I still remember a time when having a ‘mobile’ phone meant lugging a heavy battery around with it, or at the very least strapping the notorious Motorola ‘brick’ DynaTAC phone to your back.

Even when the first truly pocket able mobile phones came along, they were for making calls. The most by way of a form of entertainment came a few years later with clumsy monoscale games on 50px resolution screens.

But not any more. According to a study that O2 has released, making a call is now only the 5th most popular thing to do for todays current smartphone generation.

On average, smartphone owners now spend over 2 hours a day using their phones, according to O2’s “All About You” Report into the way customers are using their handsets. However, the research found that making calls comes just fifth in a ranking of things they are used for.

Smartphone users spend more time browsing the internet (25 minutes a day), social networking (17 minutes a day), playing games (13 minutes a day) and listening to music (16 minutes a day) than they do making calls (12 minutes).

How long we spend using our smartphones (by activity) each day

David Johnson, General Manager Devices for O2 in the UK, said:

Smartphones are now being used like a digital ‘Swiss Army Knife’, replacing possessions like watches, cameras, books and even laptops. While we’re seeing no let-up in the number of calls customers make or the amount of time they spend speaking on their phones, their phone now plays a far greater role in all aspects of their lives.

The “All About You” report was commissioned by O2 to mark the launch of the Samsung Galaxy SIII

Source: O2 Blog
Lethal Weaon Cellphone image: BeyondTheYellowBrickRoad

About Andrew Cocks

Lover of all things relating to Social Media, writer for TechontheGo.co.uk, and keen poker player.

• Mail
|
• Web
|
• More Posts (174)