“Books are man’s best friends” We have been hearing this for such a long time now. However, I think lately, this has changed to “Technology or smartphone, to be precise, is man’s best friend.” Basically, we can say that rather than depending on books and other people, we are now dependent on smartphones. To emphasize, people have also started buying more and more smartphones. Having said this, we are here to help all of you out. In his smartphone buying guide, we will talk about the features of smartphones, the benefits of smartphones, and the other things to consider in smartphones.
What are Smartphones? – Introduction to Smartphone buying guide
Smartphones are nothing but more powerful versions of regular mobile phones. The difference that is observed is the advanced features and benefits of smartphones over normal mobiles. How do they differ then? One of the main things one can consider in smartphones is that they have touch screens and support internet connection. Basically, smartphones, for many people, replace a laptop, a music player, and a digital camera in one device. All in all, they perform all the functions that a computer can. Additionally, these smart devices make their users easily navigate through the web pages. Now, without any further ado, we will move to the most important part of our smartphone buying guide.
Features of Smartphones – Important aspect of Smartphone buying guide
In this section of the smartphone buying guide, we will be talking about some of the most important features of smartphones. The section will not include the normal features that are found in all smartphones, like WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity. Obviously, they are essential but one can easily find them in all smartphones. As we move further with this part of the smartphone buying guide, you will also come across some things to consider in smartphones when you buy them.
Fast charging
In this paragraph of the smartphone buying guide, we will discuss the feature of fast charging. Starting from 2017, smartphones enabling wireless charging have been in a boom, however; fast charging is more important than wireless. Generally, it is not a problem in just spending an extra two seconds to plug in your charger to the phone. Lately, fast charging is one of the features of smartphones that also acts as one of the benefits. This is because a lot of times, your phone’s battery gets discharged in some unwanted and unfavorable situations. In such cases, rather than having wireless charging for hours, it is preferable to charge the battery within a few minutes. Some smartphones like Samsung Galaxy M11 support fast charging.
Fingerprint sensor
A fingerprint sensor is one of the most important features of smartphones. Generally, it is a feature that most of the teenagers and middle-aged people prefer. A fingerprint sensor acts as one of the best ways to maintain privacy. In some devices like Samsung Galaxy A21s, the fingerprint sensor is at the back while in some devices like Redmi K20 Pro, it is within the display.
NFC
The next feature in this smartphone buying guide is NFC. It stands for Near Field Communications. This feature of smartphones allows you to transfer data to other nearby smartphones or tablets in the vicinity of 10 centimeters. With the NFC, it becomes extremely easy to send or receive images and audio files. Recently, the best use has been for doing online transactions through payment applications like Google Pay or Paytm. Most of the Android phones consist of NFC, but Apple phones don’t. We will talk about Android vs. Apple later in this smartphone buying guide. Samsung Galaxy S20 is one of the Android devices consisting of an NFC.
Types of Smartphones
In this part of our easily comprehensible smartphone buying guide, we will talk about the types of smartphones. Ideally in this section, we will talk about the three different types of Operating systems that you can opt to go with. In addition to just mentioning the types, we will also talk about the benefits and disadvantages of these smartphone types.
Android
Android was initially named Android Inc. before 2005 when Google acquired it for $50 million. Since then, it is called Android. For the past few years, it has become one very popular Operating System in the entire market. According to a study, over 2 billion people from all over the world use Android, making it the most widely used OS.
Benefits and Disadvantages of Android Smartphones
In this paragraph of the guide before buying smartphones, we will talk about some benefits of Android smartphones. Firstly, they support expandable memory unlike in any other type. If you have a lot of stuff to store, then you can insert an extra memory card to store in your data. Secondly, with android, another advantage is that you have an array of options while buying smartphones. Devices with other operating systems, don’t have many options. The best of all is that in these smartphones, you can install third-party applications. This means that you have the opportunity to install applications from the play store as well as from other websites. This can not be done in phones with other operating systems.
Talking about the disadvantages, the first one is that all the applications that you open, run in the background. When this happens, these background applications automatically come to the foreground. This causes the battery to drain faster than it does. The next one is that smartphones with low specifications operate slowly. As Android phones come with many in-built apps, when you install new ones there is a high possibility that your device might heat up quickly. These are some of the biggest cons of Android smartphones.
iOS
Apple devices use an operating system called iOS, which had an initial name of iPhone OS. Devices like iPhones, iPads, iPods use this type of operating system. It is the second most widely used operating system after Android. This type uses a simple texture to operate the device; basically it uses a multi-touch interface.
Benefits and Disadvantages of iOS Smartphones
In this section of our smartphone buying guide, we will consider some pros and cons of these iOS smartphones. Starting with the advantages, the biggest one is that it comes with fewer security breaches. Though it doesn’t provide as much freedom as Android devices, but at the same time, it avoids malicious programs from entering your device. Secondly, there are not as many useless and in-built features in iOS devices in comparison to other devices. Most importantly, Apple devices generate lesser heat than the amount of heat Android devices generate.
On contrary to this, there are also certain bad things you must consider in iOS smartphones. Firstly, iOS devices don’t allow the installation of apps from sources other than its App Store. In simple terms, you can’t download any of the third-party applications. Secondly, the main disadvantage is that the apps are larger in size than other types of operating systems. Even if you use the same application, apps in iOS will take more space.
Windows
In this section of the smartphone buying guide, we will discuss the smartphones using Windows as the operating system.
Windows or Microsoft operating system is considered as the safest one of all the three types. Windows consists of a very reliable source of protection making the device very secure. People refer to it as a very user-friendly system that operates very fast.
Benefits and Disadvantages of Windows Smartphones
In this paragraph, as the name suggests, we will talk about some benefits and disadvantages of Windows smartphones.
Starting with advantages, the first one is that they come with offline maps, unlike any Android smartphone. You don’t need an internet connection to run Maps. Secondly, Windows phones provide free Office. This means that you can easily edit any PowerPoint presentation, Word document, or Excel sheet on your phone. In addition to these, the best part is the availability of Live Tiles. With these, you can not only pin widgets on the home screen but also any of the applications that you use often.
Moving to the disadvantages, the first one is the availability of fewer third-party applications. It lies between Android and iOS operating systems. Android devices support the maximum of such applications while iOS devices don’t support them at all. Another disadvantage is that with these smartphones you can’t do multitasking.
Things to consider in Smartphones
In this section of the smartphone buying guide, we will talk about some technical things to consider in smartphones. Whenever you go to buy a new smartphone, you should have knowledge about these things. Following are the most basic, yet important things to consider in smartphones.
Smartphone Performance
Smartphone performance consists of two things. The first one is the processor and the second one being the RAM.
The smartphone processor is the main part of your device as it is responsible for each and every single function that the phone performs. More or less, the processor is the brain of your device. Nowadays, many processors are already equipped with AI capabilities so as to make your smartphones even smarter. With the processor, in addition to using the functions seamlessly, you also improve other factors like image processing. Having said this, knowing about the device processor is of utmost importance.
RAM (Random Access Memory) is a system memory that smartphones use to hold data that is used by active applications. To keep your device running, the operating system uses some portion of the RAM. If your device has a higher RAM, it can allow you to run more applications in the background. So, it is better to buy a new smartphone with a larger RAM.
Display
There are various different screen sizes that you can choose from. The sizes have been increasing beyond our expectations, with as every new smartphone launches. They have reached to ‘phablets’ which are placed in between phones and tablets. The screen size of ‘phablets’ is almost 6.9 inches. Nowadays, as people have shifted more towards pocket devices to consume content, screen size matters. In our opinion, the minimum size one should prefer is 5.7 inches as t is sufficient enough to navigate through content. If playing games and watching videos is your main priority, the bigger the screen, the better the experience.
Battery Life
Another most important thing to consider in smartphones is their battery life. In most smartphones, the battery lasts for at least six hours of screen on time. There are many smartphones that also provide more battery life. These phones allow heavy-users to pass through. Many mid-range devices also have a battery life that lasts for eight to nine hours. Isn’t it amazing? Hence, it is very important to check the battery life before buying a new smartphone. In addition, also check if the device provides good power-saving mode or not.
Benefits of Smartphones – Important part of Smartphone buying guide
There are various benefits of using smartphones. In this section of our smartphone buying guide, we will discuss some of them. The first one is that you have only this one device that can do the work of many other devices. By this, we mean that earlier you had to carry various devices based on the functions you require. With the introduction of smartphones, all things can sum up only in one smartphone. You can listen to music, watch videos, talk to others, play games, etc. without the need to carry extra devices. Secondly, you always can stay productive by using smartphones. You can anytime open a web browser and gain information and read about the topics that interest you. Here, the internet and smartphones go hand in hand.
Should I buy new Smartphone?
Having said everything you need to know in this honest smartphone buying guide, there are various other things that persuade us to buy smartphones. The best thing to consider is that smartphones enable you to explore the web. Apart from this, you have a choice to choose how you want to communicate. It can be through calls, text messages, or even video calls.
The most preferred thing among youngsters is to watch web series on big display sizes. There are various platforms to watch such shows. Netflix and Amazon Prime Videos are presently in a big competition against each other. To read more about this, click here.
FAQ’s Regarding Smartphone buying guide
The software update will reach the customers as soon as it is out. The only advantage here lies for the Beta users. Beta users get the trial system update a few days prior to the actual update.
Check using the dummy piece the weight, size and design of the phone. If it suits you and you feel comfortable after keeping it on your ears, then you should buy it. Here, if you buy the phone online, you don’t get to check these things.
There are different devices with specific availability of internet access. Some allow ‘3G’ while some allow ‘4G’ data. Nowadays majority of the smartphones provide ‘4G’ data due to the work load.
Editor’s note | Smartphone buying guide
In our opinion, it is always good to have a smartphone. Having a smartphone can cause great relief to you. All age groups can benefit from smartphones. Students can use them to gain knowledge about their studies and also for some online certificate courses. Adults can do majority of their office related work on their smartphones. They need not carry laptops always. The old-aged or retired people can just use smartphones to listen to some calm music or to watch their favorite television daily soaps.
