Until recently, spending a lot of money on smartphones capable of running the newest applications was necessary. Solid cell phones have become much more affordable in recent years.
People who have some cash to spend — or who are already committed to a lengthy contract — costly smartphones may still provide many things for them. They’ll offer the finest displays, the quickest hardware, and also the most cutting-edge features. However, these features are no longer required to have a pleasant smartphone experience.
Why Can Expensive Flagships be Compromised?
There are some key features that come with a flagship phone. Most of these features are overly marketed and provide a few additional capacities. If looked thoroughly, one can see that most of these features are exaggerated, and consumers don’t need them for regular use. Here are some basic functionalities that people should think of before buying a smartphone.
Design
The hopeless case of foldable phones demonstrates why design is no longer a factor in flagship phone purchases. Indeed, even mid-range phones have begun to include luxury materials. When purchasing a less costly phone, you are no longer need to pick polycarbonate or plastic materials. At the moment, handsets constructed of metal and glass are available at a reasonable price.
Companies such as HMD Global enabled the smartphone market to adopt premium materials, which trickled down to more affordable lines such as the Galaxy series. Other design trends, such as punch-hole notches and no-bezel screens, are being seen in low-cost smartphones. Thus, some mid-range phones outperform flagship in terms of design.
Particle Accelerator
This year, smartphone lovers have seen a greater emphasis on modular components in the premium category, despite a dearth of noteworthy modules. And Samsung keeps continuing to push curved-edge smartphones, despite the fact that the majority of functionality is available on flat-screen phones. Meanwhile, the OnePlus 3 hardly utilizes its 6 GB of RAM.
A phone never needs an integrated particle accelerator. It is not required to transform into a somewhat jet pack. They are not required to be weighed. The gap between mid-range and premium smartphones is increasingly being determined solely by price and gimmicks.
Though people won’t commonly hear about it, a smartphone with a mid-range CPU, a respectable GPU, and 2/3 GB of RAM will perform almost similar to a device with a high price tag.
For regular user’s everyday smartphone use consists of sending messages, viewing brief videos, and playing simple games. They can get by with pocket-friendly phones. Activities that 95% of the population engages in 95% of the time function the same way whether users spend additional money or not.
Overly Capable Cameras
If someone is a true photographer, he or she will not be using smartphones for their photography. While having high-performing smartphone cameras is desirable, the difference in quality often makes in the details. The vast majority of people just want images of vacations, landscapes, time spent with family, or to document an exciting live event: scenarios in which professional quality is irrelevant.
The essential elements in deciding on a new phone are the camera: it’s one of the few features that are different when compared to a previous device: Typically, RAM, CPU, GPU, and battery capacity go ignored.
However, people also do not need a telescope for their phones in regular scenarios. A 12 MP camera with well-integrated software and optical image stabilization would suffice. Increased megapixels may improve the appearance of images when blown up to a large area, but people can view photos on a smartphone or monitor. Thousands of additional pixels are often wasted in these cases.
A High Definition Screen
When a phone advertises QHD resolution, even manufacturers don’t know that this feature won’t be used too often. According to a study, pixelation occurs at a distance of 7.8 inches from the eyes on a 5-inch 1080p phone and 6.44 inches on a 5.5-inch QHD handset, assuming the user has 20/20 vision.
This implies that unless the phone is held really near to users’ faces, they will miss the more densely filled display entirely. 7.8-inches away from their eyes is already closer than the majority of the time they would gaze at a phone.
The QHD material is not currently widely available: it is not available on Netflix, and just a few YouTube producers are using it. People will most surely not find it on any streaming television or news website. Thus, a Full HD panel with properly calibrated colors and a high brightness level is all that is required.
Extra Large Storage
This is a somewhat more difficult subject to address. Additional storage costs money, but more storage is always better. Having said that, users will have to pay a premium for 64 or 128 GB of internal storage since most phones come with 16 or 32 GB.
One solution is to use microSD cards and cloud storage. As an Android enthusiast would point out, cloud and external storage behave differently than local storage. However, while microSD can store all media and app-specific data, the internal storage capacity will be mostly used for applications: and using 64 or 128 GB of apps is insane.
A 32 GB MicroSD card is purportedly less costly than the more expensive smartphone model, and the majority of users will perceive no difference while accessing data stored on a microSD. Additionally, services such as Google Photos provide limitless storage for photographs up to a certain size.
Future Update
Purchasing flagships used to imply the availability of upgrades. It was formerly widely believed that Chinese businesses, the dominant players in the mid-range market, were incapable of delivering timely Android OS upgrades. However, according to a study published by the Android Authority, OnePlus and Xiaomi have been giving Android Pi upgrades considerably quicker than the other OEMs.
Xiaomi had really updated the Android OS on seven of its devices, including the Poco phone, which made a stir when it was announced. Additionally, the Poco phone will get the Android Q update. Thus, although future updates were once a motivation for many to purchase flagship phones, this benefit is no longer sufficient, which is why people should avoid purchasing a flagship smartphone.
Conclusion
While high-end flagships have a place in the world, the merits of purchasing one are debatable. Mid-range smartphones start at half the price of their flagship counterparts and often provide years of usefulness and OS upgrades. Additionally, marquee features are no longer as revolutionary as they once were and may never have an impact on the typical user’s experience.
Source: United News of Bangladesh