TECHNOLOGY: Things to note when buying Android phones

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By Eyo Eyo Ene

There is no doubt that android phones have overwhelmed the mobile phone market thus, making it the most used mobile internet gadget in Nigeria.
This is a testament to the  growing number of people who use the Android phones daily.
But many a time most people don’t actually know the features of these phones and what to look out for. It is either they get the wrong choice or get something that is different from what they set out to buy.
Phone sellers have also taken advantage of this to swindle most people, thereby charging more for far cheaper and less quality phones.
In a chat with a civil servant in Lagos state Mrs. Judith Abosede, “I went to GSM village to buy a new phone that will be compatible with Whatsapp and that can ping, and on purchase I told the attendant I want a phone with android functions only for me to get home and was mocked by my children, saying the phone can only call and send text messages and was told such phones are called…………….
A mobile phone dealer said, “These people are not just selling sub- standard phones, some buyers are selfish in their spending, they want a big phone for a relative cheap price and they get what they paid for”.
He however agreed that some dealers still receive the appropriate price and sell out sub-standards phones to their customers but stressed that, it is because they did not buy it at the right place.
Features to look out for:
·         Messaging;
SMS and MMS message, including e-mail messaging and social application Instant message such as Whatsapp, e.t.c
·         Web Browser;
It has a primary web browser in its all app menu
·         Voice based features;
Google search through voice is enabled in all android phones
·         Multitasking;
Multitasking of applications with unique handing of memory allocation is available.
·         Screen Capture;
Android supports capturing a screenshot by pressing the power and volume-down buttons at the same time. Prior to Android 4.0, the alternative methods for lower version is through customize applications e.g. Screenshot Ultimate
·         Multiple language support; Android supports multiple languages
Connectivity; Android supports connectivity technologies including GSM/EDGE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, LTE, CDMA, EV-DO, UMTS, NFC, IDEN and WiMax.
·         Media;
Android supports media streaming. Android supports the following audio/video media formats: WebM, ACC, 3GP, MP4, MPEG-4 SP, AMR, AMR-WB (in 3GP container), MP3, MIDI, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, WAV, JEPG, PNG, GIF, BMP, Web.
·         Purchase phones from reputable mobile manufacturer
·         Be sure of the battery life span
·         Check the durability of the phone: Make sure it does not look to fragile that it can get damaged easily.
Camera:
Check the camera quality; cos in our present time, photography is fast upgrading even on mobile devices, people tend to appreciate a clearer, brighter and more realistic image quality.
Battery;
Despite all these appealing features, an android phone should have a long lasting battery power of at least 24-48hrs standby time that will promote all this fantastic features mentioned above