Tips How to buy Smartphone

Cameras and Music PlayersFor a few years, feature phones with good cameras and music players flourished. But especially now that the iPhone and Android devices are popular, phone manufacturers across the board decided anyone who wants to take decent pictures or replace their iPod probably wants a smartphone.
That said, feature phone cameras can still satisfy casual users who just want snaps to post on Facebook or Twitter. Look for a phone with at least a 5-megapixel camera. Keep an eye on our reviews to see which phones take washed-out, compressed-looking photos and which take bright, clear shots. It's tougher to find a good video phone; we'd recommend a newer smartphone for this purpose. If you want to post your videos online or burn them to DVD, look for a handset that captures at least 640-by-480-pixel videos, at 30 frames per second or better. Most of today's higher-end smartphones offer 720p (1,280-by-720-pixel) or 1080p (1,920-by-1,080-pixel) high-definition recording; many even offer image stabilization, which reduces jerkiness from unsteady hands.

For music, you want a phone with a 3.5-mm headphone jack, so you can listen to your songs with standard headphones. If you get a phone with a 2.5-mm jack, or even worse a proprietary one, you'll need a clumsy adapter to use quality headphones. As an alternative, look for a phone that supports stereo Bluetooth wireless headphones. Smartphones offer the most comprehensive music players. Apple iPhones work with iTunes, while the freeware doubleTwist does a great job of syncing both PCs and Macs with Android and some LG feature phones. Many people are moving to streaming services now anyway, like Spotify and Google Music, so it's less important than it used to be. Windows Phone 7.5 devices work with Zune software on both Macs and PCs, while BlackBerry Desktop Software syncs BlackBerrys to iTunes on either platform as well.

All About PricingCell phones are more expensive than they appear. American wireless carriers subsidize the price of handets, in exchange for signing customers to binding two-year contracts. That's why you can get a phone like the powerful HTC One X for just $99.99 on AT&T, even though the phone's actual retail price is $449.99.

Still, amortize the up-front cost out over two years, and it pales in comparison to what you'll pay every month. Look at it in that light, and maybe it makes sense to splurge up front to get the awesome Samsung Galaxy Nexus or Apple iPhone 4S you really want, while maybe paring back your minutes or an extra feature or two to hold monthly costs in check. Unlocked phones lack subsidies and cost the most up front, sometimes well in excess of $500. But they let you swap in any AT&T or T-Mobile SIM card, as well as use any prepaid international cards that help you save big when traveling. Unlocked phones don't work on other American carriers, though.

There are also your monthly carrier fees. And this is where things gets tricky, as the carriers make it exceedingly difficult to figure out how much you'll actually pay per month. Verizon and AT&T plans tend to cost the most, but those two carriers have the best voice and data coverage in the nation. Sprint and T-Mobile offer considerable savings, especially on unlimited voice, data, and texting plans, but don't have quite the same level of network coverage.

Don't want to play the contract game at all? Go for a smaller carrier or even a prepaid phone. We're beginning to see prepaid smartphones appear everywhere, especially on smaller regional carriers like Cricket Wireless, MetroPCS, and U.S. Cellular. If you live in an appropriate coverage area and don't need a cutting-edge device, the potential savings can be huge. Even phones with contracts on the smaller carriers like MetroPCS can run as little as $40 or $50 per month, and that's with unlimited voice, data, and text messages, and no extra taxes or fees.

For more, check out our list of The 10 Best Cheap Prepaid Phone Plans You've Never Heard Of.
To get the best price, it pays to check a carrier's Web site before hitting a retail store outlet; often you can do better online, especially with instant rebates, and buying online is also more convenient. Amazon.com, Wirefly, and LetsTalk.com are all good online portals to compare pricing, though many of these will have mail-in rebates instead of instant rebates. Finally, you can grab a used phone off of eBay from the same carrier, and then activate it on your current plan.

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Sources http://www.pcmag.com