The smartphone market is really hot these days. Starting from INR4500 as your budget, you can buy one at the cost of INR 1,50,000 as well. So, keeping the budget aside, what are the core things to consider before buying a smartphone for yourself, your friends, or your family members? Let’s figure it out.

Smartphones have become an essential device to communicate with the world. From sharing pictures on Instagram to making video calls to your loved ones sitting thousands of miles away, smartphones are the single devices that help us get all the things done by just tapping a couple of icons on the screen. So, before buying these masterpieces of technology, here are the top things you should consider!

Network and connectivity

The world is moving rapidly towards 5G standards and even a 6G network is about to make its way to the mainstream, soon. So, before buying a smartphone irrespective of where you live, make sure you study your local networks and connectivity and select the phone. Different countries offer different bandwidths for users. So, check with the phone manufacturer first if their device supports your local bandwidth or not.

5G is indeed a very fast and new technology that many countries have started to adopt, though 4G/LTE and 3G are still being used in many places as a standard. An expensive device will also support both Wi-Fi 2.4GHz and 5GHz.

Device storage

Content has now become the most important part of our lives. From clicking to immerse immersive pictures to shooting 4K videos with great depth of field, media creation and consumption is a part of our day-to-day lives. From installing high caching applications to storing important files on the phone, having large and fast storage has become crucial for us. There are new-age storage solutions available in the market as well. For example, now you can buy a phone with UFS 3.0 storage and more.

Some Android phones come with an option to extend the storage by putting a micro-SD card in them and some come with limited phone storage only. So, be clever in making the decision, and go for a storage option that makes sense for your use case.

Memory (RAM)

RAM plays an important role in selecting a smartphone especially if you are buying your next smartphone for some special purpose. For example, to play games or do multi-tasking in your office work, you will need more ram considering new apps are heavier and require more power to run. Depending on the operating system of the phone, your ram requirement will also vary.

For example, Android OS needs more ram compared to iOS devices, and so on. Currently, going for four or more than four gigabits of RAM is suggested for any brand or operating system.

Build and material

The world is moving towards using various materials. You can get a smartphone made from plastic to glass-sandwich design and aluminum body to polycarbonate body. Some companies are also working on sustainable material selection that can be reused in the future and parts can be replaced as well to make your smartphone last longer. Depending on your usage and needs, select the right smartphone.

Screen selection

For the best content consumption, now should go with a decent-sized screen and technology. Currently, IPS LED panels and OLED screens are giving a great screen viewing experience and one should definitely aim for those screens.

Bigger screens are just better for content consumption and use for various usage including gaming or office work. On the other hand, smaller screens are better for portability and carrying your phone around everywhere with you.

Camera

In the world of constant content creation, the smartphone camera plays an important role. Capturing 4K videos to capturing good low-light photos for memories is also getting fulfilled by smartphone cameras only.

Don’t only aim for more megapixels for your smartphone cameras, go for good and bigger sensors, faster shutter speeds, and look for the low-light performance of the sensor on your smartphone.

Sound options

If you are an audiophile, you should aim for smartphones with a stereo loudspeaker option. Most brands have dropped the 3.5mm headphone jack option from their smartphone. But, as the acceptance of Bluetooth earphones is increasing, people are aiming for good technologies like Dolby Atmos and more for a good listening experience.

Operating system

There are two dominating operating systems in the smartphone world. One is Android by Google and another is iOS for Apple devices. Many smartphone manufacturers give their version of the Android system. For example, OnePlus offers Oxygen OS, Samsung gives OneUI, and so on.

Depending on your choice of manufacturer, you will get an OS (operation system) installed on your smartphone. For better communication with your friends and family, you can go ahead with the same OS your friends and peers are using.

Other specific needs

Other than these needs and wants, you would need to consider a couple of more things you should keep in mind. People working in dusty conditions or heavy industries should consider getting a phone with a rugged body or better build quality. For dusty environments or humid environments, you can opt for such a phone.

So, these are the top 9 things you should consider before buying your next smartphone. Do let us know which topic we should cover next.