Finding the Perfect Cell Phone By: Jacob Patrick

Transcription

1 Finding the Perfect Cell Phone By: Jacob Patrick

2 Choosing a cell phone is a hard decision and an important one! If you buy the wrong phone, then you will be stuck with it for a while. This guide will help you choose the right cell phone that will suit your needs most. Finding your style First and foremost, let s talk about the different phone choices. There are candy bar phones, flip phones, smart phones, super phones (I ll talk about this later), and slider phones. Some good examples of candy bar phones are those such as blackberry phones, while they are good examples of smart phones too. Slider phones are more texting oriented, so if you are a text-o-holic, then this will also be a suitable choice. Flip phones are the classic example of a generic phone type, so if features don t matter to you and you want functionality over features, then these phones will get the job done. Candy bar is just a style for smart phones and generic phones all alike. They usually have a touch-interface so if you like the idea of a touch-screen system than this is usually the form they will come in. However, smart phones can also be slider phones as well. These phones have a touch and keyboard combined, however the keyboard is tucked behind the screen safely, waiting for it to be slid. Superphones are a new category of phones with the latest technology and are as powerful as computers! These phones usually run android.

3 Prepaid or Postpaid? Ok, so you found the phone style you want. Great! Now it s time to figure out if you want to go with a prepaid plan or a regular plan. There are many advantages and disadvantages to both alike. I will outline some of the things that come with both types of plans. Post-Paid plans 2 Year commitment required Cheaper phone prices More choices for texting, talking, and minutes All phones are compatible Expensive! Some plans can go up to $100 a month Prepaid plans Many affordable options to choose from. Some include unlimited everything! As cheap as 10 cents per minute Affordable phones to select from No contract or commitment! Postpaid plans (or just regular plans) are usually provided by 4 companies: AT&T T-Mobile

4 Verizon Sprint There are more companies than these 4, but those are the major ones. Prepaid phones are provided by many different companies such as: AT&T T-Mobile Verizon Sprint Tracphone Net10 Boost mobile Straight talk And many more! There are many different companies/brands that solely just sell prepaid phones and plans. Usually with prepaid plans, you buy your time in money. Whatever plan you re on, it will deduct the charge from your account balance. This is usually how it works on companies like T-Mobile, or AT&T. Companies like Net10 offer cards in minutes. You buy a card, activate it on your phone, and you have minutes. It s simple as that. One other thing to note is that when you buy prepaid cards, you also usually don t have to worry about them expiring. Once you buy your card, the minutes you have remaining accumulate overtime. Postpaid carriers are the ones who carry premium phones and offer plans that require a 2 year commitment. If you have a job that you believe you will maintain for 2 years and are able to pay a payment each month, than this might be the choice for you. Carriers such as those will offer phones to you at very cheap

5 prices, and many are even free! This is the advantage to these types of plans, but you are also paying them back for the phone in a way through the contract. However, if you want to buy these phones, you can buy them unlocked. This is a very unusual way of buying a phone and is most uncommon out of the 3 methods. This requires paying upfront and full price for the phone and usually they cost anywhere from $300-$550! If you decide to buy your phone like this, the advantage is that you can then turn your premium phone into a prepaid phone without the contract. This is a solution for those who can afford nice phones, but can t maintain a full 2 years under a commitment. Smartphone galore! If you believe smartphones are right for you, then you may choose from many different types. First, let s talk about the operating systems and why you as a customer should care. Phone operating systems are not really thought in the decision making process in buying a phone. The importance can mean the difference between your favorite game, or a useful tool on one phone but not on the other. Let s go over the various operating systems that are present in cell phones. Android ios Brew MP Windows mobile 7 home/professional edition Blackberry OS As you can see, there are multiple phone operating systems available. Now let s talk about the difference in them. Android, a highly respected operating system is more open and free than the others as it has many apps to choose from which can be found in the android market place. From

6 angry birds all the way to QR Droid this store probably has the app you re looking for. ios is more of a closed OS and Apple dictates what is allowed on their OS, and what isn t. ios is only limited to the phone and you can find apps in the most common store known: The App store. Here you will find over a million apps, but all of which are passed through apple. If an app isn t in the app store, then you are out of luck. However, you are able to jailbreak your iphone and run apps that Apple doesn t want you to have. Windows mobile 7 is another alternative, and so is brew MP but they are not as popular. Blackberry OS is an operating system found only on blackberry devices and it like any other smartphone, has an app store. The name of it is the Blackberry App World where you can find games like bejeweled 2 and many more. Blackberry app s have been more centered around business people as blackberry s are too. So many choices! HELP! Simply put, there is no simple way of buying your favorite phone. You can go into stores such as the T-Mobile store or AT&T s store and check them out for yourself! Speak to a customer representative and you ll be on your way without problems. Remember, not all phones are for everyone and as such, you can cancel out which one s you don t like and then go from there. You can also easily eliminate the choices by specifying your phone needs, price point, and if you want prepaid or postpaid. There are many choices, but ultimately you are the one to decide it for yourself, and that, is the real way to finding the phone that truly fits you and your style. Many are available, but only one is the right choice for you. Just don t forget to include your sales tax! Source(s): h6le/iphone%20os4%20vs%20android%202%20vs%20windows%20phone%207_thumb%5b3%5d.jpg

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