Buying a new phone? Read this first

By now most of you have already gotten your Christmas bonuses or are about to receive your 13th month pay and are contemplating on getting a new smartphone for Christmas. Before you plunk down the cash for either an affordable new device or a flagship from local or international brands, you may want to think hard about your choice. There’s a lot of things to consider when buying a new phone, things like:

Hardware

Before getting a new phone, you need to find out what kind of hardware gap it fulfills in your life. If you already own a smartphone with a good camera for example, it doesn’t make sense to get another phone that has similar imaging capabilities. As a general rule of thumb, you may want to skip a hardware generation when you buy a device – an upgrade to the Galaxy Note 4 makes sense if you’re coming from a Note 2 or a Galaxy S3 for example.

You’ll also have to figure out out if some of the features of a smartphone that you plan to buy applies to you – getting an LTE enabled device makes zero sense if the areas you usually go to (office, home) either have a weak LTE signal or no LTE at all.

OS

Before buying your next smartphone, you’ll need to figure out which OS you want to go with. Each OS gives you something that the other doesn’t, so choose wisely. iOS for example, has one of the nicest third-party ecosystems and accessory support that we’ve ever seen – it’s not an exaggeration to say that there’s definitely a case that’ll fit whatever device you buy from the brand Prices for iOS devices though aren’t exactly what you’d call wallet friendly (especially for newer devices) and screen size is limited to 4, 4.7 and 5.5-inches.

Android on the other hand, allows you to change the appearance of your homescreen and the OS itself in a myriad of ways, and devices vary from tiny, affordable 3.5-inch smartphones to massive 6-inch phablets. Unfortunately, Android requires quite a bit of grunt to run properly, and consumes a lot of battery to keep running all day.

Contrary to popular belief, Windows Phone 8.1 is actually a very good OS compared to its competitors. The OS has now evolved enough that it offers much of the same functionality as its competitors. It’s also well optimized, able to run well on limited hardware compared to its contemporaries. But it’s not perfect – there’s only a few smartphones that run the OS, though there are affordable options being sold by Cherry Mobile (two of them, in fact).

Telco

Whatever smartphone you buy, you’re will have to choose either Smart or Globe as your provider. No matter what your opinion of them are, both have certain areas where data is slow. This is important if you plan to get a data plan, either through post-paid or pre-paid. You’ll also have to consider which of the telco’s FUP (fair use policy) is more acceptable to you, as both telcos have different approaches when it comes to implementing FUP.

Both telcos also have different pricing plans for similar devices, as well as pricing schemes and payment periods. You’ll also have to consider your use when it comes to calls, text and data – if most of your contacts contact your through text and calls, it makes no sense to invest heavily in data, and vice versa.

New vs. Used

Another dilemma when buying a new device or buying a used one. Buying used may be daunting, but can usually get you a good deal especially if you know what you’re looking for. To avoid getting scammed, always try to meet the seller in a neutral area so you can inspect the condition of the smartphone that you’re buying. If you’re in a far away place where meetups are either inconvenient or logistically impossible, try to transact with sellers that have good feedback scores in reputable websites like Tipidcp or OLX.com.ph. Finally, if a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Or you can just buy new and avoid all of those headaches.

Online vs. Physical store

Another conundrum for gadget buyers would probably be the online vs. physical store question. A physical store allows you to check whatever phone or gadget your buying before plunking down cash for one. An online store however, allows you to get a better deal on a device, and their goods are usually priced lower than what you see in brick-and-mortar stores since they don’t have to rent out a space. Ultimately, it’s up to you, but much like our advice in the new vs. used entry, make sure you’re transacting with sellers that have a good standing with the community. Lazada, Kimstore and Widget City are usually the best places to get the latest gadgets from. Online stores are also where you’ll find smartphones that aren’t officially offered in the country (like Motorola’s phones and the Samsung Galaxy Note Edge). Take heed though, some devices don’t have official warranties as they are parallel imports, so if something happens to them they may not be honored by the local service center, and you’ll have to settle with store warranty instead.

That’s it for this guide. If you have any tips you’d like to share, don’t hesitate to share them below!