Daily Authority: 🏆 Meet the best smartphone of 2022

☂️ Good day, and welcome to the Daily Authority! We had a spectacular thunderstorm last night, breaking into a fresh, cool morning. These are rare weather conditions for this part of the world, but I’ll take it after days of oppressive heat! We’re expecting some more rain today, and I couldn’t be more excited!

Speaking of rain, the torrent of 2022 retrospectives has started. You’ve probably been asked by your tech buddies what you think is the best phone of the year. For us, that decision is easy. Apparently, you all think so too!

After putting in hundreds if not thousands of combined hours into our reviews, we created a shortlist of the devices that racked up the highest review scores of the year. We ensure that every major brand is included across the sprawling price segments. Only then did our leadership team and experienced reviewers choose their top five phones, ranking them first to fifth. The points are then tallied, and the phone with the most points wins.

So, which device took the crown in 2022?

Hey Google, congratulations

• The Google Pixel 7 Pro is Android Authority‘s best phone of 2022, and that isn’t too much of a surprise.
• Last year, we loved the Google Pixel 6 for its excellent value and feature set. This year, Google pushed on with its Pro model.
• It packs a refined but evolved design, including that now trademark camera bar at the rear.
• We particularly loved the Pixel 7 Pro’s camera features explored in depth during our review, from Photo Unblur to its expanded zoom capabilities.
• Beneath its skin, the Pixel 7 Pro benefits from its Tensor G2 chipset, from computational smarts to reliable performance.
• “All of this, plus the return of Face Unlock, a plethora of Pixel-only features, long-term software support, the best haptics in the game, much-needed fixes to the fingerprint reader and network reception, and solid battery life all come together to create what is arguably Google’s greatest smartphone to date.”
• Even then, Google somehow undercut its nearest competition by some $100.

The runners up

There were plenty of great devices launched in 2022. Although the Pixel 7 Pro comes out tops, it had to beat plenty of excellent competition. Here are the runners up.

• Google took home a one-two, as the Pixel 7 finished in second place.
• We particularly liked its approachable price, giving users the best core Pixel experience to date.
• The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra came in third.
• It’s a great camera phone inspired by the Galaxy Note series, but we just can’t look past its lofty price.
• The Galaxy S22 Plus comes in fourth thanks to its well-rounded feature set and much improved value.
• Finally, the Oppo Find X5 Pro placed fifth, capping off another great year for the Chinese brand.

Readers’ Choice is our choice

We’re not the only ones voting for our phone of the year. Each trip around the sun, we ask readers to tell us what their smartphone of the year was. After a shortlist of 20 smartphones, one stood out as the winner.

• The Google Pixel 7 Pro won over the hearts of our readers, narrowly beating the Galaxy S22 Ultra.
• It was a fascinating battle between the two phones, with the Samsung leading our opening and semi-final rounds.
• However, it was the Pixel that took home the crown, giving it Google’s first Reader’s Choice Award.

Be sure to dig into the Reader’s Choice Award article here, explaining just how close the race between Samsung and Google was. It’s riveting stuff!

Monday Meme

If you’ve seen any highlights from the World Cup, you might’ve wondered why players don’t find more inventive ways to score goals. Leaping header? So boring. A smash from outside the box? Done before. And don’t get me started on penalties, sheesh.

Well, this meme posits one potential strategy that is, sadly, outlawed but no less funny.

Apparently it’s also illegal to balance the ball on your head and walk into the net, too. If that isn’t a demonstration of skill and poise, I don’t know what is.