The weight of a smartphone is mostly
dictated by its screen size. The 4.6-
ounce iPhone 6, for example, has a
4.7-inch display and is one of the
thinnest and lightest handsets on the
market. At the opposite end of the spectrum
are big-screen phablets such as the Nexus 6, which has a 6-inch display and weighs 6.5 ounces. Once you get
above 6 ounces, you'll really notice the
weight of a phone in your pocket. If
portability is paramount, shoot for a
handset that's less than 5 ounces.

Quality The size of the screen is only one
consideration. Pay close attention to a
smartphone's resolution, brightness,
color quality and viewing angles. The sharpest displays have quad-HD
resolution, or 2,560 x 1,440 pixels,
including the Galaxy S6 and LG G4.
However, a full-HD panel, with 1,920 x
1,080 pixels (1080p), such as those
on the iPhone 6 Plus and HTC One M9, shows plenty of detail. Screens with
1,280 x 720 pixels (720p), typically
found on value-priced phones, can
result in lost detail in text or movies.

Defining a good or bad smartphone
design is highly subjective, but if you
care about build quality and
aesthetics, look for a unibody design,
which you'll find on the iPhone 6,
Galaxy S6 or HTC One M9. The S6's glass-and-metal design is particularly
attractive, especially the S6 Edge with
its dual curved display.

We've now arrived at a point in
smartphone evolution where the
camera matters more than the
processor, especially since most
people use their phones as their
primary shooters. More and more smartphones boast cameras with 16
megapixels, but don't go by numbers
alone. Instead, pay attention to image
quality, aperture, speed and features.

A good processor inside a phone
should translate to faster open times
for apps, smoother gameplay and
quicker photo editing, but you don't
have to pay attention to clock speed.
It's better to look at the performance results in our reviews, such as
Geekbench, which measures overall
performance. Qualcomm's
Snapdragon series used to be the
fastest game in town, but now
Samsung's own octa-core Exynos 7420 chip (inside the Galaxy S6) has
taken the lead.

Here's an easy way to look at
smartphones' RAM, which is critical for
multitasking. Try to avoid handsets
with just 1GB of system memory. On
midtier devices, 2GB is good and
standard. But 3GB (found on phones like the Galaxy S6 and LG G4) is even
better. Only one device (the Asus ZenFone 2) offers 4GB of RAM thus far, but it could be the start of a trend.

Given that some games can easily take
up more than 1GB — not to mention
how many high-res photos and
videos smartphone owners are
capturing — we highly recommend
opting for as much internal storage as possible. The minimum on most
handsets, like the iPhone 6, is 16GB,
but more phones (such as the Galaxy
S6) are coming standard with 32GB.
We recommend 32GB or more.

Many factors — including the screen
size, processor and operating system
— determine how long a smartphone
lasts on a charge. However, shoppers
looking for the longest battery life
possible should check out our list of endurance champs. We consider any
phone that lasts longer than 8 hours
of straight 4G LTE surfing to be good,
but greater than 8.5 hours is better.

Removable batteries seem to be falling
out of favor with most smartphone
makers. But there are some benefits to
this kind of design, found on the LG G4
and Galaxy Note 4. Once your existing
battery stops holding a charge for as long as it did when it was fresh, you
can just buy a new one without
having to pay for a replacement
service or new phone.