Tips on picking the right smart phone
March 2, 2012
Smart phones are the latest and greatest thing these days. Almost everyone has one or wants one but there are so many choices. The question on most people’s mind, is how to pick the right phone. There are many advantages to having a smart phone, whether it’s for email, texting, surfing the web or even gaming. The problem is, if you don’t pick the right one you may end up stuck with a really expensive phone you hate for at least two years. There are many tips to consider when choosing the right smart phone.
You should start by choosing the right carrier, if you don’t already have one. Many carriers offer different types of smart phones and this will automatically narrow your search. First decide what is more important, coverage or price? Sprint and T-Mobile usually offer the better plans price wise while Verizon and AT&T usually offer better coverage. I personally have Sprint and don’t have any problems with coverage. There has also been a lot of talk lately about AT&T putting a limit on their unlimited data plan. This means that even though you pay for unlimited, they slow down or even stop your usage once you reach a certain data limit.
Next, you should consider the price range you are willing to spend. You will usually end up paying anywhere from $100 - $300 for the phone when you sign a two year contract. You can usually get a phone plan without the contract but you will end up paying a much higher price for the phone. Another option is to find a used phone on Craigslist or something like that. This is a risky option since you are paying so much money for the phone and don’t have a guarantee that it is going to work or hasn’t been damaged or stolen. If you are having a hard time, it can be a good idea to visit a local cell phone retailer. Places such as Radio Shack, Best Buy or Car Toys all offer a variety of phones and carriers. This is an advantage because the people who work there are more apt to give better advice since they don’t work for one particular company. This way you can compare different phones, carriers, and plans all in one stop.
It is important to consider what you are going to use this phone for. If you pick a phone that does more than you need, you are only going to end up frustrated and stuck with a phone that drains the battery too fast and you hate. Decide what features are important to you, battery life, keyboard, touch screen, camera, and internet speed are a few to think about. Some features to consider are things like, GHz (gigahertz). This is the brain of the phone and will determine how responsive the phone is and how fast it will swap between different apps and programs. Most phones usually come with about 1GHz. RAM (measured in MB) keeps your phone from slowing down. You need to decide how much you will use your phone for things like watching videos and playing games. A phone can be anywhere from 256 -512MB. GB (gigabytes) is the storage on the phone and how many pictures, videos, music, and apps you plan on storing on your phone. Most phones come with some type of SD memory card that will add storage space to the phone. These can be anywhere from 2 – 34GB. Megapixels are the quality of the pictures the camera on the phone will take. The quality of the picture will be better with a higher MP. This come anywhere from 5 – 16MP. Finally, you must choose between 3G and 4G. This is the data internet speed. Depending on how much you use the internet on your phone and what type of things you are looking at on the internet, you will want to choose the faster of the two which is 4G.
Once you finally decide on the right phone for you, do a little research and ask around before you actually buy it. You would benefit from asking people who have smart phones what like and don’t like about their phone.
Finally, always remember that once you buy the phone you will almost always have about 30 days to return it if you find you just don’t like it. One thing to keep in mind is that most carries do charge a restocking fee for this.
Good luck and smart shopping!