Smartphone Buying Decision: Hardware Or Software?

Leading electronics companies like Apple and Samsung have been shelling out ground-breaking gadgets one after the other and I feel overwhelmed. Every new phone that you buy looks Jurassic the very next month. While every company and mobile operating system has its own fanboys, I'm wondering what should get more preference while choosing a smartphone: hardware or software?

Of course, the answer is 'both'. But I want to go beyond it. In my opinion, when you're buying a phone, you're essentially buying the hardware and software just comes along with it. This is true because you can't easily change / upgrade your phone's hardware, but the software can get updated any time as long as the platform underlying supports it.

So I'd pay more attention to the hardware than software while buying any smartphone. What do you say?

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  • zm-i
    zm-i

    @zm-i-MjDXTb • Sep 13, 2012

    I would say that hardware has always been the most significant part of a phone, especially a smartphone. First of all, smartphones are meant to be used, and thus they have to be durable and convenient, as in not to big--can be operated conveniently with one hand. The hardware engineering will be sophisticated because user-friendliness, state-of the art technology, and size have to meet.

    It is easier to make a great display on a large screen than on a small screen; it is easier to built a camera than can capture many pixels if the space is bigger; it is easy to build a 20cm x 20cm powerful chip, but it is challenging when engineers have to design a chip that is powerful, small and not power consuming. There are more examples that supports why hardware is more important than software.

    I am not sure if I have present my arguments clearly, so this question might be helpful: where do you run a software? How do you make a software?

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  • durga ch
    durga ch

    @durga-TpX3gO • Sep 13, 2012

    Nokia has great hardware - they produce war horses with longer battery life, robust handsets . They are as well coming up with better higher end models with better processors , but until and unless they move to windows /android i am not sure how many would prefer to buy it.
    If the software is the drawback and if I were to get a phone with no software advantage what so ever - I would rather buy a brick with antenna

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  • zm-i
    zm-i

    @zm-i-MjDXTb • Sep 14, 2012

    I have a friend who bought a smartphone. I believe there was something wrong with the manufacturing of his product. He changed the SIM Card provider for a couple times to determine which provides the best (internet/data) service. In 2 weeks or so, his phone was no longer connected to any network but wifi. Long story short, he took his phone to a service center where he found out that he ruined the SIM Card reader. There weren't so many wifi spots back then in our place. So his smartphone was metaphorically a brick with antenna, and he had to use his "old" nokia to text and talk for a couple of weeks until he got his replacement smartphone (thanks to warranty).

    The appeal of any smartphones is their features which are delivered by a capable hardware.

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  • zm-i
    zm-i

    @zm-i-MjDXTb • Sep 14, 2012

    I, however, agree with your thinking, #-Link-Snipped-#. 👍

    I do not buy Nokia because they are a little bit left behind on the OS. It's a matter of whether the company will open themselves to the latest software technology.

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