Choosing the cell phone that meets your needs is the most important aspect of making a purchasing decision of a cell phone. However, since most cell phones come with more then enough features to meet the average consumers needs, the focus for many buyers has now shifted towards choosing a phone that suits ones personality and style. Consumers have many factors to consider when buying but it all comes down to which cell phone has the best combination of design, features, and performance.

Cell phones come in a variety of design styles such as flip, slider, swivel, and the common candy bar models. Each style of phone has its own distinctiveness in its usability so you'll want to consider the different types for choosing which one is best suited for you.

Design is an issue of personal preference, so make sure you like the size, weight, color and shape of your phone. One problem with getting the exact size color and shape you want is that the aesthetics can directly depend on the features of your phone. For instance, if you need a Smartphone or a PDA type phone, the size and shape might be different than what you had originally wanted so you may find yourself limited by your needs.

Many of the very small thin phones run into the problems of usability because the phone is so small and so are the controls and text, making the product hard for the user to utilize. The size of your display screen, text, and layout of the buttons & controls is very important when making a purchasing decision so make sure that the text and controls are big enough to view and use with ease.

No matter what purchase you make, in the end you'll want to enjoy using your new cell phone and perhaps even show it off to your friends, family or co-workers. In order to do so, be sure to choose a phone that is attractive and easy to use, and pick a color and shape you won't mind showing off. Also don’t forget, since some phones are more fragile than others, choosing something that fits your daily activity and usage is a must!

When it comes to features, the regular consumer can feel a bit overwhelmed with all the functionality offered on cell phones today. If you are not the tech savviest consumer, it is a good idea that you don’t buy anything more than you need. Stick with something simple and basic that is easy to use and does not have a lot of extra fancy features.

However if you're going to use your phone for the internet, e-mail or organizational features, it will be best for you to go with a more high-end model such as the smart phones.

If entertainment is your main objective with your cell phone, choose a model that contains entertainment features such as the popular VCAST phones. Most entertainment focused cell phones should allow you to take pictures and videos, listen to and download music, and even watch streaming videos.

Performance is the most crucial purchasing factor to consider because even the phone with all the fancy gadgets and latest features will do you absolutely no good if you can’t even get good reception to make a phone call. If your reception is poor, you will have dropped calls and logging onto the internet is a hassle if you keep getting disconnected. Although most of the reception depends on the quality of the service provider, make sure your new phone has the best possible antenna for reception

When you are browsing to buy a cell phone, don’t hesitate to ask the sales person to test the phone for yourself. Call a few friends and family members and ask how you sound to them, determine the reception quality level and walk around the store while using the phone to see if you pick up any static. Also check to see if the volume levels are ok for you because some cell phones have a low volume level where it may be difficult to hear someone while driving or if you are outside and the wind blows. Also, depending on the return policy you can always test out the phone during its grace period and return or exchange it if it does not meet your expectations.

Many cell phones with built in cameras have a picture quality that is so low that the phone would probably be better without the camera! Check to see the quality of the camera by taking pictures in the store before even buying it. Usually its the phones with a camera that have 1 mega pixel that take pictures that have dark and grainy images. For good pictures from your phone make sure it comes with a camera with more than 1 mega pixel and a flash is a good idea to have as well to prevent dark images.

Last but not least, battery life depends on your usage of the phone. Make sure at the very minimal your phone has at least 4 hours of talk time and 12 hours of stand by battery life. Depending on if you take a lot of pictures or use your phone for music and media, you may want to purchase an extended battery because these features will drain your phone quickly.