Mobile Phone Buying Tips

We always get confused to choose a mobile phone. A lot of brands and models are available in the market which offers almost all multimedia and office functions. But sometime the phone will not function properly as said in the offers. We may have bought that one by seeing the advertisements and reduction offers from the product manufacturer. Here are some tips which help you in picking the right phone for you.

Before going to the shop we should know our need. Mobile phones can be categorized mainly as basic level models, multimedia phones and business phones. Now a day's almost all high end multimedia phones support all business applications also. So first choose which category is good for you. The pricing and facilities of the models vary with the above categories.

Features of models in each category:

Basic level models: Basic level models are the entry level models from the manufacturer. These models are mainly used for calling and messaging services. These models are having a basic interface which is easy to be used by a beginner. The main features of these models are short message service (SMS), long battery life and good phonebook memory. These models are having low price which is approximately in the range of Rs.2000- 4000.

Multimedia Phone: They are mid level models from the manufacturer. Multimedia phones provide good audio and video playback, high memory (usually expandable), high resolution camera, good headphones, audio and video recording etc. They also support other features of the basic level models. The price range of good multimedia phones is from Rs.6000- 25000.

Business Phone: they are high end models from the manufacturer. They provide all the facilities offered by basic and mid level phones but it gives more importance to business applications. These models usually have office suites (writing documents etc), PDF reader, QWERTY keyboard, internet facility (WiFi), email facility, GPS etc. The price range of these phones is in the range of Rs.15000-35000.

Things to check before buying a phone:

1)You should check the audio and video support of the phone by playing different media files.

2)You should check the camera by taking still images and recording video in different modes.

3)You should check the in-built memory and expandable memory of the phone.

4)You should check the stand by time and talk time of the phone for getting good battery life.

5)Check whether the phone has Bluetooth or Infrared, 3G facility for sending files.

6)Check whether phone supports GPRS, EDGE or WiFi (high end phones).

7)Check the screen clarity and user interface of the phone.

8)If you are using two SIM cards try to choose a Dual SIM phone which supports two SIM cards at the same time.

9)Check the key pad by typing some messages.

10)Check for IMEI number of the phone by typing *#06#

Also you should be familiar with some basic terms in mobile technology and some among them are explained here:

1)GPRS - GPRS stand for General Packet Radio Service and this service is used for internet connectivity in mobile phones.

2)EDGE – It is also known as Enhanced GPRS. It is also providing internet facility in mobile phones but it's faster than GPRS service.

3)3G – 3G stands for Third Generation. 3G networks can provide high data transfer rates (14 Mbps).

4)QWERTY – they are keypads which are same as the keyboard of a computer. So it's easy to write documents with QWERTY keypad.

5)GSM & CDMA – GSM stands for Global System for Mobile Communication and CDMA stands for Code Division Multiple Access. Both are two standards of networking technologies. We cannot use SIM cards supporting GSM in CDMA phones and vice versa.

6)Symbian & Java – They are two types of operating systems used in mobile phones. Java applications can be installed in both platforms but symbian applications can be installed only in symbian phones