i agree that phone is very important. but from many feature that phone have, only 2 feature that i usually use

1. SMS
2. phone

I work in the industry (selling mobiles for 3 Australia). I find that customers purchase phones for many different reasons. Unfortunately, it seems most customers do not take features or useability into account. Often a customer will come in and ask for a “pink” handset or “anything with a touch screen thats cheaper than $$$”. Other customers may base their handset purchase on bad experience, so swap from one brand to another, others still may purchase because of a good experience, or the positive experience of a friend. Some may purchase phones that support certain frequencies for use in specific overseas countries, or, as is the case here, for national roaming from one network to another (3 is only 6 yrs old and has limited rural coverage here, so we have a roaming agreement in place with our most established mobile carrier, Telstra.)

Anyway, I think customers in general need to put a LOT more research into their phones prior to purchasing them. Of course I'm quite happy to sign up a customer regardless as to their choice, but I'd much rather match them with a phone that is going to work, meet their needs, match their personality and keep them happy. There's nothing more frustrating than selling a customer the phone they “want”, even after trying to point out that its not going to meet their needs, only to have them come back and abuse you because it “doesnt do what they expected”.

Please think before you buy!!! It's the digital age people! Please please PLEASE do some damn research!!! LoL!

Thanks!

fr0d0

The unique software and features of any given phone – along with how heavily those specific features are advertised – has a large impact on choice.

Its going back a long way, but I remember my ex wanting the Philips Savvy because it had 'Fortune Teller' built into it…no accounting for taste but there you go.

I also recently went shopping with a friend to help them choose a new phone, and even though they wanted a touchscreen they were still attracted to the T303 because of the mirrored screen.

No matter how good the best phone on the market is, there will always be those who want what we would think of as the rubbish one, because its pink/my mate has one/it was in that film/ooh its shiny.

Whenever I give advice on this (which is often) I always, always suggest taking the phone and walking around the shop with it for a bit.

Just as you would a pair of shoes.

You're going to be stuck with any phone you pick for anything from 18mths upwards…

Take. Your. Time.

From my experience (in the UK for sure) most people will look at what handset they can get for free, with the best deals on minutes/data/texts, and then make a choice based on what it looks like.

Most of my friends don't even handle the phones they upgrade to before making the move. That said, this could be down to an increased focus on basic technical features in mobile ads here..

There *is* a growing number of users that are increasingly clued up, but for now they remain in the minority.

That being said, I think that is changing, people are becoming more clued-up as to what the phone actually offers. People I know now say they want an E71 or N97 or iPhone (for whatever reason), rather than just taking whats on offer. This means carriers have to be more aware of this, and actualy offer the customer what they want instead of forcing a handset on them (Three, I'm looking at you)