Ranked: The 4 things I look for in a smartphone

It’s easy to get caught up in all the marketing mojo by tech companies, trying to convince us that the latest features are something we can’t live without.

Whenever I’m buying a new phone, I always step back and think about what I really want. What are my priorities — the specs and features I’m not willing to compromise on much. I have a list of four main things I look for in a smartphone, and I’ll share it with you in this post, starting with the most important one.

While everyone is obsessed with the latest SoC and that massive privacy-focused display, I’m more focused on what the phone looks like and how it feels in the hand. I’m a very visual person, and I can’t see myself using an ugly phone, even if it’s the most powerful and cheapest one out there.

Design has to evoke feelings. It has to tell a story. It has to show some character that’s unique to a specific device. While it’s hard to achieve that with a glass slab of a phone, there are several great options out there.

Personally, I love the look and feel of the Pixel 10 series. That signature camera bar is enough to make the phones distinct. Paired with a few great colorways — Obsidian is my favorite — and a great build quality that combines glass and metal, and we have a winner.

I never use a case on my phone, which doesn’t always end up well, but it’s the only way for me to properly experience the beauty of a device. Slapping a cheap plastic case on a $1,000 phone feels like a crime to me, especially when that phone was very carefully designed and looks outstanding.

Small, medium, and large phones. I’ve used them all over the years and have a clear preference. Small phones, which are arguably those with displays of up to 6.3 inches, are the ones I like. If a phone is bigger than that, I cross it off my list immediately. A 6.3-inch display is still quite substantial, but it’s the norm for “smaller” flagships these days.

I’ve used both the standard (base) Pixel phones and the more affordable A-series for the last few years, and I don’t see myself switching to something bigger. A 6.3-inch display of the Pixel 10, Pixel 10a, or the Galaxy S26, for example, is big enough for me to comfortably browse the web and even watch videos, while it’s still compact enough to use with one hand at the same time. It’s also very pocket-friendly, which is also important to me.

Personally, I’m more than willing to skip all the extras you get on massive flagships like the Pixel 10 Pro XL and the Galaxy S26 Ultra for that compact footprint of their smaller siblings. The thickness I’m comfortable with for now, so those super-thin phones like the Galaxy S25 Edge don’t do it for me, mainly because of the next item on this list.

A great phone has to have a big battery. Period. I don’t want to plug my phone in every night, so I’m ideally looking for something that can make it through at least two days.

The Pixel 10a is quite good in this category, sporting a 5,100mAh battery that’s paired with a 6.3-inch display. For reference, the massive 6.9-inch Galaxy S26 Ultra only packs a 5,000mAh battery, which isn’t good enough — especially when considering the price tag of the device.

However, even the Pixel 10a is far from the strongest contender in this race. Chinese companies have switched to silicon-carbon batteries, which hold more charge in the same package. As an example, the OnePlus 15 has a 6.8-inch display and a 7,300mAh battery, while the OPPO Find X9 Pro bumps that up to 7,500mAh while keeping the same display size.

These phones also beat out both Pixels and Galaxies when it comes to charging speeds, so I hope these two companies are taking notice. However, both models are too big for me, so despite excelling in the battery and charging departments, they aren’t on my shortlist.

And while I love small phones, I avoid the thin models like the Galaxy S25 Edge, as mentioned in the previous section, as a thinner body means a smaller battery.

The last on the list is the camera setup. It’s important, but I’m not as demanding here as I am with some of the other things mentioned in this post. I don’t need three or more rear sensors, for example — a standard and an ultrawide camera are good enough for me.

I’m looking for simplicity. No friction whatsoever. I like the processing to be on point, so I don’t need to edit images after I take them. I especially care about night shots, as I hate it when I want to take a picture on a city street at night and it comes out all blurry.

Give me the Pixel 10a’s camera setup, for example, and I’m good. If it’s even more capable than that, even better, but I’m happy with what Google’s cheapest phone in its lineup brings to the table.

I’m not very focused on the front-facing camera, though, as I hardly use it. Most of my video calls are done on my PC, and I’m not much of a selfie guy.

These are my four pillars of a great smartphone — the four things I care about most and what I look for when buying a new device. Of course, I also care about performance to a point. However, it’s less of an issue these days than it was years back, as even a mid-range phone can handle all the tasks I need it to with ease. I’m not a gamer, so I don’t need the latest and greatest SoC.

I also don’t care much about wireless charging or an IP rating. They usually come standard on devices in my price range, but even if they didn’t, I’d be fine. I seldom use wireless charging since wired is faster, and I’ve never had a problem with my phone dropping in a pool of water.

Now it’s your turn. What are the most important features you look for when buying a phone? Let me know in the comments.