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Phone Buyers Guide

Technologies to look out for when choosing a Mobile Phone...

With the number of mobile phones on our store picking the right phone can be a little overwhelming. To simplify matters we have put together this guide explaining the latest technologies and what to look out for.

Key features



Ergonomics: With the exception of 3G models, which need to retain at last some screen size to make the most of their multimedia features, handsets have reduced in size rapidly. A common weight for a handset is around 100g. This is partly to do with the fashion element - small being beautiful ?



Battery life: Expect anything between 40 and 100 hours between charges depending upon the particular phone and the usage it is put to. Recharging time will also vary between models. Other factors that will affect battery performance are: bright colour screens and video transmissions and poor network coverage where the battery has to work harder to maintain a signal.



Predictive text: If you are going to be doing a lot of texting - then predictive text can help you reduce the chances of thumb strain and let you converse more quickly. Most phones have predictive T9 text as standard.



Camera Phones:

Features to look for

Lens
The quality of the lens is often the component that will represent the overall quality of your camera-phone. This is true of all cameras; film cameras and digital cameras alike. A camera-phone lens is much simpler than a digital camera lens, usually comprising three lens elements as opposed to the 11 elements in a digital SLR camera lens.


Camera Phones are now a part of everyday life

To date the most impressive camera-phones we've seen are the Nokia N95, which takes exceptional photos and also the touchscreen LG Viewty

Flash
Considering the simplicity of the lens structure in a camera-phone, the image sensor needs all the help it can get to achieve a decent exposure. A flash is an absolute must, and it's surprising to see so many camera-phones are still lacking in this area. There are currently two options available to better light your subjects:

LED--Early examples of LED flashes performed similarly to a small torch providing a constant, yet dull, source of light. Now we often see LED flashes that "fire" when the camera exposes, as you would expect. Under many circumstances an LED flash will help achieve a better exposure, but not considerably.

Xenon--Known also as a strobe flash, a Xenon flash emits an extremely bright burst of light and is the flash of choice for camera-phones. A Xenon bulb can be shaped around the lens to reduce shadows produced by the flash during the exposure. Increasingly we are seeing Xenon flashes on higher grade camera-phones.

Zoom
Basically, there are two types of zoom: Optical and digital. Optical equals good, digital equals bad. Optical uses adjustments in the distances between the elements in the lens group to achieve the zoom and should maintain a sharp image, whereas, digital zoom works like a cropping effect, selecting a portion of the image and blowing it up to fill the total size of the final image.

Focus
The majority of camera-phones are fixed focus, but increasingly we are seeing camera-phones with autofocus, and we look forward to future developments like face recognition. If your budget allows, choosing a mobile with focusing options will definitely help you get the most out of your camera-phone.





GSM: The Global System for Mobile Communications uses three frequencies for phones, 900MHz, 1800MHz and 1900 MHz. A dual-band phone will work on two out of three frequencies (900MHz and 1900MHz). These are the frequencies used in Europe, Asia and most other places except the United States (which uses 1800MHz). A tri-band phone will operate on all three frequencies and therefore, in theory, will work anywhere in the world.



Bluetooth: This is a technology that enables electronic devices to communicate with each other without being physically connected. Bluetooth equipped phones can be used via a wireless headset and can connect to PCs wirelessly to transmit information. Infrared enabled phones have similar capabilities but the infrared ports of the various devices you are transferring data between need to be in line of sight.



MMS: Multimedia messaging is used by camera phones to send pictures, sound and text all in one message. The recipient needs to have an MMS phone; otherwise they receive a text asking them to access a website that will display your message.



Ringtones: Part of the fashion element of the mobile phone, polyphonic ringtones can be downloaded straight to your phone and even linked to specific callers.



Services: As speeds of transmission increase and video quality improves network operators are increasing the number and types of service available to customers. The latest news, weather, and sporting results can all be accessed via the latest mobiles. Planet 3 & Vodafone Live are the most popular access services in Ireland



3G: The 3G set of technologies available in the latest phones allows the delivery of multimedia content to your mobile phone. Video Calling, Live Sport, Video messages, Internet Access and online gaming all services you can now access through your handset. 3 are currently the pioneers of this technology in Europe



WAP: WAP pages, essentially web pages adapted for the smaller screen, are now accessed by mobile phone users to get the latest information on a range of topics from sports results to the latest weather and news updates.