It’s becoming more common for individuals to hold onto their smartphones for a longer period of time – many times often holding out for a number of years before going for a newer device. With performance amongst devices remaining relatively uniform whether being used for streaming and multimedia, exploring gaming favorites with the latest changes as more information about betting in Australia on mobile continues to grow, or just for a standard mobile device to use. With costs increasing, the bar for changing to a new device is only increasing, but is it time to upgrade a dated smartphone, or is it better to hold off for a longer period of time?
The first question to answer is what will the device be used for? Is it going to be just a phone with no bells or whistles needed, or is there a desire to explore new apps and new features that are being offered? From flagship to flagship there often aren’t too many changes, small hardware adjustments and one or two big ticket features like a change to the camera or a change to the display – finding out exactly what the phone will be used for is the first step to answering whether or not a thousand-dollar upgrade will serve the purpose that is desired.
Following that, it’s important to look at the features that will be missing – newer devices have been stripping back on physical features that have become a detriment to some, the removal of the standard 3.5mm headphone jack, or the removal of the expandable memory slot leaves a lot to be desired for the unibody sleek designs, and may lead to a very large different in expected performance from an older device – there are still many devices on the market that do offer these features, and some may come in at a much lower price too, as such an upgrade doesn’t necessarily have to be a brand new flagship device if these are important features to hold on to.
Finally comes the price, the latest Apple or Samsung products are quickly approaching $2,000 as a baseline price not to mention all of the additional hardware that may be required to make other products work, whereas more budget friendly options can come in much lower at just a few hundred dollars. Finding out what the device will be used for, what features are desired, and finding anything that fits within that price point will be the final important step for determining whether it’s time to upgrade, or if holding on to an older device is still the best course of action.