Choosing the right phone for your business can be a challenge; each brand has its own merits and features that make it appealing. The trick is in figuring out what’s most important to your business—whether it’s features or carrier coverage—and finding a phone that matches up best.
A quick search online reveals product review after product review from tech junkies, blogs and phone enthusiasts, but many phones seems to be number one someplace and what one site might love about a phone, another might find it its weakest feature.
Samsung, the Android King
Mallorie Brodie, co-founder of Bridgit Inc., notes the company’s top recommendations for Android phones are the Samsung Galaxy S4 and S5 models.
“Samsung has quickly dominated the Android market over the last few years, and is Apple’s closest competitor,” she says. “The Galaxy series phones are best-sellers; they offer excellent battery life, high-speed processing power, top quality cameras, and were designed to be very user-friendly.”
The Galaxy S4/S5 screens are large at over 5 inches in size, which is a great option for users who find it difficult to type on small touch screens.
Meanwhile, Samsung’s newest model, the Galaxy S6, includes a fingerprint reader and includes an IR blaster, NFC chip, and a new way of paying with your phone on normal credit card readers.
In fact, Techradar named the Samsung Galaxy S6 the number one Android phone for business on the market, due to its luxurious metal and glass build, brilliantly impressive 5.1-inch QHD screen and octa-core Exynos processor that leaves rivals in the dust.
The S6 is not perfect: the interface still has a few rough edges. But many of the extraneous features have been removed or hidden. As long as you aren’t looking for a removable battery or microSD slot, it’s the perfect phone to get.
HTC, Trying Harder
Coming in at Number 2 on Techradar.com’s top 10 list is the HTC One M9, which it calls “the best looking Android phone around and arguably the best looking handset running any OS.”
Now, that’s not reason enough for businesses to turn to the phone, but it’s loaded with coverage power, has a 20.7MP camera on the back, and its sense interface and impressive BoomSound audio make it a joy to use.
Plus, according to Matthew Miller of ZDNet, HTC has a proven track record of providing Android updates on a timely basis while companies like Sony and Samsung often lag behind.
The Razr’s Edge
Motorola is also in the game, offering a pure Android experience without a lot of extra clutter. Its 5.2-inch, second-generation Moto X includes “always-listening” voice commands, so you can save a note, set a reminder or add a calendar appointment without ever touching your device. There’s also a Moto Display, which lets you view and act on alerts straight from the lock screen. It’s also one of the cheaper business-friendly phones, with a two-year data plan commitment.
Life’s Good
LG is also a big player in the Android space, with most experts recommending the LG G3 as its top phone thanks to its QHD resolution, 2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor, 3GB of RAM and an Adreno 330 GPU ensuring the interface, widgets, apps and games all speed along at a rate of knots.
These are all great phones for business, and the truth is it ultimately comes down to getting the minimum feature set you need at the best price—with the best coverage. Samsung and HTC certainly have all the features you could need, but they also have the price tag to match if you’re going to go for the top of the line S6 or One M9. Getting last year’s model can be a great way to save some money while still getting a top notch phone.
data plan, coverage, business, connected, data usage