Smartphones these days are no longer used just for making phone calls or sending/receiving SMS and you can run through most aspects of your day-to-day lives via these pieces of technology. We use them for communication, saving documents on the cloud, taking pictures, internet browsing and even as a power bank, at times.
But still many of our readers have asked us about ‘how to choose the best smartphone’ for them and their query seems justifiable with a plethora of smartphones being available in the market and a couple of offerings being added to the list almost every year.
So it can indeed be a challenge to sort through this list if you’re trying to choose the absolute best smartphone. The stakes can’t be understated here as well since your new smartphone is likely to be the most important gadget in your life while you’ll probably be living with it for at least a year, if not two or three.
That said, when it comes to ‘how to choose the best smartphone’ it isn’t that difficult as there are some parameters which you will have to keep in mind in order to buy the best one according to your needs. And if you want an all-rounder, the mantra is to find the one smartphone that passes on a majority of these parameters.
On that note, here are some tips that you should keep in mind for making a perfect choice while buying a smartphone.
How To Choose The Best Smartphone: 10 Valuable Tips For Making The Right Choice
Build quality
Build quality is all about the durability of a smartphone. While the entire smartphone market is majorly divided into two types of builds i.e. metal and plastic (glass-coated panels being a rarity), it is recommended if you are prone to dropping your smartphone, to go for a metal built handset as it can sustain drops from 2-3 feet, while glass-coated panels are sure to shatter.
Processor
If you are a heavy user who uses his/her smartphone for editing images/videos/documents online, playing heavy games, streaming videos or often using apps in split-screen mode, then handsets with Qualcomm Snapdragon 652, 820/821 and 835/845 should live up to your multitasking desires. On the other hand, MediaTek processors have enough power for light users but one should also keep in mind that the processing power varies from one smartphone to another on the basis on several other factors like OS version, bloatware, UI, etc.
Battery
If you are a heavy user, go for a smartphone which comes with at least 3500mAh battery or above and if you are a moderate user, smartphones with around 3000mAh battery will be enough to run through the day.
Display
If you often stream videos, download and watch movies, edit photos or videos, then a smartphone display with the size ranging from 5.5-inch to 6-inch, could be full-HD or QHD should be good enough for you. Displays which are anything larger than 6-inch makes the handset extra bulky and also difficult to carry around and for regular use.
Camera
Just having more number of megapixels doesn’t mean that a particular smartphone camera is better than others. Several other bases like camera aperture, pixel size, ISO levels, autofocus, etc are essential as well. While a higher number of pixels mean that size of the image is bigger, which also becomes sharper when seen on a small screen, a photography enthusiast would want a camera with 12 or 16MP sensor having f/2.0 or lower aperture for quick shots even in low lighting conditions.
A casual shooter can even go for an 8MP or 12MP camera having a f/2.0-f/2.2 aperture. That said, there are many dual camera options available in the market as well, ranging from mid-budget category to the premium one.
Storage
A large chunk of the smartphone storage is taken by the OS as well as the apps which the device comes pre-installed with. 16GB/32GB/64GB or more of internal storage don’t really come with the exact mentioned space and if you like to keep less number of applications on your devices, you can go for a smartphone with 32GB storage.
Users who will be keeping a larger number of apps should go for 64GB or 128GB variants.
Audio/speakers
Speakers and the quality of audio can be an important parameter while answering ‘how to choose the best smartphone’ for those who rely on heavy video streaming and video conferences. If you want entertainment-on-the-go, buy a smartphone which has front-facing speakers which gives clear sound even while holding the handset in landscape mode. In any other case, a regular smartphone with bottom-firing or rear placed speakers will be just fine.
Other factors to answer, How To Choose The Best Smartphone?
User interface/OS version
For the most basic and stock Android experience, go for Motorola handsets, Nexus/Pixel series or even Android One smartphone.
On the other hand, interfaces like ZenUI, Samsung TouchWiz, Xperia UI and EMUI offer more nifty features to make the user interface more friendly. However, these OEMs also come with a good amount of bloatware you probably won’t use ever.
Therefore, we recommend using the handset before you make the final call.
Security/extra features
It’s recommended to buy a smartphone with extra security features like a fingerprint scanner, IRIS scanner or FaceID since most of us have important information stored on our handsets these days.
Headphone jack/USB port
Although micro-USB and USB Type-C ports are both available in smartphones, it is preferable to pick USB Type-C because it is easy to plug in and is also future-proof with smartphone manufacturers ditching the 3.5mm headphone jack and making USB Type-C an industry standard.
These are some of the parameters on which your next smartphone should be judged, if you don’t want to go wrong with your choice.
Do you think these tips were enough to answer your queries on How To Choose The Best Smartphone? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.