"Pick Your Choose"

Like the title? It's "make a choice" in local parlance. *insert laugh* Now, to the meat of the gist.

Do you ever feel inundated by the avalanche of shiny new avant garde smartphones that seem to lure you with one charming feature or the other? Even though you've only just bought that brand-new smartphone you've been eyeing for longer than you can remember? Yea. No bi only you. We plenty. It's the consequence of mobile tech that's jumping forward here and there without giving people much time to relax and enjoy their tear-rubber devices before a new slew of products hit the stands.

Sorry.

What to do? The idea is to decide what feature one wants and prefers, then go buy the device that has the best or one of the best of that feature (or features). If you do that, you'd remain pleased no matter what other devices come out with other tempting and mouthwatering features that aren't suited to your preference (no matter how glittery those other tempting new features are).

I, for instance decided on a huge battery as my preference and at a diminutive pocket friendly price. And that's what I got. Plus fast-charging thrown into the mix as a bonus. So, I see other devices and admire them from a distance without hating on my device cos I'm happy with what I got. Every once in a while I see people outside with power packs, I see people afraid to use their devices for long periods so as to conserve battery, I see some going out with extra batteries so that they can swap when one packs up on them while they're outside and far from a charging port, I see those whose phones have died as a result of exhausted batteries, I see all sorts. And these are the biggest phones around (compared to my Chinco phone). Galaxies, iPhones, Xperias, LGs, name them.

What use is a top smartphone when it's dying of battery shortage, or worse, when it's dead at a time you need it most? So, while others are saving battery, swapping battery, managing battery, helping battery with power banks, I'm out there with them playing games, browsing, watching videos and throwing everything I can at my phone and the battery is keeping up.

After a full day of wicked usage, I still get home with 20% left which, if I don't plug overnight, can still take me to at least midday the next day. The best part? With 20 mins plug-in, that 20% jumps to 70. And I can take that out for another full day.

So, you can see what I mean. I'm a power user and I need to have a device that suits that usage (without tearing a bleeding hole in my small pockets). Yes, I sometimes have to deal with perceptive software lags here and the but that is my preference and whatever else I see doesn't attract me because it doesn't fit that bill. I might admire it and love the tech, but I have my choices and I stick with them.

What are yours? Find out. Pick the device that suits those preferences and at a price range you can comfortably afford. Then, smile at these nouveau attractive products being churned out at an alarming pace. But without the urge to splurge on them. It's one of the many advantages of the Android ecosystem. And the current competition in mobile technology with Windows and BlackBerry all providing offerings that keep us from going bankrupt with Apple.

Device Choice and Preference

I used to prefer a device on the cutting edge of tech that made me only one of the first few with the latest OS, freshly baked. That lasted a good while. Until the "Almighty" holders of power "changed it for me". Of what use was a latest software-running-device, when it was dead from 100% battery to shut-down in 3 hours of heavy use, or less?

I became a wall-hugger, always to be seen with a device plugged to charge while being used. Cos there was no telling how much juice will be left when the electricity supply was cut. And, it was always a case of scampering for chargers and plugs to slot the phone into as soon as power was restored.

Plans to charge the device to capacity were made ahead of any extended period away from a wall socket. Extra chargers had to be bought to accompany the phone outside the normal residences and points-of-regular-charging. When those still didn't make the phone live longer between charges, power packs gained notoriety. Vendors seized the initiative and today, it's only sometime now before you'd see a power-pack sold beside the regular "gala" sausage. It was so lucrative, our countrymen ventured into it and sowed weeds of fakes in the midst of the original fruits of power packs. As usual.

I didn't need further preachments to change preferences. Again, the issue was about how much good was a tech-blazing device when for half the time it was either keeping you tethered to a wall socket or it was dead, the other half? Options for a device on the bleeding edge of technology but with a bigger battery juice than my aging Nexus 4 came at a premium. A premium I was as unwilling to pay as could be imagined.

As I was in the market for a phone, I tied it to a fresh preference - a huge battery power. I'd have said humongous but tech products today aim more for a slimmer profile with the ongoing internecine war to churn out the record-setting slimmest-smartphone-ever still raging. As with the attractions to slim down body-parts, some goodness is lost in the process. Battery always suffered.

Then, just as I was salivating over the battery juice in the Huawei Ascend Mate 7 - saying nothing of the eye-watering gorgeousness of its hardware and the steep edge of its over a 100,000 asking price - a Chinese vendor caught my eye. And even if I'd not have believed a crystal-ball reader telling me some months back that I'd ever use one of such devices much less own one, I was sold.

In less than a week, I know it was as right a decision as I've ever made. For now. With a bigger battery than even the latest offerings from Samsung and Apple and a splendid screen tech to boot, I've begun living life away from the charger. And it's super duper. It takes the heft of the iPhone 6+ and Samsung Galaxy Note 4 to the cleaners coming with that phablet screen real estate but with a chunkier battery and at a ridiculous price of N25,000.

Yea, I may be your common, regular, cheapskate but when personal preferences are involved, none of that matters. A full battery on this beast with 4000mAh outlasts my heavy usage easily without breaking a sweat (the Ascend Mate 7 had a 4100mAh battery). I don't care much about DISCOs and their consanguineous links to the GENCOs no more as I'm enjoying my Infinix Hot Note. Say what you will. Na you geh yur mouth.