The best Telstra Blue Tick phones for poor reception in 2023

If you’re bushwhacking out the back of Bourke, even some of the latest and greatest smartphones will let you down when it comes to getting mobile reception. Thankfully, Australia’s coverage king, Telstra Mobile, actively tests how the latest handsets hold up when you’re travelling the outback.

Here are the latest smartphones that currently hold the blue badge of honour.

Samsung's 2022 flagship phone, the Samsung Galaxy S22 isn't a massive improvement on the S21 or even the S20. Rather, it’s a reliable evolution of everything that made the handset before it so great. It packs powerful performance and an adaptive refresh rate that balances display quality and battery life well. But as Samsung giveth, it also taketh away and the S22 is missing a few key features, like a packed-in USB-C charger, microSD expansion and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

If you can stomach those omissions, the Galaxy S22 is still one of the best choices for Android users. It makes the most of a sleek and shiny design while stacks the deck with flagship features and high-end specs.

If you need a phone that’s going to survive the next Deni Ute Muster, you’ll want to consider the Telstra Tough Max. This stubborn smartphone features all the luxuries of a primo smartphone, a generous 5.65-inch HD display, a dual rear camera (16MP + 5MP) and expandable memory up to 256GB (via microSD) in a protective shell that’s built like a brick… outhouse.

Its IP68 rating means it can cop a bit of dust, dirt, sand and can be dunked in water (up to 1.5-metres for 30 minutes). To top it off, it's got a bouncy rubber frame and comes packaged with a tempered glass screen protector.

The Telstra Tough Max 3 is Blue Tick certified out of the box but it also has an external antenna port if you need a little signal boost in patchier areas.

Once upon a time, if you wanted to go big with Samsung, the Galaxy Note would have been your best option. Then, the Galaxy S21 Ultra has made the Samsung's phablet obsolete by pairing up a larger 6.8-inch display with S-Pen support. 

This year's Galaxy S22 Ultra leans even further in that direction and steals even more of the Note's thunder. Samsung's latest phablet earns its top-billing among Samsung's latest Galaxy lineup with a 6.8-inch QHD+ resolution screen and a powerful quad-lens rear camera.

Samsung's budget-to-mid-range family of Series A handsets have come a long way over the last few years. There's a case to be argued that they're the best Samsung phones available when you factor in the lower price tag and powerful features. The Galaxy A53 5G is one such handset and better yet, it's got the Blue Tick seal of approval.

The Galaxy A53 5G has a 6.5-inch Super AMOLED display, a quad-camera array (64MP + 12MP + 5MP + 5MP) and 128GB of internal storage and additional 512GB of expandable storage via microSD. It's even got a few features usually reserved for flagship devices, such as 5G connectivity, Dolby Atmos speakers and IP67 water resistance.

If you want to go bigger, you can always opt for the Blue Tick-certified Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus. It boasts a larger 6.7-inch display and a bigger battery (to account for the larger display) but otherwise, it's technically the same handset as the S22.

While Samsung do make up the lion's share of devices bearing the Telstra Blue Tick in Australia, there are a few models that we chose not to recommend here.

The first of these is the Galaxy Z Flip 3. While the Z Flip3 is currently the only Blue Tick phone with a flexible display, it is a bit more expensive and experimental than we'd like it to be. That said, if you're keen to be an early adopter when it comes to foldable smartphones, the Z Flip 3 may still be worth a look.

Another device that didn't quite make the cut here was the Galaxy S21 FE. While this handset does have a unique value proposition as an outright purchase, it pales in comparison to either the Galaxy S21 or the new Galaxy S22. If you can afford to spend a little bit more then it's a no-brainier to go full flagship rather than settle for a half-measure, and if you can't then you're going to be better off with a mid-tier device like the Galaxy A52s 5G.

Naturally, the most important criteria for the devices on our shortlist of the best Blue Tick phone was the presence of Telstra's Blue Tick. This is why the list is a little dominated by Samsung devices.

However, whether or not a device has a Blue Tick attached to it wasn't the only factor here. Price and recency also factored into things. The differences between the Galaxy S20 Ultra and Galaxy S22 Ultra might not sound huge on paper, but the difference in price between the two is significant and opting for the more recent model means that probably you won't have to think about your next upgrade anytime soon.