A smartphone is our everyday driver and we all are quite attached to it. Watching social media videos, connecting with friends, shooting videos, clicking pics and what not. However, most of us still don’t understand how to actually choose our next smartphone.
I understand that we all fall for some marketing gimmicks, big numbers, and a few good features. Some of us are about show-off and some of us just want to own an expensive phones. All of this combined together, is not the best recipe to buy a good, value-for-money smartphone.
Want to know what is? Here I am combining my way of researching about my next smartphone.
Tips to choose the best smartphone
If you are also someone who regrets buying a smartphone that is expensive and does not suit your requirement, you are doing something wrong. I can help you choose a smartphone that you will never regret buying. If this sounds good and you stayed till here, keep reading for more tips while I share them at length. Let’s get started.
Budget constraints
Before you go on to check out those latest premium smartphones, ensure that you have enough budget to buy a phone. You should preferably buy a phone with upfront payment, and not go for EMIs. The amount you would end up paying in the form of EMI over 6-12 months can turn out to be more expensive.
If you are looking for a premium smartphone, try finding out the best last generation smartphone. For example, you might love the Apple iPhone 14 but is there a lot of difference between Apple iPhone 13 and Apple iPhone 14. If that difference does not matter, then go for iPhone 13. This way, you can save a lot more money, plus you get a good flagship experience.
So, look at these differences. Premium, latest generation smartphones are only worth it if you have enough money and you actually need that one small change in the hardware/software.
Android vs iOS
Well, this is an age-old question most smartphone enthusiast would always ask you when you ask for their recommendation. However, understanding your own requirements would be the key to answer this question.
For example: An iPhone comes with a easy-to-use, simple operating system, things are pretty much simple in this and the option to customize it very limited. The Androids of the world offer you limitless customization, features, amazing stability. Plus, you also get an Android smartphone in almost every budget. There is no best guide to how to actually choose a new smartphone, unless you have it figured what you want.
With respect to iPhones, the constraints start right up from the pricing to hardware of the phone to the customizations and so on. If personalization is your call, go for Android. If longer software updates, easy UI and more stability and safety is your call, go for iPhone.
Battery life
Smartphones are not just about cameras, videos and OTTs. One of the things you need to run all these smoothly is the battery life. Choose a smartphone that can help you run all this without any worries. Samsung smartphones that used to come with Exynos processors back then, had many issues like heating and stuff. Recognize your smartphone usage pattern and accordingly choose.
For example, I use my smartphone majorly to scroll through social media, check out new developments in the field of AI writing and researching on the go. A part of my usage also includes binge-watching my favorite shows, listening to music on Bluetooth and so on. All this demands a smartphone that can at least go for a day or support fast charging. One of this things is enough for me.
For you it could be just picking up calls, casual messaging on WhatsApp and simple day-to-day tasks. So, a smaller battery should not matter, but the phone should be smooth enough to not bring any disturbances in the daily tasks.
Don’t look at the numbers. A 5000 mAh battery might be great but there are hardly any flagships that come close to that number. Check the optimizations and recognize your usage pattern and that should be it. A decent battery would help you get through a day or two easily.
Cameras
If you love clicking photos, videos or if you are someone who runs food blog where clicking great photos is expected, check for the camera quality. Does not mean you buy a phone that has a 100 MP camera or a bigger zoom and so on. You should check the reviews and the reputation of the smartphone company. For example, Pixels are known to be the best cameras out there but still the numbers on paper look like, 12 MP and 10 MP and so on.
Similarly, iPhone camera is known for the best videography in the whole lot of smartphone. So go for these smartphones if you have the budget. There are other good players in mid0range like the OnePlus and Xiaomi. Apart from this, I don’t think of any name that has an excellent professional camera.
Other specs
In other specs, I will talk more about the little things like the RAM, storage options, Processors and so on. When you choose a smartphone, choose one that has a recent processor. Recent meaning, a processor that is newly launched over the last two or three years. The reason being, these processors still offer decent performance and also come at a discounted price.
For example, the A13 bionic chipset or an A12 bionic chipset is still a good pick in a budget than going for an A15 or A14 chip by Apple. There are not a lot of performance differences within these 4 series but the smartphone having these chipsets still come at a better price.
I am planning to switch to Android from iOS and my processor pick is Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. The newer Gen 2 processor is fine, but does it offer a lot of improvement over the last Gen 1, maybe. Am I willing to pay a 15k more only for the processor? I don’t think so.
Choosing a new smartphone does not always means to upgrade it to a newer, more expensive version. Sometimes it also means buying a smartphone that fits your requirement, needs, and a more enjoyable experience that makes you happy. So do that no matter what, because that is the real value of money.