Recently we were talking about the new phablets that are being launched in recent times between the mid-range and the high-end, but now, with the launch of the pixel XL and the trio of greats of this fall already complete, we have to talk about that other emerging field that sometimes we call ultra-high range and that it is occupied by devices whose prices rise (quite sometimes) from 800 euros even in their basic versions, composed right now, together with the Google phablet, by the 7 iPhone Plus and Galaxy Note 7. What justifies what they cost and which of them deserves more such investment?
7 iPhone Plus
We start with the most expensive of the three, which costs nothing less than $910 in its basic version, which is around 50% more than phablets like the Galaxy S7 Edge or the Huawei P9 Plus cost. It is true that at least now this basic version already arrives with 32 GB of internal memory and not 16 GB, but it cannot be ignored that the Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC), They are one of the few devices that do not have a micro-SD card slot, which limits us to online storage once we have exhausted it. On the other hand, it is also somewhat strange to find a screen Full HD in a phablet of this price, when others much more affordable already have a Quad HD. One last point against that cannot be left out, of course, is the disappearance of the jack port, which can be somewhat inconvenient.
El 7 iPhone Plus It has, however, a lot of qualities that, regardless of whether we think they justify its price or not, without a doubt make it one of the best phablets of the moment. Probably the two that deserve to be highlighted the most are its performance and its camera: on the one hand, the A10 Fusion It has made it the most powerful smartphone of the moment judging by what the benchmarks tell us; on the other, the dual camera combined with other improvements, has achieved the evolution that we were all waiting for after the relative disappointment that its predecessor was in this section. Some extra details that are also appreciated are the waterproof, el Enhanced Touch ID and even more autonomy (Which is not a small thing considering that the iPhone 6s Plus was already the one that occupied the first place in the ranking in this section last year).
Galaxy Note 7
El Galaxy Note 7 It is somewhat cheaper in its basic version than the iPhone 7 Plus, but a difference of around 50 euros probably mattered little when we were already moving at these levels. It is true, however, that considering that the Galaxy Edge S7 shares some of its main virtues (such as image quality and the camera, which have not evolved much between one and the other) and can be found for around 600 euros, it seems necessary to recommend to those who are thinking of getting it consider the Minus the possibility of buying the previous model instead, which is still a model from this year (their respective releases are barely separated by 6 months).
Still, we cannot deny that the Galaxy Note 7 has some things that the other does not have, such as the S Pen, iris scanner or better optimization of Exynos 8890 which makes its performance in benchmarks even higher. The first two advantages at least are also applicable when we compare it with both the iPhone 7 Plus and the Pixel XL, compared to which it also comes out the winner in the screen section: even without having introduced too many new features compared to the Galaxy S7. Edge, yours is still the best screen on a smartphone according to experts (the iPhone 7 Plus, like its predecessor, has won only the title of "best LCD", which excludes not only the phablet from the competition. Samsung but in fact to most of the current high-end).
pixel XL
Who was going to tell us just a couple of years ago that a phablet of Google was it going to be among the three most expensive of the moment? As has been discussed a lot in recent times, the company policy of the search engine has changed a lot since the launch of the first Nexus and it is clear that quality, regardless of price, has become their main objective. It must be clarified, in any case, that we do not yet have official figures here, but that we are extrapolating from the data of its launch in Germany and that they place them in the orbit of the iPhone (the basic model of the pixel XL could sell for 900 euros), and there seems to be little reason for optimism.
What is it that justifies this price increase? If we compare it, to begin with, with the Nexus 6P, The truth is that there has not been a substantial improvement in terms of technical specifications that can explain it, since not much has changed other than the forced replacement of the Snapdragon 810 by a Snapdragon 821, something that, like the 4 GB RAM memory, 32 GB internal memory (no slot for micro-SD, by the way) and the screen Quad HD, is nothing but the current standard of the high-end. The claims of the updates direct from Google is always interesting compared to others Android, but it is not an advantage over its predecessors either. It seems, therefore, that all the weight falls on two attractions, which may be fundamental, on the other hand: a design that seems to have caused a furor (at least in the blue version) and a camera Thanks mainly to software improvements, it has automatically become the best on the market, according to the always valued opinion of DxOMark.