This is a short guide for purchasing a phone. If you felt this guide was helpful please click YES so that others may see this guide as helpful as well. Thank you.

1) Figure out what features of a phone are most important to you. This will decide what the phone will be used for most.

• Will you be text messaging? Maybe a qwerty keyboard on a phone will be useful.
• Will you be needing camera capibilities? A variety of phones offer competative quality to digital cameras, though on average a camera phones are used for fun. Most pictures are not taken to be developed.
• GPS comes available in some phones? Will you be traveling a lot and don't have a GPS in your car?
• Do you want a substitute for your mp3 player? Many phones offer mp3 capabilities.
• Will you be downloading/creating many songs, voice recordings, videos, games.....? Memory cards are offered for certain phones for use as a back up or sometimes primary source of memory.
• Do you need a temporary or mobile version of a PC? Smartphones can perform many tasks a regular PC can. Internet, emailing, professional applications and portability are usually the main reasons for the purchase of smartphones.
• Are you more of a talker then a texter? If so, then maybe a plain phone is best for you with little features and lots of battery life so that you can talk as much as possible.

All of these questions must be considered before purchasing a phone.

2) After you have reached a decision you must decide what carrier you will use. Not all carriers provide national service. MetroPCS for example does not provide coverage for New York. Though there are carriers such as Verizon and Cingular aka AT & T, which are national service providers.

Most service providers are chosen by a customer because that person knows more people with that certain provider so that they can have unlimited mobile to mobile talk time. Mobile to mobile means unlimited talk time between phones of the same carrier.

You have to do the research for yourself to figure out:

• Which carrier most of your family/relatives/friends have? So that you could have mobile to mobile.
• What price range fits your wallet? How much do you want to pay and what is the best promotion in your region for your phone?
• How many minutes do you want or need? How often will you be talking on the phone? Is talk time needed only for emergencies?
• Do you need additional features such as mobile internet/data or Txt/Photo packages? Will you be using the internet often? Will you be sending pictures or text messages to your friends?
• How long do you want to sign a contract for? Is the package you got a really good deal that you might consider locking it up for 2 years? Or are maybe you think the carrier will have a better package in a year so a 1 year contract would be more suitable for you?

Most carriers offer a package for everything at different rates. You have to decide what's your need.

3) Chosing where you purchase your phone:

Many people get their phones from stores in their authorized retailers in their neighborhood. Usually when a person has questions about their phone the first person they call is the one who sold them the phone.

Others get their phones and contracts online through eBay or online stores. These methods save time and provide lots of info on the spot about the carrier and the phone. Online sellers often provide more info then would a brick and martyr store though some people choose their neighborhood retailer because they would rather see the product in person and speak with a sales representative up front.

Generally, new customers tend to purchase through neighborhood retailers and people who have had a phone for quite some time purchase over the phone or online.

4) Accessories

Each phone model has a wide variety of accessories. Data cables, chargers, cases ......

• Do you drop your phone or scratch it quite a bit? Maybe a leather case will be a good investment.
• Do you travel often? Travel chargers and car chargers are useful for long and short distances from going to vacation or needing your phone charged on the way to work.
• Do you download a lot? Memory cards are very useful for those who need a lot of storage.
• Do you want to transfer your data from your phone into your computer or visa versa? Data cables can help you with that need.
• Are you using your phone often and find that your battery runs out quickly? An extended battery will help you talk or surf the web more.

There are lots of things to consider before you purchase a cell phone. We hope this guide has been most helpful to you when deciding to purchase a phone.