Should I buy this
should_i_buyFor one product: buy now, wait, skip or check fit first, optionally for a shopper who already owns a device or uses iPhone or Android, with a budget or a use. Returns a verdict (buy_now, wait, skip, check_fit or not_enough_data) and the rule behind it, reasons that each carry a source link and how sure iDevice is (Confirmed, Reported, Our read or Not confirmed), the fit with the shopper's phone platform, timing (a newer model out, announced or reported), price (iDevice's published verdict and the lowest verified price over the period iDevice has checked it, low_period; none under 30 days of checks), what changed from the model the shopper owns when that comparison is available, and which of those four parts could not be answered. Reported dates are worded as reported. No probability is given. For a shopper who owns the model this one directly replaces, the answer also carries the two parts the /upgrade page on idevice.com says apart: upgrade_merit, whether replacing the owned model is worth it (worth_upgrading, not_a_clear_upgrade, depends_on_your_needs or too_early_to_say), and purchase_timing, whether today is a good time to buy the new one (good_time_to_buy, fine_at_this_price, no_rush, wait_for_price, newer_model_close, price_not_confirmed or not_on_sale_yet), each with its basis, and upgrade_answer, both parts in the page's own words; all five are null for any other question. decision_word is the word iDevice shows for the verdict: BUY NOW, FINE TO BUY (a buy_now because the model is new and at its launch price, with no price signal: no reason to wait, no deal to chase), NO RUSH, WAIT, SKIP, KEEP YOURS, UPGRADE, CHECK FIT, NOT ENOUGH DATA or NEWER MODEL OUT (PRICE NOT CONFIRMED when no price is confirmed for the exact model); the verdict field is the same whichever word is shown. display_label is the same answer in the words idevice.com prints (Good to buy, Fine to buy, No need to rush, Hold off for now, Look elsewhere, Newer model out, Price not confirmed, Keep what you have, Worth upgrading, Check the fit first, Too early to say); say that label to a person, and key on decision_word. A line slug (for example 'samsung-galaxy-ring') names the line's newest model; when that model is not on sale the answer is for the newest model of the line that is, and resolved_to says which and why. With buyer_context, the answer also carries buyer_decision: the personal answer the idevice.com decision page for the same question gives for that context (a recommendation class, its rule_id, the decisive factors, the trade-offs, what would change it and what is unknown, each with its evidence), and buyer_decision_info with the same answer in plain words and the page it belongs to. buyer_decision.base_answers are that page's own answers, which can differ from this tool's answer for a phone platform or a budget given as arguments.
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| use_case | No | What it is for, e.g. 'running' or 'sleep tracking' | |
| budget_usd | No | A price ceiling in US dollars | |
| product_slug | Yes | The product being considered, a product_slug, e.g. 'apple-watch' | |
| buyer_context | No | Optional. The shopper's own situation, in the closed grammar of the form on the idevice.com decision pages: { context_version: "buyer-context-v1", context, provenance }. context: currency "USD", risk_tolerance "normal", urgency (today, within_30_days, within_90_days or can_wait), priorities (up to three { id, importance }, importance must_have, high or medium; an id is a use or buying criterion the page can weigh, such as sleep, fitness or battery_life), hard_constraints (up to three: { id: "phone_platform", value: "iphone" or "android" }, { id: "no_subscription", value: true }, { id: "max_budget", value: a dollar amount }), cost_inputs (up to three { kind: offered_price, trade_in or required_accessories, amount, currency "USD", explicit_zero }), and optionally platform, expected_ownership_months (12, 24, 36 or 48), owned_condition and ecosystem_switch_willingness. Amounts are numbers from 0 to 100000 with at most two decimals. provenance: for each hard constraint, "hard_constraints:<id>": "selected" when the shopper stated it; a hard constraint without "selected" is not applied. The products come from this call's own arguments. A context outside the grammar is answered with buyer_decision_info naming the fields to fix, and the rest of the answer is unchanged. The context is used for this one answer and then dropped: it goes into no log. | |
| owned_platform | No | The phone platform the shopper uses | |
| owned_device_slug | No | A product_slug of a device the shopper already owns, e.g. 'iphone-17' |