Cellphone users on both sides of the Atlantic are frequently baffled by excessive features in their handsets. The majority of people questioned in a survey say setting up a phone is as troublesome as changing bank accounts.

The big problem isn’t so much daily use as the hassle of getting a phone up and running. Various services such as e-mail, picture messaging and Internet browsing often don’t work without complex set-up procedures.

To a degree, that’s inevitable: it’s hard to see how a phone could be ready to send and receive emails to your address right out of the box unless the manufacturer had psychic abilities. But it’s clear users want to be able to use a phone to full capacity with as little work as possible.

The survey of 4,000 consumers in the UK and US threw up a range of statistics which varied so much that it does appear the different results were as much to do with how leading/auto-suggestive the wording of each question was. But while the precise figures may not be reliable, there’s a clear message for manufacturers: buyers would be much more likely to change handsets more often (and thus buy more new phones) if they didn’t fear the set-up process.

Matthew Bancroft, the vice president of Mformation (the firm which commissioned the survey), said the problems of getting a phone up and running were “a bit like getting a new gadget, then finding that the batteries aren’t included.” (Of course, if you wanted to be picky, you’d have to say, ‘A bit, but not as much as getting a new phone and finding the battery isn’t included.’)

While simplifying the set-up procedures may be one solution, for some customers the answer may be simpler phones. Several manufacturers in the UK now offer handsets which simply offer the ability to make and receive calls and text messages; these phones, often aimed at older users, also come with large keys and a large-type screen.

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Entry was posted on Monday, January 19th, 2009 at 1:09 pm under Technology.

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