With excellent new flagships from Samsung, Apple, and Google all vying for your attention, choosing the right smartphone is a bit tricky. Plus, if you get dozens of quality options to choose from.

Ask yourself

Do you need a phone with a small or large screen? Are you looking for the best camera or long battery life phone? Do you need a good capacity for your music collection? And if a dual-SIM phone would be useful for you? In short, there are a lot of factors to consider when you’re buying a new smartphone.

This smartphone buying guide covers seven smart tips you need to know before you invest in the latest mobile phone.

Display

You’re going to spend long hours gazing at your phone, so make sure the screen size is suitable for you and boasts a high resolution. A phone with a 5.5 to 6 inch HD or QHD display is considered an ideal option. Moreover, we recommend a minimum of 1920 x 1080 pixels (Full HD), or perhaps 2160 x 1080 pixels phone. Anything that’s minimum 1080p will be sharp enough and will allow you to enjoy rich media experience while being handy for you.

In terms of the technology, OLED screens offer rich contrast, with deeper blacks as compared to LCD screens. So, you can prefer OLED, depending on your budget.

Memory

All smartphones have two kinds of memory – RAM (Random Access Memory) and ROM (Read Only Memory). RAM determines the speed of the phone and its ease of operation.

 ROM refers to storage- the memory that is used to store all apps, videos, photos, and music a user wants to save on the phone. Therefore, phones with higher RAM are faster, and phones with higher ROM have more storage capacity.

An average user usually demands a 2 GB RAM and 16 GB ROM. However, for a heavy user, a phone with at least 4 GB RAM and 64GB ROM would be fine. Furthermore, you can extend the ROM by inserting a micro SD memory card, but you should know that apps that are stored and run from SD cards tend to be slower.

Battery

Check the mAh rating of the battery that will give you some indication about how long you can run apps on your phone. Heavy apps tend to drain batteries faster. If you are a kind of user who loves to open multiple apps simultaneously or love playing games or you are a heavy consumer of video-streaming apps, then it is better to buy a phone with a long-lasting, powerful battery life.

Camera

There is a lot of hype about cameras on phones, and so the brands’ leaders compete with each other by offering more megapixels. Wait! Don’t let this fool you. Good camera performance is more than just a high megapixel count, and a camera with more megapixels doesn’t give you better images.

Apart from megapixels, you need to check other options too, like good quality photos are a function of aperture, ISO levels, as well as the speed of autofocus. If you’re able to test the phone on your own, you certainly should. Still, it would be great if you read useful information and reviews circulating on the internet about that particular model you intend to buy.

Furthermore, if you love taking a lot of pictures, then it’s better to buy a phone with a 12 or 16 MP camera (for good results even in dim light) that offers an aperture of f/2.0. If you are not so crazy about the camera, a phone with an 8-12 MP camera with an aperture of f/2.2 would be fine for you.

Processor

Much like cameras, there is a lot of hype about smartphone processors with jargons like Snapdragon, MediaTek, quadcore, octa core, and so on. The simple thumb rule is to look at the processing speed of the phone that is expressed in terms of GHz (GigaHertz)- higher speed indicates the phone has faster processor. If you love stream videos, play online games, and photo/video editing, then opt for a faster processor.

Operating System (OS)

There is only two OS to choose from –iOS or Android. If you opt for iOS, then by default, you are opting for an Apple iPhone because all other smartphone manufacturers function on the Android operating system.

Both OS are easy to use, and you can have a wide variety of apps and games available. While you can change from iPhone to Android or Android to iOS, there is a learning curve. Android are quite budget-friendly, and the phones come at different prices. It features Google Assistant (the best virtual assistant), Google’s excellent suite of services, and offers more customization options. If you already use things like Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Maps, then Android will be the better choice.

Whereas, Apple’s iOS offers a more uniform and secure platform, and the App Store experience is slightly better. If you’re a MacBook or an iPad user, then you will love the iPhone. Also, you will find an enormous choice of accessories, something that can be limited to Android devices.

Cost

There is a huge market of smartphones, and the best one to purchase greatly depends on your budget. But don’t dishearten with the price nor let your budget stop you from buying the phone you really want.

Use this informative guide to make sure you get the best handset as per your needs and budget. And don’t forget to share with others.