Before buying a new smartphone, it is important to consider certain factors in order to make an informed decision and enhance your user experience. Smartphones have, over time, become a sort of indispensable companion, especially because of their use in helping to stay on top of important email and social updates.
With this in mind, it’s safe to say that choosing the right smartphone for yourself is indeed a big deal.
GSNSP shares information on six important factors to consider before purchasing a new smartphone.
1. THE OPERATING SYSTEM
When your budget for a new smartphone is able to get you either an iPhone with the Apple iOS, or a smartphone with the Android Operating System, the burden is then about which of the two to choose. Some people say the Apple iOS is better than the Android OS, but the truth is, it depends.
The Apple iOS on all iPhones is an easy-to-use OS (Operating System), and you can be sure of getting the hottest and best apps first, along with the timeliest software updates, tight security, and very rare malware problems. However, with the Android OS, you have more hardware choices and more control over your user experience. The Android OS is easier to customize, as you can change almost anything you want, and file transfer is also easier than that of the Apple iOS. In the end, it depends on which OS best suits your needs and tastes.
Not forgetting the Windows OS, Windows is also a good choice if you are looking for an OS with good performance because it’s tailored to offer better performance than the Apple iOS and Android OS.
2. THE SCREEN SIZE
Smartphones with a below 5-inch screen should be sourced if one-hand-use is important to you and you are looking for a portable smartphone you can perform quick tasks with. However, if you like to watch videos, play video games, browse online (especially for reading text on a website), basically if you use your phone mainly for media rather than quick tasks, a smartphone with a large screen size (5-inch screens and above) is better for you.
3. THE CAMERA
This is unarguably the most important smartphone feature for most smartphone buyers. When buying a smartphone, consider the camera specs like megapixels (the larger the better), aperture (the lower the better) and, if it’s within your budget, try to get one with Optical Image Stabilization (OIS). If you are unable to get one with OIS, it’s fine, simply consider mainly the megapixels and aperture of the camera.
4. THE RAM AND PROCESSOR
To ensure faster performance and smoother multitasking on your smartphone, it is important to consider both the RAM and the processor. For example, a good RAM and processor will reduce, if not completely eliminate, the incidence of your smartphone ‘hanging’ while in use. However,these days,RAM is becoming a more reliable indicator of a phone’s performance than the processor, because sometimes a dual-core processor can be far more powerful than an eight-core processor.
It is recommended to choose a smartphone with 2 GB of RAM or more. Smartphones with very limited RAM are the cause of rudimentary performance problems. 1GB and 1.5GB of RAM can be quite tight and lead to performance problems on your smartphone. However, if 1GB and 1.5GB RAM smartphones are within your budget, you can make the most of this by downloading very few apps and refraining from opening multiple apps at the same time. You should close every app you open the moment you are done using it.
Multi-core processors like dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, and octa-core processors are recommended when sourcing a good smartphone. But be careful; powerful processors tend to drain the battery of your smartphone. If you will only perform simple tasks with your phone, like communicating through text messages, making calls, checking emails, or browsing the internet, a smartphone with low but reasonable processing power, like a dual-core or quad-core processor, is good for you.
5. BATTERY LIFE
When buying a new smartphone, you have to make sure it has good battery life. Usually, smartphones with a 3000 mAh battery are recommended if durability is important to you. You can settle for one above 2000 mAh, but avoid going for one lower than 2000 mAh.
6. STORAGE OPTIONS
Most smartphones come with 32GB to 128GB internal storage. 16GB internal storage is usually recommended when buying a smartphone because after system partitions are considered, the user accessible storage ends up being as low as 8GB. However, In conclusion, if a 256 GB smartphone is too expensive, you can opt for an 64GB smartphone and expand the storage with a microSD memory card.
