Smartphones for 2020 are about to start flooding the market, offering users a gigantic number of options to choose from. As the smartphones come by, it is going to be very hard choosing which smartphone to buy. There are those who will settle for flagship devices simply because they are flagships, whereas there many others who would like to have budget but useful smartphones from recognised brands. The question in many people’s minds will be whether to buy a smartphone from particular brands or opt for features – and if the latter, which features do matter? This article is meant to provide you with the four must consider features before you decide to buy that smartphone in 2020.
Item 1: Build Quality
If there is a resolution we need to have made at the beginning of the year is to make an end of cracked screens on smartphones. I bought my current Infinix Zero 5 in December 2017. It came with an on screen protector which I removed immediately (I hate those things). Over the last two years, the phone has fallen down so many times, but without a crack. When I bought the phone, I gave my wife the Infinix Note 3 that I was using before upgrading. Within days she dropped that phone down and the screen cracked immediately. She managed to use the phone for a year and a few months but I had to buy her a new phone a few months ago – whose screen cracked within two days of purchase.
Personally I have never cracked a smartphone’s screen, mostly because I prefer buying smartphones with strong build. When buying smartphones in 2020, the first thing you need to check is whether the glass on the device is at least Corning Gorilla Glass 3 – best if it is Corning Gorilla Glass 5. There are several decent budget phones with proper Corning Gorilla Glass protection that you can get for budgets between shs 15K and shs 30K. Phones that go for shs 30K for instance in 2020 will not only be well built, but will check in almost every other item being discussed in this article.
Item 2: Speed
Phones hanging is so 2015. A smartphone in 2020 should never hang. If you have one of those phones that can’t handle multitasking you shouldn’t count yourself as tech savvy – or at least as someone who has crossed over to the 20s decade. If you can’t prevent your smartphone’s screen from cracking, the least you can do is to not have a phone that hangs.
Most phones hang because they have poor processors, bad graphics, coupled with low RAM. In 2020 and beyond, just make sure your phone is at least an Octa core powerhouse clocking speeds that average 2.0 GHz in at least one of the two sectors of the cores. Lower section can have speeds up to 1.7GHz, but the other section should be able to surpass the 2.0GHz limit. Again, phones that you can buy for between shs 25K and shs 30K should be able to provide these speeds. Such phones also come with quality GPUs that will handle your gaming and other graphic needs without struggle.
As for RAM, do not go for a phone with less than 4GB. A few years ago 1GB RAM would suffice, but apps have gotten hungry for RAM to an extent that any smartphone with a less than a 4GB RAM will make the smartphone hang. 3GB RAM can still serve you, but it will struggle doing so – just ensure the damn thing has at least 4GM RAM installed. There are phones that come with 6 or even 8GB RAM but my two years experience with 6GB RAM tells me that anything past 6GB is actually a waste. My RAM usage even at high intensive multitasking has never surpassed 40% – and 40% of 6GB is 2.4GB – and that’s why you can’t go for 3GB because you’ll still need an extra GB for breathing space.
Item 3: Storage
I don’t know the type of a person that you are. Are you someone who uses a smartphone as a storage device? Where you do not transfer those important documents, pictures, and videos to something more permanent like a laptop’s HDD? If that’s you then I’d advise you not to go for anything less than 128GB phone. Now 128GB storage on phones come at a price – as this type of storage still belongs to the over 60K devices going all the way to shs 100K flagships. This year however Vivo released their Vivo Y19 that boasts of 128GB, and it only costs a paltry 27K, so for storage intensive users that phone may serve you just fine.
But if you are someone like me who uses a phone like a flashdisk for transferring documents from wherever they are to the laptop, you probably just need 32GB but 64GB will be the best option in 2020. With 64GB, I always find myself with 40GB to use freely for document transfer. At times I can keep a few documents for a few weeks before finally doing away with them.
If you really really love a lot of storage space, then you are one of those who need to opt for cloud storage, instead of buying an expensive smartphone in 2020 that will run out of fashion in two years.
Item 4: Battery
This is fairly simple – a smartphone in 2020 should be able to serve you for 12 hours without having to send you a warning that battery is low, no matter how heavy a gamer you are. You shouldn’t be one of those who turn data off or change data from 4G to 3G just to save on battery – at least not before 12 hours elapse. Today we have phones that can take you for two days before their battery juices run down, so buying a phone that will have you looking around for a charger is not something you should experience in 2020.
Having said that, you should avoid any phone whose battery is below 4000mAh – not in a year when we have affordable phones that come with 5000mAh battery. If it’s battery is below 4000mAh, no matter how smart an AI they have installed inside to manage that battery, avoid it.
Secondly, the battery should fast charge – through USB-C, as micro USB is already redundant. No one in today’s world wants to wait for a phone to charge for 4 hours before it is fully charged, when we have phones that can charge from zero to full charge in 30 minutes.
Bonus Item: Camera
Whether it is a smartphone in 2020 or any other year in the future, you shouldn’t worry too much about the camera. As long as it can take pictures, it is fine. If you want professional photos then invest in pro cameras the likes of Canon, Sony, or Nikon – cameras with interchangeable lenses. Do not spend shs 100K on a smartphone because you want good pictures – those will never ever give you photos worth the money. With shs 100K, you can buy a pretty decent Nikon D7200 and have a 50mm prime lens thrown in there for you.
