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WHY IS THE KNOWLEDGE OF SPECS IMPORTANT?

Why is the knowledge of specs important to you as a smartphone user? What are the specs anyway?

Specifications refer to detailed information about the components with which a product was made. In the case of smartphones, it means cameras, screens, batteries, etc.

Are specs important?

Why is that knowledge of specs important?

Surely, you must have come across a lot of people who dismiss specs as rubbish. I know I have. As soon they ask, “Oh this photo is lovely, how can I make my phone take such a photo?”. As you start explaining that their phone uses an 8-megapixel (mp) camera and cannot take pictures like a 48mp camera, you have lost them. They are no longer interested.

Read: eFootball 2022 Mobile Update

Other times, they may walk in on you playing a popular but very demanding game like eFootball PES 2020. Sometimes, they could request that you send them the said game. You check their phone and see that they are using a low-end Mediatek device.  Understanding that this may pose a problem, you try to explain the technicalities. Many people would simply brush you off.

The Problem with Specs 1

Sometimes, the game may work and lag or it may not even work at all. Rather than blame the phone, many of them may blame you the sender, or the app. It’s even possible that some of you belong to this set of persons I just mentioned.

At many reputable outlets, the marketers do not bother to educate their customers. Well mostly because the customers do not want to be educated. We always want the short version.

Customer: “Is the phone good?”

Attendant: “Yes”

Customer: “The camera good?”

Attendant: “Ehn….”

Customer: “Yes or no?”

Attendant: “Yes sir/ma, top-notch”.

Owa! As the Yorubas would say, we have bought a phone.

Read: WHY SMARTPHONES?

Key smartphone specs

Everyone has different uses for a phone. Different people with what they value in a phone;

SoC

Some people care about processor performance and the ability to run any app or play any game.

Cameras

Others are social media enthusiasts and only care about pictures and cameras.

Battery

Another group only cares about batteries.

Displays

Some others who use their phones as mini television sets fuss over the displays of their phones.

And finally, there are people like me who are the all-rounders. We want a bit of everything in a phone in the above list i.e Good Processor, Good Display, Good Battery, Good Camera e.t.c.

If you like good processors in a phone, you’ll have to learn about the different types of processors that are used in phones as well as the companies that make them.

If you are a camera person then you need to learn about megapixels, image sensors and image sensor makers, focal lengths, pixel sizes, and how these affect camera performance.

Battery people don’t have a lot of stress. They can learn about the several types of batteries as well as battery capacity in milliamp hours (mAh).

When you are conversant with this information, you’ll understand why your camera performs the way it does or why your phone is fast or slow amongst other things.

The problem with Specs 2: How companies trick you

 

Pricing

The last and most important of all these is Price. Apart from the fair few who can afford any Smartphone that they want, a lot of us, myself included use a phone for about two years before opting for a new one. Even at that the resources for getting a new phone may be very limited and would often leave a hole in your pocket. Some companies may sell for fair prices while others sell for unfair prices and cheat customers. When you know your specs, no one can manipulate or deceive you.

This is why the knowledge of specs is important to you as the customer.

So long as you are here, we’ll keep demystifying these things one after the other. Leave a comment below on which group you belong to and what you are anticipating to see here on Inquisitive Universe, thank you for reading.

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