What to Look Out for When Buying Second Hand Mobiles?

Mobile phones are one of the most important gadgets that you must have in today’s time. Not only can other people contact you via your mobile phone but you can also get vital information through it. Most banks, financial institutions, educational institutions, online shopping sites use your mobile number to convey important pieces of information to you. Mobile phones are no longer the feature handsets which could be used to only text or call other people. Cell phones are now called smart phones because of the added features that they contain. They are as good as a personal computer as you can use them to watch movies, video conference, edit documents on-the-go, chat with your friends, click photos and then send them to your friends etc.

Such is the demand for smart phones, that manufacturers have started creating smart phones that are available to people with a shoestring budget. Motorola Mobility has come up with the Moto E which seeks to provide the best smart phone experience to its users at a price under Rs 7000. Micromax, Karbonn and Spice Mobiles are some other companies which want to offer you the smart phone experience at a price as low as Rs 4000. Some Chinese companies such as Gionee and Xiaome are offering high quality smart phones in the affordable budget range.

Even though companies are offering affordable smart phones to buyers, the quality of these smart phones are not very good. Buyers complain of heating, slowing down of the phone and other problems when they use less than standard smart phones. If you aspire to use a top quality smart phone, but do not have the budget to do so, it would be best if you opt for second hand mobiles.

There are a lot of second hand mobiles available in the market that you may opt for. These mobiles are in working condition and some of them are not even more than 1 year old. Buying these mobiles would provide you high quality smart phone experience. However, before you buy a smart phone, you need to make certain of a few points, otherwise you may land up with an inferior quality phone. Some of the top points that you should check for have been discussed below:

Model of the Phone
Not all models launched by companies are good. Several models are discontinued by the company not because they are old but because they had software defects. Buying a phone with software defects would mar your true smart phone experience. Therefore, you should research a little into the quality of the phone because you buy it. Read up user reviews to find out what first hand buyers have to say.

Body of the Phone

Prior to buying the phone, you must check the body and ensure that nothing is wrong with it. Check the touch screen keypad to see whether you can use it effortlessly or not. The sides of the phone must be checked for dents. You can also open up the back cover to see whether the battery included is an original one or not and how well the SIM and Memory Card slots are working. Look for big scratches along the sides of the screen.

Once you have ensured that the phone is not physically damaged, you can move on to checking the software of the phone.

Software used on the Phone
The software is one of the most important things in a smart phone. Usually iOS, Android and Windows are the most popular software available in smart phones. Even though it is advisable that you opt for as latest as possible software, it is ok if you opt for a phone which has a little dated software. Usually the operating systems send out updates for software which help to keep your phone up-to-date with what is currently available in the market. However, do not go for models whose software updates have been discontinued, no matter how inexpensive it may appear.

Call Quality
Phones are mostly meant for calling people and hence you need to ensure that the call facility of the phone is top notch, otherwise buying the phone may be pointless. Insert your SIM card and make a call to your friend or family member to test the quality of the speaker. Ask your friend whether s/he can hear you well and you too listen in closely on the phone. Plug in your headset to see how well you can hear the person on the opposite end through the headset (in case it is being included with the phone)

You can also test if the radio is working well with the headphone plugged in. This would act as a complete test for the headphones being offered with the phone.

After getting the phone home
Once everything is sorted, you can bring the phone home and test whether everything is ok. The first thing that you should do is plug in the charger to charge the battery. Once the battery is fully charged, you should see how long the battery lasts. Usually smart phones do not have very strong batteries and hence you need to factor that in when judging the battery of the phone. If it lasts 5-6 hours without interruption, you can consider it to be quite good for a second hand phone. However, if the battery dissipates within 2-3 hours, then you should consider getting the phone replaced.

There are many places from which you can buy second hand mobiles. There are many online classifieds websites which list used mobile phones on sale. You can enter your demanded specifications such as model, internal memory capacity, colour etc. and the website would show you the best ones available for you. Contact information of sellers is usually listed on the website and you can get in touch with the seller directly to find out the price. Make sure you opt for a mobile with proper papers otherwise getting it repaired from an official service centre may be difficult.