Smartphones hardly used for calls

People spend more time using their smartphones for surfing the web, checking social networks or playing games than making phone calls, new research has found.

While smartphones are replacing more of our gadgets, such as alarm clocks and digital cameras, actually using one to make a phone call is not that common, according to mobile network O2.

The average smartphone owner spends more than two hours each day using the device. During that time, smartphone owners spend an average of 25 minutes using their phone to browse the web, 17 minutes on social networking, 13 minutes playing games and 16 minutes listening to music.

Making phone calls with the smartphone was only the fifth most popular use for the gadget, only slightly more time than they spend writing and checking email (11 minutes) and text messaging (10 minutes).

While the survey found that people spend just three minutes a day taking photographs, photography was the most popular thing to use a smartphone for, with 74 per cent saying that they had taken photos with their handset.

"Smartphones are now being used like a digital ‘Swiss Army Knife’, replacing possessions like watches, cameras, books and even laptops," said David Johnson, general manager of devices for O2 in the UK. "While we’re seeing no let-up in the number of calls customers make or the amount of time they spend speaking on their phones, their phone now plays a far greater role in all aspects of their lives."

More than half of respondents (54 per cent) said they use their smartphone instead of an alarm clock, while almost half (46 per cent) said their phone has replaced their watch.

The trend is more advanced in the US, where people have been making fewer mobile phone calls every year since 2007. The average length of a call has halved since 2005, to around 90 seconds.