How to check the technical specifications of a smartphone. We use third-party programs

There can be several problems when buying a smartphone: for example, they may try to sell you a copy that is not entirely new, and there is also a risk of running into a defective device. Below we have collected some tips that will help you buy exactly what you need - a brand new and working smartphone.

0. We study smartphone reviews and reviews on forums

Before you start looking for defects in a specific smartphone in a store, you need to find out what you should look for first.

There are plenty of forums on the Internet where lists of possible shortcomings (defects) of certain models are published, lovingly compiled by users. Before going to the store to buy a smartphone, these lists should be carefully studied. Or even rewrite it on a piece of paper - you never know, maybe you forget something along the way. Don't underestimate these sources of information. This is not the first day that people have been using what you are about to buy. And managed to collect marriage statistics. For example, smartphone A may have problems with the camera, while smartphone B may have problems with the fit of the panels and the operation of the second SIM card. Would you have guessed to check exactly these points in the communication salon if you did not know about them in advance? Is not a fact!

As for smartphone reviews, Special attention We recommend paying attention to the so-called unboxings or unboxing reviews. This is when a blogger on YouTube opens a sealed box and shows absolutely new device in films and demonstrates what is included in the delivery set.

In what fundamental difference smartphone unboxing review from regular text reviews? Journalists often receive used devices for testing, and even without a box or accessories. But unboxing involves talking about a completely new smartphone. Exactly the same as the one they will offer you in the store. While watching unboxing, pay attention to the films: on some models they are glued only on the front, and on some - also on the back. This will be noticeable in the video. And if a store tries to sell you a device without one of the films, know that someone has used it. Unfortunately, this happens: sometimes smartphones are sold out of curiosity by dishonest sellers, and sometimes they try to sell returned goods under the guise of a new one. And yes, they sometimes pocket the components of the package - adapters, headphones, cables, and so on. So, while watching the unboxing review, remember the package contents.

Keep in mind: smartphone X in the version for Russia may not have the same package content as in the version for the USA or, for example, China. So the priority is videos by Russian authors.

1. Examine the box with the smartphone and the condition of the films

Broken paper seals indicate only one thing: the box has been opened. Why is an open question. Maybe the consultant decided to look at the device, or maybe even use it. Why would you pay for a smartphone that looks like it's new, but isn't?

The same applies to films: if they are missing or they are glued crookedly and with bubbles, you know that something is fishy here. However, there are exceptions: on very cheap devices, films are often glued crookedly and with bubbles. And it is not the sellers who are to blame for this, but the Chinese factories of the second and third tier, which do not comply with the technological process.

2. Go to the call log, SMS and gallery

A story from life: a girl bought a smartphone in a Russian online store, received the parcel, turned on the device and... saw in her memory a couple of SMS, a stack of selfies of some young man and several more direct evidence that the device was used. Yes, it was new and in film, but someone - apparently just for the sake of interest, since the model was exotic - turned it over in their hands. Some people will not pay attention to such trifles, while others will find it unpleasant. Therefore, before purchasing, it is worth looking to see if there are any artifacts left from the uninvited “user” in the memory.

3. Looking for scratches, dents and chips on your smartphone

Sometimes such artifacts are left by the same sellers, and sometimes the device arrives with them from the factory. Scratches, chips and dents should be identified before purchase. Because they are not considered a waste: as soon as you pay for the smartphone, they turn into yours personal problem. If faulty screen, camera, battery, and so on may later be recognized as defective and repaired or replaced under warranty, then scratches and other exterior defects, if you did not notice them immediately, will not bother anyone.

4. Checking how the smartphone camera works

Obviously, it's worth taking a few pictures. In the store and, very preferably, also on the street. And then carefully examine them - so that there are no blurs in certain places, obvious stains, and so on.

But there is one more life hack. From an ordinary photograph of a street or the interior of a store, you can assess the quality, but it is not always possible to discern defects - after all, the picture will contain a lot of details, bright colors and so on. Therefore, take it with you or ask the seller to give you a regular white sheet.

The fact is that various kinds of spots (pinkish, yellowish, bluish) on frames are the scourge of many smartphone models. Such spots are clearly visible in photographs of homogeneous white objects. Sometimes this is a software problem, and then you will encounter it in all instances without exception. Here it’s up to you to decide: either take the smartphone and wait for firmware updates, or refuse the purchase.

And sometimes it's the hardware. This means that one device can give such an unpleasant effect, while another cannot. Therefore, after detecting stains on a photo of a white sheet, you should ask the consultant to bring another copy from the warehouse. Maybe you'll be lucky.

5. Checking the operation of the smartphone’s touch screen

To test the touch screen, go to the menu and click on each and every application icon. They are located almost throughout the entire display area. By clicking on them, you can identify so-called blind spots - places where, for some reason, the sensor responds poorly to pressing or does not respond at all. The second option is to type text on the keyboard. First in vertical mode, and then in horizontal mode. This way you will also cover almost the entire screen area.

Note that in Lately Such a defect is extremely rare in smartphones, and yet sometimes you can encounter it. Especially in ultra-budget smartphones.

6. Checking the smartphone display for dead pixels

There are several options here. The first is by using screen testing apps like DeadPixelTest. Everything is fine with them, but it’s far from a fact that you will be able to install such an application on a device that has not yet been purchased. Sometimes store policy prohibits potential buyers install your software on smartphones, and sometimes it’s just not very convenient. For example, if there is no Wi-Fi in the salon or if you do not want to enter your account into your smartphone or register a new one specifically for testing.

In this case, you should prepare to check for defective pixels in advance. We take at home microSD card and write several monochromatic pictures onto it - red, black, grey, blue, white and so on. In the store, we insert the flash drive into the slot of the smartphone, go to the gallery and carefully look for “alien” dots in the pictures. (At the same time, by the way, check whether everything is in order with the slot and whether the device recognizes MicroSD normally.) However, this method is also not universal: there are models (for example, OnePlus 5 and all iPhones without exception) that do not have slots for flash drives. kart.

And yes, on a white and black background (most often on them) you can see not only dead pixels, but also various stripes - for example, yellowish or bluish. This is also a marriage. Below is a photo of such a strip posted by a user on the official Meizu forum.

7. Checking the build quality of the smartphone

You could write a dissertation on how to check the build quality of a smartphone, but we will still try to briefly highlight the most important points.

First: the glass covering the screen may be glued crookedly. To identify this point in time, you should do the following. First, simultaneously run your fingers along the ribs - that is, along the places where the side edges of the body meet the front. Your fingers should not feel any bumps or dents. Secondly, it is worth comparing the width of the slots around the screen. The gaps at the joints must be perfectly uniform. If the width is different, there are problems with assembly. Thirdly, you should put your smartphone on a horizontal surface and look at it from the ends. If any errors were made during assembly, you will most likely notice that the front panel is not installed level.

Second: creaks, chattering and play in the body panels are unacceptable. By 2017, even the smallest Chinese factories had mastered assembly technologies that ensure perfect fit of parts. If there is something loose in the smartphone, then it is most likely defective. Request another copy.

At the same time, even in not the cheapest smartphones, the volume and power keys often rattle slightly. This moment should not be perceived as a marriage - rather, it’s just such a unpleasant feature. You can check if this is true by asking for a second device for comparison.

And further: extraneous sounds(tapping) from the camera module is more normal than abnormal. These are the features of optical systems installed in smartphones.

8. Checking the operation of the audio part

With the speaker, everything is simple - I launched the preset melodies, and if they are played, then everything is fine with the device. If you don’t trust the built-in ones, bring a MicroSD card with your favorite songs from home (provided that the device supports flash drives). It’s more difficult with headphones: individual manufacturers - the same Xiaomi company, for example, their smartphones do not come with “ears,” which makes verification difficult during the purchase process. Therefore, either ask the seller for headphones for testing, or, better yet, bring your own.

9. Checking the connection

WITH cellular communication everything is simple: put on a SIM card and call someone. But you shouldn’t hang up immediately after you hear “hello” on the other end of the line. Talk for a couple of minutes - this way you can check the microphone's operation.

Also, pay attention to whether the screen goes dark when you bring the smartphone to your cheek. If it does not go out, then the device has problems with the proximity sensor. This means that during a conversation you will press your cheek against the various elements on touch screen. Pleasure is still there.

It is more difficult to check the mobile Internet - practice shows that the glitches associated with it are of a floating nature, that is, in a number of models they appear from time to time. And it’s not a fact that they depend specifically on the smartphone. It may turn out that there are problems with the cellular operator.

To test Wi-Fi you will have to connect to wireless network- if it is, of course, available. Another option is to enable traffic sharing mode, if it is supported on the smartphone you have with you. Important point: If nothing loads either in the browser or anywhere else, you should not immediately consider the smartphone defective. Check the date and time: sometimes they get lost due to being in the warehouse for a long time, in which case most Internet services do not work. Set the current year in the settings and right time- after this, most likely, everything will fall into place.

10. Checking the battery

If in the model removable battery, then there should be an indicator on it white. If there is no white, but there is red, then you know that moisture has entered the smartphone. And it may happen that he will not live long.

Also, for the sake of order, you should put your smartphone on charge for at least a couple of minutes - to make sure, firstly, that the interface connector is working properly, and secondly, that the charger is working properly.

Bonus track: testing a smartphone using special applications and codes

IN Google Play And App Store There is great amount applications for testing all smartphone systems. If the seller doesn’t mind and the store has Wi-Fi, why not? Such applications will tell you everything about the screen, battery wear, sensor operation, and much more. For example, in the case of an Android smartphone, you can install Test Your Phone or Phone Doctor Plus. However, such software cannot be called completely reliable. For example, we tried to test the flashlight using one of similar applications, and it reported that there is no flashlight in the smartphone (see screenshot below). Although it exists and works.

There are also so-called service codes- they are individual for each manufacturer, and sometimes for different models the same company. They also allow you to learn a lot of interesting things about your smartphone, from system problems to total talk time. Lists of codes can be easily searched on the Internet - just enter the phrase “service codes for so-and-so’s smartphone” into a search engine.

That's all. Nothing complicated. Enjoy the shopping!

Each electronic device has technical characteristics by which it can be compared with similar ones. It is thanks to these characteristics that we can conclude which smartphone, tablet or computer is better and more suitable for us. Also, based on this data, we can “measure the characteristics” with our friends, not without reason claiming that our smartphone is better than theirs "brick".

How to find out the characteristics of a smartphone running Android OS?

But this is the real problem for Android and for other OS. Many smartphone manufacturers hide the characteristics of their smartphones. And if gigabytes of memory can be found using standard means and simple calculations, you won’t find information about the processor, camera and other hardware.

As far as I know, only in devices HTC There's no problem with that.

But at LG, Samsung and many others, including Chinese manufacturers, information about the hardware of the device cannot be found out.

So what to do? How to find out what hardware is on your smartphone?

There are at least two answers:

1. View on the official website

2. With special applications.

In this article we will look at the second option. We are interested in applications that can be downloaded from Play Market for free. And I’ll immediately note that many applications will not give you an answer to how many cores are in your processor, and some, in addition, will bombard the Android curtain with spam. Having tried dozens of applications, I present to you a list of reliable applications that will satisfy our curiosity.

1. System Info Droid(ValenByte)

The application shows the number of cores and processor frequency, device model, operating system, RAM, resolution and display size, camera megapixels and many other goodies.

2. CPU-Z

Shows all characteristics, including the number of cores. Very convenient and simple interface.

3.SysGlance

Another worthy application.

Benchmark apps are useful for determining the performance of your device and comparing the results with similar devices. They test CPU performance and graphics system, web surfing speed, etc. We will look at 5 benchmark apps for Android that you can use to see the performance of your device.

Quadrant Standard Edition app is testing CPU, I/O controllers and 3D graphics. To find out the results, after passing the tests, you will first have to provide them to the company’s server. After that, on the graph you will see the total number of points scored by your device, as well as its comparison with other devices.

Linpack is a benchmark application that is used to measure the performance of processors used in a number of the most fast computers in the world. Now you can use this application to test your phone or tablet for Android platform. Linpack is a quick and easy test of the performance of your device, the result of which is reported in megaflop/s (MFLOPS). People who use custom ROMs and overclock Android systems often use Linpack to see performance gains.
Install via Android Market

The Neocore app was developed by Qualcomm to test its Adreno GPU. However, it can also be used to measure 3D graphics performance on Android devices that are equipped with GPUs other than Adreno. The test results are displayed in FPS.
Install via Android Market

AnTuTu tests the processor, RAM, graphics, databases and SD card elements, and then provides results both for each component individually and for the entire device. This application is somewhat similar to Quadrant Standard Edition, but it allows you, as you already understand, to see not only general results, but also the indicators of individual nodes. Once testing is complete, you can see your device's performance in a detailed bar graph next to the performance of other Android devices. Just for fun, you can also send your results to the AnTuTu server to see the position of your device relative to the global device rankings.
Install via Android Market

The Vellamo benchmark application, like Neocore, was developed by Qualcomm. It measures web surfing performance on Android device based on four criteria: rendering, javascript, user interaction and network connection quality.
Install via Android Market

Often, when buying a Chinese smartphone, you cannot be sure that the characteristics indicated on the store’s website are genuine, because you can write anything you want, right? However, why should this worry you so much? It's no secret that Chinese smartphones you have to reflash it quite often (if the fake is not of very high quality or the software is “crude”). And in order to reflash the device you need to know EXCLUSIVELY accurate TX ( specifications).
If you “upload” the firmware using other TX, you will get a “brick” (it turns on before the logo and freezes - this is the best case).

How to find out the characteristics

First you need to determine which chipset your device is based on: Mediatek (MTK), Spreadtrum, Broadcom or Qualcomm. Chinese devices are often not made with Exynos (they disguise it as actually MTK) or TSM on board. Actually, look at the page of your smartphone in the store where you bought it to see what processor is installed, or try in practice the programs below, whichever one works is yours!

Mediatek MTK

If you have a smartphone based on a Medaitek (MTK) processor, then you need to use the MTKDroidTools utility. Of course, the matter cannot be accomplished without installing drivers; the required kit software we will indicate below. So, if you ask (yes, only there friendly specialists will help you select the firmware and reflash your smartphone for free and with high quality), then you need to indicate the exact TX determined through MTKDroidTools. To increase the accuracy of the determined TX, it is worth getting shell root through the same utility (the button for obtaining root rights is located at the bottom).

Smartphone characteristics taken using AIDA64 on Android

Software

• - determination of TX, getting root, creating backups


• Drivers: &ADB Driver

Spreadtrum

IN in this case You will have to rely on the information indicated on the smartphone page in the store and that indicated under the cover of the device, on the board, and so on. That is, information will have to be collected, what is called “bit by bit.”

The situation is similar with Qualcomm and Broadcom. This is because MTK is much more common, which is why a utility was developed for this purpose.

conclusions

Checking the technical characteristics is one of the main stages in preparing for flashing, installation custom Recovery and even obtaining root rights (if the bootloader is locked). Therefore, you should treat this aspect very carefully, because if you determine the TX incorrectly, you will get a “brick”.

How to find out the characteristics of an Android device? How much memory does he have? What processor is on my device? In this article, we will offer you a couple of solutions to answer these questions.

It happens that after loading application from the Internet (in APK or from the app store), the downloaded software does not work, although it was installed correctly and without errors?

This may be due to the fact that unlicensed software is often made for specific GPUs and even phone models. And in Your smartphone probably does not support the system requirements of the application. The minimum amount of information about a smartphone can be found:

• after reading the instructions that were included in the box with the purchased device;
• by looking in the phone settings and reading the information in the “About phone” section (“Settings” -> “System” -> “About phone”. On all devices there will be approximately this path to system information). In this case, you will have to delve into the tabs. You will not get a clear summary of what you need, all the data will be scattered;

Photo: Phone information

• take advantage specialized a program or utility for analyzing a smartphone.

Read the instructions and look for information on your android device you can on one's own. M We suggest considering programs for displaying detailed information O characteristics android devices.

AIDA64 (Download)

Many people are already familiar with the name AIDA, since a similar program for PCs is often used to collect data about hardware. The application allows you to get incredibly detailed and structured information about the android device, including temperature, codecs, sensors, system folders, batteries. There is a lot of data and most likely only advanced users or specialists in the field of smartphone software will understand most of it. For a simple user, more than 60% of the information is simply not useful. Moving through the tabs, you will sometimes have to search for the necessary data. Advertising is present, but does not interfere.

Photo: AIDA64

CPU Z (Download)

In CPU Z from xSoft Studio, information is presented in a more readable and understandable form for the average user. Display, sensors, central processor, memory, device, etc. - everything is here. But, unfortunately, additional and necessary functions (for example: “Network”) are available only after purchasing the full version of the program. The most common, simple program. There is nothing special or unique.

Photo: CPU Z

AnTuTu Benchmark (Download)

An excellent program that allows you not only to see the characteristics of your Android, but also to test your device under the most severe conditions and compare it with other models. The characteristics are displayed only the most necessary, basic and understandable. There are no unnecessary or unclear abbreviations.

Testing is carried out using the maximum load of the central and graphic processor. The speed of data transmission and reception both from the internal storage and from the network is taken into account.

Photo: AnTuTu Benchmark

Heavy is used as a load, high poly 3D video. During the test, the phone will become very hot. On weak devices, the picture on the screen will freeze a lot. Don't be afraid, this is how it should be. After finishing, you will see a device rating in points describing the comparative characteristics performance your device.

Photo: AnTuTu Benchmark

Test using 3D models is possible only after installing an additional program AnTuTu 3DBench (Download), which is essentially an extension to the main application. Without extension, only simple tests are possible. You can, for example, test multi-touch.

Photo: AnTuTu 3DBench

AnTuTu Benchmark offers to download another additional extension AnTuTu Officer (Download). After performing several manipulations with the computer and the QR code, it will show whether your phone is “gray” or not.

Photo: AnTuTu Officer

Droid Info (Download)

Good program providing information about equipment and characteristics android devices. Shows only the main characteristics with a slight expansion. The application is working, but requires some improvement (it does not always provide correct information, especially about new devices). And the last update dates back to July 24, 2016. It seems that the developers abandoned their creation, but in vain. The interface is very convenient and simple, the necessary information can be found in a couple of seconds. It is possible to send a detailed report about the device (in the form of text) to a mailbox - a strange function, but it can be useful.

Photo: Droid Info

CPU -Z from CPUID (Download)

Almost identical to Droid Info program, only in English. Unlike the latter, CPU -Z is regularly updated and supported by developers. The information is accurate and correct, everything corresponds reality. Those who do not know English should not download it; there are a lot of technical names. By the values ​​themselves, you can guess what characteristic we are talking about, but still not always.

Photo: CPU-Z from CPUID

Geekbench 4 (Download)

Another powerful tester productivity phone, similar to AnTuTu Benchmark. Provides only the basic characteristics of the Android device: model, memory size, firmware, graphics processor, number of cores, etc. (we will not see sensor readings and changes in processor temperature here). Has the ability to check performance device under load. Unlike AnTuTu, the application does not require additional installation of extensions.

Photo: Geekbench 4

Choosing a program to view the characteristics of your android, you should proceed from your needs. Is information about exact temperature values ​​and sensor readings for processor cores necessary? It is worth trying out all the applications and finding the one you need and the most convenient, specifically for your needs.

Dear readers! If you have any questions or comments on the topic of the article, please leave them below.