When it comes to smartphones, definitions are everything, it seems. Major
research houses, such as IDC and Gartner, only classify a gadget as a
smartphone if it has a qwerty keyboard. By that reckoning, only a scant
few models in our survey would count, so our definitions are a little more
flexible, covering devices that handle data, including web and phone. For
our readers, it appears that the experience of using smartphones and
PDA s is fraught with frustration, particularly as a result of lower than
expected battery life.
The surprise here is that the iPhone
didn’t make the top five, even though
it got 528 votes after being available for
just a few months. Instead, the survey
shows one major sticking point for
buyers: battery life. It's not just Apple
that suffered, battery life was rated
poorly across the board.
In all other respects, the iPhone rated
well. It should also be noted that even
with such poor ratings for battery life,
the iPhone still has an immensely loyal
following – 88% say they would buy
from Apple again, compared to 86% for
Asus and 84% for Blackberry.
Samsung received too few votes to be
included, but its focus on smartphones,
including the Omnia, means we’ll be
keeping a close eye on it in future.
