News Consumers confused by new phones

Feature overload is putting of potential new 3G phone punters, according to the Beeb this lunchtime:

Few British consumers are considering upgrading to third generation (3G) services, reveals a survey. Only 4% of those questioned said they were considering swapping their existing mobile for a new 3G handset.

The research is bad news for phone firms who are stepping up competition for 3G converts as they finish building networks to support the new services.

The consumers questioned said that the bewildering number of features on 3G handsets was putting them off.

More here

Has convergence gone too far? Is all this functionality really necessary? I personally believe that whilst a certain amount of convergence is good, the amount of features on even a 2G or 2.5G phone is getting silly. I have a PIM and Camera on my phone, and they never get used. Hell, I never used SMS that much until I got my T5 which allows me to compose texts and bluetooth them to my phone.

I'd much rather see well designed, separate devices that integrate well than everything shoehorned into one package. But that's just me. What do you think?

 

I had a Motorola A830 on 3, all i ever used it for was voice calls, I never took photos, sent emails or videos (i don't use SMS either) or used it as an mp3 player.

The reason I got that phone was the 500 minutes of cross network calls for £25 a month.

My current contract is £4.99 amonth for 150 minutes x network and 1000 minutes home with BT mobile, and an SE t610. I did use the camera after I pranged my car, but that was the only time (i'd left my camera at home).

Now I normally carry my PDA, a digital camera and my phone when I go out. I'm sure I could get a phone that combines everything, I can use my SD card in both my camera and PDA (take photos with camera and view them on the larger screen of the PDA) I can use bluetooth or IR to send emails or browse the web using my PDA and phone. I can watch films, play mp3s and read books on my PDA. The best thing is teh battery life of teh 3 distinct devices is better than that of the combined devices I've seen.

 

i do think phone convergence has gone a bit too far.

Having said that, my Nokia 6230 with a 1gb MMC card in is a very handy MP3 player I just use texts and calls, but also the calendar and todo list.

hmm....maybe some convergence is good.....

RoB

 

Maybe they should have conducted this survey before spending 21 billion pounds on the licences (or whatever it was).

 

Heading OT...

OT:

Is there a wesite listing current deals/rates etc for UK mobile operators? I'm looking to change soon, and want to find out what is out there...

Chris

 

I for one dont need all these new features, Im happy with my phone for making voice calls, txting. The camera is a neat function to have also.

 

It all depends on what the consumer needs from a device.

Some people, like my father for example, just want a simple phone to make & receive calls with, nothing more.

On the other hand I tend to carry with me a PDA, phone, MP3 player, and sometimes a digital camera too, so having all of that combined into one package (with a good clean interface & menu system) would be great.

 

I think the key issue here is that all of the technologies put into modern phones are not well integrated, planned or of good enough quality to make them a useful asset. I mean the reason why most people dont bother with using the camera in their phone is because it cant take enough pictures or it cant take them at a high enough resolution. MP3 players commonly lack the ability to function as portable storage devices as well... or provide poor sound quality and support only two or three media formats.

If the integration of all of the individual component features met the standards set by their standalone counterparts then perhaps integration would be a more successful move. IMHO its not their yet, and as both areas continue to advance, I dont think it will ever get to where the two markets become one.

I suppose for some people the extra features are a welcome substitute for some middleground between buying the individual components and not having the features at all, but for the majority of people this study would seem to show its more of a selling point.

My <insert amount here> cents worth...

 

Instead of making a phone that can nearly be an mp3 player or a camera I'd like to see an mp3 player that would accept a sim card and be used as a phone.

 

I think the problem is not that it has too many features. It's that the devices don't have an *interface* simple enough to make the features effective.
For instance, when you said you won't use SMS without being able to type them on the computer... what if the phone had the virtual keyboard which was just released, so you could unfold a little stand (a couple seconds max, nothing uber-complex) and it would illuminate a keyboard on a flat surface, so you could type it like normal? Then would you be more likely to send messages from your phone?
And to the MP3 that was a phone instead of the phone that was an MP3 player, the only real difference there is the interface... the MP3 player looks like what you would think of as an mp3 player... so what you're really asking for is a phone that looks like what you think of as an mp3 player... So then what if you had a phone that had simple buttons to manage your music? Would you be more accepting then?
Another thought is that if you had the stand mentioned above you could effectively make use of it as a video phone...

It's all about the interface. It has to be comfortable for people to want to use it. If it's uncomfortable, you have to make the product something people NEED so they HAVE to use it the way you make it. People don't NEED an MP3 player in their phone, heck many people already have an ipod

 

My contract ends in a couple of months and so usually I'd be looking around to use this as an excuse to get a shiny new phone. But all of these 3G phones are frickin' huge! I carry my phone with me EVERYWHERE, usually in my back pocket, so I want the smallest phone I can get, rugged being a close second in the requirements list.

My current contract was taken up with a Motorola T720 (an evil, EVIL 'phone, terrible response times). I replaced that when I won a Nokia N-Gage, which is actually a very decent 'phone but way too big for my tastes.

So anyway, I was searching around for a nice new handset, I wanted all the bells and whistles, but in the end I settled on a Nokia 2650 because it's small, cheap, makes phone calls, does SMS, and allows me to snipe eBay auctions on the go, which is all I ever do with my current 'phone anyway.

Nezuji