talking about smartphone 📱

 Welcome to Oxford Online English! In this lesson, you can learn how to talkabout smartphones in English. You’ll see the process of buying a new smartphone. You’ll also learn how to describe the featuresof a smartphone, say what’s most important to you, and ask questions about what a smartphonecan do. Before we start, don’t forget to check outour website: Oxford Online English dot com. 

We have many other free English lessons tohelp you improve your spoken English. If you need more help than our free lessonscan give you, we also have many professional teachers who offer online classes throughSkype, WhatsApp, FaceTime, or whatever you use! But now, let’s see some useful languagefor buying a new smartphone. Hello, can I help you with anything? Hi, yes, I’m looking for a new phone. I have some ideas, but maybe you can makesome recommendations? Of course! What are you looking for in your new phone? Well, for me, the number one priority is goodbattery life. I travel a lot for work, and I need a phonewhich can last at least a full day without problems. I see. Is anything else important? I take a lot of pictures, so I want somethingwith a decent camera. It doesn’t have to be amazing, but I’dlike a phone which can take good-quality pictures. It’d be a bonus if it could take good photosin low light, because a lot of phone cameras don’t do well in darker conditions, I’vefound. That’s true, but camera technology is gettingbetter all the time. Even mid-range modern phones can take excellentphotos in a wide range of conditions. If I may ask, what’s your budget? I guess I’m aiming for something in themid-range. I don’t need something top-of-the-line,so maybe around two, three hundred Euros. That’s fine; I have a few ideas for you. 

Follow me, please. If you were shopping for a new phone, whatwould you look for? What’s your top priority? Do you always buy the same brand, or do youlook for something different, like good battery life, or the lowest possible price? In the dialogue, you heard: ‘The numberone priority is good battery life.’ Of course, you can use this phrase with differentfeatures, as in: ‘The number one priority is a good front camera for selfies.’ You could say the same thing in a differentway like this: ‘The most important thing for me is good battery life.’ You also heard: ‘I take a lot of pictures,so I want something with a decent camera.’ ‘Decent’ means ‘quite good’. If something is decent, it’s above average,but not the best. If you say this, you mean that you don’tneed the best, most expensive camera there is, but you want something that’s good enough. If something is less important, you can usethe phrase ‘It’d be a bonus if…’ In the dialogue, you heard ‘It’d be abonus if it could take good photos in low light.’ A ‘bonus’ is something which is nice tohave, but not absolutely necessary. So, you might say: ‘It’d be a bonus ifit had a brighter screen.’ Finally, to set your budget, you could saysomething like this: ‘I’m aiming for something in the mid-range.’ ‘I want to spend as little as possible.’ ‘I’d like something cheap, but withoutcompromising on what I need.’ If you put these phrases together, you shouldbe able to say two to three sentences about what you need in a smartphone, what you’dlike to have, and how much you’re willing to spend.

 For example: ‘The most important thing forme is that it’s fast and has good performance. It’d be a bonus if it had over 100 gigabytesof storage. I’m aiming for the upper mid-range, so I’dlike to spend maybe four, five hundred maximum.’ Could you make an answer like this? Pause the video and make an answer. If you need, you can review this section toget the language you need. Say your answer out loud. Ready? Let’s look at our next section. I think this would be a good choice, basedon what you told me. It has a 48 megapixel dual camera, and greatcamera software which makes it easy to take good pictures in low light conditions, likeyou said. The battery should last two to three dayswith normal usage, and currently it’s discounted to 250 Euros. That sounds good! How much memory does it have? Do you mean RAM, or internal storage? Storage, I guess. You know, for music, photos and so on. It has 64 gigabytes of internal storage, andyou can also add a micro SD card if you need more. Mmm… Oh yeah, one more thing: does it have a headphonejack? I listen to music on my headphones, and Isaw a lot of new phones don’t have the connector for wired headphones. 

Yes, it has a 3.5 millimetre jack for headphones,or an aux cable, or whatever. Ah, good! Last thing, I probably should have mentionedthis earlier: can it take two SIM cards? Yes, it’s dual-SIM, although the secondSIM card goes in the micro SD slot, so you have to choose between two SIM cards or extrastorage; you can’t have both. That’s a little annoying… Are there any phones which don’t have that? Yes… I have one idea. Let me show you. In the dialogue, I asked three questions aboutthe phone’s features. Can you remember what you heard? You heard: ‘How much storage does it have?’ Does it have a headphone jack?’ ‘Can it take two SIM cards?’ Think about these basic question forms. Can you think of three more questions youcould ask about a smartphone, using these question forms? Pause the video and think about your answers. If you want extra practice, write them down! Of course, there are many possibilities. Here are three suggestions: ‘How much RAMdoes it have?’ ‘Does it have a fingerprint scanner?’ ‘Can it last all day on a single charge?’ What about you; were your questions similar,or did you get something completely different? There are many other questions you could ask,but next, let’s see how to describe other features of a smartphone in more detail. So, this one is a little more expensive, but I think you do get a lot more for your money. It has dual-SIM capability, 128 gigs of storage,which can be expanded with a memory card if you need, and a much better screen. The screen is very hi-res, so everything lookssharp, and it also has extremely accurate colours, which might be of interest if you’reinto photography. Colour accuracy? What does that mean? Just that the colours you see on the screenare exactly how they look in real life. Some screens, especially on cheaper phones,don’t have accurate colour reproduction, so everything looks too blue, or too orange,or whatever. OK, I don’t think that’s so important… It also has an 8-core CPU and 8 gigabytesof RAM, so everything runs fast, and you can multi-task, have several apps open at once… What’s this thing on the back? It’s the fingerprint scanner. This phone also has face recognition, so youcan unlock it just by looking into the camera. Hmm… And, how much is it? It’s 750 Euros, but I could take 50 Eurooff the price, so 700. That’s too much! I think I’ll take the first phone you showedme. Of course. Here are some things you heard in the dialogue. Could you explain what they mean in English? ‘It has dual-SIM capability.’ ‘The screen is very hi-res.’ ‘It has an 8-core CPU, so you can multi-task.’ Imagine you’re an English teacher, and youwant to explain these words to someone who doesn’t know them. How would you do it? ‘Dual-SIM’ means that the phone can usetwo SIM cards at the same time, so you can have two phone numbers on one device. ‘Hi-res’ is short for ‘high resolution’. This means that the screen has more pixels,so text and images will look clearer. An 8-core CPU is a processor which can runmany different calculations at the same time. So, you can multi-task: you can have severalapps open, and you can use your phone to do several things at once without it slowingdown. Do you remember any other smartphone featureswhich were mentioned in the dialogue? You heard: ‘The screen has extremely accuratecolours.’ ‘It also has face recognition.’ ‘It has 8 gigabytes of RAM.’ What about your phone? At this point in the lesson, you should haveenough language to describe the features of your phone in detail. 

Your job is to make a longer answer talkingabout your phone. Remember that you can review earlier sectionsif you need to! Aim to make at least five sentences. Pause the video and do it now. OK, how was that? Could you make a clear, fluent answer? Let’s look at one more point. So, will you be needing any accessories? Like what? Well, for sure you should get a screen protector. It’ll stop the glass from getting scratchedor damaged. How much is it? 10 Euros, and we can put it on for you rightnow. Can’t I do it myself? You can, but it’s fiddly. OK, I’ll take one of those. Is it worth getting a case to protect it? Perhaps, although phones are a lot tougherthan they used to be. Of course, I don’t recommend it, but youcan drop it and it’ll be fine nine times out of ten. I think I’ll take a case, too. I broke my last phone by dropping it, andI’d be so angry if it happened again. Sure. Take a look over here; any of these caseswill fit, and they’ll keep your phone safe. Hmm… This one’s nice. It’s fifteen? That’s right. Also, one more thing: if you’re worriedabout breaking your phone, you could buy an extended warranty. It covers you for three years, and it includesinsurance against accidental damage, so if you drop your phone, or it falls in water,or anything like that, you can bring it back and we’ll repair it at no extra cost. How much is it? It costs 65 Euros, Oh, no, no thanks. No problem. Is that everything? Yes, thanks so much. Where do I pay? Come with me and I’ll show you. When you buy a new phone, you might also buysome accessories. ‘Accessories’ mean small, extra thingswhich go with something larger you bought. Accessories can be cosmetic, like a case,or functional, like a screen protector. Can you think of other examples of smartphoneaccessories? You could also buy a spare charger, a Bluetoothheadset, or a mount so that you can see your phone while you’re driving. During the dialogue, the salesperson alsooffered me an extended warranty. Do you know what this means? A ‘warranty’ and a ‘guarantee’ havethe same meaning here. The manufacturer, or the retailer, are responsibleif anything goes wrong with the product. Normally, a warranty lasts one year. Some retailers and manufacturers offer extendedwarranties, which are a kind of insurance. 

Thanks for reading .