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How To Buy A Smartphone

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34 views8 pages

How To Buy A Smartphone

Uploaded by

whippmypants
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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HOW TO BUY A SMARTPHONE: 9 STEPS TO YOUR

NEXT PURCHASE

Source: Pexels

With tons of smartphones flooding the markets every year, people, including technology
enthusiasts, are becoming increasingly reluctant when it comes to buying a new smartphone.
No matter whether you're a tech-savvy or an absolute dummy, I'll guide you through 6
fundamental steps that will help you hit the nail on the head for your next purchase. Just 6
steps, no complications at all.

1. The Looks: Aesthetics vs Durability


If you're like me and care about aesthetics, glass phones are always the way to go!
But unfortunately, glass is fragile and can easily break. To fix that, some manufacturers
decided to add to the strength factor of their glass phones by adding another layer of
tempered glass, most notably Gorilla Glass
On the other hand, most of the cheaper smartphones come in plastic, which can offer nearly
the aesthetic glassy glow plus it has a higher impact resistance than glass.
Plastic phones are more likely to hold durable compared to glass phones.
Either way, you're bound to buy a case for your next smartphone to avoid strong impacts.
2. Display

Source: Pexels

If you're concerned about one-handed use, consider buying a compact smartphone with a
panel roughly around 5.5 inches or a little bit more.
Panels larger than 6.2 inches are best when it comes to media consumption and
multitasking. Also, You need to pay attention to the color quality and brightness of the panel
you're going to be looking at all of the time.
In this regard, AMOLED panels give you the best brightness experience outdoors. Also, you
don't want your panel to be pixelated. So, make sure your next smartphone has a high PPI
(pixels per inch). The higher the PPI number is, the better. Panels with FHD+ resolution are
the most decent and common in the midrange price segment.
3. Operating System: Android vs iOS

Source: PublicDomainPictures

Owing to it being an open-source operating system, Android is used by numerous


manufacturers. Thus, it offers a wider scale of hardware options at more reasonable prices.
Also, Android lets you install third-party apps to customize your handset to your liking.
If you're going for an iPhone, you're pretty much there. iPhones come in consecutive
generations where newer ones always come packed with more features. iOS is famous for its
ease to use and timely updates. Unlike Android, iOS is restricted when it comes to
customizability.
4. Battery: The Powerhouse of Smartphones

Source: Pexels

Arguably the most crucial piece of hardware in your future handset. We all get frustrated
when we run out of battery mid-day.
To evade that, your next purchase should house a decent battery. Battery capacity is
determined by mAh (milliampere-hour). The higher the number, the better.
Phones with 4000 mAh batteries supported with fast charging technologies have become
the standard in the midrange price segment nowadays. Don't give up on fast charging, it's
critical in emergencies. Additionally, AMOLED panels with their deep blacks play a great
role in prolonging battery life.
5. Camera: Never Mind The Megapixels

Source: Pexels

The camera has already become the main selling point in smartphones for a lot of users.
With every release, manufacturers compete to perfect their phone cameras.
However, there are more to cameras than just megapixels. Look out for other camera
factors like aperture size, which is the size of the lens opening that allows light to pass
through. The lower the number, the better, especially your night shots.
One of the valuable perks in a phone camera is optical image stabilization, a feature that
reduces the blurring caused by the motion of the camera while capturing a video.
Midrange smartphones nowadays come with a triple camera setup: a main wide lens, an
ultrawide lens, and a telephoto lens for optical zoom.
6. Storage: Don't Underestimate Its Importance
Some folks often ignore storage capacity when buying a new smartphone. My advice is
don't opt for less than 64 GB of storage, especially if you're going for iPhones that don't
support an SD card.
Apps data are on the increase and you'd need a reasonable storage capacity to hold up
against that. It's always preferable if your next purchase includes an SD card slots to store
your media and photos while leaving the internal storage exclusively for apps and their
ever-increasing data.

7. Performance: Two Things You Need To Consider


You can judge the performance of a smartphone based on two factors: the processor it
houses and the RAM. The processor contributes to the overall performance and speed.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, Huawei Kirin 990, and the Samsung Exynos 9820 are
currently the top-notch chipsets in the Android realm. Whereas the Apple A13, exclusive
only to Apple iPhones, is the cream of the crop, outperforming all chipsets in competition.
However, midrange smartphones provide users with reasonable chipsets that support 4K
video shooting and GPUs that run graphically intensive games as well. So don't be too keen
on buying a smartphone with a flagship processor.
The RAM determines how many background processes you can run. Though unclear how
much RAM you'd really need, we'd recommend at least 4GB of RAM for Android handsets.
As for iPhones, they deal differently with RAM management and they come packed with
less RAM capacities. So don’t be confused about that.
8. Manufacturer's Reputation:

Source: Pixels

Think about it this way:


When you opt for a smartphone, you actually spend your money on two things: the
smartphone and the after-sales service
You'd want a warranty card inside the box, available for at least a year. Gain insights into
the manufacturer's customer satisfaction policies by reading reviews (on reviews.io for
instance). A company with disreputable customer service won't guarantee you the best long-
term experience with your handset if it breaks down someday.

9. The Finale: Spice Up Your Choice


Now that I've given you basic information on what you need to know, it's now up to you to
make a decision.
I’d suggest you visit gsmarena.com or similar websites right now and make your
comparisons! Browse different models from various manufacturers to find out what you
think best for you. There you can explore the additional perks that "spice up" your choice,
like NFC support (for contactless payments), dual stereo speakers, enhanced biometric
security (like face unlock), and much more!

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