Dial Up the Perfect Phone

For most of us, mobile phones are at the centre of our universe. The typical feature set of these palm-size marvels is astounding. It's your phone, your messaging device, your web browser, your camera, your music player, your GPS, and more.

We're a smartphone-dominated nation, with 4G LTE networks beating many home internet connections in terms of speed (not to mention 5G on the very near horizon). We have more good wireless carrier options, but some of our choices have constricted a bit: The smartphone OS marketplace is basically down to Apple's iOS and Google's Android, and it's hard to find a really good simple voice phone nowadays.

Rather than purely choosing the phones with the highest ratings here, we're trying to deliver a list of phones that's spread broadly across different price points. That means including two of last year's phones, the LG G6 and the iPhone 8, as lower-cost alternatives to this year's models. We think that provides a broader spectrum of buying options.

READ NEXT: Our pick of the best UK mobile phone deals available right now.

But what should you be looking for when buying a cell phone? Here are some key points to consider:

Which Phone Carrier Should You Choose?

Despite all the recent hardware and mobile software innovation, your wireless service provider remains your most important decision. No matter what device you buy, it's a doorstop unless you have solid wireless coverage. Maybe you have friends and family on the same carrier that you talk to for free, and you don't want that to change with your next phone. Maybe you're lusting after a certain device—say, an unlocked smartphone for international travel. And of course, you want to choose a carrier that offers fair prices, and provides the best coverage in your area. These are all good reasons to put the carrier decision first.

In the UK, there are four major networks: EE, O2, Three, and Vodafone. Underneath them, however, are a number of different companies that piggyback off their connections.

Under EE is ASDA Mobile, BT Mobile, Plusnet and Virgin Mobile, while O2 encompasses Giffgaff, Tesco Mobile and Sky Mobile. Three includes iD Mobile, and Talk Mobile comes under Vodafone.

It's always worth checking which network works best in your area before buying a new smartphone. Ofcom offers this via a coverage checker app on iOS and Android (or on its site).

Each of the networks come with their own perks, too. EE offers Apple Music free for sixth months if you sign up for an EE contract, which won't eat into your data plan either.

Three does something similar with its ‘all you can eat’ data bundles that means you get unlimited data access (for a premium price). But even if you don't choose that package, you can still stream shows from Netflix, TVPlayer, Dave and History Channel, and songs from Deezer, Apple Music and SoundCloud infinitely without it interfering with your data bundle with the Go Binge feature.

O2 has decided to take a different route: through its Priority app, customers get access to O2 events and discounts on products. The network also has approximately 15,000 WiFi hotspots around the country that its customers can use should their data run out.

Locked or Unlocked?

As carriers have moved to increasingly more confusing service and pricing plans, the value of unlocked phones has been rising accordingly.

Unlocked phones are bought from a third-party store or directly from the manufacturer, and aren't tied to any specific carrier.

If you buy an unlocked phone, you'll be able to move it freely between compatible carriers. But even if you don't intend to ever change your carrier, unlocked phones are free of carrier bloatware and (with Android phones) often receive software and OS updates more quickly than the carrier versions do.

What Is the Best Smartphone?

As more people become accustomed to instant email, web, music, and messaging access at all times of the day, regardless of where they are, smartphones have become almost indispensable. That said, there's plenty of variety out there—not to mention devotees of specific OS platforms. That makes sense, though; sometimes, a platform's user interface or app selection just speaks to you, and that's all there is to it. With that in mind, and at the risk of attracting flames, let's break it down as well as we can for those who aren't so fully vested.

There's actually less diversity in smartphone platforms and designs than there was a few years ago. Right now, Android and iOS are the two top smartphone platforms, both in US sales and in the availability of third-party apps. The iPhone has the best app store and the best media features. But Apple's tightly controlled ecosystem can feel stifling to some, and iOS isn't easy to customise or modify. There's far more variety among Android handsets, and its open-source nature makes it a tweaker's dream. But it also means fragmented third-party app compatibility, occasional bugs, carrier-installed bloatware you can't remove, and scattered, often sporadic OS updates.

The Best Phablets

The word phablet, a portmanteau of phone and tablet, has largely gone out of style as pretty much all new phones are big phones. Nowadays, it refers to the absolute biggest phones, generally with screens that are six inches diagonally or larger. These are devices that take either very large hands, or two hands, to hold. They're also devices that tend to be easy on tired or older eyes.

The size of a phablet's screen doesn't necessarily reflect the size of the device. The 6.4-inch Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is much narrower than the 6-inch ZTE Blade Z Max, because it has smaller bezels and a taller, narrower screen.

The Best Budget Phones

This story tends to be headlined by very expensive phones, but you can get a perfectly good smartphone for between £100 and £250 upfront.

We're big fans of Honor and Huawei's low-end and midrange phones. They're unlocked and compatible with all carriers, and they use a fast, clean version of the Android OS which can easily compete with its more costly competition.

Cell Phone Plan Pricing

Cell phone pricing is more confusing than ever. Some carriers still have the old-school, binding two-year contracts where you pay a higher monthly rate in exchange for a discounted phone. But there also now payment plans where you pay the full retail cost of your phone, but pay less on your service plan; fast-upgrade and leasing plans where you pay a monthly fee and trade in your phone for a new one every year; as well as more carriers just selling phones for their retail price upfront.

Which one you choose depends on how long you intend to keep your phone and what you want to do with it after you're done with it. If you intend to upgrade frequently, you'll get the most financial advantage by buying phones upfront and reselling them on eBay when you're done with them, but that takes effort. Traditional two-year deals make sense if you stick with the plan of getting a new phone every two years and you're OK with the long-term commitment.

To see our most recent reviews, check out our Cell Phones Product Guide. Strictly interested in Android? Head over to our Best Android Phones roundup. And if you want to document the world around you with your phone, we've rounded up the Best Camera Phones too.