Too much choice

[suzieseaside]

Aaarghhh, there's too much consumer choice out there for me, particularly for electronic stuff like laptops, cameras etc.. It took me months to buy my last camera and by the time I decided there were yet more models out from the same manufacturer.

I am currently looking for an unlocked mobile phone which takes decent pics, nothing too pricy, perhaps a couple of years since manufacture. So I spend days / weeks looking at reviews, making notes, until it does my head in and I end up not doing anything!. 

Paralysed by too much choice! I suppose if money were no object it might be easy - get the top of the range (is a phone really worth a grand? I would be worried about losing it or dropping it)

What do you lot do? Throw a dice, take a blind stab at the computer screen, ask friends what they have?!  Does anyone else get bogged down by too much choice?

[cee-dee]

I suppose that too much choice does come in to it but I think that it's the lack of honest feedback about things that causes indecision? Often people commenting on things don't tell you what you really want to know?

Cameras and phones today are a real point of interest and I had a shock about that last Thursday.

I'd taken an item to someone and when asked about a mark, I pointed it out which was in a particularly difficult place between two parts of the item and I said it was very difficult to see clearly. It was an impressed mark on metal. The item was handed over to a techie lad and within a minute or two he showed me a pic he'd taken with his phone. I was absolutely stunned by the clarity and definition. It was clearer that what I'd seen when I looked using a headband binocular magnifier.

The chap I was talking to said "Phones today have such good cameras no-one needs those big cameras any more."

Without checking I think the phone was a Samsung but I don't know which model.

[023mjc]

Yes, I am often blinded by the science, but I have found a solution.  I send my son .

I tell him what I need the item to do, what I don't need it to do, and roughly what I want to pay. Then he does the shopping while I wait at home with a nice cup of tea.  I call it payback for all the years I ran around after him

[1956glyn]

Hi

This is where you need a teckie minded younger person 🙂

My sons 26.  Recently my pc suddenly went bang.   He explained the difference to me about "normal pcs" and pcs used for gaming.

It was not a case of telling me what i needed but more a case of what i did not need.   So off he goes on the internet for 30 mins.

He found us a decent one (after reading the reviews etc etc ) on offer in one of the major retailers for just over £300.     I expected  to pay a lot more.

Off we went to the local branch of the major retailer and came home with the same pc.    It is great for what we need to do online. It is one of the mjor brands.

I think when it comes to phones and laptops/pcs etc  you need to approach it from the point of view of what you do NOT need rather than what you do need.

I do not have a mobile phone (do not want one) but Glyn my hubby uses a Samsung which he thinks is great.    He got that on a deal from Sainsburys on a "when they have gone they have gone" promotion..   Brand new and i think he paid something like £100.

You have to be careful with the Apple iphones.   If you buy an older model they stop the updates so basically the phone becomes pretty useless and you are forced to upgrade to a better model i phone which are obv far more  expensive.

Again my son had the problem above.   He loves the iphones so he did upgrade.

[1956glyn]

Just to add you mentioned cameras.    Glyn loves his cameras and only ever buys/uses the Canon digital ones.

Way too heavy for me especially with the long lenses etc lol    I must prefer my cheapo shoot and click one 🙂

[margaret*e]

I haven't used a camera for years now that phones take decent photos.

Seems most of us now need our children or grandchildren when things go wrong though.

As for iphones and ipads, everyone I know with one has a cracked screen.

[1956glyn]

Yes i agree.

Another problem is the chargers do not last long. Doesnt matter if you spend £1 or £25 on one .

[suzieseaside]

mjc and glyn - you are fortunate to have knowledgeable offspring! I have no family and I don't think there is a 'borrow a geek kid advisory service'!

I had almost decided what to get last night but it won't arrive before I go away camping on Friday so will wait until I get back. I thought I had temporarily solved my immediate problem (battery going flat way too quickly) by getting a new one put in in a local shop yesterday, but it is even worse and he will have disposed of my old one!

I don't use my phone a lot but I will be lost if it fails when I am away as it is most useful for finding campsites and directions. How did I ever manage before we had smartphones?!   I just hope it will get me through with the help of 3 power banks and a car charger.  You are right about charging leads, some fail after a very short time. I usually buy 3 or 4 at a time and am down to the last 2 and there is only one kind that fits an iphone 4  Network phone shops haven't kept accessories for iphone 4 for at least 2 years. I tried to get a spare battery in Sheffield a couple of years ago and they laughed!

Thanks for the various suggestions.  I will decide eventually! I know I don't want a phablet or something which will need a bag or sherpa to carry around, but prefer something small that will go in a pocket. I have only ever had one smartphone (Apple) but might try an Android phone.  Xperia do some compact versions with a decent camera that might suit. 

[Anonymous]

You don't have to borrow a kid geek to get a new phone. Most kids nowadays are pretty clued up on them. Just ask any of them when you see them sitting somewhere on a bench, in the pub or near the shops. I'm sure they soon point you in the right direction.

Kids love to tell us fossils what they know. It makes a change for them.

[vamo48]

There is a lot of choice these days, but this can be a good thing as well as bad.  We read customer reviews where possible, they can be very helpful.  You can soon tell if a customer is just being picky or if the item really has any disadvantages, and can then make a more informed decision.

With cameras, I simply tell my husband I'd like a new one - he knows more about them than I do, and can pick one that is Vamo-proof.