Why do mobile companies restrict the use of SIM cards from phones from being used in tablets?
While phones were mostly less powerful than the new tablet devices and the larger screens meant there was a greater data demand by tablet devices, this is certainly no longer the case.
Phones are now more powerful than most tablets and the rest are simply equal. Processors are quad core clocked at similar speeds, if not not higher speeds, the working memory is again the latest 1-2Gb configuration with 16-32GB internal NAND flash memory. With phones having the latest 128GB external SDXC memory support to compliment the superior camera resolutions of 22 Mega pixels. Cloud services are now just beginning to gear thewmselves up to cope with this data interchange whereas tablets still have only modest cameras. Phones do now have front and back facing cameras and the similarities continue to converge.
But crucially the screen resolution has become irrelavent because of technical innovation and it is commonsense the data is sent highly compressed through the Internet where it is decompressed and interpolated to match the local screen resolution by the local graphics processing unit, GPU. This item is again of superior design, as a matched technology to the central processing unit, CPU where the mobile phone market is concerned. Both CPU and GPU are expected to have multiple cores to improve performance and the designs are optimised to consume as little power as possible. A great advantage for a mobile phone. The competition leads to great performance in wider world applications and this is the reason for the extreme competition that has been encouraged in the mobile phone marketplace. But of course we, the public, are paying for this R&D whereas it used to be hideously expensive top secret military R&D budgets. The senate was worried about the cost of a hammer and a handfull of screws at one stage.
There has been a complete change in the definition of mobile phone and tablet where the OS is now exactly the same for each, being Android 4.x.x.
So why are telcos forcing people to purchase a separate SIM for each device? I am disabled. I need specialist communication software to assist me in communicating when I am travelling. For this the tablet is better. But while at home or when meeting friends during the evening the mobile phone is the better option. But the telcos refuse to let me use the same SIM in both devices. I cannot use both devices at the same time so I don't see the logic behind this situation.
The situation continues because the telcos think we cannot see they are continuing to enforce this barrier so that they can make a greater profit from users. Please help get people to recognise the false pretence that prevents us all from exercising a freedon of choice to use either device according to our intended purpose without the need to purchase separate SIMS. Afterall, because I can only use one device at a time why am I forced to pay for two 3G or 4G contracts with separate data components?
I don't see any common sense in this situation and I do think we are all being ripped off by this legacy programmed system restriction.
And I did install the phone SIM in my tablet after being told by the telco staff it was OK, where it worked happily for approx 12 hours. Later when I enquired how I could set up the voicemail and SMS services an arrogant technician then told me I could not install this SIM into a tablet, followed rather weakly by, it will stop working after a time.
Given the conflicting statements and the fact the SIM was working when I was being told it would not work I question the reality of the reason for it not working. It may be recognised by a systematic ID check. But the blocking of the data services after an arbitrary period of time raises the question, "Why shouldn't a SIM now work regardless of whether it is a Phone SIMor a tablet SIM.
The legacy rationale a history of tablets as they were originally a platform for advanced circuitry and software to be released and the resulting extra data demand to their internet connection lasted only as long as the phone market had not become so competitive that their technical facilities raced ahead of tablets. In fact the technological improvements in hardware and saftware have brought both devices to an equal status where users can choose the device according to the context of their intended purpose.. So much so that having more than one device to suit practical applications in varied social settings with no impact on the data portion of their respective uses. Example, you can now watch films or TV series while commuting.. Preferable to use a smartphone here. But you can continue exactly where you left off on a tablet or even a smart TV! The data compression and local pixel mapping to suit the resolution of the device is done locally and absolutely without any impact upon the data demand or stream.
There is no reasonable argument to continue differentiating between Phones and Tablets other than to enforce an obsolete regimen and to unfairly extract money from phone and tablet users who unwittingly pay twice for the same telephone and data services! Copyright(CC) Arclite 13-03-2015
I swap my SIM between my phone and my tablet several times a day. Never had a problem with it...
Related
Reading this lead me to a page on wmexpert.com. This page is not accessible on wmexpert anymore!? wtf! checked google cache and luckily it was still there. For internet backup reasons id like to back it up on XDA THIS IS NOT MY WORK
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Qualcomm, HTC, chipsets and features: An Insider Q + A
* By Malatesta
Posted on February 13, 2008 2:15 PM
Filed under Editorials, Featured
Tags: chipset class action HTC insider msm7500 Qualcomm
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With the recent spate of Qualcomm info (they just showed a whole new lineup of next-gen chips, including an improved version of aGPS called…ready for it… gpsOneXTRA, I suppose tech companies have to pay for vowels) and frustration with HTC over the “missing driver controversy”, the community is wondering just what is going on here?
Was HTC just cheaping out (something yours truly has even said, ahem)? Is Qualcomm manipulating the numbers or do they have faulty chips? And what does this all mean for the future of WM devices?
Read on for some off-the-record information from someone "in the know" about what is going on with Qualcomm and HTC. The answers are quite fascinating…
At issue here are a few questions that frequently come up in our forums:
* Why is aGPS not frequently enabled?
* Who’s at fault in the HTC/Qualcomm driver class-action lawsuit?
* Why don’t we have ~5mp cameras on a lot of devices, especially CDMA?
Surely there are even more tech ponderings that can be asked and maybe in the future we’ll update this piece to reflect those, but for now lets see what our tipster has to say on these issues. For what I hope are somewhat obvious reason, their identity needs to remain anonymous.
(While the technical information is accurate, the questions and answers are paraphrased by the author for the flow of the article.)
Q: Why do a lot of overseas GSM phones have massive 5MP cameras, yet their sister (CDMA) versions seem to have a 2.1MP limit? e.g. Samsung SGH-F490 vs. Sprint M800.
A:Currently, the costs of 5MP sensors are somewhat prohibitive. But in addition, current Qualcomm chips lack certain features like jpeg hardware and the system can be over-taxed from transferring the sensor-data into memory for post-processing. In essence, multitasking with the OS, with an active radio and using the camera may be too much for the processor so the resolution of the sensor may need to be reduced..
Q: What’s the deal with aGPS (GPSOne) both on the earlier MSM-6500 platform and the newer MSM-7500, specifically why was it never activated on the earlier devices and just who decides?
A: When it comes down to modern aGPS, it is strictly a money issue: carriers are not keen to pay for the drivers and the OEMs (HTC, Moto, etc.) are not going to foot the bill (Edit: Although it looks like Sprint and some other carriers are finally eating the cost on their new 2008 devices). On older devices, the aGPS on the MSM-6500 chips may not have been as efficient or accurate, since they were developed back in 2002, hence why they may not have been used. And now for that million-dollar question: Who’s at fault in the HTC-Qualcomm debacle? Turns out it’s a lengthy answer and despite was some may want to believe, there really was no malicious intent from either side but the answer might point to a complicated system of pricing tiers, varying functions, promised performance gains not met and overall grayness where the only losers are the consumers…more on this issue after the Q/A. Quick technical note: the ARM9 processors are found on the MSM-62/6500 chipsets (PDF!) like in the PPC-6700 and Treo 7xx series; the ARM11 processors are found on the MSM-72/7500 chipsets like the Sprint Mogul, HTC Touch, etc. where it handles the OS, graphics and programs. Also on that chipset, a secondary ARM9 processor handles the phone-radio aspect—many thought this dual-processor system would result in superior performance, but instead we have the HTC class-action suit. Interestingly, Qualcomm has recently pulled all of their data sheets for some reason. Hmm.
Q: HTC, Qualcomm and the missing drivers—where do we send the angry mob with torches?
A: Qualcomm has a tiered pricing policy with their chipsets—so although you bought the chip, you have not bought all the features. So you have to pay additional fees per phone to get things like aGPS, graphic acceleration, etc. In the past, HTC had no problems when using the older MSM-6500 chips (ARM9 processors) without drivers hence their reluctance to pay for any or additional support with the new MSM-7500 chips (ARM11 processors), especially since the newer processors were advertised to match or outperform the older generation. Unfortunately, Qualcomm’s ARM11 performance does not match their previous ARM9 processor and is therefore, not quite as advertised. To get the proper performance out of the ARM11, one has to have knowledge of the processor’s implementation and design, but since that processor is not publicly available; the solution requires cooperation and assistance. HTC in this instance does not have this knowledge and is therefore unable to directly fix the problem, so they are put in a tough situation as they already have millions of these devices sold but they don’t want to pay Qualcomm more than they have to.
Q: So Qualcomm sort of pulled a shell-game here, much like the recent CES + “Snapdragon” controversy?
A: The shell game comment is a bit strong but somewhat understandable. When Qualcomm sets out to make these processors, the marketing information comes out way before the final design and chip does, so while Qualcomm had the intention of outdoing themselves, in reality they fell behind the mark. Due to the nature of the industry, by the time these performance issues became knowledge, it was too late to fix as they had already moved on to development of other chipsets and processors. No doubt Qualcomm behaves like a lot of companies and they don’t want to admit internally or publicly that their processors are underperforming, so this hampers any immediate resolution--the problem then becomes compounded as time goes on. Because of this, HTC is put in an odd position as they are selling devices based on Qualcomm’s marketing and information, not on their own knowledge of how those processors work and are designed since they are not privy to that information. Qualcomm is not being as straightforward with them and in turn, HTC is trying to work around the issue by trying to fix or enhance their software, even though they are unaware that it is not really their fault. It is in HTC’s best interest to of course try and fix this issue right away and if they know what they need to know perhaps they would foot the bill for those drivers, but unfortunately all the butt covering at all levels is preventing certain people who need to know from getting the job done
So there you go folks—judge accordingly I suppose. In hindsight, I have to revise my “HTC was cheap” line and instead sort of paint them as an unwitting victim who has been put in a tough situation by Qualcomm. Along the same line, Qualcomm didn’t exactly out right deceive anyone, but they seemed to have slipped up a bit on the MSM-72/7500 platform quite a bit.
The latest Qualcomm chipsets are promising everything under the hood: Wifi, WiMax 3g, 4g, BT 2.1, FM radio, VOIP, video out, aGPS,/GPS, 2D + 3D video acceleration, mobile TV, ad nauseum. But the caveat should be obvious by now: you are not entitled to all of those features and it is up to the OEM and carriers to pick and choose what they want, a la carte style.
In a way, this makes sense as it certainly allows device manufactures and carriers to offer a wide range of devices with varying functionality and pricing, from low to high.
But it also means that as the target audience, you are at the mercy of those OEMs, carriers and Qualcomm to sign up and pay for those features (it certainly doesn’t help when the promised performance of new-gen chips fall below their predecessors!). This sort of begs the question: what about Android devices? They too will have to pass through the labyrinth of carrier testing, OEM development and yes, paying Qualcomm for drivers to unlock those magical and prized features. Will that decentralized and somewhat chaotic software model work when we have these ongoing issues now?
So what do you think? Post your thoughts and comments below. And if you have some questions of your own about GSM/CDMA chipsets and functionality, ask away and maybe we’ll do a sequel article.
And a special thanks to our tech insider for all the info!
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Not having lag is NOT an option or function!!!
Thanks for bringing this up.
Devtone said:
In a way, this makes sense as it certainly allows device manufactures and carriers to offer a wide range of devices with varying functionality and pricing, from low to high.
But it also means that as the target audience, you are at the mercy of those OEMs, carriers and Qualcomm to sign up and pay for those features (it certainly doesn’t help when the promised performance of new-gen chips fall below their predecessors!). This sort of begs the question: what about Android devices? They too will have to pass through the labyrinth of carrier testing, OEM development and yes, paying Qualcomm for drivers to unlock those magical and prized features. Will that decentralized and somewhat chaotic software model work when we have these ongoing issues now?
So what do you think? Post your thoughts and comments below. And if you have some questions of your own about GSM/CDMA chipsets and functionality, ask away and maybe we’ll do a sequel article.
And a special thanks to our tech insider for all the info!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now that Qualcomm has some VERY serious (at least GSM + WCDMA; don't really know about the CdmaOne / CDMA2000 versions of, say, TI OMAP 3) competition (Samsung 6400/6430; Nvidia in the future; OMAP 3 etc.) hope they do pay more attention to the performance and pricing of their chipsets.
Prolly, curently, the best thing to do is voting with your wallet: don't pay for something that is Qualcomm-based (unless you're on CDMA, of course), but go for something other (and, as far as the brand new chipsets are concerned, better)
I am a middle school multimedia/computer teacher. Our district is currently exploring options to replace textbooks with tablets and it's coming down to Android vs Apple. I obviously support and favor Android. I have begun to develop an outline to present to the powers that be in attempt to persuade them to see the benefits of Android in education. I will be posting this on several forums...all I'm looking for is some feedback/suggestions/things I may have missed from members of the Android community. Please forgive the formatting. I cut and pasted from a word document and it did not translate very well. I appreciate your reading and suggestions. Thank you in advance for your time.
Before I begin, it is important that we keep a few things in mind. The subject of this document is NOT about the Nook vs the Ipad, it is about Android tablets in general vs the Ipad. As a school district, we are trying to find a device that provides the greatest benefit for our students while at the same time keeping bottom line costs at a minimum. Although it is not an exhaustive list, below are a few reasons that I believe make upcoming Android tablets superior to the Ipad.
- Android is based on the Linux operating system. You can install the newest version of Android or Linux on older hardware and it actually improves the performance of the device. (I have proven this by installing the current version of Linux on over 25 of our school's EEEpc devices, essentially turning outdated paperweights into functional machines for students to use – potentially saving the district thousands of dollars that it would cost to purchase new hardware and keeping technology in our students' hands)
- Android is open-source. This means that anyone can legally modify the operating system to suit his or her needs. Apple, on the other hand, is proprietary, and only legally allows their operating system to be installed on Apple hardware.
- Many Android tablets are expandable via MicroSD cards. In order to expand the storage of the Ipad, an external card reader must be purchased. (once again, this is proprietary, and it's an external device. In other words, if you want to expand the Ipad storage, you're going to have a plug-in card reader sticking out of it).
- With the Ipad, you have only one option. With Android tablets, you have many options, similar to purchasing a computer. If you purchase an Apple computer, you're limited to a few Apple brand configurations. If you purchase an HP, Dell, Toshiba, Acer, etc, all of these brands are reputable and will accomplish the same tasks.
- As more manufacturers begin to market Android tablets, this will drive prices down. Apple has traditionally been FAR more expensive than equivalent specced PCs. I expect this trend to continue with tablets in the long run...(when I say the long run, I mean starting as early as June, if not sooner.
- In order to administer and back up an Android tablet it's as simple as putting data on an SD card and then copying it to the device. Back up is done from the device itself, requiring no additional hardware. In order to administer and sync a cart of 30 Ipads, it is necessary to purchase an Apple laptop. As I said earlier, Apple is expensive...In my professional opinion, this is an unnecessary additional expense at a crucial time for our district to save money).
Q: If Android is so great, why aren't other schools in the area using it? Most of them are using Ipads if anything.
A. There could be several reasons Android is not being used by other schools in the area:
1. Quality tablet technology is a relatively new concept:
a. The Ipad itself is only about a year old.
b. One of the first true quality Android tablets is the Motorola XOOM and it has only been out about 2 months.
- the XOOM carried a hefty $800 price tag when it was released and was sold by Verizon (schools would not be interested in this tablet because most would have no use for a Verizon wireless service contract...schools would want a wifi only version.)
- The wifi only version of the XOOM was just released last Friday. It carries a $600 price tag (which is still pricey, but Motorola is able to price high because it currently is one of the only companies that has an Android tablet with its specs).
1. This will change dramatically in the coming months, for example, in June, Samsung will release an Android tablet comparable to the XOOM (actually better in several aspects) with a $500 price tag.
2. In other words, as more tablets are released, competition will cause prices to drop.
2. Currently, Apple does a better job of marketing than Android.
a. Turn on your TV for a few hours, chances are you're going to see people in your favorite shows using a computer with a huge Apple logo on it...for years, Apple has successfully marketed their products in movies and television shows.
b. Android is free and open source, (where Apple software is restricted to Apple hardware)
1. The fact that Android is open source is both a positive and a negative when it comes to marketing.
- It is a positive because this allows Android to be installed on devices by several manufacturers. (think of it in the same way that you think of Windows being able to be installed on Dell, HP, Toshiba, etc computers)
- It could be a negative because Android could be the best operating system in the world and if you install it on a poor quality device, it's not going to work as well as if you installed it on a high quality device.
c. Apple as a company has been around since April 1, 1976, The Android operating system was released on October 21, 2008. Apple has enjoyed a 32 year head start on marketing.
3. Because the Android is new, it is very possible that personnel in various school districts currently do not fully understand Android, and therefore may be hesitant to adopt it.
Q: What is the Nook Color?
A. $250 (approximate) E-Reader device by Barnes & Noble. It is capable of being rooted to run a full version of the Android operating system.
1. 8 GB of internal storage
a. can be expanded with external micro SD cards
b. external cards can be up to 32 GB
Q: We are purchasing a tablet to be primarily a textbook replacement. Why not just leave it at that, and be satisfied. The device will be serving its intended purpose.
A. I compare this to purchasing a satellite dish with 250 channels and only watching PBS, or
Q: What is “rooting”? Are you going to “hack” this device? Is this legal?
A: When referring to a Nook Color or any other Android Device, I have used the terms “rooting” and “hacking” interchangeably.
1. Rooting simply means overriding any lock downs on the device and granting administrator access to it. (modifying it to allow the injection of additional or altered code)
a. This also means that you will get more bang for your buck because you are essentially giving a $250 device many of the same capabilities that much more expensive devices have.
b. This means that a person can install the base Android operating system on the
device and customize it.
2. Rooting is COMPLETELY LEGAL! (The worst that could happen is that Barnes & Noble releases a future software update to make the device more difficult to root)
3. The bottom line is once you buy the device, it's yours to do what you want with.
4. According to the Barnes & Noble Terms of Service, rooting the nook color will void your warranty.
a. This is true, however, it is possible to restore a rooted device back to stock (the way it was when you first opened the box).
-Restoring the device back to stock (and therefore preserving your warranty) can be done easily in under a half hour in the event you needed to make a warranty claim and ship the device back to the manufacturer.
b. It is also possible to run Android entirely off the SD card, leaving the stock operating system intact and STILL giving you full customization ability. This will NOT void your warranty because you are leaving the base system untouched.
- I compare this to playing Nintendo. (Your experience depends on what disc or cartridge you have in the device).
- If you have the SD card in, the device runs the custom Android (with all the extra bells and whistles)
- If you do not have the SD card in, the device will run the basic Nook Color operating system.
Is this suppose to be a suggestion? community awareness? anyways i would totally go for android. Why? because it is much much more customizable then ipad/mac...and also not to mention the support of Flash playing in android is just great. Now lets talk about why more people go towards ipad/mac? answer is simple. People just don't want to spend time going through features and they want something optimized and "easy to use", you can say they are lazy? or whatever the reason is. Another point is that people go after the publicity, so lets say, my friend bought an iphone/ipad and his friends are impressed by it, they would buy it too...because it's expensive when compared to android...people would show off...and think that this is something important...so more people buy it to show off...then it goes on and on when for Android, people try not to get into this OS because it's quite complicated to actually know all the functions + the app market is huge so it's just like google search engine where you can choose 1 or the other when they both do the same job (choice) when in apple products it's more of 1 app where 1 app does the needs and it's not to complicated to learn as well.
Hope i clarified more...
shad0wboss said:
Is this suppose to be a suggestion? community awareness? anyways i would totally go for android. Why? because it is much much more customizable then ipad/mac...and also not to mention the support of Flash playing in android is just great. Now lets talk about why more people go towards ipad/mac? answer is simple. People just don't want to spend time going through features and they want something optimized and "easy to use", you can say they are lazy? or whatever the reason is. Another point is that people go after the publicity, so lets say, my friend bought an iphone/ipad and his friends are impressed by it, they would buy it too...because it's expensive when compared to android...people would show off...and think that this is something important...so more people buy it to show off...then it goes on and on when for Android, people try not to get into this OS because it's quite complicated to actually know all the functions + the app market is huge so it's just like google search engine where you can choose 1 or the other when they both do the same job (choice) when in apple products it's more of 1 app where 1 app does the needs and it's not to complicated to learn as well.
Hope i clarified more...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the response. I've received several suggestions between various forums and email correspondence and we have 2 Nook Colors now...One for me and one for the Language Arts teacher. I'm running various mods off SD card installs and tweaking features. Once I get things the way I want them I'll give the Language Arts teacher hers and modify as necessary.
Padfone
Xoom
both are pluggin into what are to all sense and purposes dumber than dumb terminals.
I'm thinkng that smart phones (with security enhancements such as biometrics etc) with become ID, processor modules.
In theory I can see a smart phone with a seriously underclocked 6 cored cpu in it with core user data and mega encrypted ID capabilites.
Screens (gfx HD ram units) could now have a docking function that allows you to plug your device in providing the extra power and cooling (thats the interesting bit) to then allow you to have a fucntioning desktop.
THe corporate world will love it (hotdesking the next generation) and provide the market need to begin with.
TV's then start shipping with docking stations, slate devices.
I know the cloud is meant to help with this sort of thing but with out a decent global wobile data netwrok that really is falling flat on its 4rse.
So I got all geeky about somehow allowing a docking socket to introduce extra cooling into a CPU housed in a smart phone. (peltier tab, but how to deal with condensation?)
any way, its and idea I thought I'd throw out to the world ofXDA to play with.
ahn... what?
basically an universal ID card and a beefy processor combined into a smart phone shell that I can imagine being the norm in the new future
I can see this maybe happening for some execs and sales types. But anyone that doesn't need to have a company provided phone on them (and isn't getting one) will still have a regular PC to complete their work on.
Just had a thought, the idea falls down hard hard if you want to make or receive a personal call whilst 'jacked' in.
I still think the idea is sound though. ID card and settings stored on a portable CPU.
Hello,
(excuse me for errors in my language)
Do you think we have reach the limits of performance and usability with the latest hardware available on the market for our smartphone ?
We can put it this way: Do you think it is still useful to buy smartphone with more powerful hardware than S4 or this type of phone ?
They are definitly smooth, and for their use, I think pay for more is useless.
But maybe their use will change, they will somehow replace our desktop pc in the way we can connect them to screen and mouse everywhere we go (I know that ubuntu touch already does this).
Thanks
I'm sure we haven't reached out limits. Android owns the phone market right now and I'm sure it will go a long way. As for the price the price will always be crap. I think the highest phone for a no contract I have seen was a iPhone 5 for 700. I'm sure the prices will keep going up.
Sent from my LG-LG730 using xda app-developers app
The industry will always strive to develop faster, smaller and more efficient hardware. And software developers will always find new ways to make use of that hardware.
Smartphones are becoming more and more multi-purpose platforms. With USB OTG, this direction is clearly defined. The increasing screen size is also a product of that. You can already use many phones as a more grown-up multimedia device, connected to your AV equipment and external controllers. This opens up a whole different arena, both in regards to software possibilities, and harware requirements accordngly.
There really is no real limit as to how far this train will go - especially considering the ammount of money people are willing to pay for their phones. And with the chinese marked and developement coming rushing up like a mountain on wheels from behind - both development time and price level is likely to drop a little, rather than increase.
Moore's law. A model that predicts the experiential increase of computing power. As for cellphones, I think it is about demand and supply. The processors in the latest phones have reached a limit threshold on what a consumer would use it for. Before when processors was lacking, consumers wanted better ones resulting in manufacturer competition on who has the fastest phone. First the 1GHz race then the quad core race and now we have 2GHz quad cores. There is now not as much demand for faster CPUs in phones atleast so manufacturers and focusing on other areas to compete for who has the best phone such as better battery, better screen, fast 4G, lighter, etc.
I often say to myself, that there must be more makes and models of mobile devices out there than the variety of vehicles these days. If that turns out true, it's no wonder. This industry is the fastest growing market right now. With such a selection, features, brands, and prices, it's hard to choose which device will be the best for you. Hopefully this guide will give you an idea on what to look for in your next device.
FIRST OFF:
GSMArena is your friend. They provide detailed specifications of many devices out there. The ones they don't show, well, a good rule of thumb is that the device is probably not popular enough to warrant your attention, if you want to do some of the things this site is known for (more on that later).
A cool feature of GSMArena is the ability to be able to compare two (or more) devices side-by-side, so once you have a small handful of possibilities, you can compare features easily.
One thing you do need to be careful of, is that GSMArena does not feature every variation a carrier may instill. So the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini you may see at the Bell Aliant store really has 16GB of storage space, but Bell may be the only carrier that uses that variant.
NETWORK:
Those looking for a Wi-Fi only tablet can skip this section...but a must-read for everyone else.
If you have a handful of devices in mind, right off the bat you should rule them in by checking their network status. I cannot tell you which one will work for your network, but your provider will tell you what technology (or technologies) they use (CDMA vs GSM/HSPA/HSPA+/LTE), and at what frequencies. My provider runs HSPA+ and LTE at 1700 and 2100 mHz only (no 2G), so that narrows my options for phones. As an example, last years Moto G LTE would work, but not this year's version due to mismatched frequencies.
Network technology is quite important, especially if you use CDMA. This means you would have no SIM (a tiny device that contains your subscriber information that you get from your provider) card (unless it has world phone capability, and even then, the bands probably won't work for your region) and are stuck with the carrier you buy the phone from. There are some CDMA-based network phone's, like the Motorola Photon Q (released for Sprint), that have their SIM card non-removable (a CDMA/GSM hybrid) where people have modified by soldering in a proper SIM slot. However, the GSM bands used for this device no not work for North America providers.
REFUSALS:
Think of a list of what you don't want. Want to avoid a phablet? Check! No to an Android OS older than Kitkat? Got it! No Samsung devices? You are on fire!
Maybe you can even think of some of the basic internals we take for granted. Usable space is one of them. It's hard to tell, but there is a big disconnect between the ROM size and what you have available to use. Heck, the system data's gotta take up space too! But the big question, what does this leave me? My recent phone, an LG Optimus F3Q, came with a JellyBean ROM, on a 4GB device. I had 1.3GB to play with. Not a lot, in light of the F3Q's predecessor for T-Mobile, the Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G had a 8GB ROM (Ice Cream Sandwich) and 5GB to play with. Why the downgrade, I never understood.
Seems as though a couple years ago, 16GB or more was reserved for high-end phones, 8GB for mid-range, and 4GB for budget phones. I am still seeing phones set up this way, such as the LG G3 S (aka Beat). This is a phone that was released with a 8GB ROM (the smaller cousin to the LG G3, much like the relationship between the Samsung Galaxy S4 and S4 Mini) and KitKat as an OS, upgradeable to Lollipop. This phone is in preparation of space-hungry Lollipop, and it shows when you look at this device's usable stoage space. For a 8GB ROM, you get around 2.4GB available to you. Since Lollipop's new runtime doubles the space of applications (un-compiled version, and compiled version of everything) compared to previous Android versions, the situation is just as bad with this phone as I have previously complained about with the F3Q. Thus, my refusal is no less than 8GB for Jellybean-age devices, or no less than 16GB for Lollipop or newer.
FEATURES:
Okay, so now you know what you don't want. What about what you want? Time to start a second list. Be reasonable, as in don't add features that won't be in phones for the next several years (like 1TB storage). This could be a quad-core processor (which seems to be the bare minimum for decent devices these days, or maybe 2GB of memory/RAM).
GIMMICKS:
In your feature list, did you add dual-SIM support, QWERTY keyboard, or some other gimmick? Be careful with that - a lot of manufacturers don't handle gimmicks too well, and only put them on lower-specced devices (Samsung Duos line comes to mind). These devices are not meant to push a lot of units, so the prices of them usually are quite higher. Keep in mind that dual-sim is not quite a gimmick, but it strays from the norm enough that you would be confused if it wasn't.
TO MicroSD OR NOT MicroSD?:
This is increasingly becoming a gimmick sadly. I like spending less on a device and then supplementing it with cheap memory. But this cannot be the case for many. Some manufacturers are bringing them back, others, are abolishing them from their devices. It's hard to see what the weather will be like there.
It comes down to personal choice, if it's a worthy feature or something you can live without.
BATTERY:
Battery life holds a big importance. Typically you want to look at the number of mAh the battery holds (as a comparison to like devices), but for say, different screen sizes, a smaller battery will work just as well on a smaller screen. So you need to look at screen-on-time metrics to know how long you can use your device, and how long you can go before a recharge. The challenge is that manufacturers usually advertise battery life by idle time, which is a perfect-world scenario (all sensors and radios turned off, no screen-on-time - basically the device is hibernating more aggressively than you will ever let it).
Another consideration is whether the battery should be removable. I used to be a strong supporter of removable batteries, since I would replace a faulty battery from time to time, but these days, I'm ambivalent to that idea. With external battery packs, you should never have to pop the back cover because the battery went dead. With the fact you can turn off a bootlooped phone after pressing power for many seconds, you never need to pull the battery either. Although, the big reason for a removable battery is for longevity of the phone, as the battery is usually the first to fail (after-market batteries are tested to function well for 300 charges). With a user-replaceable battery, you can easily buy and insert a replacement, be it from the OEM or third party (which often provides a little more juice). Once again, it comes down to personal choice.
DEVELOPMENT:
Okay, by now, you must have some decent candidates. But how do they stack up to this site? If the device does not have a forum yet, there is no guarantee it will ever get one. Even if it has a fourm, there is no guarantee it will get any amount of development. This becomes a judgement call whether your phone will be rootable, and have the ability to install custom ROMs (if that's your thing). If you are not concerned about that kind of support, no loss has been made, but if custom ROMs are your thing, don't buy and then "hope and wait" for something that may never come because you got a device noone cares about.
FINALLY:
Sometimes you cannot have everything you are looking for and not looking for. So this becomes time to prioritize and find the best match of features and refusals. It is not necessarily settling, but if we could all have our "Homer", the cost of phones would be astronomical (and some people place certain price points as refusals).
If you still get stuck, there is the device suggestion thread where others suggest the best device out there for your needs.
Hope this helps someone on their next purchase.