Smartphone buying guide
Smartphone buying guide :
If you are going to buy a Smartphone, there are lot of questions inside your mind because vast variety and type of smartphones. You are in a very confused situation that which one to buy and which would fit your requirement. In this post we will provide you some basic tips about smartphone buying guide that how to choose your best Smartphone/Tablet.
The things that are confusing you are which phone has best features, connectivity options, Screen Sizes, Brands, Operating System and off course Budget.
Things to be considered before buying a Smartphone (Smartphone Buying Guide) –
1. Budget :
This is your first consideration, because you cannot go beyond your budget so phones should be within your budget.
2. Operating System:
Operating system (OS) of your smartphone is the key factor, there are mainly four OS that are available most of the phones. One is Android that has major market share in smartphones, Second is Apple’s iOS that is available only in Iphone’s and Ipad’s, third is Windows OS and fourth one is Blackberry OS.
iOS only found is Iphone so that there are very few handset models are available and these are very costly too, due to Apple’s brand. Windows OS now found only Nokia Lumia models today. These are also have limited options to choose, in Windows OS you will found simple user interface and can be choose by the users who want simple and less complicated operation. But windows has proprietary OS you can not modify user interface too much. Also in windows store apps are not have as large variety as Android Play Store has. Blackberry is now struggling to maintain into market because most of the users now leaving Blackberry due to its poor Application store and availability.
Android is the most popular OS today that have largest App Store, also due to open source nature it can be modified and tweaked beyond the limits. Users have variety of handsets to choose from every budget and brand segments. Also the most important things in Android is that vast developers on the globe those are working on many custom ROMs like Cyanogenmod, MIUI, Omni etc. You can root your Android mobile easily and install custom ROMs by which you can change your OS whenever you want, if your manufacturers stops providing latest Android than you can keep upto date your mobile using these custom ROMs.
There are many versions of Android, nowadays Android Lollipop i.e. Android 5.0 is the latest android version.
Myth-1 : Windows support better MS office files because it is windows based
There is no such thing happened because most of the Smartphones has ARM based processors these are not like traditional Intel based processors that found in Laptops and desktop PCs. So all the phones either windows or iOS or Android worked on the same philosophy i.e. apps to edit and view MS Office files, not the full fledged MS Office platform.
3. Screen Size :
Screen size is also very important feature for smartphone, always higher resolution is better if phone has HD display 720p or higher it is better to display images, videos graphics on it. Also ppi is very important that is pixel per inch, as higher is this figure your visibility will become more clear and vibrant. Now size of the screen also plays major role, if your main consent to buy smartphone to play games, watching videos that bigger size screen will be better for you. Some phones have screen size upto 6 inch called Phablet. But larger phone having carrying problems, you can not keep them inside your shirt or pent’s pocket. If screen is lower that 4.5 inch than you may found difficult to type over keyboard. So choice is your , from my opinion screen size 4.7 inch to 5.2 inch is better for a smartphone otherwise go for tablet phone.
4. Connectivity :
Check that phone you are choosing has all the connectivity options that you want e.g. Wifi, Bluetooth, GPS, 2G/3G/4G , FM Radio (if you interested to listen radio), USB on the Go (OTG).
USB – OTG is very important feature so that you can connect a USB stick (Pendrive) directly to your smartphone using OTG Cable. Some features are optional like Wifi Direct (for screen mirroring with smart TV), TV out, , hdmi out, NFC Beam, Infrared port (for using phone as a remote control of TV etc.), Screen mirroring etc.
5. Camera :
Camera in Smartphone are essential in Smartphones, Front camera is also important today for the increasing craze of selfis in youngsters and for video calling. Check the manufacturers full specifications for cameras , it should have HD recording, auto focus, HDR for better night clicks. Also if image stabilisation is there it is plus point. Never confuse that higher Mega Pixel is always better. Camera quality depends on the Sensor, a lower MP camera may be better if is from good brand or some higher MP camera may not as good as desired due to Sensor manufactures drawbacks.
6. Storage (Internal + External) :
Higher internal storage is always better like 16GB or higher because Mobile OS also consumes lot of space so that user available space is always less than the defined internal storage e.g. an 4GB internal storage phone may have user available space as 200MB etc. be care full regarding internal storage. Phone should also have external card slot so that you can increase your storage to keep more data.
7. Processor:
Mobile processor is the most important feature, Quad core or Octa core always better than dual core/single core. Also see clock speed higher is better than lower to run applications faster. Also Qualcomm snapdragon processors better than Mediatek processors.
8. RAM :
RAM are just like in PC’s, higher is always better, if phone has 1GB or higher RAM it would be better. As Android OS keep apps in backgrounds it uses more RAM to run multiple apps together in background. If RAM is 2GB or higher apps will smoothly.
9. Battery :
Battery capacity is shown in mAh (milli ampere hour), higher is always better. Battery backup depends on many factors like OS, apps running in background etc. It is not always that higher mAh battery will give long battery life. In some handsets some lower battery mAh can give more backup due to OS design, apps structures etc. But this is thumb rule that higher is better.
10. After Sales Support:
Also check mobiles after sales support so that you will not be disappointed after buying a phone that has very limited service centres.
11. Read reviews on various Blogs, websites, Gsmarena.com
After finalising your Smartphone, read reviews on various websites e.g. online stores, Blogs, gsmarena.com. User reviews are always more reliable than manufactures review.
Myth : All reviews on the websites are paid & fake
Not all the reviews are paid or fake, if you go through the reviews on websites you can judge what is the opinion of majority of users. gsmarena.com is the most famous site today for comparing and viewing features and technical specifications of mobile phones. You can go through on the user opinions on this site to deciding buying of your Smartphone.