Bagaimana kami menguji ponsel di ZDNET pada tahun 2025

Kerry Wan/ZDNET

Cara smartphone masuk ke dalam kehidupan sehari-hari kita telah berubah secara dramatis selama beberapa dekade terakhir, dari hanya menjadi perangkat komunikasi semata-mata hingga kini menghubungkan kita ke internet yang luas. Hari ini, definisi smartphone sedang diubah lagi, dengan kecerdasan buatan perlahan namun pasti mengambil peran utama dalam pengalaman seluler. Mungkin suatu hari nanti ia bahkan akan menggantikan aplikasi.

Juga: Ponsel terbaik untuk dibeli pada tahun 2025

Tidak peduli hasilnya, nilai smartphone dalam masyarakat modern tidak terhitung; itu adalah gadget yang wajib dimiliki. Jadi, untuk membantu pembaca seperti Anda menemukan handset terbaik untuk kebutuhan dan preferensi Anda, tim ahli ponsel ZDNET menguji hampir setiap ponsel yang diluncurkan ke pasar sepanjang tahun, mulai dari Android hingga iPhone. Kami bahkan menguji perangkat yang mengklaim akan menggantikan smartphone.

Jika Anda pernah bertanya-tanya bagaimana kami mengevaluasi smartphone terbaru untuk memutuskan apakah layak direkomendasikan, berikut adalah pembagian berbagai aspek yang kami pertimbangkan.

Cara kami menguji ponsel pada tahun 2025

Kerry Wan/ZDNET

Pertama-tama, ponsel yang kami ulas di ZDNET sebagian besar disediakan oleh produsen sesaat sebelum diluncurkan ke publik. Itu berarti ulasan awal kami biasanya didasarkan pada waktu seminggu (atau lebih) dengan perangkat yang belum dirilis. 

Dalam jangka waktu embargo, para pengulas ZDNET dapat menguji fitur-fitur terbaru (ideally pada patch perangkat lunak terbaru), mengajukan pertanyaan tindak lanjut kepada produsen, dan mengevaluasi perangkat tanpa pengaruh dari pengulas lain. Kadang-kadang kami juga membeli ponsel untuk diuji atau meninjau perangkat yang disediakan oleh operator seluler, bukan produsen. Dalam kasus terakhir, kami akan secara eksplisit memberi kredit kepada operator dalam liputannya, meskipun itu tidak akan memiliki pengaruh editorial.

While ZDNET primarily covers smartphone releases in the US market, we also evaluate international handsets to understand the competitive landscape better and have a frame of reference when making recommendations to international readers. We also attend trade shows, including CES and Mobile World Congress, to connect with industry experts and analysts.

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What makes a phone ZDNET recommended?

For hands-on testing, five aspects determine whether or not a phone gets recommended by ZDNET: design, performance, cameras, battery life, and special features. The importance of each aspect will vary across users; some will value camera quality over battery life, and others just want a phone that’s unique and different. Generally, the order of importance is cameras, battery life, design, performance, and then special features.

To be included in our buying guides, the best smartphones must achieve above-average marks on all five criteria (with a reviewed score of over 3.5 out of 5), especially when compared to other devices priced similarly. Reviewers also consider the key differences between the latest phone models and their predecessors during the grading process.

Design and ergonomics

Kerry Wan/ZDNET

How a phone looks and feels can greatly influence the overall experience. There’s a reason why Apple stores meticulously arrange iPhones the way they do, with the most colorful options front and center. Does the latest A17 Pro processor on the iPhone 15 Pro Max truly matter if you’re already mesmerized by the adorably-sized, blue-colored iPhone 15? (Just me?)

But also, how does the phone feel when it’s tucked in your tight jeans or lightweight shorts? When testing and recommending phones, we consider design and ergonomics heavily, understanding that not everyone wants the biggest and most premium-feeling option out there. For example, a device with a plastic casing will serve you better than an all-glass build if you’re a construction worker or someone who’s often outdoors.

To truly test the real-world experience of using the latest iPhones and Androids, ZDNET reviewers often don’t accessorize the handsets with silicone or rubberized cases; instead, we browse, take pictures, and roam around with them as is. Phones get brownie points if they’re rated IP68, the industry standard for water and dust resistance.

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Performance

Kerry Wan/ZDNET

Several factors affect a phone’s performance, including LTE/5G signal, battery life, and background tasks. Therefore, we typically begin our evaluations with a fully charged handset, all background tasks closed, and as stable of a mobile connection as possible. I’m based in New York City, so I typically test the performance capacity of phones across various signal areas, such as the subway (where LTE signal can range from poor to non-existent) and back home in Staten Island (where LTE signal is richer due to the lack of skyscrapers and congestion.)

Performance testing also includes putting phones through varying levels of graphic-intensive tasks, including importing and exporting spreadsheets, photo-editing in Adobe Lightroom, and playing mobile games like Genshin Impact and Asphalt 9. I’ll oftentimes have a music player app running in the background or YouTube Picture-in-Picture just to push the mobile processor a little more.

Of course, reviewers also consider the price of the tested devices, adjusting their standards and expectations accordingly.

Cameras

Kerry Wan/ZDNET

Arguably the most valuable aspect of today’s smartphones, built-in cameras have improved so much over the past few years that they’re now our most convenient (and reliable) tool to capture life’s most important moments. Testing phone cameras at ZDNET includes capturing hundreds of photos and videos of various subjects and in various lighting conditions. The list of subjects ranges from flower petals (for macro shots) to people (for portrait shots) to the moon (for zoom/periscope shots).

Also: The best camera phone of 2025: Expert tested and reviewed

Having a larger sample size to reference and compare with images from other phone models gives us the most accurate assessment of what phone camera is best at preserving details, colors, contrast, and more. Whether we’re evaluating the latest Samsung Galaxy phones to each other or with the latest iPhone, ZDNET reviewers can typically be found with more than one device in their pockets, both for comparison reasons and because we’re simply tech geeks.

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Battery life and charging

Kerry Wan/ZDNET

It’s also important for us to evaluate how long phones last under light, moderate, and heavy usage, how long they take to recharge, and how they do it (wired, wireless, or both). We typically judge the endurance of phones based on screen-on time (SOT); that’s the total amount of time the screen is turned on, whether you’re scrolling through TikTok or typing an email. The higher the SOT, the longer the phone lasts.

On average, phones can score from three hours of SOT to upwards of nine hours of SOT, with the value resetting after 24 hours or when the phone is fully recharged. However, remember that a high SOT value is not always correlated to top-tier battery life; being able to play a Netflix video at full brightness for four hours straight is more impressive, endurance-wise, than leaving a text document on the screen for nine hours. Therefore, when speaking to the battery life of phones, we also describe it in a more practical sense — mentioning if a device can last one full day of usage, more or less.

Special features

Kerry Wan/ZDNET

Beyond the traditional testing pillars, we also consider phones’ unique and special features as we finalize our buying advice. Devices like the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra have a built-in S Pen stylus, the Nothing Phone 2a has a light-up back cover, and the OnePlus Open can fold and expand into a handheld tablet. Such features distinguish these devices from a bustling smartphone market, bringing added value to users. Of course, they’re judged by a practicality scale, and only the most useful gimmicks will earn our reviewers’ approval.

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