Buying that shiny new smartphone today is much more difficult today than it was in those simpler times of yesteryear. With many local and international brands fighting each other in the market, choosing a phone that ticks all your needs is quite tough.
When purchasing a smartphone, it is important you keep all factors like battery life, performance, camera, storage etc. in mind so you can choose the best phone for you.
Smartphone technology is so fast moving that you get updated processors, cameras, software in less than a year’s time. This makes it very difficult to understand whether you should buy a new phone now or wait for sometime.
You must always be prepared to know if a new processor actually makes a big difference or not and will it bring any extra benefits.
One way to understand this is through benchmarks. Benchmark apps are available in spades on the Play Store. Each benchmark app is different, one measures your processor performance, one does your graphics unit while one measures your battery performance battery and so on.
A few parameters that can be measured from benchmarks are:
- CPU performance
- 3D Gaming performance
- GPS performance
- Battery performance
- Internal storage speed
- SD card speed
These apps help measure your phone’s performance and help you know your phone’s capabilities. Apart from that these sites and apps also maintain a ranking of each phone’s performance which you should check out before you buy your mobile phone:
AnTuTu: This app gives you an overall score of 4 elements; 3D, UX, CPU & RAM by running the required tests. The one reason this app is very accurate because it has partnered with Samsung, Qualcomm, Intel & Nvidia to give results.
This is indeed the most accurate and informative benchmarking tool out there. AnTuTu score can be very helpful to compare between different phones and processors.
Geekbench: GeekBench focuses on single core and multicore performance, this tells you how powerful you processor is. One of the things that differentiate GeekBench from other CPU benchmarks is that it produces consistent results across several different platforms including Windows, Mac, Android, BlackBerry, and iPhone.
PC Mark and 3D mark: These benchmarking tests are the oldest of the group. Their popular CPU & 3D testing software which works by rendering a selection of 3D scenes and testing in other environments.
The PC Mark app also includes a battery test, while the 3DMark App focuses purely on 3D Benchmarking. Both apps give detailed feedback about the test results and also gives statistics of other devices to compare.
GFX Bench 4.0: This app is not as popular as it’s counterparts but it is a useful app.GFXBench tests 3D Graphics and the processor. There is also a render quality test included. The GFXBench website even lists out all the phone benchmark scores so you can compare each one.
DiskSpeed: This app tests the speed of your processor. It is not an overall testing system but will definitely help you test speed of a processor.
These benchmarks apps will only tell you about how fast the storage is or how well you can game but what about aspects like build quality, charging time, camera performance, software smoothness. There are no benchmarks that can help you gauge such things so what should you do?
You could look at e-commerce websites for real user reviews or you could look up to expert reviews from a whole range of websites.
Experts reviews are always good as they tend to be more detailed and technical. Reviewers also have a lot of devices they can compare with the latest phones and give you a much clear picture.
To find the most detailed smartphone reviews have a look at these websites.
- NaijaTechGuide: NaijaTechGuide is a leading tech blog in Nigeria with a sizeable audience in Kenya, Ghana, and India. Established in 2006, by Paschal Okafor, a graduate of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, the Blog has since grown to become one of the most visited technology blogs in Nigeria.
NaijaTechGuide focuses on technology news, gadget reviews, specs, and other tips related to Android. This blog also covers online services as well as the prices of mobile phones, laptops, and other such gadgets. - NaijaAndroidArena: is a technology blog dedicated to offering tips, tutorials, and unbiased reviews on all Android devices in Nigeria. You will get first-hand information about the latest Android products in the market including their specifications and their current price In the market (both online and offline and the best place to purchase it). They also compare two or more different products based on the specs, user comments and their price in the highly competitive market to help you decide which one to go for. They occasionally write a hands-on reviews of some android gadgets where you are informed of the strengths and weakness of the device
- Phone Corridor: is a technology blog that was created to provide mobile phone reviews, Best products to buy, up-to-date News, Tutorial and latest technology trends in Nigeria.They have seasoned bloggers and content creators that deliver compelling content and the latest reliable news on tech in Nigeria. Phonecorridor.com was launched in August 2016 in Nigeria.
- Techviews: is a comprehensive blog that lets you take an extensive, hands-on approach with smartphones and related topics (like data plans).
- NaijaKnowHow This blog has a bank of information regarding the latest news on gadgets and has an in-depth analysis on each smartphone brand.
- NairaTechnology is a consumer technology blog committed to providing information on phones and other gadgets. This blog also provides other tech-related information and the latest tech news.
We prefer you look at websites from similar markets like Asia and Africa, this is because phones in these markets have similar features, especially things like networks, dual sims etc.
Making your buying decisions based on the American or the UK market may not always work out well as some companies skip certain features for Asian and African markets. Eg: the Honor 7x features a gyroscope on the US version but lacks it on the Indian and Nigerian versions.
We have arrived at the end of this list. Please leave comments to tell us if you think there is any website or app worth mentioning.
