Introduction

As 2017 draws to a close, we take a look back at the phones, which impressed us, and the ones which disappointed us. This end-of-year edition of our Editors Talk series will give you a glimpse at the love-and-hate relationship we have with smartphones and their design and features.

It was a busy year over here at GSMArena. We've thoroughly reviewed more than 100 new devices over the past 12 months with numerous hands-on articles, first impressions, and in-depth comparisons sprinkled in between those.

Aside from the text articles, we also put a lot of effort into making high-quality video reviews and it's been paying off as our YouTube channel subscriber base has crossed both the 200,000 and 300,000 mark over the course of 2017.

The team grew and so did we - in readership, coverage, and expertise and we are excited to see what 2018 has in store for us.

But this post is not a year-end review of GSMArena, but rather our look back at the smartphones which had us excited this past year and also about the ones which raised a few eyebrows around the house.

We're sure you have your own favorites and we don't intend on arguing which is the ultimate phone. On the following pages we will try to list our personal favorites and you will get the chance to know us better in the process. We hope you enjoy this end-of-year edition of our Editors Talk series. Here's to an even better year ahead!