LG G2 is the best smartphone for connecting to the internet: study
It doesn't matter how big a phone's processor is or how much RAM it has, because if its radio and antenna are substandard, it's going to struggle to connect to the internet. And without a good internet connection, a smartphone is just a phone.
All too often when flagship smartphones are compared, they're judged in terms of screen size and resolution, operating system or processor speed in order to determine the best of the best. However, as research from Netradar shows, maybe we're looking at the wrong numbers when deciding which handset truly is a cut above.
"People often say that their wireless operator is bad and has a bad network. However, the problem is often in the mobile device they use. There are huge differences in the quality of the devices, not simply the screen size, processor or storage, but also the radio hardware and antenna. The difference can be seen as slow and unstable data connectivity," says professor Jukka Manner.
Netradar is a free mobile application developed and run by the Aalto University in Finland to measure a handset's ability to connect to the internet, and Manner led the system's development. Using the data it has collected, Netradar has complied its own list of the best smartphones and the results are surprising.
The best-performing phone tested is not a Samsung or Apple handset, or even a Google Nexus device: it's the LG G2. In second place is the Samsung Galaxy SIV 4G+ and in third place Samsung's flagship phablet, the Galaxy Note III. Nokia also performs well with four handsets in the top 20, the highest placed of which, the Lumia 920, is ranked as the fourth best-performing.
However, thanks to the fact that Samsung makes lots of very similar, yet very slightly different versions of the same device, it has 10 devices, including four 4G/LTE-compatible tablets, in the top 20. The highest-ranking Apple device, the iPhone 5S, has to make do with 13th place, two places ahead of the Nexus 5 in 15th.
"A higher price often gives some confidence that the device can also give good and stable data rates. Yet, we can also identify devices that are moderately priced and still give great speeds, and on the other hand, there are expensive devices that have very poor performance. Our algorithms can also identify users who have a great device, but their mobile data plan is bit rate limited," says Sebastian Sonntag, a doctoral candidate in the team.
The Netradar app can be installed on Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Meego, Symbian and even Jolla/Sailfish handsets but isn't available for BlackBerry. The team behind the app have put together a table of the best 150 devices based on online connectivity and performance, which can be viewed via their site, and its creators plan to update the tables on a regular basis in order to create a new, easy-to-understand benchmark for consumers and manufacturers alike.
