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WHEN YOU BUY a new phone, what do you consider? Do you just settle for a brand name like Apple or Samsung, safe in the knowledge that because they’re big brands, or do you look closer at each phone and weigh up the pros and cons of each device?
Either way, it’s useful to know what hardware and software they’re offering so you can decide whether your device will still be useful a few years down the line. While it’s not as important for high-end phones, getting a mid- or low-range smartphone means you won’t want it to become redundant sooner than you expect.
While it’s easy to become overwhelmed, if you know what to look out for, the process becomes more straightforward. In short, the specs you should look out for are:
CPU/Processing
To put it simply, the CPU is the engine of your smartphone. Everything that runs on it is powered by this so the more powerful it is, the faster it will run and the more it can do without experiencing slowdown.
While all of them come with different names and titles, it’s best to ignore these unless you’re really like going into detail. The first detail you should make a note of is the frequency, listed as MHz or GHz (for reference, 1GHz = 1,000 MHz), and will tell you how many binary instructions the CPU can process in a second (i.e: how fast it is). Most high end phones will be listed as 2GHz, but realistically anything over 1GHz will get the job done.
The second detail is the number of cores it has. Some phones have dual or quad core processors and the more cores there are, the more powerful it will be.
Also, RAM plays a significant role in your phone’s performance. The more you have, the faster your phone will run and the quicker it will be able to switch between tasks.
The Screen
While a decent metric, screen size doesn’t tell you the entire story of how a phone will feel. A smartphone could have a 5-inch screen, but could be the same size as another 5.5-inch phone since there are different dimensions to each phone.
In essence, it’s doesn’t take into account factors like physical buttons, the phone speakers (for either calls or multimedia) and front-facing cameras so pay attention to the phone’s dimensions.
Display is another factor and usually comes in the form of AMOLED or LED. The difference between the two is AMOLED produces some rich and saturated colours, while LED offers more realistic hues. Which one you go for is a matter of preference, and boils down to which display you think looks nicer.
Also, going for a 1080p display instead of a 720p is another matter of preference. While the former is more detailed, you’re likely trading the extra sharpness for battery life and processing power unless it’s a phablet (5.3-inches and more).
Camera
The belief is that the more megapixels (MP) a camera has, the better quality the photo. This is true to a point, but really this tells you how much you can blow a photo up (or crop it) before it becomes pixelated.
The part you really want to look at is the camera sensor, and the bigger the sensor size is, the clearer a photo will be when it’s taken. This is why the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus can have a 8MP camera, but still take great photos.
Front facing cameras are normally 1-2MP and can sometimes be as high as 5MP. While it’s lower than rear-end cameras, these are used for video calls and selfies instead of proper photography and therefore aren’t as important.
Battery
While a bigger battery might mean longer lifespan, some being as large as 3,000 mAh, it doesn’t always work that way as there are many other factors that will decide how long a phone lasts in-between each charge.
Some manufacturers optimise the phone’s hardware so that battery usage is reduced, while others go for as large a battery as possible. Both approaches work, but as a rule, a larger-screen device usually comes with a larger battery so it’s worth taking that into consideration.
(Update: An earlier version of this article incorrectly attributed GHz as power and not frequency. We apologise for the error.)
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The only thing that anyone cares about now is battery life.
Get the IPhone joan no battery needed.
Smart phones, with their short battery life and the constant need for recharging and seemingly always plugged in are the modern day equivalent of a land line.
“Can I play Snake on it?” – The only question worth asking.
Didnt understand a bit of above! I just don’t think my brain can take it in.
Have a smart phone for about a year and just getting used to it.
I know there is loads of stuff on it that I can’t use but I will plod along.
The thing I hate the most is the battery. I am always running around plugging it in the because the battery life is so bloody short!!!!
Ah God love ye, it’ll get better.
No one mentioned the HTC best phone ever
What’s with all the battery life complaints..surely if you charge it overnight it will last one whole day?!
That used to be the case. But people who spend their lives buried in phones who read the news, watch videos and all of that tend to eat up battery. They don’t always get through the day under intense use and it’s irritating.
If your phone is getting that much use, there’s bigger things to worry about than battery life..
Yes and no. Phones have replaced newspapers, mp3 players, books, TV, computers and video games. When you consolidate what should be several devices and mediums into one you’re going to have battery issues. It’s just a new way of consuming media that we’ve always consumed.
The problem is that computer power has exponentially increased over the last few decades while we haven’t improved battery technology for nearly forty years. Lithium Ion is still the standard from a time before Star Wars and Apple.
Turn the brightness down, knock off Bluetooth, location tracking and wifi until needed. Should save a few % battery
Import a Cubot P9 from China. 10% of the price and just as good as an iPhone.
The cubot is the way to go people, 60 sterling on eBay as good as the Samsung or iPhone, best phone I’ve ever used
Going to look that one Gravel is the battery life good??
Samsung Note 4 is the best phone on the market. Camera is fantastic.
Thinking of getting a Note 4. Have a note 2 at the moment and just coming or of contract. Is it worthwhile upgrading from 2 to the 4?
Wonder why you’re getting all the red Thom’s, Celticspirit, on every comparison I’ve read between the Note and the iPhone 6+ the Note had cone out tips on everything, except maybe looks in a few cases
Note 4 is absolutely class. Check out photo note. Take a snap of any printed material, convert it to of and edit the text! Quad HD display with packed with loads of other features
Convert to *pdf*
The OnePlus One looks a good buy when it becomes available
Yep, totally agree. Have one now about 2 months. Battery life is excellent on it.
Don’t worry about specs, just buy an iPhone, you’ll be grand.
That’s what apple love, eejits that don’t question their products and just buy into their crap systems. If people refused to buy into it, and giving the reasons of unchangeable battery, lack of sd card slots, incompatibility with other bluetooth, etc etc, then they might actually do something about adding these features, meaning Apple products might actually become less restrictive and maybe even be decent phones.
In the meantime, they’ll keep their users under their thumbs while they pocket all that extra money for their overpriced products and services.
Wow ! Guess I hit a nerve ! There’s a reason they outsell any other brand of phone.
“There’s a reason they outsell any other brand of phone.”
Eh, no. Samsung are the world’s top selling phone brand.
The worlds best selling phone ever is the iPhone 5s followed by the iPhone 5c followed in third place by the samsung Galaxy 4. Still not a bad phone if you can’t afford an iPhone.
Fascinating.
However Samsung are the best selling brand in the world. Try focus on the word “brand”, Loop De Loop, because that was your original assertion, which was incorrect., because it looks to me now like you’re trying to move the goalposts.
Ha ha ! Why do Samsung owners have such a big chip on their shoulders at the mention of iPhone? It’s ok, it’s only a phone !!
I’ve a Nexus 5, Champ. Wouldn’t buy a Samsung, lovely phones but I can’t stand Touchwiz
iPhone 6 plus fantastic. Pricey, but with screen now to easily match top large screen android phones. Also battery life is superb – definitely best battery out of all the iPhones and definitely in the very top of all smartphones at all. Apart from above its just an iPhone – simple OS not suited to everyone, some may prefer more advanced Android.
Power, measured in GHz ? Really ? Someone needs a tech lesson.
The best feature on my phone, and the one I like most, is wireless charging. I’ll definitely be looking out for that on any future phone I buy.
Selfies aren’t important? Blasphemy!
If you looking for a new phone try the oppo find 7/7a they have great spec and are half the price of the top phones on the market
One plus one is one of the phones of 2014 and certainly the best value by a distance, sheep keep buying iPhone paying 70% more but nowhere near good enough.
Sony xperia Z2 is the best phone on the market at the moment. Phenomenal battery life, excellent camera, waterproof and can take underwater pictures, Walkman media player, PlayStation mobile and comes with noise cancelling digital earphones.
Android is also much more versatile than apple. I use the removable sd card a lot for quickly moving music and pictures to/from the phone rather than the need for wires to sync.
Specs mean fcuk all. No phone texts or makes calls faster than another. It’s the end user experience that counts.
I dont even……….
You can purchase extended battery packs for most phones , they hold 3 or 4 times the normal capacity . I get about 2 days out of mine, instead of half day on standard s4 battery. Amazon about 25 euros. Ok..it’s bigger…but…
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