Smartphones have come a long way. From the iPhone to Android to the first IBM Simon. The term “smartphone” wasn’t used until 1995 but the first smartphone made it’s debut in the year 1992, Simon Personal Communicator. Technology has come a long way from 1992 and now in the recent years we have touched such heights, mankind back then thought would be impossible. Who could have thought thought that a cellphone could be as slim as cheese? Or as sleek as Beyoncé’s hair? But here we are. Smartphones have some great features and qualities but some phones have better features than another. So, before making a hole in your pocket for a new smartphone, you have to keep some things in mind, or more like, some features.
DISPLAY
It is an input mechanism to allow the user to interact with the phone. 96% of smartphones now have touchscreens. Long gone are the days where you had to press the number 7 button just to get a ‘s’. The size and resolution of display depends on how you plan to use your smartphone.
If you often stream videos, edit photos or download movies a display ranging from 5.5-inch to 6 inch, full HD should be more than enough for you. Anything bigger than that becomes difficult to handle and carry around. Pay more attention to how bright the display is, so it will be easy to see outdoors, and how colorful the panel is.
PROCESSOR
The more powerful the processor of your smartphone or PC, the faster it performs and the number of task it can carry out simultaneously. The more cores the processor has, the more efficient and cooler it actually runs.
Qualcomm introduced its “Krait” microarchitecture in the second generation of Snapdragon SoCs in 2011, allowing each processor core to adjust its speed based on the device’s needs. If you’re a heavy user and are constantly on your phone watching videos, staying online or playing online games then the Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 or Snapdragon 820 /821 will make the cut for you.
BATTERY
Battery life is a constraint and there are only a few good long battery backup. Battery usage depends from user to user. If you’re a heavy user a smartphone with 3500 mAh or above is required. If not, a phone with 3000 mAh would be sufficient. Everybody wants their battery life to never run out for which you need a smartphone with fast charging battery.
Most Android smartphone makers include a charger which will make your battery go from 0-100 real quick For an iPhone though, an iPad charger will work wonders. One can only hope for their battery life to be like, old day Nokia phone.
CAMERA
To judge a phone’s camera by its megapixel is not the right way to go. We immediately come to a conclusion that 13 MP is better than 8 MP because it seems pretty obvious. This is a false assumption to make. While comparing camera specs you should pay close attention to the aperture value, a lower denominator value means bigger aperture size.
Another specification to look out for is the sensor size, it effects the size of the pixels and the image quality. A phone with higher resolution, aperture size of at least f/2.0 and sensor size of 1/3″ is recommended.
STORAGE
When choosing a new phone, the amount of internal storage space is often one of several key factors which influences the decision to buy one phone over another. Phones with 16GB are a rip-off, even if they’re budget models. Opt for 32GB if you can to store more games, photos and video. 64GB is the new standard for flagship phones. A microSD card slot is nice to have for expanding storage, but it’s only available on certain Android phones. Cloud storage platforms can eliminate the need to have so much built-in storage space.
SECURITY OR EXTRA FEATURES
Mobile security, or more specifically mobile device security, has become increasingly important in mobile computing. Of particular concern is the security of personal and business information now stored on smartphones.
All smartphones, as computers, are preferred targets of attacks. These attacks exploit weakness inherent in smartphones that can from communication mode – like SMS, MMS, WiFi, Bluetooth and GSM, the de-facto global standard for mobile communication.
While a fingerprint sensor can be found in a Rs. 5,000 smartphone, devices with iris scanner are still few. It’s preferable to buy a smartphone with a few extra security features.
HEADPHONE JACK
It’s looking like the 3.5mm headphone jack is on the way out. The 3.5mm jack is available on the vast majority of the phones though the 3.5mm jack should only be considered standard equipment on mid-to-entry level phones — it’s disappearing from flagship phones at a rapid pace. Nowadays, many smartphones don’t come with headphones hence, resulting in a low quality of music. The phones which have headphones in the box, treasure them
CHARGER/USB PORT
One of the features that you get from a mobile charger is high capacity level. Mobile chargers have different capacity levels. You can choose to buy 6600mAh, 2200mAh or the 4400mAh depending on your needs. Given the higher capacity levels, you are guaranteed faster charging. Furthermore, buying a mobile charger with a high capacity helps you reduce the charging time. Ports too can be a factor to consider. Although both micro-USB and USB Type-C ports are available in smartphones these days, it is preferable to switch to USB Type-C not just because it is easy to plug in but also it is future-proof.
BUILD QUALITY
Build is all about durability of a smartphone. The entire handset market is largely divided in two types of builds — metal and plastic.
There are some that even have glass-coated panels, but those are very limited. If you are one of those prone to dropping your smartphone, it’s advisable to go for a metal or a plastic built handset.
These can sustain drops from 2-3 feet, while glass-based handset are sure to shatter.
AUDIO/SPEAKER
Of many specifications in a smartphone,the one factor that people pay the least attention to is the good quality audio output.Sure,it might not be as popular as the processing abilities of the SoC, or the camera quality, but isn’t one to ignore.
But in the recent years it has become a necessary feature. OEMs are experimenting with both hardware and software responsible for good quality audio output.This shall ensure more smartphones battling it out with better quality audio specifications the near future.
