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If you spend a lot of time playing games on your smartphone and want to enhance your gaming experience through the powerful connection of PLDT Home Fiber, you might be wondering whether a popular flagship smartphone would suffice or a gaming phone is the better option.
The best smartphones you can purchase aren’t all that different from the finest gaming phones. Both will have top-of-the-line specifications, large batteries, and excellent displays. You can’t go wrong with either for regular usage, let alone playing casual games. But let’s look at the true differences between the two categories: how much better it is to play on a dedicated gaming phone, and what will you be missing out on if you don’t choose a more mainstream phone.
What sets gaming phones apart?
Not all gaming phones have the same features, and each model has its own set of benefits and bonuses. Overall, however, they are made to improve the mobile gaming experience—albeit to varying degrees.
Both hardware and software components are included in these benefits. The majority of them have a few things in common, such as strong specifications with leading chipsets and enough RAM.
Gaming phones also often feature large battery capacities of at least 5,000mAh or more, allowing users to play for longer hours while still having enough power. Gaming phones frequently have 3.5mm headphone ports, a feature that is rarely found on conventional smartphones.
What about its software?
Gaming phones usually come with software that makes it easier to play. These are sometimes referred to as ‘game modes,’ as they combine automated and manual functions. The former includes toggle options to filter off calls, messages, and other alerts when in a battle, while the latter includes increasing performance or optimizing power use so the battery doesn’t overheat.
Of course, normal phones have game modes as well, but they often have far fewer features and settings than gaming phones.
Some gaming phones have extremely detailed game settings, while others include the ‘X Mode,’ which emphasizes performance when activated. By default, this is done by squeezing the edges of the phone.
Looking at its hardware
Hardware is one of the most significant benefits of gaming phones. They work similarly to a classic gamepad’s ‘shoulder’ buttons, which players can assign to different functions in games, giving them more control and freeing up screen areas that would otherwise be occupied by thumbs. In gaming phones, extra touch-sensitive buttons are rather common.
The peripherals are the most eye-catching aspect of the gaming phone. Many have custom accessories designed just for the phone, and some feature a charging port on the left side of the phone where attachments may be plugged in.
The hardware also has built-in fans that help to keep your gaming phone cool and comfortable to grip.
External controllers are clearly superior to touch controls because they provide better accuracy.
Internally, gaming phones offer some rather minor gameplay-enhancing design benefits. Some can be split in half for faster charging and to keep the battery cells cooler and away from where the player’s fingers will likely rest on the phone’s back. Others have numerous cell and 5G antennas evenly distributed throughout the phone, so you should get a signal no matter how you hold it (including sideways when playing). Similarly, many microphones are positioned around the phone to pick up your voice.
The verdict
So should you buy a smart gaming phone? Well, if you’re already comfortable gaming with what you have now, forego it a bit further. But if you’re not satisfied and looking for more features to up your game, then the only reason that stands in your way is the price tag. If you find something that fits the budget and suits your gaming needs, a gaming smartphone is a worthy investment.