The biggest flagship devices of 2020 have come and gone and now many eyes will be waiting to see what big changes can be made on next year’s flagship devices – there has been a little lull for smartphone releases as many changes feel uninspired and unnecessary, but which each year that passes, we get one step closer to that next big revolutionary change. If you’ve been holding on to an older device for quite some time and are looking to upgrade, how can you choose the device to best fit your needs and are you better off waiting until the new year?
Your mobile uses – The first step is to identify what you’ll primarily be using the mobile device for – if you’re just texting and using it as an alarm, upgrading may not hold any value, but if you’re doing anything different on your device you’ll see so big benefits from changing. One of the most common mobile uses today is within gaming, throughout the year in particular there has been a huge surge in gambling and betting here despite initiatives like Gamstop aimed at reducing the number of players – if you fancy yourself a mobile gamer, there are certain advantages to specific devices that you’re unlikely to find elsewhere and should certainly be a consideration for you.
Features that excite you – Whilst you may be choosing a device to fit your needs and uses, you also need to consider the features that excite you away from your mandatory needs – the big changes in recent years have largely focussed on the camera tech and how effectively you can shoot video and take pictures, but with other features like faster and more responsive displays, adjustments in battery size, and even features that are slowly starting to be phased out like expandable memory or headphone jacks – choosing features that you like over the spec that best fits your purpose may also help influence your decision.
Future proofing – If you’re the type to hold on to a device for a longer period of time, looking forward to potential changes that may happen and future proofing yourself could be important too – the big boxes to tick at the moment are largely within battery size and 5G capabilities – it’s widely expected the next big change for phones will be within battery capacity as power draw has increased but capacity has largely remained the same, and with 5G around the corner that only adds more power draw. As with other features mentioned earlier, so many are disappearing and you may be limited to what you can use sooner rather than later.
It’s certainly becoming a big commitment, modern devices are stretching in to the four-figure price range and will only continue to climb moving forward – early adoption may not be helpful now, but could certainly set you up for the future where you don’t feel you need to drop four figures every year for features that offer little to enhance your mobile experience.