Choosing The Smartphone To Buy
While sitting on a snacks corner yesterday, a friend whom I have not seen for a while happened to pass by and seated with me. He saw me using my smartphone to surf the Internet because the area has a free wi-fi. He told me that he is planning to buy a smartphone soon and asked me what would I recommend him to buy. Not wanting to give him some misleading advice, I told him to read my blog today about choosing the smartphone that he should buy.
In order to be a bit accurate in giving my opinion, I did a search on the Internet about the subject and the following information are what I gathered:
1. Good, Responsive User Interface – This refers to how fast the screen changes as it is touched by the user. A 500-Mhz processor should be alright for simple tasks like texting, emailing, social networking and browsing websites with not much complex graphics that will slow it down. Alternatively, go for a large processor like the Qualcomm Snapdragon 1GHz if you will use the phone for complex tasks like gaming.
2. Capacitive Touchscreen – This is the kind that is common to most smartphones nowadays and where you use your fingertips to give use it. Do not buy unit with resistive touchscreen where you need a stylus to input commands.
3. Good Text Input – You almost have no option but learn to virtual QWERTY keyboard. If you can’t use QWERTY yet, you can use the 3 x 4 virtual keyboard that we are all used to. There are models with physical keyboard if you don’t want to go with the trend of going virtual.
4. Connectivity Options – Go for a model that can connect to a mobile Internet service provider (3G), Wi-Fi Hotspot and USB 2.0 as minimum.
5. Social Media Integration – At a minimum, look for good integration with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, and whatever social media app that you use. If the phone doesn’t support the social media app natively, check if it has downloadable social media apps before buying.
6. Usable App Store – Go with the platform-based app stores (e.g. Android Marketplace, Windows Mobile Store, iPhone’s App Store) rather than the manufacturer-specific app stores (e.h. Nokia’s Ovi, Samsung’s application store), as the variety of apps available will be much better for you.
7. Navigation and Mapping Features – Look for a GPS and a compass, and how easy to navigate the Google Maps using the device.
8. Camera and Video – Not essential to many but may be important to you so go for a minimum 3-megapixel camera with flash.
9. Screen Size – My experience with 2.8-inch screen is not so good for obvious reason. Go for 4-inch screen if budget can afford.
10. Platform – Go for Android for openness and variety; iOS (iPhone) for number of slick looking apps; Symbian if you love Nokia.
The specifications discussed herein are intended to guide you in choosing the smartphone to buy based on available models today. The smartphone technology is changing fast and any of the above criteria may become obsolete anytime. All things considered, your decision will definitely be guided by how much you are willing to spend for an important gadget called smartphone. Reading reviews for specific brands and models available before making the decision is strongly recommended.
these tips are very informative sir 🙂 my husband is looking for a smart phone that has a dual sim feature lol
I came across a dual-SIM Android smartphone in the net once but I won’t advise buying it. It’s one of those China-made phones of dubious quality. I doubt if the name brands would make dual-SIM models so I think we have to settle with second-rate brands but we have to wait for a while until the technology matures.