Most phone manufacturers have now come round to a phone production schedule that is far more frequent than common sense would lead you to believe it necessary.
Phones are released each season as if they were a fashion item.
Whilst it is true that phone technology, such as screen quality and size, CPU, GPU and storage is improving all of the time, there hardly seems justification for so many new phones to be released by these companies.
Of course, most of it is marketing bluster. You don’t necessarily need the latest advancements in LCD technology, especially if you bought a new phone last year.
There are however some basics that you do need, and we’ll cover them in this article.
Before you offload your hard earned dough on a new phone, check reviewsbird.co.uk for the latest reviews and deals so that you can be sure that you are spending your money in the right way.
Signal Improvements
You may experience some problems with your mobile phone, but before we go any further, please do check that it is your phone that is the problem, and not your network provider.
Make the most of telecom network feedback that is available online.
Check your signal levels, and check coverage maps that are published by all the major providers before you change your phone.
Chances are if you are suffering from dropped calls, poor call quality or reduced data rates it is your signal strength or provider that is at fault.
Modern phones shouldn’t suffer from problems like these, so get that resolved at source first.
Technological Advancements
Next, you need to ask yourself what other issues you have with your phone.
Are you having trouble installing apps?
iPhones running older versions of iOS, particularly before iOS 10 will experience issues downloading and installing the latest apps from the app store. In fact, you won’t be able to install many.
Similarly for older versions of Android. At the time of writing, you shouldn’t be using Android 7 or lower.
Keeping up to date in terms of your phone’s firmware is probably much more important that keeping up to date with the latest phone.
The reason being is that if your phone has the latest software, it’ll be able to run the latest apps.
In reality, technological advancements aren’t so fast as to render your phone unusable over a year or so.
Your software updates may be controlled by either your telecoms provider or the phone manufacturer, depending on whether you have a contract or not.
Hardware Advancements
At the very least, a modern phone should be able to give you a HD display.
It should have an accelerometer, compass, GPS, Bluetooth and wifi (with hotspot). Beyond that, you really are paying for optional extras that you probably won’t end up using.
Be very careful with the specs that your phone manufacturer gives you as they are trying to sell you a phone. Take a look at how much memory you’ve used on your old phone. If it’s 5 years old, then double your requirement on your new phone. You’re good to go.