Showing posts with label buying an Android. Show all posts

The Android Searcher: Cherry Mobile Candy


My phone has been with me for almost two years now. As technology advances, it seems that my current phone is getting outmoded as smartphones are invading the local market. I decided, that's it! I need to replace my phone, and soon. While people are mostly attracted to smartphone platforms like the iPhone and Blackberry, a freeware innovation attracted my attention: the Android. Just to backtrack a little, the Android was released in 2005, derived from the Linux kernel. For those who are most familiar with Linux, it is a free operating system. Even though Google bought the development rights and absorbed the Android Dev team as a sub-unit of Google, the Android continues to be a free operating system for mobile smartphones and tablets. Since the Android is a free operating system, a number of companies, most notably Motorola, Samsung, HTC and LG to name a few, adopted the mobile OS. 

In the Philippines, a mobile phone company called Cherry Mobile took the chains in providing cheap but quality mobile phones. And in its moves to expand and grow its market, it also released a good selection of Android phones. The mobile phone brand has been popularized by variety show host Willie Revillame in his show at the local television network, TV5.

On my way to church, I passed by a Cherry Mobile booth in the lower ground floor of Robinson's Galleria. Having Android in mind, I decided to check it out. What caught my attention is the Cherry Mobile Candy and its QWERTY version, Candy Chat. At less than PhP4,000, Cherry Mobile Candy is the cheapest in the market and comes in different colors: even purple, my favorite. 

The phone boasts of being powered by Android Froyo 2.2 Froyo, the Android Kernel version before Android Gingerbread 2.3. Froyo is also the second most utilized Android platform in the market, second only to Gingerbread.

I got to hold an actual phone which is actually lightweight and easy to carry around. The saleslady mentioned that the Cherry Mobile Candy and Candy Chat boasts of a wide variety of apps which one can get for free! Yes, for free, the advantage of Android phones. 

I got to check how the touch screen works but the resistive screen does not go well with my touch; which falls short for me, as I'm pretty fond of mobile games. The resistive touchscreen creates a gaming handicap, as mobile games require a lot of pressing. If you are not a game freak though, the touch resistance may be just fine. For a phone that costs less than PhP4,000, its a good deal with wi-fi capabilities and a 16gB capable SD Card memory slot. Stylish and reliable at a cheap price: not bad at all. 

Will this finally be my new Android phone? Maybe or maybe not. I need to soul-search more for Android phones in the market to find "the one" for me. Follow me as I search for more of Android, its market perks and features that would be worth my pocket's spend.

***

-The Android Searcher
Advantages of the Android
Share:

On The Lookout For A New Android? Bear These Tips In Mind.



When buying a cellphone, a cellphone user would usually look for these features:

  • The phone's form factor: Candybar, touch screen or QWERTY
  • A great camera
  • Bluetooth
  • Whether it has WiFi
  • Whether it has 3G
  • How many SIM cards it can accommodate
  • Internal memory
  • Expansion memory limits (maximum SD card size it can accommodate)
  • Whether it has a media player or FM Radio
  • Whether it has a free-to-air TV or not

For those who are concerned about the phone's stability and resistance to malware, they may consider the phone's OS as well. A lot of people choose and adhere to certain brands for that very reason. On the other hand, if you are an Android die-hard, we'd recommend that you look out for these features when looking for your next Android:

  • ROM size
  • RAM size
  • CPU type and speed
  • Maximum SD Card expansion size

After these factors, the ballgame is yours.

ROM means "Read-Only Memory." It is basically the hard-drive of your Android device. Unlike other phone models, where you can store and execute apps from your SD Card, Androids carrying the Android OS version 2.1 and below will not be able to host the App 2 SD application, which allows your Android to keep and run your apps from your SD Card. So if you're carrying an Android with versions 2.1 and below, you would have to content yourself with the ROM size that your phone came with.

You see, most Androids come with ROM sizes from 256MB to 512MB. If you're an app freak, you'd get mad at your Android when you max out the memory the moment you try to install your third Angry Birds pack. Just to illustrate, a 512MB ROM can house around 25 apps ranging from 48KB to 22MB. And you would have to leave around 20MB so that your phone won't give a warning notification that your internal disk space is getting low. The moment you leave only 15MB free, your phone will constantly "complain" that it's getting low on space. Something a power user will definitely get annoyed with.

RAM (Random Access Memory) and the CPU (Central Processing Unit) speed are crucial in determining how fast your Android will go. The CPU brands trusted by Android device makers are Qualcomm and NVIDIA. The more powerful phones use the Snapdragon model, but any phone using a Qualcomm chip is great. NVIDIA's Tegra 2 claims to be blazingly fast, on the other hand. While the higher the processor speed, the faster the unit should be, 600MHz with 256MB RAM is good enough, actually. Just keep a Task Killer handy for when you max out your RAM.

Lifehacker constantly claims that rooting your Android is the best way to go. Indeed, if you're annoyed by the apps that your manufacturer installed on your unit, rooting is a great way to delete those apps and install apps of your own preference. You get to free up ROM space and you have the privilege of installing more apps that you prefer.

Indeed, when you'll be on the prowl for your next Android, bear these features in mind, and you won't go wrong.
Affordable Androids
Share:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)