When we first ran an article on how to choose the right phone, we gave information about some generalities to look for. Every day we get specs and numbers thrown at us and it can be difficult to keep them all straight. What impact will it have on your next phone purchase? In the next few entries, I’ll attempt to break it down into something most of us can understand.
Today we’re talking about memory. Computers of any kind (smart phones included) have two kinds of memory: The storage memory (sometimes called ROM), and the processing memory (also known as RAM). Though not a purely technical explanation, I like to explain the two this way:
Think of ROM as how much stuff is in your office desk. Big desks have space for larger pieces of equipment than your elementary school desk did. This is important stuff when you want to store pictures, music, and downloaded files on your device. Most phones support adding a secure digital (SD) storage card to increase your space. This is like buying a filing cabinet or bookshelf. You can store more papers in your office without them being strewn across the floor. One notable exception would be the Apple iPhone which is not expandable. It’s as if you bought a very expensive desk and couldn’t find a shelf to match it. Be sure to either buy a phone that has enough storage space, or has the capacity to be expanded later on.
The other kind of memory is RAM, which can be explained as how many of those books and papers can fit on your desk top at one time. If you were to pull everything out of your office desk right now and lay it out, with no stacking or overlapping, you likely would run out of space. RAM memory is generally much smaller than ROM because most of us don’t need every item in our desk out all the time. The more RAM your phone has, the more stuff it can do all at once without slowing down. Some applications require lots of memory, like trying to have available an entire encyclopedia set on your desk all at once. You’ll want a phone with as much RAM as possible to avoid slow downs or poor performance.
Kilobytes, megabytes, and gigabytes, oh my! When you hear about a phone having these on it, this simply refers to how much storage the phone has. Bytes are a measure of data, and these common measurements are often abbreviated. All you really need to know is that Kilobytes (KB) are 1,000 bytes, Megabytes (MB) are 1,000 Kilobytes, and Gigabytes (GB) are 1,000 Megabytes. So 500MB is half of 1GB. Just don’t confused GB with 3G or 4G.
To sum it all up, the more memory your phone has the better. The expert staff at Wireless Connection has been trained to find the best phone for you and help you wade through the sea of jargon. Next week I’ll be translating more lingo into English. If you are considering a phone purchase and have questions, feel free to contact us in store, on the phone, or on Facebook.
