Phone specs, in plain English.
AMOLED. AnTuTu. IP68. mAh. CPU nm. Every phone listing throws these at you. Here’s what each one actually means, why it matters, and how it shows up in Nigeria.
What the screen does, and what it doesn’t.
The screen is the part you stare at all day. Resolution matters less than people think. Panel type matters more.
AMOLED vs LCD
The two ways a phone screen makes a picture. LCD shines a backlight through colour filters. AMOLED lights up each pixel individually, so blacks are truly black and the screen draws less power on dark scenes.
For most people, AMOLED is noticeably better. Punchier colour, deeper blacks, and the always-on display works without lighting up the whole panel. The catch is burn-in over years of heavy use, and AMOLED costs more, which is why budget phones still ship LCD.
Same colour. Different mechanism.
Refresh rate · 60Hz, 90Hz, 120Hz
How many times per second the screen redraws. 60Hz is the old default. 120Hz makes scrolling and games look smoother — buttery, even. Past 120Hz, returns diminish.
Sweet spot: 120Hz. Premium without diminishing returns.
Resolution · HD+, FHD+, QHD+
How many pixels the screen has. HD+ is 720p (basic). FHD+ is 1080p (the sensible midpoint). QHD+ is 1440p (flagship territory). Above FHD+ is rarely worth the price or the battery hit at phone sizes.
Brightness · nits
Measured in nits. Indoor reading needs around 300. Lagos sun in May needs 800+. If a listing doesn’t quote the brightness, the phone probably struggles in daylight.
How fast a phone actually feels.
Specs lie. Benchmarks help, but only if you read them right. Here’s what to look at and what to ignore.
AnTuTu · the benchmark score
AnTuTu is a benchmark app that runs a series of tests — CPU, GPU, memory, UX — and gives the phone a single score. Higher is faster. Different versions are not comparable to each other.
Useful as a rough comparison between phones tested on the same version. Useless for predicting whether you’ll like the phone. A 600k AnTuTu phone with bloatware will feel slower than a 400k phone running clean software.
Most older phones in our catalogue.
Stricter graphics test. Scores ~20% lower than v9.
Don’t fuss over a 50k-point gap. A 200k+ gap is real.
Process node · 4nm, 6nm, 7nm…
The size of the transistors on the chip. Smaller is generally better — more performance per watt, less heat. A 4nm chip in a 2024 phone will run cooler and longer than a 12nm chip in a 2019 phone, even if the GHz numbers look similar.
RAM · 4GB, 6GB, 8GB…
The phone’s short-term memory. More RAM = more apps you can switch between without them reloading. 4GB is the floor for new phones. 8GB is comfortable for most people for the next 3-4 years.
How long will this thing survive you?
IP rating · IP67, IP68, IPX2…
Two digits that say how well your phone resists dust and water. The first digit is dust. The second is water. Higher is better. X means "not rated", not zero.
IP68, the flagship-standard, means dust-tight and survives submersion up to 1.5m for 30 minutes. IP67 drops to 1m for 30 minutes. IP54 handles a splash but not a dunk. Anything less is "keep away from water."
Two digits. One promise.
Gorilla Glass · Victus, Victus 2, Glass 5, 6, 7
Corning’s branded reinforced glass. Newer numbers and named tiers (Victus, Victus 2) survive higher drops onto harder surfaces. But all of them still scratch. Sand on a screen is sand on a screen.
Frame · plastic, aluminium, titanium
What holds the phone together. Plastic flexes (cheap, durable, lighter). Aluminium feels premium and dents. Titanium is stiffer per gram than aluminium and pricier — you’ll see it on some flagships.
More megapixels won’t save you.
OIS · optical image stabilisation
A small motor that compensates for your hand shaking. The difference between a blurry low-light shot and a sharp one. Rarely included under ₦300k. When you see it, take it seriously.
f/1.5, f/1.8, f/2.2 · aperture
How much light the lens lets in. Smaller number = wider opening = better low-light. f/1.5 is great. f/2.4 starts to struggle indoors.
Megapixels · 12 MP, 50 MP, 200 MP
How many pixels the sensor captures. Above 12, gains are mostly marketing. A good 12 MP sensor outshoots a bad 108 MP one every time.
Ultrawide · the secondary camera
A wider field of view than the main lens. Good for group photos and landscapes. Usually a step down in quality — don’t expect the same colour or detail.
mAh, watts, and the gap between them.
mAh
Battery capacity. 5,000 mAh is the modern standard. 3,000 mAh in a 2024 phone is a red flag unless the phone is tiny.
Wired charging · watts
How fast it tops up. 18W = slow. 33W = fine. 67W+ = full in under an hour. The catch: you need a matching charger and cable.
Wireless charging · the luxury
Drop on a pad, no plugs. Slower than wired. Rare under ₦400k new. Convenient if you own a stand.
Bands, jacks, and what your network actually supports.
4G & 5G bands
"5G" alone doesn’t mean a phone will get 5G on your network. Carriers broadcast on specific frequencies (bands) and the phone has to physically support those bands to connect. A phone marketed as 5G in China might miss the bands MTN or Airtel use in Nigeria.
Check the phone’s full band list, not the marketing line.
Wi-Fi 5, 6, 6E, 7
Newer numbers are faster on the right router. Wi-Fi 6 is the comfortable floor for any phone you’ll keep 3+ years.
Bluetooth 5.0, 5.2, 5.3
How the phone talks to earbuds, watches, speakers. 5.0 is the floor. 5.2 unlocks LE Audio for newer earbuds.
NFC
The chip that does tap-to-pay and tap-to-share. Many budget Android phones still skip NFC. Worth checking before you buy.
3.5 mm headphone jack
The old round audio port. Most flagships dropped it — though a few audio-focused phones (like the LG V60) keep an excellent one with a proper DAC. Most budget and midrange Android phones still ship one.
eSIM & dual SIM
eSIM is a virtual SIM card you activate via QR code. MTN, Airtel and Glo now support eSIM in Nigeria, though dual physical SIM is still common and convenient.
USB-C vs Lightning
USB-C is the universal Android (and iPhone 15+) charging port. Lightning is Apple’s older port. If you already own cables, factor that in.
The years the phone keeps working.
A phone is good hardware plus software updates. When the updates stop, the phone starts becoming a security risk.
Update policy
Two clocks. The OS clock tracks new Android or iOS versions. The security patch clock tracks monthly fixes for known vulnerabilities. Both stop one day. The day the security clock stops, your bank app starts warning you.
Counted from the phone’s launch date, not your purchase date.
Android 13, 14, 15
The numbered Android release. Each version adds polish, privacy controls, and the occasional new feature. Two-year-old Android is fine. Five-year-old starts to creak.
Skins · HiOS, XOS, One UI, MIUI
Each brand rebrands Android with its own look and pre-installed apps. Samsung’s One UI is the polished one. HiOS and XOS tend to bundle bloatware and notification spam.
Security patch level
The date of the last security update the phone received. Anything older than 6 months on a used phone usually means the brand stopped updating it.
Bloatware
Pre-installed apps you didn’t ask for. The cheaper the phone, the more there usually is. Budget for an hour of cleanup.
The part nobody puts in the spec sheet.
When "same phone" isn't the same phone
The same model name often hides two or three different phones. Samsung sells its flagships with one chip in Europe and Nigeria, a different chip in the US and China. Many midrange Androids ship a 4G version and a 5G version under one name. Some phones swap screens, cameras, or batteries by region.
The label is the same. The phone underneath isn’t. Performance, battery life, camera quality, and resale value can all shift between variants.
Samsung Galaxy S series: Exynos here, Snapdragon abroad.
Same name, two SKUs. Some Tecno and Galaxy A models.
Buying used? What wears out
A spec sheet describes the phone that left the factory. A used phone is that phone minus a year or three of wear — and the parts that wear most are the ones you can’t see in a listing.
You can see scratches and haggle the price down. Battery health and water resistance you can’t — they fade with every charge cycle and every hot afternoon, and no photo shows it. Those are the ones that decide whether you actually got a deal.
The two you can’t see — battery and seals — cost the most.
"UK Used", "Naija Used", "Refurbished"
Marketplace slang. UK Used means imported, often in good condition. Naija Used means local secondhand, often more wear. Refurbished can mean anything from factory-checked to "we replaced the screen with a knockoff." Always ask which.
IMEI checks
Every phone has a unique 15-digit IMEI. Dial *#06# to see it. Cross-check it against our database before you pay — stolen phones and clones both show up there.
Tell us what’s missing.
We add terms as readers ask. If a spec stopped you in your tracks, write it down. We’ll explain it next.