Texting single handed or under the desk at work is becoming extinct as the button starts to be pushed out by the touchscreen. rightmobilephone.co.uk asked 1075 of its website users if the touchscreen is a warmly welcomed technology breakthrough, or if the simplicity of the button is missed.
Altogether, 57% of people stated they would rather own a phone with actual buttons to a touchscreen. The remaining 43% of people embraced the touchscreen, preferring this and the technology that has come hand in hand with it such as improved camera and music functions.
Nearly all (92%) of people cited admitted that they miss having the free hand they had with buttons. Commonly missed aspects were from commuters having difficulty holding a morning coffee whilst using a touchscreen, parents holding the hands of their toddlers trying to cause mischief, keen shoppers carrying their numerous shopping bags, and misbehaving teenagers texting under the table whilst in class.
It was apparent that the spare hand had been taken for granted by mobile phone users, and was missed. Multi tasking with cooking, writing, eating, drinking, carrying and applying lippy whilst using a handset had become impossible.
Three in five people felt more comfortable with a mobile phone with buttons and predictive text then they did with a touch screen and a stylus. The top five mobile phone handsets mentioned with buttons are:
Nokia 6300; Blackberry Curve 8900; Sony Ericsson w995; Nokia n86; Sony Ericsson c905.
Commenting on the results Neil McHugh, managing director of rightmobilephone.co.uk said: “Before touchscreen our mobile phones were pretty functional with just one hand, it was simple to text and investigate the handset. To use a touchscreen two hands are needed, one to hold handset the other to touch, this may be why they aren’t popular with everyone.”
He continued: “Touchscreen is a wonderful invention and it is easy to understand why it is so desirable, although the results of the survey show that there is still a high demand for new phones with buttons, and this should be embraced.”