Ever wondered what really sells handsets? If a survey of over 30,000 cell phone users is to be believed then it's not the rich features available today on many handsets -- but simply look and size.
According to the publisher that undertook this survey, Reevoo.com, consumers are now more than ever wanting to spend their money wisely when purchasing a new handset. According to Chris Winstanley of Reevoo.com, "It was surprising that the most popular response had nothing to do with the phone's features, but more on the look and size together with multimedia capabilities. We are seeing eye-catching phones such as the LG Chocolate and designer handsets from the likes of Prada and Ted Baker serving this market."
"People are increasingly using their phones like miniature entertainment centres and are demanding better mobile functionality, while not losing sleekness. The challenge for consumers is to find a balance between the functions they need and the performance they want from their phones," said Winstanley.
However, users also had a list of complaints, at the top of which was the lack of battery life, a factor to consider when purchasing some of the more fashion-conscious handsets that by their slim size makes longer battery life harder to achieve.
Highlighting particular data from the report, 31 per cent of those surveyed rated the LG KU990 Viewty as one of the most desirable handsets. A feature that was also rated highly was an integrated camera, with over 40 per cent naming the Sony Ericsson K850i as having one of the best with a five megapixel resolution.
But some handset manufacturers came in for criticism, one of the worst offenders being the feature-packed Nokia N95, with 35 per cent of respondents rating it as having poor battery life. LG handsets were also slated for having unfriendly navigation and poor keypads
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