In choosing a new phone, online research goes only so far

Buying a new cellphone is about as much fun as buying a used car.

A device can have vastly different prices depending who is selling it, and since retailers offer a limited selection of phones, it’s hard to trust a salesperson who recommends a certain device, especially when carriers introduce new handsets weekly.

It’s getting worse. Carriers seem to believe that everyone wants a shiny new phone for a holiday gift, so new devices are now surging into the market.

There is a way to approach the task with a small measure of logic. To boil it down, the process is a three-step boogie: go online to narrow your choices, go offline to test a few, go back online to buy one. Spend a day doing this, and you can avoid two years of cellphone remorse.

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