Phones have become a part of our routine. We use them to keep in touch, to check the news, for entertainment, and more. New smartphones are launched every quarter, and there are always doubts knowing a better, faster device is right around the corner. Phone launches are all about bigger screens, more cameras and efficient hardware. Customers also want great looking devices, that are fun to flaunt. A well-designed smartphone with cutting-edge hardware is often expensive, with prices exceeding Rs. 40,000 sometimes, even more than a lakh. Premium smartphones run the fastest processors around, and are built around a ton of RAM, but do we really need all that performance? Do we use it?
Phones down the order have changed too. They now ship with features once only seen on high-end devices. The core features are important, regardless of how expensive the phone is. We all want a phone with a decent processor, RAM, storage and connectivity options. Most of us simply don’t care about whether the processor inside our phones is the fastest. We often look for phones of specific brands or within a specific price range. A good design is also important.
A large screen and a good camera setup, as it turns out, can mean more. An AMOLED screen running a full HD resolution or more, adds value to the experience than say, a top-end processor. Apps, images, movies and games look way better than an LCD display. AMOLED screens improve battery life too and if you choose a phone that supports HDR, you will be treated to some impressive colour gradient reproduction. Many online streaming services broadcast HDR content too, so the benefits are easy to spot. We spend most of our time on a phone looking at the screen, so why would you settle for anything less? The good news is that you can find a good phone that fits your budget and has that awe-inspiring display.
Smartphones have allowed many of us take up mobile photography as a hobby. The kind of cameras seen on mid-range smartphones is mind-boggling. Zooming into objects, clicking wide-angle and macro shots are not out of reach anymore. Most phones come with multiple-camera setups. Using photo editing apps on a large, high-quality screen has added benefits too. Editing photos is simpler with the extended real estate. A good screen gives you a realistic idea of captured photos and edits made. We spend a lot of time on Instagram, either uploading photos or going through timelines. A good screen and camera combination make all the difference.
Product designs are slowly turning into an important part of every phone and it’s on our checklist too. The kind of designs seen on modern smartphones is staggering, irrespective of the price. Every brand has experimented with reflective gradient designs, 3D curved chassis, in-display camera notches, and more.
There are other improvements in budget phones too. Take for example, storage. Gone are the days of 8GB internal storage. Most smartphones today come with 32GB of internal storage, while some others come with 256GB and higher. This brings the freedom of being able to install any number of apps, store movies and TV shows, without ever having to worry about running out of space. Many of these devices support UFS storage too, which offers faster data transfer speeds than before. This helps not only in loading apps and games, but also in high-bandwidth tasks such as recording 4K footage using the cameras we have been talking about. A lot of phones even allow expansion of storage using microSD cards. These are the features slowly becoming a standard on smartphones as low as Rs. 25,000.
Battery improvements are some of the most valuable bits of modern smartphones, and they have been passed down to some phones in the sub-Rs. 25,000 bracket. Not only are the battery sizes larger and the efficiency of processors higher, these smartphones also can be charged in no time at all thanks to the power of fast charging. It’s not uncommon to see phones charging from 0 to a 100 per cent in an hour or less. Once charged, you can be on your way through a day of work or more, and not worry about plugging in. Most phones come bundled with a compatible fast charger too. A norm day, but it was unheard of just two years ago.
We aren’t claiming processors and RAM aren’t important. They are, and we are glad to see the kind of improvements that have made mid-range processors way more capable than they used to be. They can handle gaming, offer better connectivity, handle all the camera functions and more, while consuming less power than they used to. The truth is, most of us use apps that work perfectly fine without a flagship-class processor. The commonly used apps tend to be the browser, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, an e-mail client and a few others. Even photo editing apps and games like PUBG and Fortnite run just fine on most mid-range hardware. The performance difference between high-end and low-end processors has increased a lot. Fortunately, most mid-range processors have moved up towards flagship processors. Improvements in the graphics performance has helped too. Many modern mid-range processors handle intensive gaming titles with slightly toned-down graphics settings. You won’t notice the difference in most cases.
These are exciting times for any smartphone enthusiast. Premium smartphone manufacturer, OnePlus is returning to its roots, launching a brand-new premium smartphone at an attractive price. It’s called the OnePlus Nord and it inherits most of the flagship standards and designs, but it’s priced starting from Rs. 24,999. That makes it a very good value-for-money purchase. If you have been putting back on purchasing a new smartphone, the window to get yourself a OnePlus Nord. Pre-orders for the OnePlus Nord have already begun, and you can book yours online at RelianceDigital.in or by visiting your nearest Reliance Digital store.
