When you sign a two-year cell phone contract the cost of the phone is heavily subsidised. The more expensive the contract, the higher the subsidy. As a result, people often do not appreciate the true value of their phone until something happens and they need to replace it.
A top of the range phone will cost close to R20 000 to replace and the average phone is around R 10 000. Sure, there are less expensive phones available but that means you are going to have to wait out the remainder of your contract with an inferior phone should something happen to the handset. Given how reliant we are on our phones these days for work and leisure, sacrificing the quality and features of the latest phone is not a pleasant experience.
The evolution of the smartphone has been incredible. They have become faster, more powerful and much more useful. We depend on them for a wide range of tasks and functions and many of these work through apps.
As data has become faster the apps have become more powerful and more useful. The downside to this is many apps drain our data plans quickly. While data has come down in price it is still fairly expansive in South Africa and unnecessary data usage can be a costly mistake.
Trying to find the best camera phone these days is difficult at best. There are so many smartphone brands on the market, sorting the wheat from the chaff can be quite daunting.
Selecting a smartphone is very much about personal taste and what functionality you desire from your smart camera phone. Take the time to think about what you need from your camera phone.
It is no secret that mobile data costs in South Africa have always been high. Consumers have been complaining for some time and this recently came to a head in 2017 with the #DataMustFall movement. Finally, parliament listened and started to put pressure on governing body ICASA to implement changes. To an extent, this has happened but there is still a long way to go.
For many people, international dialing is a bit confusing and sometimes frightening. Most often, the person you are trying to contact will give you their international number which you can simply dial without having to think about it. If, however, you have the local number of someone in another county, you might have to do a bit of investigation.