Enter the world of hi-tech mobile phones


Guide to Buying a Mobile Phone

How  web  broadcasting  worksgraphic images can be displayed. Mobile
phones also now have onboard memories from
A mobile phone is no longer simply a devicebetween 16MB and 96MB (although this is a
with which you stay in contact with others.standard that changes quickly). Additional
Today, a mobile phone is a multi-functionmemory (500MB or more) is available on phones
fashion accessory, as necessary to yourdedicated to gaming and mp3 playing, and some
appearance as a hairstyle. From how the phonephones also offer slots for adding additional
'flips' open in front of your friends, to thememory  cards.
groove of the ring tone, your mobile phone is
a statement about who you are and how youBattery  and  camera
address the world. And as every parent of a
thirteen year old knows, you simply are not aBattery re-charge life of a phone is
'whole  person'  without  one.determined by the number of features and the
amount of talk time used, but today's phones
To purchase a mobile phone, you need torange between 10 and 14 days of standby time
address a number of issues, not the least ofand 2 to 8 hours of talk time. Obviously
which is who you will be shelling out a smallmemory intensive use shortens the re-charge
fortune to each month, and under whattime. Even the most basic phones now come
conditions, and what you want from your phonewith an in-built digital camera. Some now
service. On top of that, you will want toalso have flash capacity, auto-focus,
decide which handset suits best and whatself-timing, continuous shooting and zoom and
extras and accessories you want to go alongmacro facilities. Many offer low-resolution
with it. au is where you can compare a rangevideo recording and can be used for video
of different offers from different phones andconferencing and receiving streaming video.
service providers very easily, and arrive atOptimally, a camera with more than one mega
a  decision  that  works  for  you.pixel  is  desirable.
Mobile  PhonesConnections  and  options
The  centre  of  communicationsA USB port on a mobile phone enables it to be
connected to your computer to transfer files.
Different phones suit different people, butWireless connectivity using bluetooth and
at the heart of the decision is the question:infra-red allows connection between devices
Is your mobile phone the centre of yoursuch as PCs and PDAs, as well as providing
communications. The answer to this questionhands-free utilities. You may also want a
will mean different things to people withvoice-activated dialling feature, and voice
different  needs.recording functions that enable you to send
MMS messages and voice memos. Phones with
The  studentpolyphonic ring tone capacity enable you to
have a more musical ringtone, and produce a
The student's mobile phone is very definitelybetter  sound.
at the centre of communications, but quite
clearly students have little money to splurgeAt au you can compare all of the features of
and therefore need to buy a phone that hasthe different brand names and the prices
access to economically efficientoffered by different vendors. This takes a
communications. The trendy phone will belot of the difficulty out of narrowing down
important, but at a low cost. It will need toexactly  what you want from you mobile phone.
have excellent texting facility, be able to
accommodate ring tones, and be easy to carry.Connection  choices
Of lesser concern are issues such as camera
and  video  capacity.There are essentially two choices for how you
want to be connected to your phone network: a
The  busy  parentusage plan and term contract, or a pre-paid
option. All service providers can offer both
Whether working out of the home or not, aand under Australian legislation, your phone
busy parent needs to be able to be in touchnumber is portable between service providers.
at odd times and in odd places. This personSome however may charge a fee for early
will be seeking a functional handset with atermination of a contract, and some may
good network capacity. Photographic featurescharge a fee for transferring your number
are handy as are texting features and longfrom another service provider, and some may
talk-time.charge a fee for transferring you number to
another provider. These fees are entirely at
The  executivethe discretion of the service provider and
have no basis in actual network cost
The executive is constantly on the go, and iswhatsoever. If it is charged, it is charged
always in touch while on the go. Thissimply  because  they  can.
person's phone will have added features such
as a teledex, web connectivity, video andYou need to give some thought to how you
photographic features. Additional accessoriesintend (or do) use your phone. Call plan
will include 'hands-free' capacity andcontracts are offered on the basis of how
portability  across  travel  zones.many minutes (or in some cases, 30 second
units) of call time you use, and at what time
The  travellerof day. Carriers promote higher costs for
high volume times of the day, and often
The traveller's phone needs most of all to bereduce costs, or offer 'free' time during low
portable across travel zones and able totimes. Other low cost offers are made for
access networks in international zones. Longcalls between the phones on the same carrier
battery life, video, photographic and webnetwork, while others offer discounts for
connectivity features are all importantbundling packages of home phone, mobile phone
features  considered  by  the  traveller.and Internet account. It's important to read
the conditions attached to any of these
Phone  choicesoffers. Free calls between midnight and six
am may be of little value to you if you're
At the heart of your decision, is which phonesleeping  at  that  time.
to choose? Some limitations may apply
according to the technology you need. If youPre-paid is popular choice, especially if you
live in a rural area, or travel to thedon't make many calls. It also enables a
country a lot, you will likely need access tobetter management of limited funds. When
a CDMA network, and not all handsets aredeciding on your plan, look at costs such as
compatible. The majority of Australia's urban'flagfall' costs and the different rates at
population (95%) is covered with GSMdifferent times of the day. Also check the
technology, and there are a huge number ofcost of calls when you exceed your 'cap' or
handsets  available  that  are  compatible.limit. It is often in this area that the
carrier can make money out of unsuspecting
The  technologyusers.
Other technologies that may affect both yourService  providers
choice of handset and your choice of service
provider are the GPRS technology, designedThe carriers of mobile phone services in
for sending data over the GSM network,Australia include Telstra, Optus, 3
enabling mobile phones to access the internet(Hutchinson), Orange (Hutchinson), Vodafone,
and receive email messages; and the PTTVirgin, B and a number of smaller carriers,
service (Push To Talk), a technology thator agencies who provide services on behalf of
allows mobile phones to be used like two-wayother  carriers.
radios.
Each of the major carriers can offer you the
The  handsetconnection to their network on contract plan
or pre-paid, as well as sell you a
The next step might be to decide on the typepre-packaged handset. Quite often a contract
of handset you favour. Handsets come inwill include a monthly service and you pay
different configurations, from the 'candybar'for a number of minutes of talk or sms
format (long and slim) that is able to fitconnections, as well as pay for the handset.
into a protective carrying case and beOnce the contract is ended, you are free to
operated by one hand. The screen and keypadchange the plan to a different one, or change
are limited by the size and shape of thecarriers  altogether.
handset. Flip-phones and slider phones have
the advantage of small size, but theirSometimes the plan you select is not right
screens and keypads can be larger because offor your usage, and you find that after a few
the use of two halves of a 'clamshell' case.months, you could reduce your costs by
Some slider phones have keypads on a swivel,changing to a different plan. Some carriers
offering a two handed operation. A smartphoneenable you to do this mid-contract without
has a fully functional keypad that enablesany extra penalty; others may charge you a
the editing of Microsoft word documents,fee to change your plan. Study any plan
presentations  and  spreadsheets.carefully and imagine how you will use your
phone  to  take  best  advantage.
Screens  and  memory
You may also need to compare the services
Colour screens are now standard in mostoffered by the different carriers, especially
models, but size, resolution and colours cantheir capacity to service your area within
vary, from between 101Ã-80 pixels totheir network. There's not a lot of point in
353Ã-288 pixels; and between 4000 andbeing with a carrier whose network doesn't
262,000 colours. The better the screenenable anyone to call you when you're at
resolution, the better backgrounds andhome.



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