Buying a cell phone that suits your needs

India is said be one of the biggest arenas for cell phones; second only to China. Owing to a large number of private players in the telecom service sector, the call rates are not just economical, but also well regulated. This makes cell phones not just a necessity, but the handsets sold today also serve multiple purposes. Depending on this segmentation, we have classified phones into different sections to help you pick your phone with more ease.

CLASSIC PHONES

If all phones had a high quality digital camera, a music player and an integrated portable gaming console, there would be no high-end phone segment. If you don’t need these added functions, you can opt for a classic model. These phones need not be devoid of all those functions though; they can still have a little bit of everything. Low end phones are not just economical, but also look good and throw in useful apps like calculators and radios.

BUSINESS PHONES

Business phones are for those who carry out a major chunk of their work over email and need to access documents on the go. Most business phones feature e-mail facilities for multiple email IDs, a QWERTY keypad for ease of typing, a PDF reader, an office suite, and 3G/Wi-Fi connection, amongst other things. It’s better to have a push-mail service on your phone so that you can access mails with ease. Also, you must ensure that you have a good service provider that gives you a stable connection, so that you can stay connected anywhere you go.

The QWERTY keypad, size and shape of your phone should be ergonomic, considering the fact that you will be glued to it. Also make sure you keep an eye on the radiation levels, as some business phones are notorious for emitting-high radiation signals. BlackBerry phones seem to be a hot pick for business phones. Their radiation is within SAR standards

MULTIMEDIA PHONES

Sony Ericsson’s Walkman range of phones was a revolution in the mobile phone industry a few years ago, thanks to their dedicated music controls. But there’s a crowded multimedia phone segment now, with each manufacturer offering a range of phones with several audio and video playback features. Apart from good music and video quality, a media phone needs a good amount of memory to save your collection, an organizer to help you create quick play lists, and an equalizer function to make sure you can tweak the sound to your liking. A flash memory card to store video and music comes in handy, so an expandable memory option in your phone is always a bonus and almost all phones now offer SD card slots. Multimedia phones also feature shortcut controls via dedicated buttons for instant access. Most phones also give you an FM radio option. Lastly, check for the quality of headphones. High-end media phones usually come with noise reduction headphones to enhance the overall experience, and since they support stereo signals, you can also opt of A2DP headsets.

CAMERA PHONES

High-end smartphones come with cameras that can even substitute standalone digital cameras, and some of these phones can even record high definition video. However, a high megapixel count is not always the best criterion for picking a camera phone. Although the resolution of the pictures is based on megapixels, you also need a decent lens focus (this can be either fixed or automatic) and flash for good pictures in low light. Fixed focus cameras usually deliver low quality images, and while auto focus cameras may not guarantee good quality, they let you shoot images from close proximity (macro images) if your camera comes with an auto focus lens. Another essential feature is the flash, which could be a single or double LED flash or a Xenon flash. As for zoom, using the digital zoom brings down the quality of the picture drastically.

The images can turn out to be grainy, especially if you use the highest level of digital zoom. Some phones also provide optical zoom, which gives your pictures more clarity, but the amount of optical zoom in phones is usually very limited. You will have to ensure that the camera phone you pick has a long-lasting battery, as the camera function does tend to drain the battery. The CyberShot series from Sony Ericsson has really put the brand at the forefront of the camera phones segment.

TOUCH SCREEN PHONES

Touch screen phones have become a rage of sorts; pioneered by Apple, and now adopted by pretty much every cell phone manufacturer. But in order to keep costs down, some manufactures tend to compromise on the quality of the touch screen, which makes it all the more essential for you to be careful when investing in a touch screen phone.

Firstly, look into the display size of the screen, especially if you are not used to a stylus and have stubby fingers. The larger the screen, the more comfortable you will be using the touch interface. Ensure that the phone is ergonomically designed for one-hand use, which means that the menus on the user interface should be placed well. Also check for the battery life, as a larger display will drain that much more power.

The most important thing in your touch phone is the screen sensitivity and the response time. Check the response time for the programs both with and without a stylus. Also make note of the technology used in the touch screen. Lower end touch screen phones tend to use restiveness touch screens which aren’t all that responsive or accurate. High-end phones usually use capacities touch screens, which are more accurate and responsive, but also costlier.

SOCIAL NETWORKING PHONES

The social networking craze is at an all time high, and most of these networks also feature stripped down versions that are compatible with cell phone browsers. But to make things even easier, most cell phone makers have now come up with phones that have links or bookmarks to popular social networking sites or dedicated apps for your phone. Targeting mainly the younger audience, phones designed for social networking are usually economical and feature apps for Skype, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc for quick access.