Touchscreen phones – what you need to know

Mobile phone technology is becoming more and more powerful with many mobile phones acting like mini-computers. The ability to make phone calls and send texts is no longer the minimum we require of our phones – sending and receiving emails, a good inbuilt camera, an ability to surf the internet – all of these things must come as standard. Increasingly, a touch screen is the new ‘must-have’ standard feature of a good mobile phone.

But, as with all new technologies, there are a few things you should consider before making the conversion and ditching the keypad. Here are a few things to look out for:

- Is it a smartphone? You should be aware that with phone manufacturers catching on to the touchscreen trend, these phones are becoming more common across all sectors of the market. So just because it has a touchscreen, that doesn’t necessarily mean it will have the million and one other features that you’d expect. There’s no industry definition of a ’smartphone’ but most sources agree that a smartphone is one that offers advanced features similar to a PC. Internet capability, a cameraphone, email, etc – these are what turn a touchscreen phone into a smartphone. The HTC Desire (available from Vodafone) is one such example – it offers HD photos and video, a big touchscreen display and superfast internet with access to an app store.

- Sensitivity. This is an important consideration for most of us, because the whole process of using your phone will be horribly frustrating if sensitivity is not calibrated correctly. Ideally you’ll be able to try out the phone before you buy but factory presets may be different to those on the handset you tried out. Ask the sales people whether it’s possible to calibrate the phone’s sensitivity yourself using the settings menu – for some phones you may have to find and download files online to override settings, a rather more complicated process.

- Stylus. Again, this is a handy addition to any touchscreen phone as often you can be more precise with a stylus than you can with a finger. It’s always handy to have a backup.

- Button size. This is a similar issue to sensitivity as if the touchscreen buttons are small and you have rather large fingers, you may find yourself always pressing two buttons at a time. Unlike sensitivity, it’s a problem that may not be as easily remedied (though it’s always worth checking).