I’m pretty frugal. And my frugal lifestyle has leaked over into my choice of cell phone. My current cellphone is a Motorola Droid X and I’ve had it for nearly 3 years. And, let me tell you, it’s on its last legs.
There are a number of reasons I’ve held on to the good ol’ Droid X for so long. I’ve been trying to maximize the value of the money I spent on my phone. It was one of the high-end models a couple of years ago, so I’ve wanted to get as much mileage out of my phone as possible. I’ve been on a family plan, so laziness of trying to coordinate upgrading has been a factor in holding onto my phone. I have been lucky enough to not have any major issues until lately. Plus, I’ve been able to hold off paying for a new phone until a model I really like has come along.
While I’ve been able to hang on to my smartphone for almost 3 years, the writing has been on the wall for a while that it’s time for an upgrade. While I’m not thrilled to depart with the cash, I do recognize there is a line between being frugal and being cheap. I use my smartphone as a tool to check email, surf the web, connect with information, and communicate people. With my upcoming change to working remotely, having a reliable cell phone will be really important since, I am on a lot of conference calls each day for work.
If you’re in a situation where you’re trying to decide whether it’s time to upgrade your smartphone or not, here are some signs it’s time.
6 Signs It’s Time to Upgrade Your Smartphone
- The touchscreen has a slow response time. If you need to touch the screen several times before it registers that you’ve touched it, you’re wasting precious moments.
- There are malformations, spots or cracks on the screen. If marks or abnormalities are popping up on your screen, they will only get worse with time.
- Your battery lasts only a short time. If you constantly need to be plugged in, that defeats the purpose of having a “mobile” phone.
- You can’t use all of the apps or features of the phone. The great thing about smartphones is all of the features, apps and connectivity that they provide. When you can’t use more than you can, it’s time to upgrade your phone.
- Slow processing time. We live in a fast world. If the speed of your cellphone is so slow that you become frustrated or annoyed that your phone isn’t working, another smartphone should be on the way.
- Your phone randomly shuts down. Random shutdowns are annoying. If they are starting to happen more frequently due to battery issues or just your phone being finicky, it might be time to upgrade to a more reliable model.
At the end of the day, it’s up to you when you upgrade your smartphone. If you are a power user, any of these issues might make you want to upgrade sooner than someone who just casually uses their phone. For me, it’s coming down to battery life and reliability. If I can’t be sure that my phone is going to behave and if it’s not going to last me even a quarter of a day, I’m going to start looking for a new phone.
