Do you make calls from your smartphone?

A look into the behavioural habits of smartphone users

An estimate from Ofcom suggests that the UK is a nation addicted to its mobile technology. A recent survey tallying smartphone purchases since April 2005 estimate that there are now over 33 million smartphone devices in use across the UK.

Smartphones, the data tells us, now accounts for around 50% of all UK mobile business activity. Two-fifths of UK adults own a smartphone and the device has become their first port of call for accessing the internet amongst other activities.

So what is a smartphone really used for? And why are we so obsessed with them? Is there something about their size that makes them more appealing, more private than their slightly bigger, younger brothers, the tablets?

The same article follows by noting that a global business insight provider, Kantar, also surmised that there are 6 million tablet users in the UK, who are beginning to see the tablet take over from regular TV. As TVs must race to keep up – get smarter or get lost – will they survive at all?

The advent of fast-moving and rapidly accelerating technology has radically altered the ways in which we move, socialise, speak and relax. Just as the use of the iPad has significantly shifted attitudes towards television and gaming, so too the collapsing of communication, leisure, internet connectivity and social networking in the smartphone has altered how we use handheld mobile devices.

A recent survey by O2, picked up by the Daily Telegraph found that most smartphone users barely talk on their devices. Making calls was only the fifth most popular activity on a smart phone. So what else do we use our Apple, Android or BlackBerry® devices for?

The obvious answer, for most, is the internet. Handheld mobile devices have even overtaken computers in many households as the number one way to connect to the World Wide Web.

The O2 survey found that the average smartphone user is on the device for 2 hours a day. Of that 2 hours, at least 25 minutes are taken up browsing the web – and this is the most popular, regular and well-used activity. Indeed, the survey is also a little generous to this statistic, making it seem more humble by splitting this category from social media, which also makes use of the internet.

Indeed, handheld mobile devices have been one of the main propulsions for the success of social media and networking sites such as Twitter™. Tweets, which are really little more than elaborate online texts (to a big audience) are extremely popular with the smartphone community, and it is rare to find someone tweeting continuously from a computer.

David Johnson, general manager of O2, sums it up very neatly – saying that smartphones are becoming the ‘digital Swiss Army Knife’ of the twenty-first century. Users say that their smartphone has become their alarm clock, their watch, and very often their camera, music player and even TV or games device as well.

About Jakk: Jakk Ogden is a professional self-employed blogger and the founder / owner of Technology Blogged. 22, with a love for good writing, you'll find me playing 'Drag Racing' on my HTC One X and rocking a pair of Grado headphones. If you love technology, be sure to subscribe to my feed for unique editorials. Find me on Google+. View author profile.