What to Look for in Your First Smart Phone

If you're shopping for your first smart phone, then you might be wondering what you've got yourself into. There are just so many options on today's market, and choosing a phone can be tough. You're going to be spending a few hundred pounds, so you want to make sure that your money is being well spent and that you're making a good investment; and that means knowing what you're looking at. But there's so much technical jargon around, that knowing what you're looking at isn't always that easy. If you're not a technical wizard and you're worried about making the right decision, then today we're going to be explaining what you need to look at when you're buying your first smart phone. So before you get overwhelmed by the process, here's all you need to know about smart phone shopping and making a good decision.

Touch Screen Phones are Better

As a first time smart phone buyer, you might be tempted to go with a smart phone that has a physical keyboard that you'll feel more comfortable with. This isn't really a great idea. There are a few physical keyboard smart phones on the market, usually Blackberry or Nokia models. However, these phones tend not to be good value for money; they have high prices and low specs, meaning that you're paying a lot for something that isn't going to give you good performance. Touch screen phones are the standard these days, and you're going to be getting a much better bargain with a touch screen device. There's a very small learning curve for using a touch screen mobile, and within a couple of days you'll be comfortable with it. The only thing that you really need to worry about is the size of the screen. Because there's no physical keyboard you'll be typing on a keyboard that pops up on screen. The larger your screen is, the bigger the keyboard will be, and the more easily and comfortably you'll be able to type. Plus, if you want to read emails and web pages on your phone then a bigger display will mean that you can read without having to zoom or scroll the page around. The minimum screen size that's practical is around three and a half inches, but about four inches is optimal.

The Operating System Doesn't Matter

Your home computer is probably either running Windows or Apple's iOS at the moment, and these are known as operating systems. Your smart phone will also need an operating system, and you'll have a choice of four: iOS, Windows, RIM or Android. The system that you choose really doesn't matter that much, since there isn't really one that's better than all the others. Most people find that they're just more comfortable with a certain operating system. It's a good idea to go to an electronics shop and play with some of the demo models until you find a system that you like. If you buy an iPhone it will run iOS, and if you buy a Blackberry it will run RIM, so in this sense you'll have no choice. But there are plenty of different models of phones that use Android or Windows. There is one thing that is important though. You'll want to make sure that with either Windows or Android that your phone has a recent version of the operating system, since that will be faster, more secure and more stable. So on Windows phones look for Windows 7.5 or Windows 8, and on Android phones look for Android 4.0, 4.1 or 4.2.

Your Phone's Engine

All smart phones have a processor. This is like the engine in a car, and the more powerful the processor is the faster your phone will be. If you read the description of a mobile phone it will refer either to the processor or the CPU, they're the same thing. You're looking for a number that's at least 800 MHz, although 1 GHz (equal to 1000 MHz) would be better. This speed is important, because many new versions of apps, software, games and programmes will require a certain minimum speed to work on your phone. Also look for processors that say they are quad core or dual core, since this will give you more speed and more reliability in your phone.

All about Mobile Memory

Memory on a phone is important, but it's also a little confusing. Mobile phones have two different kinds of memory. The first kind of memory is called internal memory. This determines how much data you can keep on your phone. The bigger your internal memory is, the more photos, music, videos, apps and games you can keep on your device. It's important that you have enough internal memory, because when that memory starts to get filled up your phone will begin to slow down. This will mean that you have to keep deleting music, photos and other data in order to make more space in the memory and speed your phone back up again. An average smart phone should have around 8 GB of memory, and you should never consider buying anything with less than 2 GB of internal memory. The second type of memory on a mobile is called RAM. This is different from internal memory. RAM is the amount of memory that your phone reserves to use for everyday tasks like opening apps. The more RAM you have the more responsive your phone will be. Responsiveness refers to how quickly your phone responds to input from you. Enough RAM will stop your phone from lagging, freezing or even crashing. RAM is also important because it helps your phone to multi task efficiently, meaning it helps your phone to better be able to run more than one programme at the same time. You should look for around 1 GB of RAM on a good phone, and never consider anything under 512 MB. Going below this limit will seriously affect the performance of your device.