NEWS COPY
The average Brit uses just a third of their smartphone's features - with the newer and more innovative apps most likely to be ignored, a study has revealed.
Despite the vast majority of adults now owning some form of smartphone, around two thirds of the built-in functions or apps go unused because people don't need them or don't even realise they are there.
The average Brit regularly uses eight of their phone's built-in apps and functions, and although they have used another six occasionally, they don't really get the most out of them.
Based on a list of 40 built-in functions, this means just 35 per cent are being used.
But with the new iPhone 6s 64GB model costing around £619 for the phone alone, this means more than £400 of it is being wasted.
And it's the features manufacturers use heavily to advertise the latest handsets, such as mobile payment, finger print scanning and voice dictation are actually among the top ten most underused on a phone.
It also emerged that despite our love of the smartphone, half of all adults find themselves longing for the days of the simpler mobile phone
Stuart Wilson, spokesperson for Talkmobile, which commissioned the research, said: "Smartphones have evolved so much over the past few years and now contain far more built-in features and apps than mobile phones did previously.
"If you need to do something, there is a very good chance you can use your smartphone to do so, or at the very least, download an app for it.
"But there will be many of us who remember the days when a mobile phone was nothing more than something you could make calls with or use to send text messages - and perhaps play the odd game.
"While the endless list of built-in features is impressive, it seems many of us are paying for a lot of things we don't use, or even know are there in the first place.
"With an iPhone 6s 64GB model costing £139 upfront on a £39 a month contract, and an iPhone 5 32GB costing around £20 a month on a comparable deal, it suggests savvy phone users can still have the features they use most while saving over £580.
"If you are spending money on a phone, you want to get the best value out of it you can, so it's important to consider whether you really need everything on your expensive smartphone."
The study found 59 per cent aren't aware of all the features on their mobile.
And 92 per cent don't use all of the features on their phone, with 30 per cent admitting they aren't even close to using everything their phone is capable of.
While 67 per cent say this is because a large number of the features aren't really relevant to their day-to-day life, a third admit they don't understand them.
The stocks and shares tracker is the function most likely to be ignored, followed by voice dictation, iPhone's passbook, podcasts and the iPhone Health app or equivalent.
Mobile payments, the compass and fingerprint recognition are also rarely used, while iBooks, or built-in E-readers, and the Newsstand and its equivalent completed the top ten.
Voice recognition, photo editing software, the stop watch and reminders are also among the least used functions on a smartphone.
As a result of the underuse, 27 per cent don't believe they are getting value for money when it comes to their smartphone.
It also emerged that while sending text messages and making calls is still the most popular use for a mobile phone, other popular uses include taking photos, surfing the internet and using it as an alarm clock.
Apps most likely to have never been used:- Stocks and shares tracker
- Voice dictation
- Passbook/ other equivalent
- Podcasts
- Health/ S-health/ other equivalent
- Mobile payment (Google Wallet, Apple Pay etc)
- Compass
- Finger print recognition
- iBooks/ built-in E-reader
- Newsstand/ other equivalent
- Tips/ other equivalent
- Voice recognition/Siri
- Game center/Samsung hub/ other equivalent
- Photo editing software
- Video calling/Facetime
- World clock
- Stopwatch
- iTunes/other entertainment store
- Timer
- Reminders
- Video player
- GPS navigation
- Music player
- Bluetooth
- Notes
Notes on Talkmobile
- Talkmobile is a phone company which uses the Vodafone network
- Talkmobile has been established since 2007
- We have over half million customers
- Although we have a similar name to Talk Talk we are entirely different company/legal entity.
