A cell phone should make your life easier. If you have the right phone you can use it to help you in your daily life; not just with talking to friends, family and business contacts but also with email, route planning, scheduling, tracking your fitness, shopping and much more. So here’s the thing: why do people find buying the right mobile phone so confusing?
Mobile phones are not cheap either to buy or to pay for the monthly plans that they often come with, that makes taking a little time to make the right choice is a good investment. In this article we will show you some great tips to make a good choice for your new mobile phone.
What Kind Of Phone Do You Need?
Most people buy smartphones, these let you work with the Internet as well as just making phone calls and sending text messages. If you only use your phone for calling friends and sending text messages and have no wish to use the features that come with using the Internet then a smart phone is not for you. Most people hate feeling that they are missing out on the latest news from their friends and colleagues, want help with travelling, need to be able to buy from online shops and do email – if you are one of those people then a smart phone is just what you need.
Finding The Right Carrier
Cell phone companies can seem even more confusing than the phones that they sell! You will be faced by a multitude of different plans each with its own mix of service levels and coverage. You might also need to choose whether you have a contract with the cell phone company, which can often save you money, or whether to have a service where you pay as you go. If you get stuck with the wrong contract you may regret the choice for a year or more.
Finding the best service provider is a matter of checking the coverage in your area and finding the best one, look at the coverage maps that each company makes available. For best service quality, fastest Internet look for 3G and 4G service. When you know which companies work well in your area take a look at consumer reviews of the companies. Avoid cell phone service providers that have lots of unhappy customers.
Set A Budget (and stick to it!)
Decide how much you can afford to pay up front for your phone (sometimes you can get phones for free) but more importantly decide how much you can afford to pay each month. Usually the monthly expenses are much greater than the initial cost of the phone. When you have an idea of how much money you can afford decide how to budget. Do you want to use a lot of data (using the Internet, watching movies and TV shows) or will you be using the phone mainly for talking to other people. When you know this you can choose a plan that has the right mix of data and talk time for your needs.
Choosing Android or Apple’s IOS
Many smart phone users consider the choice of operating system to be the most important single choice. There’s four to choose from: Google’s Android, Apple’s IOS, Microsoft’s Windows and Blackberry OS. The latter two are not very common and for most people the choice is between Android and IOS. The most important factor here is that if using Apple’s IOS then your phone will inevitably be quite expensive whereas Android phones range in price from very inexpensive right up to very expensive.
Shopping Around
When you have set your budget and have an idea of which carrier to use and perhaps even which service plan you have one important task left: choosing your phone. Take your time to get this right as you may well end up keeping the phone for a couple of years. Now you need to check out the phones in person. The best way to go about this is to check on the Internet for shops in your area, here you can find a mobile store next to you.
Check that the screen is comfortable for your eyes, does the phone feel good in your hands, when you open an app on the phone does it open quickly or is it sluggish – a sure sign that the phone is underpowered for your needs. When you have found a couple of likely candidates check online for reviews and make sure that there are no hidden problems such as reliability.
If you follow our tips your next cell phone purchase will be a great choice, made by an expert!