
BatteryNon-removable Li-Ion 4500 mAh batteryNon-removable Li-Po 4000 mAh batteryNon-removable Li-Po 4065 mAh battery
ChargingFast battery charging 25W (USB Power Delivery 3.0)Fast battery charging 30W (Warp Charge)Fast battery charging 20W (VOOC Flash Charge)
Fast wireless charging 15W
Power bank/Reverse wireless charging 9W
PriceSim Free £1099
£10 + £79pcm 30GB on EE£50 + £69pcm 30GB on EE£50 + 64pcm 30GB on EE
£1996 total contract£1706 total contract£1586 total contract

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