What you need to check when buying a mobile

Buying your very first phone or even buying a new mobile phone is special journey that every smartphone user takes. But, sometimes it can be hard to decide which phone is really worth your money with all the devices that are launching round the clock in India.

The important thing to remember is that more than buying the ‘best’ phone in the market, your choice should be based on your requirements. A phone could have the best camera in the world but it won’t do you much good if the battery doesn’t back you up. And, a phone’s display could be in Full HD but without a processor and GPU to back up that power, you might be short changed on your viewing experience.

When you’re looking to see which smartphone to take home next, here are some things to keep in mind:

Brand value

A brand’s reputation has a lot to do with a consumer’s trust as he or she walks into the store. The longer a brand has been around, like Samsung, the more the consumers tend to trust it. But, like in Xiaomi’s case, even new brands have a lot to offer.

India is currently the world’s second largest smartphone market with more companies making their way into the market with innovative devices.

So, while brand value is important to make sure you’re comfortable with you choice — don’t let it be the main factor when while making your choice. Look at the phone specifications and reviews to see use experience before making your choice.

The processor

The phone’s processor or chipset is the central component of the phone — it’s like a computer’s CPU or the brain of the smartphone. Everything that you do on your smartphone from clicking pictures to charging the battery, goes through the chipset.

The most common chipsets in the market are manufactured by Qualcomm. You may see Exynos processors on Samsung phones since they do some of their chipset manufacturing in-house. Even MediaTek Helio processors can be found in the market on Xiaomi phones.

While making your choice you need to look at the number of cores — duo, quad or octa — and the clock speed. The more cores that there are on the phone, the more powerful the device.

The clock speed, on the other hand, determines how fast your phone can perform its tasks. It’s measured in Gigahertz (GHz) and the faster it is, the higher the performance.

But, higher speeds also mean more strain on the battery which is why most smartphone manufacturers try to find a balance between cores and clock speeds to optimise efficiency without compromising on battery life.

Check both before picking your smartphone. Heavy phone users who continuously multitask on their phone should, at a minimum, pick out a phone with quad cores.

The battery

The second most important of your phone is the battery. If the chipset was the phone’s brain, the battery is its heart. People normally believe that the bigger the battery, the better the phone and, in most cases, that may be true — but not always.

Multiple phones with the same battery size deliver varied battery life because of how their chipsets are configured to balance efficiency versus power.

It’s also important to check whether the phone has microUSB charging or a Type-C port. The former is more common on budget devices but the latter charges a phone faster.

Also, remember that the bigger the battery, the longer its going to charge. So if you’re looking at a phone that claims to last longer than a day make sure it also comes with fast charging, or at least a powerful adapter than the usual 10W cord.

The display

The phone’s display is essentially what you’re actually going to be interacting with the whole day. It needs to be bright enough to be visible when the sun is overhead and have sharp pixels so that text doesn’t look blurry.

If you’re looking to purchase a screen that’s bigger than 5.5-inches, it’s also important to take note of the screen’s resolution. Anything under 1920x1080p or Full HD would deliver pixels that you can make out on a screen.

The screen size also determines the size of the phone. Before deciding between a small screen or a large screen, take note whether you’re a single handed phone user or a double handed phone user. Because, the bigger the phone — the harder it’s going to be to operate with just one hand.

The storage and memory

Most phones on the market have at least 32GB of storage and 3GB of memory. Taking the average smartphone user’s activities on his phone — accounting for incoming WhatsApp messages and music downloads — at least 64GB is needed to be comfortable in the long run.

But then again, most of the phones give your the option of expanding a phone’s memory using a memory card.

The camera

The camera is as important as any other component of the phone since it allows users to directly post on social media or just share memories with friends over WhatsApp. But, unfortunately, not every phone comes with a top of the line camera.

Low light photography is still a hurdle on most phones until and unless you’re shelling out for a flagship device. Entry level and budget phones sometimes even struggle in well lit conditions either due to sub-par sensors or the lack of image stabilization.

If you’re looking for a phone that has a good camera, you’re probably going to need to spend a little.

Bells and whistles

Aside from the features listed above, which form the basic skeleton of a phone, most specifications are bells and whistles to lure the consumer in. The AR stickers and AI capabilities may seen next generation, it’s important to ensure that your phone has strong bones before buying into any of the marketing gimmicks.