Your Ultimate Smartphone Buying Guide

Buying a smartphone is still considered a big deal in India, given that a lot of us spend a substantial part of our income on getting one. Hence it is important that we get it is right as there are usually no second chances. With so many brands and models available across the price range, choosing a phone can be a tedious task.

Here are some tips that will help you find the smartphone that suits your requirements, dodging the pushy salespersons and navigating the comparison sites.

Focus on features you may want to use

Don’t rush into a new smartphone purchase. There are dozens of things to consider when buying a smartphone. First, understand what features you need the most in a smartphone, as it can vary dramatically from person to person. Do you need a phone with lots of storage to save music and video files? Are you looking for long battery life in a smartphone? You may want a phone with a Snapdragon 845 processor and superior front-facing camera, there are others who can live with a regular selfie camera but want a powerful processor to play games. Be logical, and don’t get swayed by gimmicky features and don’t end up paying for something you will never use.

Screen brightness matters more than the resolution

While it may sound enticing to have a Quad-HD (2K) resolution display on a smartphone, even a Full HD is technically more than you probably need. Experts believe a regular human isn’t going to see a difference between 2K and FHD. This is why buyers should look at brightness and colour quality more seriously. Make sure you are buying one that’s bright enough to see outdoors, and sharp enough where the text doesn’t look blurry.

You’ll also want to think about the display size. If you are going to spend hours looking at it, we recommended a smartphone with good screen size — popular sizes are between 5.8 and 6.4-inches — for watching movies and a minimum resolution of 1920 x 1080p (Full HD). If you are an average user with limited needs, a smartphone with a 720p (HD) screen would also be fine. In terms of screen technology, OLED screens have better contrast with deeper blacks than LCD screens. A number of smartphones sport OLED screens but they don’t come cheap.

With smartphones getting bigger in size, we have seen compromises being made in comfort and portability. Perhaps the reason why many people don’t like to use extra large smartphones is that they cannot be used one-handed and feel far too bulky in the pocket. Always make sure you choose a smartphone that allows easy typing and fast swiping. Plus all parts of the screen should be reachable with one hand. Never compromise on comfort and usability, hence try out shortlisted phones in a physical store before buying it.

Buy smartphones with minimum 32GB storage

If you spot a good deal on a smartphone with 16GB storage ignore it. Instead, look for a smartphone with minimum 32GB of internal storage and if possible 64GB. While a lot depends on your usage, ideally you would want to store games, photos, videos and music on a phone. It would be nice to have an Android smartphone with a micro SD card slot to expand your storage. But Apple doesn’t offer microSD support on iPhones.

Always look for smartphones with large battery

We all want our smartphones to last all day, but we already know that’s not true. Of course, how you use a smartphone also has an effect on battery life. Streaming from YouTube, for instance, takes up a lot more battery than simple browsing. So does poor network. If you are planning to buy a smartphone, consider one with a large battery and fast charging. Players like OnePlus and Oppo ship smartphones with the special chargers inside the box that can charge a battery to 50 per cent in just a few minutes.

Pay attention to the camera aperture

The camera is an important smartphone feature most users pay attention to. More expensive phones like the iPhone XS, Google Pixel 3 XL and Galaxy Note 9 have exceptional cameras. But the problem comes when choosing budget and mid-range smartphones which don’t really good cameras. Make sure to focus less on the megapixel count and more on features such as aperture, dual lenses AND optical image stabilisation. If possible, quickly try out the smartphone camera at a nearby mobile store. This way you get some idea about the camera performance before your purchase.

Watch the launch calendar

There is no fixed time to buy a new smartphone, as the manufacturers keep on launching new phones every month. Keep an eye on March and November specifically, this is the time when both Samsung and Apple update their latest flagships. If you are clever, pick up last year’s model as you can save a lot on the price of a smartphone.

Should you buy a new or Used smartphone?

This is something you have to evaluate on your own. Buying a used smartphone can be a haunting experience because of the possibility that the device could be stolen, abused and worn out or even all of the above. So think twice before picking up a used smartphone.

A used smartphone could save you a few bucks but could lead to more expenses in terms of repairs. Consider what you are looking for and why you need a used smartphone. If a used smartphone is being used as a secondary device, it might make sense to go with it. But if you want to use it as a primary device, maybe you should not consider a used smartphone that is too old in the first place. Logically, you should only consider a used phone if it is under warranty and the device’s condition is satisfactory.

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