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Jul. 14, 2009

Modern mobile handsets and smartphones are getting more and more complex, while at the same time even easier to use, and feature anything from streaming media players, video-playback functionality, GPSs, high-res cameras, etc. The list is almost endless.

However, according to a recent survey of 2,394 mobile phone purchasers conducted by online wireless retailer Wirefly, most U.S. users don’t even care about all those features, and the majority almost never uses them.

The survey asked wireless consumers what factors influenced their decision to buy a mobile handset or smartphone, and it found that almost 65 percent were less concerned with high-tech features than they were with some very basic factors like the size and color of the handset.

Almost 60 percent of those surveyed cited size and color as the most important, with about 16.2 percent saying the device’s color as the most important.

Another 24.9 percent cited other factors like ease of use, keypad size and affordability were their highest priority in selecting a mobile phone.

Overall, mobile users between the ages of 31 and 40 were the most engaged with their handsets’ applications. They use their phone’s GPS more than their counterparts and also check e-mail and listen to music on their devices.

Users aged 24 to 30 were the most likely to view videos and play games on their handset at least once a week. Additionally, and although a majority of respondents bought handsets outfitted with photo, video streaming, Web browser, email and music player capabilities, only a small fraction consider them to be necessities and some report never using these features at all.

About 94.1 percent of users choose a camera phone, although only 25 percent consider a built-in camera a basic requirement. Another example cited by Wirefly was a full Web brower and e-mail functionality.

Although almost 65 percent of respondents purchased a device with full Web browser and e-mail, about 46.3 percent said they never use those functions, and less than 16 percent cited it as a necessary feature.

Wirefly also said that age played a significant role in determining the importance of mobile phone features.

Almost 58 percent of survey respondents 50 years and older claim to only use their phone for calls, while just 5 percent of respondents 24 years and younger use the phone for just calling.

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    This article was featured on Business 5.0 and on Tech Blog.

Source: Wirefly.