At the end of the 20th century, only a wealthy person could get a mobile phone - an official, a successful businessman or anyone else. There were no difficulties of choice then, since five or six cell phones were produced annually. But gradually the cost of production fell, with the result that mobile phones literally flooded the stores selling electronics. And with the advent of smartphones, everything has become even worse - these are technically complex devices, not everyone can figure out the intricacies of the structure. If you can not choose a suitable smartphone, then read our article - it will certainly help you.
Content:
The best manufacturers of smartphones - which company to choose
It is difficult to argue that a lot in a mobile device depends on who created it. If you buy a device from an unnamed Chinese manufacturer, then it’s like a cat in a bag - don’t be surprised that the device will slow down, and after a year it will fail.
The following companies produce the highest quality products:
- Samsung - South Koreans can boast a very wide range, and almost all of their smartphones have an AMOLED display.
- Apple - this company is known for the iPhone. Under this brand are distributed expensive smartphones running iOS.
- Xiaomi - a fairly young Chinese company made a bid for low cost devices, which led to a strong increase in sales.
- HTC is the once popular Taiwanese manufacturer. Its products still can not but rejoice, but for unknown reasons, the number of smartphones sold by this company cannot be called particularly large.
- OnePlus - the brand and the company as a whole belong to the Chinese BBK Electronics. Under this brand only flagships are produced, which look favorably against the background of their competitors due to the relatively low price tag.
- Huawei is one of the largest manufacturers of telecommunications equipment. His smartphones often contain wireless modules that belong to the fastest standards.
- More details: Top Smartphone Manufacturers
And this is only a small fraction of the list of respected manufacturers of smartphones! Listing them all would take too much time. And there is no need for it, since our site has a separate article “best smartphones».
The principle of operation and device smartphone
A modern smartphone is the same computer, but in miniature. It uses a tiny processor, created by ARM-architecture, which consumes not too much energy and almost does not generate heat. Information is processed by the device not only with the help of a processor, but also with the help of RAM - the larger it is, the more applications can work in the background. User data (photos, music, games, etc.) are stored in permanent memory. They can also be stored on a memory card, but not every smartphone has a slot for it.
Autonomous operation of such devices provides the battery. It can be manufactured by lithium-ion or lithium-polymer technology - now it does not play a big role. But the battery capacity is worth paying attention to. However, the duration of the work depends not only on this parameter, but also on what technology was used for the display and what resolution it has. Yes, and each processor also has its own level of power consumption.
Also, almost any smartphone includes cameras (rear and front), a speaker (up to two pieces), a microphone (there can be several of them, too, if the manufacturer decided to implement a noise reduction system), all kinds of wireless modules and antennas.The interaction of all these components is provided by the operating system. It occupies a part of the permanent memory, so with a 16-gigabyte smartphone you may only have access to 9-10 GB.
Kinds of smartphones
Many devices are very different from each other. However, it cannot be said that there are a large number of varieties of smartphones. Most often, these devices are divided into three parameters.
Form factor
The overwhelming majority of smartphones currently on sale belong to the monoblock form factor. This is the usual bar of plastic or metal, most of the front panel of which is occupied by the LCD display. But devices with a completely different design have some popularity. For example, in Japan you can still buy the so-called cot. This device consists of two halves. Most often it has two displays.
Also, such a device can have a numeric keypad, with the help of which a telephone number is dialed or some other actions are performed. And in some stores you can still find QWERTY smartphones. Basically, their design involved the company Blackberry. Such devices have a physical QWERTY-keyboard. Sometimes it works on the sliding principle - it turns the smartphone into a slider. Basically, QWERTY-phones are bought by businessmen who regularly need to make some notes, work with the calendar and edit documents.
- We recommend:Top Push Button Phones
Estimated price and power of components
Since almost all modern smartphones are monoblocks, people and companies prefer to divide them by power and estimated cost. For example, carriers under their brand sell extra-budgetary devices. Even retirees can overpower their purchase, but such a device will regularly slow down due to lack of capacity. Approximately the same can be said about budget smartphoneswhich are also inexpensive.
A huge number of smartphones belongs to the average or, as it is also called, the average budget price category. Among all this range you can find real emeralds, which will delight their work for many years.
- You'll like it: Best cheap smartphones
But the so-called flagships bring the most money to companies. They have the support of almost all modern technologies, and some of them have some completely new components. For example, a company Samsung in the spring of 2017, it introduced into its flagship an iris scanner, which previously no smartphone could boast.
operating system
The last sign of the division of smartphones. Android dominates here - the largest number of devices works under its control. In this case, we leave behind the brackets the version of the operating system, talk about it will go below.
The second place in the popularity rating of OSes is occupied by iOS - it is pre-installed for each iphone.
He could not achieve a significant share of the Windows market in various implementations - it is not recommended to buy smartphones with it now, since Microsoft may soon abandon the support of the mobile version of this operating system.
- It is important to know:What is the difference between a smartphone and an iPhone?
You can also mention Tizen. This OS is gradually developing by Samsung. So far, it has one serious drawback - too few applications have been developed for this operating system.
Smartphone selection options
When choosing a smartphone you can not pay attention to some parameters in the first place, and on some - in the second. This is the rare case when it is necessary to evaluate the entire device as a whole. Read the reviews, read the reviews - it will certainly help you. And only then look at the characteristics.
Processor and graphics accelerator
The best chipsets produce Qualcomm, Samsung and HiSilicon (Huawei semiconductor division). Even with a small number of cores, they give decent power. Some users joke that their laptops based on a less powerful processor. MediaTek also has some good solutions, but they always suffer from overheating, then from some problems.
For a while, Intel was present on the mobile processor market, but now it has left it, so there’s nothing to talk about. Well, it’s pointless to talk about other companies, since their chipsets are very inferior to competitors.
When getting acquainted with the characteristics of the smartphone, pay attention to the processor clock frequency and the number of cores. Also an important parameter is the technical process by which the chipset is made - the smaller it is, the better. It is measured in nanometers.
Memory
Now it makes no sense to buy a smartphone, which is embedded in less than 1 GB of RAM. Moreover, now many applications are so voracious that their comfortable work is possible only on devices that have 2 GB of RAM embedded. And more and more often on the shelves of stores appear devices endowed with an even greater amount of RAM. In short, it all depends on your wallet.
As for the permanent memory, then 16 GB can be enough for you if your smartphone allows you to additionally install a microSD card. If there is no corresponding slot, then everything depends on what exactly you are going to store on your smartphone. A lot of music, all kinds of videos, high-resolution photos - all this requires a large amount of memory. That is why now many manufacturers build 64 GB of ROM into their devices, and sometimes even 128 GB.
- We recommend: The best smartphones for games
Cameras
If you are not going to take pictures using a smartphone, you can skip this item. The rest should understand that to get at least some high-quality image requires a minimum of 8 megapixel camera. However, the quality of the image also depends on the manufacturer of the camera module and the implementation of the corresponding application. So do not be surprised that in a budget smartphone an 8-megapixel camera will work worse than in any LG Nexus 4, released many years ago.
Now more and more smartphones appear with a dual camera. This is a completely separate conversation, since the implementation of such a module may be completely different. As for the front camera, the usual 5-megapixel resolution is enough for it. But if you are going to use it not only in Skype, then this parameter will not suit you. Best Smartphones for Selfie presented in our ranking.
Wireless modules
Be sure to pay attention to what kind of wireless modules the smartphone has. You can say that Wi-Fi is available in every device. Yes, it is, but the version of this module may differ. The standard is Wi-Fi 802.11n. If you want to get more speed, or you live in Moscow or St. Petersburg (where the standard range can be heavily loaded), then navigate to a device with a Wi-Fi 802.11ac module.
On the Bluetooth version, be guided in the event that you regularly use a wireless headset. GPS is good, but it will be better if it works in conjunction with GLONASS. And finally, LTE (4G) support is an indispensable condition if you are going to actively use mobile Internet.
Display
The screen of the mobile device has different parameters. You need to learn about its manufacturing technology. AMOLED is rich colors and low power consumption, IPS is also a worthy option, TFT is an outdated technology with narrow viewing angles. There are other technologies that are comparable to IPS.
The second important parameter is the display resolution. The higher it is, the more pixels the image will display. It's simple. From the screen diagonal depends on how large the device will be. Some people can not get used to the devices equipped with a 5.5-inch display - they seem to them too large.
You can also ask about how protective glass covered the front panel. However, this is not written in all characteristics.The ideal option would be the glass of the third, fourth or fifth generation Gorilla Glass. Older glasses are afraid of falling on a hard surface, and scratching them is not too good.
Operating system version
In the case of Apple technology, if you buy a new device, it will work on the latest version of iOS. But the rest of smartphones can have the most different version of Android. The Quartet should be forgotten - many modern applications, if they will work on it, then with interruptions. But Android 5.0 Lollipop may well suit you, not to mention even more recent versions of this operating system. In short, the width of the OS functionality depends on the version. Therefore, it all depends on how actively the smartphone will be used by you.
Other features
The remaining parameters are also important, but for each person in their own way. For example, someone will certainly look for smartphone with a capacious battery. Others will pay attention to size and weight. Sometimes a person is interested in such trifles as FM radio and infrared to control the TV. Music lovers are required to ensure that the device has stereo speakers. And it will be better if there is a 3.5 mm audio jack located on its case.
Which smartphone to choose
The choice of a particular smartphone depends on your preferences:
1. Need a machine only for calls and sending messages? You are quite satisfied with the cheapest, including the camera model. Do not rely only on the long duration of such a device.
2. Do you like to play on your smartphone? We'll have to spend big money on a flagship or a device close to that rank. Such devices are equipped with a powerful processor and an excellent graphics accelerator.
3. Do you regularly work on a smartphone with documents? Then pay attention to the model with QWERTY-keyboard. But it's better to buy some phablet equipped with a 5.7-inch high-resolution screen - it will suit you even more.
4. Buy a smartphone for a child? Look for a relatively inexpensive model that works without special brakes - it should have a quad-core processor and 1-2 GB of RAM.
- We recommend: Ranking of the best smartphones for kids
5. Do you go hiking or doing extreme sports often? You need smart phone case. Such a device will not receive serious damage if dropped onto stones or into water. Keep in mind that many ordinary flagships also have water protection.
How much are smartphones
The cheapest devices are usually sold by operators under their own brand. Such devices can cost only 2-4 thousand rubles. If we talk about budget smartphones from LG, Huawei, Xiaomi and other companies, then their cost varies from 6 to 11 thousand rubles. This price category includes devices with a very different quality of performance. If you do not read reviews and reviews, then make a purchase of a cat in a bag.
- You'll like it: Top Chinese smartphones
Mid-range smartphones are the most popular. The competition here is such that the price range is from 12 to 24 thousand rubles. Samsung and Sony sell their devices more expensive, while other companies do their best to lower prices. A rare smartphone with such a cost causes only negative emotions to the buyer. Flagships or simply expensive smartphones cost more than 25 thousand rubles. The most expensive Samsung technology, Sony and Apple. The smartphones of these companies are so good that buyers absolutely do not regret the money spent.
There is no ceiling for the cost of a smartphone. There are elite models whose case is trimmed with leather, gold or even platinum. Such beauties can cost 150 thousand, 300 thousand, and even 1 million rubles.
It will be interesting to friends too
