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Maps and alarm clocks best thing about mobes, say normies

You mean I can phone people with this?!

Having access to the world's information at your fingertips is a handy feature of smartphones, but it's the alarm clock function that folk really appreciate, according to a survey by uSwitch.

The comparison site asked Joe Public to name their favourite smartphone features. But in the survey of 2,002 British adults, it was the more "traditional" and less whizzy functions that were most appreciated.

Topping the list were maps for directions and sat-nav (42 per cent), followed by messaging apps such as Whatsapp (36 per cent), and alarm clocks (35 per cent).

Bottom was mobile payment technology (6 per cent), iris scanners (2 per cent), and the ability to add filters to pics (2 per cent).

The research also found that women are twice as likely (10 per cent) to put the front-facing "selfie" camera "to good use" than men. Probably best not to linger on what was meant exactly by the term "good use", particularly in reference to men, cameras, and dating sites.

Ernest Doku, telecoms expert at uSwitch.com, said in recent years smartphone developers have "struggled to shout above the din in an increasingly saturated market".

But he noted that users are "yet to be convinced by the abundance of new features on offer, so perhaps the real value for developers lies in improving already established features and built-in apps".

For consumers wishing to upgrade their phones, he advised they look at the the "underdog brands like Huawei" that "deliver on specs and aren't anywhere near as expensive".

Intriguingly, the ability to make a phone call did not appear on the list. ®

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