How many of you had gotten yourselves a shiny new iPhone already? Or are you still deciding if it is a smart decision?
The worst thing you can do is to get a phone on impulse. We at Computer Guys recommend that you ask yourselves these 6 questions to first.
1) Do you need a new phone?
Is your current phone failing you? Or are you still relying on a handset that is not smartphone? If your answer is yes, then you do have a legitimate reason to get one. However, if you are getting it just because it is new or looks shiny (and gold!)…perhaps it is time to reevaluate your choices.
(Image taken from the documentary, The Dark Side of the iPhone 5S lines)
2) What do you use your phone for?
The higher-end phones have more powerful processors and thus, are more expensive. So if you only use your phone mainly for communication with some light web surfing on the side, you will be fine with a less powerful phone. On the other hand, if you use your phone for gaming or video taking and editing, then by all means go for the higher-end phones as they are built to handle heavy duty tasks
3) How tech-savvy are you?
Smartphones are generally easy to use, given how intuitive their features are. Still, familiarise yourself with the phone’s features and its operating system so that you will save yourself some frustration later on. For instance, some people have switched from Apple to Android because they find that syncing their files via iTunes is too cumbersome compared to the drag and drop process with Android.
A tip if you are new to that smartphone’s operating system: It would be good to have people around you who are already users so that you can ask them for help.
4) Are you careful or careless with your phone?
If you tend to drop your phone a lot, it might be good to go with a more durable model (see video below).
5) What is your budget?
Justify how much you are going to spend on your phone with how often you are going to use it. If you are a heavy user, it is fine to buy a more expensive model but if your smartphone usage is light then it would not make financial sense to get the higher-end phones.
Also, take your time to compare phone prices. For instance, a 16GB iPhone 5C costs $848. Meanwhile, the 16GB iPhone 5S costs $988. For a difference of $140, you could get a more durable phone with a faster processor and fingerprint recognition features. If you can afford that difference, it would be rather silly to not go for the better iPhone isn’t it?
6) Is your phone contract up?
As a general rule of thumb, if your phone is working fine and your contract with your telco is still not up, YOU SHOULD NOT BE CHANGING PHONES. Instead, wait till it is time to do a re-contract so that you can get your desired phone at a discounted price. Unless of course, you are rolling in cash then hey, why not?
