New cars only come out once a year.

Cars are very feature/price segregated (on equivalent models).

The phone market isn't like that at all. Smartphone's are only a couple years old. New android devices are coming out at the rate of a few per month (or so). With carrier incentives and discounts you have a choice of 2, 4, 8, etc. phones for the same essential price ($99, vs. $149, vs. $199) are basically the same (when compared to $12,000, $16,000, and $19,000 in the car market).

So yes, there are a lot of cars to choose from. But people have been buying them long enough to know the basics about each manufacturer, they only come out with new models once a year, and they are priced in easily recognizable bands.

But to answer your question, it's not the same thing at all, especially in my specific situation. First of all, I have a job that requires a lot of travel, which means I rent a lot of vehicles - those extended "test drives" help a lot in terms of including or excluding potential cars from consideration. There's also the fact that new cars generally all come out at the same time, so I'm not worrying about the "next big thing" coming out next week. Finally I have friends and colleagues who drive a variety of vehicles and I can add their experiences to my decision tree. When I pick I car, I make sure to maintain it to the best of my ability in case I can't find another car I like as much (hence the reason why I've had the same car for 13 years and decided to put $2000 into it for a new clutch last fall rather than get another car).

Smartphones aren't similar at all - like I wrote above, there's always the next hot new phone around the corner which makes me hesitate. I don't have an opportunity to try out most phones since most people I know who have a smartphone generally have an iPhone or a Motorola Droid (yay marketing!) And there's the issue of which Android phone will be upgradable in the future. It may not be a problem for you, but it is a headache for me, especially when I'm dropping several hundred dollars for a phone.

Is it just turtleneck and jeans and turkey and swiss on rye everyday?

Again, not the same at all - I've been buying food and clothes all my life so I know what I like and what I don't. There's also the issue that I generally don't spend hundreds of dollars for food or clothes at once so there is a lot less potential regret. But yes, I do generally have a class of food and clothes that I like and those are generally what I buy. And if that $25 of fish I decided to experiment with turns out to be a mistake, I can live with that. For a $500+ phone (remember I want an unlocked phone), that's a risk I'm not eager to take.

I'm not sure how buying a phone is really any different from buying any other kind of consumer electronics -- and I'm guessing everybody on here has been doing that their entire lives as well.

In many ways it's better, I probably won't replace my $2500 TV in the next 5-7 years, but I will definitely be replacing my $500 phone within 2 years -- so if I made a marginal choice my "suffering" won't be so long.

Just do the same thing you'd do buying xyz other electrically powered widget, get some spec sheets, read some reviews, talk to your friends, then go buy it.

And just like with flatscreen TVs or netbooks (another consumer electronics item), the different between top of the line and bottom of the barrel isn't so vast that you'd really be suffering in any meaningful sense either. So long as you avoid the complete crap stuff you'll probably be in the clear.

I can tell you how everyone I know buys their electronics - they generally ask me what they should buy, or they buy the cheapest thing on sale at Walmart. I suspect my experience is not unique.

* but I will definitely be replacing my $500 phone within 2 years -- so if I made a marginal choice my "suffering" won't be so long.*

When I need my phone, I need my phone, so a software bug, or lack of support can have real consequences. A defective or sub-optimal TV is an annoyance. A defective or sub-optimal phone cam have life-alternative consequences. YMMV. And of course in 2 years, the entire phone landscape will change again!

So long as you avoid the complete crap stuff you'll probably be in the clear.

It's more than just avoiding the bottom of the line stuff - there are otherwise well-regarded Android phones that may not be getting updates. It's just one more headache to deal with in the decision matrix that I would rather not deal with.

I don't fall for the tyranny of choices that forces me to believe that just because there are 200 options all of the same insane high value that the insane value is somewhat sane.