Smartphones used more for browsing than talking, says study

O2 have conducted a new report, called “All About You”, which looks at how their customers are using their smartphones.

The study shows that smartphone users are now spending over 2 hours using their smartphone everyday , which shows just how integral a smartphone has become to daily life. The even more interesting thing is that conventional smartphone users, such as calling and texting,  have now been over-taken by tasks normally associated with other devices.

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

Activity	Time/day
Browsing the internet	24.81
Checking social networks	17.49
Playing games	14.44
Listening to music	15.64
Making calls	12.13
Checking/writing emails	11.1
Text messaging	10.2
Watching TV/films	9.39
Reading books	9.3
Taking photographs	3.42
Total	128

The data, above, shows that web-browsing has now become the most popular activity on smartphones followed closely by checking social-networks If you combine the top two results  you get over 40 minutes of internet use per day on smartphones, which shows just how big mobile broadband has become.

Playing games and listening to music came in 3rd and 4th places respectively which reflect the increased multi-media focus of new smartphones. Watching films and reading books also accounted for 10 minutes of use per day on average and we’d expect these to continue to grow in the next year with the release of 4G and the improved displays on new devices.

O2′s results show just how many different tasks smartphones are now used for and how many devices they are replacing. Many users now use their smartphone as a laptop replacement, a watch , as an alarm clock, an MP3 player, a movie player and even as a games console. The increasing power of smartphones , better displays and improved data speeds should ensure smartphones continue to demand more and more of our days in the coming years!