{"id":2125,"date":"2010-09-08T00:01:02","date_gmt":"2010-09-08T08:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/?p=2125"},"modified":"2013-02-10T12:47:40","modified_gmt":"2013-02-10T19:47:40","slug":"what-to-look-for-in-a-cell-phone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/?p=2125","title":{"rendered":"What to Look for in a Cell Phone"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now that cell phones are becoming mini-computers, it’s a good idea to know what’s what, and what matters, when it comes time to buy a new mobile communications gizmo.
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\nProvider.<\/strong> Your first priority is to find a good cell phone provider. The two issues are coverage and data signal.<\/p>\n

For coverage, you want to ensure that the signal strength is strong enough in those locations where you plan on using the phone. My first cell phone picked up a signal only if I stood by the northeast-most window in my office.<\/p>\n

The data signal is separate from the voice signal. To get the most from the data (Internet) side of your new cell phone, you want 3G coverage in your area. EDGE coverage is okay, but 3G is better. Remember: Just because you get a voice signal doesn’t necessarily mean that you get a data signal.<\/p>\n

Screen.<\/strong> The cheap-o cell phones feature a doinky screen that’s pretty useless. What you want is a nice, big screen, but not so big that the phone no longer fits into your pocket. Further, I recommend getting a phone with a touchscreen, or one that accepts your finger touches and smudges as input.<\/p>\n

As far as HD or high resolution is concerned, I’m neither here nor there. Watching video on a cell phone is okay for brief periods of time. Watching full-length movies, even on a transcontinental flight, is tedious. I don’t see any point in paying more for a “better” tiny screen.<\/p>\n

Input.<\/strong> How you interact with the phone is important. Any phone that merely has a dialpad (the numbers 0 through 9 with the #, * and a couple of other keys) is a joke any more. You want a phone with a keyboard.<\/p>\n

Touchscreen keyboards are popular and they work, providing that you’re not typing a novel or anything longer than a grocery list. If the phone does have a touchscreen keyboard, then see whether or not it supports the Swype program, which can really accelerate text input.<\/p>\n

Physical keyboards are nice, and preferred by many people. Just make sure that the tiny buttons are adequate for your fingers. Also, note that physical keyboards add to the phone’s weight.<\/p>\n

Finally, I give a big bonus to phones with voice input. Some phones are pretty much one-trick ponies on voice input, with maybe a dial command or other limited commands. Others offer full voice input, what I call dictation<\/em>. It’s pretty cool to see it in action.<\/p>\n

Operating System.<\/strong> Android. Hands down.<\/p>\n

Well, to be objective, the key to any operating system is the number of apps. On that front, Apple’s iOS takes the lead. But for usability, I prefer Android.<\/p>\n

Phone Price.<\/strong> Yeah, you’re a cheap bastard. Who wants to spend a fortune on a cell phone? Still, if you want a phone that does email, the Internet, is a camera, does maps, and just about anything else, you’re going to be spending real money.<\/p>\n

Expect to pay around $200 for a good smartphone. Costco has the best prices.<\/p>\n

Plan Price.<\/strong> The typical price for a limited cell phone plan, including data, is about $80 a month. That’s $40 or so for a 450\/500 minute\/month plan, plus $30 or so for a data plan. You need both.<\/p>\n

I find that I can get by with 450 minutes a month. Especially if there are rollover minutes, plus unlimited night and weekends, you can manage well.<\/p>\n

The data plan doesn’t need to be outrageous. Most smartphone users don’t use a lot of bandwidth.<\/p>\n

The plan will bind you to a contract for two years, typically. That’s okay. By the end of that time, newer, better phones will be out, though you get more value from your phone if you use it longer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now that cell phones are becoming mini-computers, it’s a good idea to know what’s what, and what matters, when it comes time to buy a new mobile communications gizmo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[8],"class_list":["post-2125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-main","tag-android"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2125"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4102,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125\/revisions\/4102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}