UNIBEN Students: Gadgets Worth Your Money

You have just seen the course outline. Three assignments to type, a pile of PDFs from your lecturers, and a group presentation before mid-semester. Your phone is already struggling, light is not steady, and the money from home has to cover food, handouts and transport too. So what should you actually spend on?

Here is how I would think about it if you walked into a phone shop and asked me straight. Start from the work, not from what your coursemates are carrying.

What your course actually needs

Most UNIBEN courses ask for the same three things, whatever your faculty.

• Typing. Assignments, term papers, lab reports, and later your project. Short notes are fine on a phone. Anything long needs a keyboard.
• Reading PDFs. Lecture slides, past questions, e-books. You need a screen you can read for an hour without squeezing your eyes, and storage that will not fill up by week four.
• Presentations. Making slides, editing them with your group, and sometimes presenting from your own device.

Then there are two things nobody writes on the course outline: power and data. NEPA will take light the night before your submission. Your data will finish at the worst time. Any gadget plan has to handle both.

The phone: your main tool for reading

For most students the phone does the heavy lifting. You read PDFs on it in the lecture hall, on the keke, in the queue at the bank. So screen size and storage matter more than camera hype.

If I had to pick one sensible option for study, I would look at the Infinix Hot 70 at ₦230,000. The 6.78 inch screen is big enough for slides and PDFs. 128GB storage means you can keep a whole semester of materials without deleting photos every week. It runs Android 16, so Google Docs, Slides and any PDF reader will work fine.

If you want an iPhone, the Apple iPhone 12 64GB is ₦255,000. It is a good phone. But be honest with yourself about 64GB. PDFs, WhatsApp group media and recorded lectures add up fast. If you go this way, you will need to clear WhatsApp media often or keep things in cloud storage, which costs data.

If photos and video matter to you, maybe you do content on the side or your course involves fieldwork pictures, the Tecno Camon 50 at ₦502,000 is built for camera and battery life. It is a lot of money for a student, though. Only stretch to it if the camera will actually earn its keep.

And if your smartphone keeps dying but you only need calls and SMS during exams or when it is charging, the itel it5627 feature phone at ₦40,500 is a cheap backup. Triple SIM, long battery. It will not open a PDF, but it keeps you reachable.

Quick comparison

The laptop question

Can you survive without a laptop? For 100 level, maybe. You can type short assignments on your phone with Google Docs and print at a business centre. People do it.

But once you get to long term papers, spreadsheets and your final year project, typing on a phone becomes punishment. A laptop pays for itself in time saved and in not paying a cyber cafe to type for you.

You do not need a gaming laptop. For typing, PDFs and slides, a basic machine with decent RAM, an SSD and a battery that can hold through a power cut is enough. Unless you study something like architecture or engineering design that needs heavy software, keep it simple. I wrote out what to check in how to choose a laptop for work or school, so read that before you spend.

If a laptop is not possible this semester, a sensible middle step is to put your money into a good phone with enough storage, and save towards the laptop later. Do not buy a weak phone and a weak laptop at the same time. Two bad tools are worse than one good one.

Power: plan for NEPA, not against it

Light will go. Your plan should assume that. A decent power bank is the cheapest way to make sure your phone survives a night of reading or a full day of lectures with no socket nearby.

Buy from a source you trust, because fake power banks are common and some are dangerous. I covered what to look for in power banks for NEPA wahala in Edo. Check the capacity, check the output, and do not buy the one that looks too cheap for its size.

Data: the hidden cost

Downloading slides, joining class WhatsApp groups, watching tutorial videos. Data goes quickly. A few habits help:

• Download PDFs once on Wi-Fi if you can get it, then read offline.
• Turn off WhatsApp auto-download for videos.
• Use Google Docs offline mode so you can type without burning data.

You can also buy airtime and data on Vanfleek airtime and data when you are already on the site.

Small things that make study easier

Not everything that helps you study is a gadget. If you are off campus and you read in your room, a proper chair saves your back. The Event/Office Chair is ₦28,500. Sitting on the edge of a bed for three hours is how people end up with back pain in 200 level.

If you leave early and come back late, a 4-in-1 Foldable Silicone Lunch Box at ₦15,500 lets you carry food from your room instead of buying every meal on campus. It folds flat, so it does not take up space in your bag once it is empty.

If you cook off campus, a Double Face Electric Hot Plate is ₦15,500. Check your hostel or landlord rules first. Some places do not allow cooking appliances, and you do not want it seized.

Getting it delivered to Benin

You do not need to travel to Auchi. Order on vanfleek.com and have it delivered to Benin. Standard delivery is currently ₦3,500 for eligible orders, but it varies by the items and where exactly you are, so the amount at checkout is the final one. Details are on the delivery page.

You can pay by card through Paystack, by bank transfer, or with pay on delivery where your order is eligible. If you are nervous about paying before you see the phone, check whether pay on delivery shows for your order at checkout.

If something arrives faulty, you have 7 days from delivery to return it, and we pay for the return on faulty items. Change-of-mind returns are allowed too, but the item must still be sealed and you pay the shipping. So open the box, test the phone properly the day it arrives, and do not wait until day six.

Got a question before you order? Call or WhatsApp 08166749367 and ask. That is cheaper than guessing.

What I would do with a tight budget

1. Get a phone with at least 128GB storage and a big screen. That is your reading tool.
2. Add a genuine power bank so NEPA does not decide your grades.
3. Save towards a basic laptop before your typing load gets heavy.
4. Skip the expensive camera phone unless it brings in money.

Buy for the course you are actually doing, not the one your friend is showing off. Your school fees already cost enough.

Prices were checked in November 2026 and can change. The product page always shows today's price.