Dummy’s Guide to Purchasing a Cell Phone

September 19, 2005

So you are in the market for a cell phone, but you have no idea where to start. This guide to buying a cell phone provides helpful hints, great comparison websites, and more.

Where to start:
First things first. Think about what type of features that you need in a wireless phone. Do you want the latest technology, need to stay in touch with the office or just something that connects you to your granddaughter? Cell phones offer a variety of functions and services so you should look at what options are important to you. Cell phone features include:

• Internet capabilities through WiFi or Bluetooth
  • Stay connected to the Internet via your cell phone with WiFi or Bluetooth wireless technologies
• Video and camera options.
  • Snap a shot of your friends in action with a digital camera right from your wireless phone.
• Large and small memory space.
  • Each phone offers a different amount of memory space depending on what type and how many features it offers.
• Downloadable games, ringtones and wallpapers.
  • Some phones allow for new downloads of games, ringtones and wallpapers to keep your cell phone as personalized as possible.
• Messaging options through text and instant messaging programs
  • Text message options or get a phone that works with your current IM program such as AOL or Yahoo.
• Speakerphone
• Web cast options
  • Downloads live television feeds right to your phone.
• Color screen
• Flip phone, slide phone or base phone
  • Choose from a variety of handset styles.
• E-mail capabilities.
  • Stay connected to the office with wireless e-mail capabilities.
• Full keyboards.
  • Phones offer a numbered key pad and some offer a full keyboard featuring all of the letters of the alphabet.
• Microsoft applications such as Excel or Word.
  • Use applications to view, edit, and attach documents to stay caught up with work.

Web sites such as www.cellspider.com allows users to see a variety of phones to help determine what types of features are currently available.

What to do next:
Once you have established what features are important to you and your calling needs the next thing to determine is how much you want to spend on the phone. Wireless phones come in a variety of prices from $20 to $500 depending on the brand, the types of features and the date of the release.

Comparison-shopping:
After determining your price range and the features that are important, you then have to begin to do some comparison-shopping so that you can get the most bang for your buck. If you currently have a cell phone provider, look at what phones they currently offer since most providers only have a limited amount of cell phones that they feature to their customers. If you don’t have a service provider, you get to browse through a lot of phones and then have to decide if the carrier that offers the phone provides a service package that suites your needs. Web sites offer comparison charts that compare features and price. Check out www.wireless-phones.com and www.planvsplan.com.

Reviews:
Once you have a phone or two in mind it is a good idea to see what others think of that model. Currently, there are numerous cell phone review web sites that allow users to submit their opinions of the device as well as expert opinions. Do a web search to find out as much information as possible about the cell phone or two that you have in mind.

Purchase:
Once you have thoroughly reviewed your cell phone and have decided that it has all the features at the price that you want the next step is to buy it. You can purchase a cell phone through a web site, in a wireless store or over the phone. Make sure that the phone you pick is compatible with the wireless provider of your choice.