‘Tis that time of year again! You’ve got a song on your lips and a skip in your steps. Merriment is in the air. What a wonderful occasion to have a new mobile phone in your pocket. If only finding one with the right price wasn’t so confusing.
There’s a new app in town to help you do that. PriceBuddy lists over five hundred different mobile phone models from Apple, Samsung, Blackberry, QMobile, Nokia, Sony, HTC and plenty more. You can find something for any budget; the latest iPhone 6 Plus costs Rs 85,000 as does the Galaxy Note, while I can help myself to a Megagate 2210 Movie phone for Rs 1,300 if I’m feeling particularly frugal.
According to the developers, JVentures, prices are updated daily, though the app doesn’t list its sources or cite any references. Also, it would’ve been much more helpful if PriceBuddy listed trending deals from Telenor, Ufone, Zong and other service providers. An unsavvy buyer such as myself might splurge Rs 85,000 for the latest iPhone, but how much might I save for the same phone if I signed up for a contract with Telenor, for example? It isn’t clear. And since there aren’t any helpful links or addresses where I can purchase a phone, PriceBuddy is, as the name suggests, not much more than simple price index.
You can get the app from Google Play for free. The UI is extremely simple: the latest, most expensive phone is at the top, and you can keep scrolling down for cheaper, older models. If there’s a particular phone you have in mind, type it in the search bar to see how much it costs today. You can also share your find via Facebook, Skype, Viber, Email, Bluetooth, Dropbox, WhatsApp, Wi-Fi Direct, etc. Alternately, if you want to see all phones within your budget, tap that little funnel icon in the top-right corner of the screen. A popup will appear where you can filter your search according to brand, minimum price and maximum price.
Finally, since PriceBuddy is limited to the Android platform, which makes it less than universal as a quick way for all smartphone users in Pakistan to check prices on the go. If you happen to have an iPhone, or any other smartphone, JVentures unfortunately haven’t yet released the corresponding version of PriceBuddy for your operating system.