Phones selection process

How much do we really know about phones, I remember I was stuck on Symbian Nokia phones for a long time one reason was at the time the on smartphones Nokia had were the N-Series and then E-Series. Then Nokia followed HTC into the Windows Operating System environment at the time it was Windows phone 7. I remember seeing the Lumia 900 and thinking its time to save money and get me one. But my first thought of a smartphone was a Nokia E5. It was a very handy phone and I enjoyed using it till disaster struck. The phone fell into a tub filled with water and that was that. I went and got myself a Asha phone because at the time Microsoft and Nokia had announced a new flagship Windows Phone 8 device. This is where my journey into Windows phone begins and what journey we have had with my Nokia Lumia 920.

That's me the night my phone arrived via DHL, I was overjoyed till I realized I will have to wait for morning so that I get a new micro sim card.

How to choose a Phone

This a very a important part of selecting your device.
1. Operating System this is the software that your device will use to allow you to have a working environment.

• Android - This is a google specification which like Linux in that it is open source. Now with the Android platform you get a solid software which customizable(so they say, I yet to see someone who has change the UI from what comes out of the box). The android platform is not a consistent format. The UI on Samsung, HTC, even Sony using the same software is very different.
• iOS - This Apple's baby it is a beautifully built platform like Android it is solid but is only available to iDevices. The UI is beautiful and consistent from device to device.
• Windows - Microsoft is the late coming into the smart phone world they have but a solid platform that is consistent no matter what device you are on. PC, Laptop, Tablet or phone the Operating system and UI are the same.
• BlackBerry - In terms of enterprise space this was the operating system to have, the Blackberry platform is very secure as BB utilizes its own space for encryption purposes. 

2. Applications this is the software that provides you with the ability to accomplish tasks, be it at a social level or business. Developers have made applications that will work with the Operating system you have.

• Android - the PLAY STORE is where you would go to find Apps when using an Android device. In the apps competition Android is heads above all in terms of sheer volume of apps available in the store. There is a lot of Open Source app developers and most of the Globally available Apps can be found in Play Store and there is a lot of 3rd party options.
• iOS -  Apple Store is the official place to get all your apps, you'll need to create an account with apple and provide credit card information. like android most of the globally available apps can be found in the store. Apple is strict about the published apps and will only published if they are test and certified by the Apple engineers. Apple store has the second largest number of apps in the store.
• Windows - Windows Store is the official place where you can find applications for the Microsoft based devices, windows is still attracting app developers to their platform they current have close to 90% of the globally available Apps in the store with a promise of more to come. You will find good alternatives from 3rd party developers for those apps that are not yet in the store. Like Apple Microsoft is very strict on the Apps that it publishes in the store.
• BlackBerry -  BlackBerry World is where you will find the apps for blackberry devices, they have concentrated on enterprise apps and have the least amount of globally available apps. They have also opened up the BlackBerry Messenger(BBM) to Android and iOS and soon to Windows phone. 

3. Devices Let us look at devices in terms of the hardware, the feel and weight of a phone is very important. You want to be comfortable when gripping  the phone and when texting and answering calls.
The strength of the device body and screen are very important, there is a lot of videos on Youtube where people do crash test, hammer and knife test of devices.
Battery life of smart phones is really poor if you compare to the legacy devices this mainly due to the processor and its processing capabilities. Also the graphics adapter that is displaying the images on screen.
Screen resolution is another factor to consider dpi is an important measure how many vertical and horizontal pixels you can fit in a inch is what makes an image clear and distorted.
Memory is highly important as this is the one device or service that is going to be holding programs, apps and data when you use the phone
Processors are getting better nowadays we are seeing device manufacturers release quad core(4cpus in one) processors which is really impressive.
Storage this is where your device can store apps, data, music, videos and so on you have a choice of 8GB-64GB built in and some devices can expand the storage available by use of Micro SD Cards.
Camera most devices will have a primary and a secondary camera. The Primary camera will most times be located at the rear of the device and has a high resolution which is good for taking pictures and video. The secondary front facing camera is low resolution and mostly used for video chat.

4. Support and Security To me one of the most important things when I select a product is availability of support services. Does the product have a dedicated team for support, are there forums that I can join to find important information.
How many time does the system have updates also gives away how secure a device's operating system is.
How easy can an app be attacked by malware or how easy are phishers able to piggyback on the app.