Smartphone buying guide

A dozen brands and half a dozen ecosystems (and operating systems) to choose from. Unless you closely follow smartphone industry and unless you know the differences between OSes and smartphone models, buying a smartphone is not an easy task. This guide will help you find that smartphone that suites your needs. We are not going to suggest any models here and for that you need to visit our ‘recommendation list‘.    

Step 1: Prioritize

There are only a few phones that are good at everything. And most of them cost an arm and a leg. Make a note of features that you will need most. For some, multimedia is of prime importance where as for some lag-free and highly stable OS is of top priority. Some may need a bit of everything however good or bad these features are and some will want the phone to be perfect at everything. Make a list of what you need! When I recently purchased Omnia W, my priorities were lag free UI, video calling, good number of applications and good multimedia performance with a budget of 15,000 INR and with no interest in modding and widgets. This made my choice narrow down to Defy, Omnia W, SE Xperia Neo V and Optimus Black etc. Make a note of what you need most and what are the features that you can live without. For example, with Android you get to do heavy customization but you may have to deal with laggy OS or imperfect ROMs. With iOS or Windows Phone, you get a completely lag free UI but are stuck with iTunes/Zune clients to do any kind of transfer. Decide!

Step 2: Search

Now that you have your priorities set, head to online retail stores like Flipkart, Infibeam etc, head to smartphone section and make a list of phones within your budget and also those slightly above your budget. At this point, you will be in a confused state, so do not worry if the list is too big. Do note that the bigger your budget is, the smaller the list will be and easier it will be for you to pick one.

Step 3: Eliminate

Gsmarena’s compare tool is one of the best tools that you can use to compare two smartphones. They also have reviews of most smartphones which makes it even easier for you to pick one among any given two smartphones. This is one tool that I use regularly to compare devices. Use this tool to find out which of the phones are most inferior or those that miss those tiny features that might make huge difference when added up (eg: video calling, 802.11n, battery size etc). This is the tool that made me lock on Omnia W over Lumia 710 as the latter is inferior at areas that mattered most for me (display quality, video calling, battery size, audio quality etc). By no means am saying that Lumia 710 is highly inferior. Lumia 710 can be preferred by those for whom video recording, playback, navigation etc are of at most importance. It all comes down to the list of priorities.Once you have used the compare tool to eliminate the inferior devices, you will have much shorter list at hand and it is time for

Step 4: Talk

Do note that most popular phone at a retail store doesn’t necessarily mean that it is superior. Especially in India, buyers tend to behave like sheep (exception being gadget freaks), Galaxy Y and Galaxy Ace being most popular smartphones on Flipkart.com is best example for this. How do you know which device among your list is the better one? Talk! Go to twitter, go to technology forums like Techenclave.com. Ask the experts. Set your priorities and set your budget and you will get know which is (are) the best device(s) that you can buy.You will also get to know the -ves or +ves of the models that you prefer that online reviews may have missed, issues that come up only on using a device for a while. Some examples are iPhone4’s ‘death grip’, Lumia 900’s ‘data issue’, HTC One S’s ‘ceramic issue’, Galaxy S II’s ‘display issue’ etc. Also, sometimes you will get to know about upcoming price cuts or release of new models after interacting with experts at these forums and in twitter etc. This can help you a lot as you might end up getting a smartphone that has much higher ‘Value for Money’ that the device that you are panning to purchase now by taking the advice and waiting a bit. You might get a question here. Why not head straight to these forums and pop the question. Well, when you do the necessary R&D before asking the experts, you will be in a position to explain in a better manner and moreover, next time, you might turn into one of those experts giving a suggestion to others.

Step 5: Purchase

Online retail business is booming in India. My suggestion to you is to make the purchase online at reliable stores like flipkart.com and letsbuy.com. The lower price at these sites does not mean they are providing substandard units. It is because they eliminate the cost of paying skyhigh rent and maintenance fees etc for physical stores which itself saves lot of money. The unit you get is the same as what you get at a store in your locality. Moreover, you can make the purchase while sipping coffee in your sofa and wait as it is delivered to your doorstep. If you feel insecure using credit/debit cards, opt for ‘Cash on Delivery’ (pay in cash when the phone is delivered at your home). If you are one of those who want to try out the model before purchasing a device, you will have to search real hard to find a store that keep live units (as most stores keep dummy units). See if you can find any of your twitter buddies or twitter buddie’s buddies using the phone that you are looking for, see if you can get a demo. Few stores like eZone do stack live units but their pricing is usually much higher. So, barge in, give few modesl a try, barge out and make the purchase at a store/estore where the price is cheaper. Five steps! Prioritize, Search, Eliminate, Talk and Purchase!