My contract for a new smartphone is up and soon I’ll be upgrading. So I’m diving deep into smartphone specs as I look to capitalize on what my next phone will be.
Below is a look at the criteria of the technical specs a phone NEEDS to have.
Keep in mind, this list will be my own opinion for my specific use. I’d love to hear what you value for your own situation.
Side note: I will be leaving the debate of operating system out of this article, but do find myself having such a positive Android experience and low hopes for Microsoft and iOS. Just the way it is folks.
Exchangeable Batteries
The battery life on phones are getting impressive, I’m not worried about that in the short-term. But they seem to have a lifespan of one year. (which is ridiculous) Doesn’t matter who your phone is from, Samsung, Apple, or any of the others, in one year you can expect half the life of your battery and it shorts exponentially. I made the mistake of “toughening it out” even though my Note 4 has a swappable battery. Now I cannot make it 4 hours and its dead. Same when I had my iPhone before this one. I simply cannot consider a phone that does not allow me to swap the battery out.
Quality Cameras
I am willing to pay a premium on a phone just to get a better set of cameras. I already have found myself using my wife’s phone (Samsung GS7 Edge) when she will let me. I need it for the vlog, capturing memories with the family, and video chatting with family thousands of miles away.
Waterproof
As a father of a slobbering baby, a four-year old who uses the phone while eating, and experimenting with video footage while at the water park or in the rain, water proof (or water resistant as the manufactures call it) is a must for warranty concerns and great shots. I’ve used my wife’s phone at the pool a couple of times and it has proven to be quite amazing.
Storage
While I have access to the cloud and this is a less vital issue than it was a year or two ago, I do love my videos. In fact, I’ve looked at doing time lapse videos that is short when I add them to my vlogs, but take up a ton of space.
Bonus: What I Don’t Need
I figure I’d give you a bonus two cents with what I feel is a waste with hardware features.
- 3D Recording – At this time, I see ZERO use. I don’t even want to buy a 3D monitor or television, why would I want to produce with it? Pass.
- Modular – Modular phones have yet to prove themselves. I honestly have high hopes for the future, but it’s really not a super positive solution at this time.
- Finger-Print Reader – If I found the same device and only had to pay a few dollars more to get it, I would. But I am not setting the choice of my phone purchase based solely on a finger-print reader. It’s convenient, but not needed.
- Wireless Charging – I like the idea, but feel it’s too expensive with the needed accessories and lack of implementation in life at coffee shops or other locations I would want to charge my phone.
What did I miss with the hardware that needs to be in a smartphone for you to want to buy it?
Jeremy Smith
I am a blogger, clinical counselor, gamer, and someone who loves to pushback so you can create the very best thing possible. I blog exclusively about church technology as a senior staff writer at ChurchMag as well as about life in general on my personal site JeremyGrantSmith.com. You can also find my eBooks on ChurchMag Press.
I’d put expandable storage. I went from a Galaxy Mega (with expandable memory and exchangeable battery) to the Note 5 which lost both of those. Oh boy what an error by Samsung. Glad to see the Micro SD slot is coming back. I didn’t realize how much I relied on these two features until I didn’t have it any more.
I thought about that after I wrote the article and I wasn’t sure which area to put it in. I’ve had the option on nearly every phone but with cloud services and having 1TB on Google Drive that I sync every time I’m on WiFi, I haven’t had the need to use it. So I probably would myself put it in the not needed section for phones.
This was a lot of food for thought for me. We are in the market for new phones soon, so this was really helpful.
But as I dig into it, I am finding that there will need to be some prioritization, since getting some features in one phone is going to be hard.
Any features a must have or don’t need from the list above?
I could go without waterproof. If push comes to shove, I could always level up with an awesome case for that or something.
The problem I am finding about the battery issue, is that many of the higher end models (with the nicer cameras) don’t have replaceble batteries. :T
a really interesting list Jeremy and I think this is something that people really ought to do before they look at any purchase. It helps to not get caught up in the hype machine (although I’m sure I could make a case why I NEED VR on my next smartphone…but I’m sure I don’t!)
Some things I find interesting both that are on your list and that I might consider.
The expander battery item is interesting, I’ve not had any battery issues on any phone I’ve had for the last 4 years. That’s not to say it isn’t true and I think battery LIFE is a big issue. In addition to that, I wonder if fast charging is something which appeals to you? I can see how people who use a lot of battery life in a day could use a quick boost function.
Likewise with waterproofing, I’ve never really found myself needing something like that but I know several people with kids who have sung it’s praises. my dad could have used it on his last phone too ;P
I think the ecosystem does matter to people as well, especially if you have an Apple phone. You might have some expensive apps which you don’t want to buy again on android (although with everything moving to subscriptions that will probably be less of a problem soon).
I’ve been keeping my eyes open for phones with dual sim cards as changing countries (and sims) can be a real hassle.
I’m intrigued what phone you find that matches your criteria, expandable batteries are rarer and rarer these days. I think only the G5 from LG is the only flagship that has that option.
Having a plan is always a must for me. Impulsive buys almost always lead to frustration, regret, and wasted money.
I have fast charging on my Note 4 and it’s great. Not a need, assuming the battery can survive the whole day but it is nice.
The ecosystem can matter, but I have exactly one paid application on my Android phone and three on my previous iPhone, so it’s mute for me.
Great list. My list would mostly be the same. I’m less concerned with the camera. At this point, most smartphone cameras are beyond what I need.
I would add under storage that it needs to be expandable. Micro SD cards are so cheap anymore, that it doesn’t make sense to pay $100 for a few extra gigs of internal memory. At least, not to me.
Personally, and not to spark to much debate, the Galaxy S7 has been the best smartphone I have ever used. My old S4 died about a month ago and I was able to upgrade to this one. It’s got everything in your list and mine, plus a fingerprint reader and wireless charging, but I’m not actually using either of those.
See my reply to a comment above about storage, but I don’t see huge space needed and it’s starting to be expected you have at least 32GB on the lowest end phone. My wife has the S7 and loves it. She uses the fingerprint reader all the time, so I see the convenience. (Does it have a removable battery? I haven’t checked my wife’s phone.)
Unfortunately, it does not. I got that part confused with another phone I was looking at. The battery in it is awesome, but it is only a month old, so time will tell on it’s durability.
I agree about memory. Sometimes I think the whole ‘lack of mini SD’ thing is a smartphone sales tactic, so people have to upgrade sooner…