4 Things to check before buying an android phone

Especially when South Asian countries like Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan are flooded with hundreds of new brands of android phones and tablets every week!

The overwhelming number of android devices coming to our markets is mainly because of two reasons.

i) We want cheaper versions of android because that’s what most of us can afford

ii) Every tech company is ready to make some cash in this android boom.

Now how to check which company produces cheap and efficient android phones?

Let me tell you a short real story which introduces you on why you need to be extra careful while buying an android phone in these countries.

Call her Dikshya.

She bought a brand new android phone from the little mobile shop a few kilometres from her house. The sellers forced her to believe that it was the best she could afford.

On the sixteenth day, she was enjoying herself in the kitchen and the phone was beside the TV. Her son, fed up with Ninja Hattori, started sleuthing around with the locked phone. He drew some beautiful patterns on the screen.

He was looking for some interesting game, obviously.

I hope you know that android devices have a most loathsome yet equally helpful function within them. It’s called the Pattern Lock. There you draw a special pattern and the phone remains locked unless the user draws the correct pattern.

And, android gets locked when somebody draws wrong patterns more than 20 times.

That’s what happened. She was Pattern locked.

Now, every android owner is not a techie nor expert in Linux or Windows commands. So, she took it to someone who claimed to know the technical mumbo-jumbo.

‘Hate to introduce myself but that’s me, by the way.

But neither do I know Linux other than that it is a free, fast and safe operating system which you can install on your computer. Nor do I know any Windows commands other than opening the Command Prompt window.

But I have the Google Syndrome. It starts when you google why people google on Google.

Piece of cake. I thought.

A closer examination of the locked android said that it was more than that. It was the mother of all android problems.

Two weeks and 14 days later, the phone is still with me.

The USB debugging is off. Dikshya doesn’t know the username and password she had logged in with. My guess is she had none.

She wasn’t connected to Wi-Fi or Mobile Data Connection. That, even if she had done, is worthless as she doesn’t know her login credentials.

Hard Reset?

I have pressed the Power and Volume Up keys for about a hundred times and other key combinations as well. Nothing.

There’s a hole too where we insert a pin for factory reset, but that doesn’t work. Either the pin doesn’t push anything or the hole is just fake.

There’s no place to Wipe Data and do a factory reset.

Since USB debugging is off on the phone, I can’t connect it to my PC and do something magical.

The phone has become a brick. No one’s nearby to hit with.

Emailed the company but the line is dead, though they have a very much alive website.

Her only hope is me and I’m trying my best. To unlock the pattern of her life.

But what will you do if that happens to you?

What indeed will you do if the android you bought, saving day by day, rupee by rupee, turns into a brick?

Prevention is better than cure. Prevent yourself from buying cheap and faulty android phones.

That’s what I want to profess after poring through dozens of android forums, blogs, videos and gurus on the internet. After a sickening feeling of failure in unlocking the patterns.

You just have to be a bit more careful while buying android phones and tablets these days.

Why?

Because :

a) The buyers aren’t as techie as we sound.

b) The philanthropic Chinese companies are cloning every expensive phone so that the medium class can afford them. And, most of their products have less functions than the original ones.

c) Other companies are ordering and labeling the Chinese mobile chips and all with their brands and shoving them down our mouth.

So, here’s the list which will guide you on what to check before buying an android phone or tablet.

Let’s jump into the android awareness list.

Follow these standard procedures before you buy an android device in a cheap price anywhere within South Asia.

1. Think of buying a specific model not a general android phone

Be a bit tech savvy. If you are new to android, don’t make up your mind to buy just a general android phone. Choose the company and the model.

So that you won’t have to buy whatever the seller pushes down your throat.

You need to choose the make and model of the phone before buying.

Your friends ask you, “What phone are you buying?”

Bad : “I’m buying an android.”
Good : “ I’m buying Samsung Fame GT-S8610.”

Likewise you shouldn’t be getting into the android shop and asking:

‘Show me an android phone which costs less than Rs. 10000.’

But…

‘Is there a DTC GT3 Astroid?’

2. Choose from a popular brand

Cheaper the phone, the less efficient they are. Go for more expensive ones.
More expensive here doesn’t mean something you have to sell your house for.

Remember this Nepali proverb: Cheap things cause diarrhoea.

As there’s a huge competition between android phone companies, you can easily get better branded phones for a good price.

You could be thinking about buying a Colors android for Rs. 8000 but if you investigate more you could find a good Samsung android for Rs. 10000 or in the same price.

You can surely wait and buy the Samsung.

The problem with cheap android phones from Lava, Colors, Micromax, KIVI etc  is that they aren’t fully functional android phones.

Dikshya’s phone was a KIVI android and you’ve read its sad story above.

Most of the important parts of these phones are manufactured by Chinese companies like Spreadtrum.  Indian companies like Colors, Micromax, KIVI and companies from other countries stick their brands. They cost less and also have less functions.

For a higher price, they also have models where all the functions are flawless.

The worst thing about such a phone is that you can’t repair it yourself when something goes wrong. You may need to pay a heavy price to make it work again.

Yes, you need the warranty too. Check whether you get warranty. That way, if anything technical goes wrong, you won’t have to pay for repairs for a specified period of time.

Or, sometimes the company might replace your faulty phone with a better one.

3. Read the reviews

Before buying an android phone, always read its reviews on the internet. You need to read more than one review as we can’t tell the first review you read might be a sponsored post by the phone manufacturer.

Don’t forget to read the comments and analyse what other buyers or potential buyers are saying.

To search reviews for Lava iris 349, you can just type in ‘lava iris 349’ or ‘lava iris 349 review’ on Google’s search box.

4. Compare the phone specifications in the reviews

The easiest way to do this is to open up reviews of two android phones and compare the specifications and price.

You can also go to PhoneArena and search for the android you want to buy. Hit the Compare button to compare your phone with another phone with similar price.

While comparing androids, you can mainly look at these features:

i) Processor – Double processors (dual core processors) with 1GHz speed or higher is better. Powerful processor lets you use your android without any hiccups.

Quad Core processors are better than dual cores. They will definitely be more expensive.

ii) Android version – The newer the version the better. The most recent android version is 4.4 named KitKat. The older versions are:

Android 4.3 Jelly Bean
Android 4.2 Jelly Bean
Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
Android 4.0.3–4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich
Android 4.0–4.0.2 Ice Cream Sandwich
Android 3.2 Honeycomb
Android 3.1 Honeycomb
Android 3.0 Honeycomb
Android 2.3.3–2.3.7 Gingerbread
Android 2.3–2.3.2 Gingerbread

iii) Battery Capacity – mAh defines the charge the battery can hold until it needs to be recharged. The ideal mAh for android with 5inch display is 2000mAh and 4.5 inch display is 1750 mAh.

Remember learning Unitary Method at school. Now’s your time to use it.

The problem should be like this:

If a 5 inch display needs 2000mAh, how much does a 7 inch display need?

iv) Internal memory (ROM) – This inbuilt memory should be at least 2GB. Nowadays most phones have internal memory that can be expanded upto 32 GB.

When ROM is less, you can’t download and use many apps from Play Store. For a smooth functioning of the apps, experts always recommend a lot of empty space in your internal memory.

Similarly, don’t go for any android with RAM (read R-A-M and not R-O-M) less than 512Mb. But these days, most of the cheap android phones have RAM 1 Gb to 2 Gb. That’s great !

v) Expandable external memory – It’s better if the external memory (SD Card) can be expanded.

vi) Durability – Check how strong the phone is. Is it slippery, and hence might fall off from your hands too often? Does the make of the phone make you feel that it will crumble into pieces once it takes a fall? Will it survive your mood, if you are habituated to express your anger by throwing, smashing and clawing your phone?

vii) Camera – For a low price, anything above or equal to 3MP (megapixels) is good. The greater the MP, the better your photos. And, higher the price of the android.

You should also remember that if you really want to take good photographs, it’s not done with a phone but with a DSLR.

5. Can you reset your android phone?

Last thing to check but it is also the most important.

Look around for the Back Up and Reset function in Settings. It’s good if they are there but in case you get the problem like Dikshya’s, it’s useless.

What you should be able to do is a hard reset.

In case everything is locked, we need to press some keys together in android phones for a hard reset. This wipes every data stored in your android and makes it new; just like what you had bought from the store.

Wipe data means to wipe all the downloaded apps and your Google user profile (Gmail) so that you can start new. To do that you need to take out the memory card and sim card, then switch off the phone and

i) Either press Power button and Volume Up keys together.
ii) Or, press Power + Volume Up + Home key together. The Home button, in this case, should be pressable.
iii) Or, press Power + Volume Up + Camera key together.
iv) Or, press Power + Volume Up + Volume Down key together

If neither of these key combinations work then it’s better to google for the correct combination. Example: how to hard reset KIVI KS111

When pressed for some seconds, the android screen should display something like this :

You can see that there’s an option to Wipe Data.

But in cheap android phones, the screen looks like this.

There’s no option to wipe data. This means that in case the phone gets locked, there’s no easy way you can make it run within five minutes.

And, notice Spreadtrum on the upper end of the display. Sometimes, in some phones, the phone companies try to cover Spreadtrum with their own brand or some other android codes.

You can check this before buying the phone.

Don’t be afraid, the phone won’t explode or turn into a brick. Once you see whether you can wipe its data or not, you can just select Reboot with the help of the Volume keys and restart the phone.

In some mobiles, there’s no Reboot either. In such case, you can simply take the battery out and insert it back.

Now, my point is why would you want to buy a cheap phone if you can’t make it work after a little mistake? Like leaving it alone for some minutes with game hungry kids around.

Why not buy something good and durable for the same price or a bit higher?

Why regret later?

There are ways you can use even a cheap android wisely. If you checked your phone and found out that it’s one of the Spreadtrum series though it might have been labeled as Micromax, Colors, Kivi or whatever.

You need to do these right away.

i) Search the Warranty Card.

ii) If you are absent minded or have children around you, disable the pattern lock on your android.

iii) Note down the Gmail username and password you’ve logged in your android with, and keep it somewhere safe.

iv) Go to Settings, then Developer Options of your android and tick (enable) USB Debugging. This will be helpful to technicians who will work on your phone, in case your android gets into trouble.

That’s it. I can’t take your pain anymore.