Yesterday we discussed the things we would change about today’s smartphones, so today seems like it would be a good day to talk about what we love about today’s smartphones! This list was considerably harder to come up with, mostly because there are so many things to love about smartphones - definitely not easy to come up with just 5 when there are, like, a thousand things to appreciate about them. Sometimes hundreds of thousands if you want to consider all of the applications that we have access to.

Still, I’ve decided to limit myself to just 5 in order to keep it consistent, so without further ado let’s get crackin’!

5. The Cloud

I haven’t exactly been the biggest advocate of “the cloud” thus far, and when it comes to everyday storage in a smartphone I’m still not all that whoopee on it compared to alternative options. However, I do still love the fact that smartphones have the ability to use the cloud, particularly in terms of being able to back up important information in the case of an... unforeseen accident or event. You know... theft, dropping the phone in some unsuspecting body of water, having a toddler chuck and consequently shatter the phone in a rage fit after not being able to figure out the passcode... you know, those kinds of events. I’ve recently had to depend on the cloud to restore my information for me, and I suddenly realized that I do not dislike the cloud as much as I originally thought I did. So, thanks cloud.

4. 4G LTE

Once upon a time, data speed on a mobile device was terribly slow. So slow that, in general, if you had access to a computer you would be much better off using the computer rather than your smartphone to use the web for whatever you were planning to use it for. With the release of 3G those speeds became more acceptable, and the release of 4G made it even better. 4G LTE, on the other hand, made the data speed on a smartphone right on par (or sometimes even faster) than using the computer. Couple in the fact that web browsing or accessing social media and other online services is often times way more convenient on a smartphone, I have to say that having LTE speeds on our smartphones is definitely one of my favorite aspects of today’s smartphones.

3. Camera quality

I’m big on taking pictures of my life, and previously I would carry around my digital camera for important occasions. It’s not that my digital camera was heavy or anything, it was extremely compact - but it certainly wasn’t as convenient as my phone, which is almost always handy.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been seriously disappointed in the quality of a camera on my phone. Really, anything 5-megapixels or higher has been acceptable for my needs. 8-megapixels is ideal, and even 4-megapixels has been acceptable in the case of the HTC One’s UltraPixel camera, and of course anything higher is a bonus. But I am thoroughly impressed with how far smartphones have come in terms of their camera quality.

2. Battery life

Okay, so battery life isn’t “flip phone” great, but it is considerably better than it was a few years ago. My HTC EVO 4G and EVO 3D phones were constantly connected to their charger, because the battery would last maybe 4 to 5 hours before reaching a dangerously low point. Over the next few years, battery life improved considerably with each upgraded device. I was impressed with the iPhone 4S compared to my EVOs, I was impressed with the HTC One’s battery life over the 4S, and so on. Either way, I’m mostly just glad that I haven’t had a phone that craps out after a few short hours for several years at this point. I’m still looking forward to the day where they last days or weeks without needing a charge, but until then, this is definitely acceptable.

1. Reduced clutter

Probably the thing I appreciate most about smartphones is how much a single phone has been able to replace in my life. I no longer need to carry around a planner, a calculator, an mp3 player, a camera, a GPS... a lot of stuff, really. It seems like with every new generation of phones I’m able to cut out at least one new thing I’ve lugged around for quite some time. It’s crazy to know that this little electronic rectangle is able to do so. Much. Stuff.

So there you have it, the top 5 things I love about today’s smartphones. Clearly there’s a lot more to love about smartphones, so let’s hear from you readers what your favorite smartphones features are in the comments below!