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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 5G | OnePlus 7 Pro 5G | Oppo Reno 5G | |
---|---|---|---|
Announced | 2019, February | 2019, May | 2019, April |
Status | Available. Released 2019, April | Available. Released 2019, June | Available. Released 2019, May |
Dimensions | 162.6 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) |
Weight | 198 g (6.98 oz) | 206 g (7.27 oz) | 215 g (7.58 oz) |
Build | Front/back glass (Gorilla Glass 6), aluminum frame | Front/back glass, aluminum frame | |
SIM | Single 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) | |||
Type | Dynamic AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors | Fluid AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors | AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors |
Size | 6.7 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) |
Resolution | 1440 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) |
Protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 6 | Corning Gorilla Glass | Corning Gorilla Glass 6 |
HDR10+ | DCI-P3 | DCI-P3 | |
Always-on display | HDR10+ | ||
90Hz | |||
OS | Android 9.0 (Pie); One UI | Android 9.0 (Pie); OxygenOS 9 | Android 9.0 (Pie); ColorOS 6 |
Chipset | Exynos 9820 (8 nm) - Global/China | Qualcomm SDM855 Snapdragon 855 (7 nm) | Qualcomm SDM855 Snapdragon 855 (7 nm) |
Qualcomm SDM855 Snapdragon 855 (7 nm) - USA | |||
CPU | Octa-core (2x2.73 GHz Mongoose M4 & 2x2.31 GHz Cortex-A75 & 4x1.95 GHz Cortex-A55) - Global/China | Octa-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 | |||
GPU | Mali-G76 MP12 - Global/China | Adreno 640 | Adreno 640 |
Adreno 640 - USA | |||
Card slot | No | No | microSD, up to 256 GB (uses shared SIM slot) |
Internal | 256/512 GB, 8 GB RAM | 256 GB, 8/12 GB RAM or 128 GB, 6 GB RAM | 256 GB, 8 GB RAM |
Main Camera | 12 MP, f/1.5-2.4, 26mm (wide), 1/2.55", 1.4µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS | 48 MP, f/1.6, (wide), 1/2", 0.8µm, Laser/PDAF, OIS | 48 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 zoom | 8 MP, f/2.4, 78mm (telephoto), 3x zoom, Laser/PDAF, OIS | Periscope 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 | |||
Features | LED flash, auto-HDR, panorama | Dual-LED dual-tone flash, panorama, HDR | Dual-LED flash, HDR, panorama |
Video | 2160p@60fps, 1080p@240fps, 720p@960fps, HDR, dual-video rec. | 2160p@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/240fps, 720p@480fps, Auto HDR, gyro-EIS | 2160p@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/240fps, gyro-EIS |
Selfie | 10 MP, f/1.9, 26mm (wide), Dual Pixel PDAF | Motorized pop-up 16 MP, f/2.0, 25mm (wide), 1/3.1", 1.0µm | Motorized pop-up 16 MP, f/2.0, 26mm (wide) |
TOF camera | |||
Features | Dual video call, Auto-HDR | Auto-HDR | HDR |
Video | 2160p@30fps, 1080p@30fps | 1080p@30fps, gyro-EIS | 1080p@30fps |
Loudspeaker | Yes, with stereo speakers | Yes, with stereo speakers | Yes |
3.5mm jack | Yes | No | No |
32-bit/384kHz audio | Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic | Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic | |
Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic | Dolby Atmos sound | 24-bit/192kHz audio | |
Dolby Atmos/AKG sound | Dolby Audio | ||
WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, hotspot | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot |
Bluetooth | 5.0, A2DP, LE, aptX | 5.0, A2DP, LE, aptX HD | 5.0, A2DP, EDR, LE, aptX HD |
GPS | Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO | Yes, with dual-band A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO, SBAS | Yes, with dual-band A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO, QZSS |
NFC | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Infrared port | No | No | No |
Radio | FM radio (USA & Canada only) | No | No |
USB | 3.1, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector | 3.1, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector, USB On-The-Go | Type-C 1.0 reversible connector, USB On-The-Go |
Sensors | Fingerprint (under display), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, heart rate, SpO2 | Fingerprint (under display), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass | Fingerprint (under display), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass |
ANT+ | |||
Bixby natural language commands and dictation | |||
Samsung DeX (desktop experience support) | |||
Battery | Non-removable Li-Ion 4500 mAh battery | Non-removable Li-Po 4000 mAh battery | Non-removable Li-Po 4065 mAh battery |
Charging | Fast 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 | |||
Price | Sim 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 |
I am James, a UK-based tech enthusiast and the Editor and Owner of Mighty Gadget, which I’ve proudly run since 2007. Passionate about all things technology, my expertise spans from computers and networking to mobile, wearables, and smart home devices.
As a fitness fanatic who loves running and cycling, I also have a keen interest in fitness-related technology, and I take every opportunity to cover this niche on my blog. My diverse interests allow me to bring a unique perspective to tech blogging, merging lifestyle, fitness, and the latest tech trends.
In my academic pursuits, I earned a BSc in Information Systems Design from UCLAN, before advancing my learning with a Master’s Degree in Computing. This advanced study also included Cisco CCNA accreditation, further demonstrating my commitment to understanding and staying ahead of the technology curve.
I’m proud to share that Vuelio has consistently ranked Mighty Gadget as one of the top technology blogs in the UK. With my dedication to technology and drive to share my insights, I aim to continue providing my readers with engaging and informative content.