Shiny iPhone Survey Results: Part 3: iPhone's best features
Our survey asked people to vote for the three best features of the iPhone, ranked in order from 1 (best) to 3.
It's all about the looks
As with the rest of the survey, the results are only based on what's been available in the media, and publicised by Apple, so it's perhaps not a surprise that the way it looks, and its touch screen, came in very strong first and second place.
Over a quarter of all respondents (26.6%) rated the way the iPhone looks as it's best feature, with around one-sixth (16.1%) saying that the touch screen was its best feature.
Its Wi-Fi capabilities came in third, with 12.3%, followed by the user interface gesturing system (8%), the fact that it's an Apple product (8%) the screen size (5.9%) and, linked to that no doubt, its ability to play widescreen video (5.7%). Bottom of the pack came the fact that it runs OS X (5%), has the accelerometer feature that self-rights the image depending on the phone's orientation (3.4%), and the Visual Voicemail function (3%).
When the 1st-3rd place scores were weighted to give an overall measure of popularity, the iPhone's looks won outright (503 votes), followed by the touch screen (417 votes), Wi-Fi (314 votes), the gesturing system (231 votes), and the screen size (228 votes).
Demographics
Looks stayed high on the list for men, with 23.6% voting for it, followed by the touch screen (18.2%) and the multi-touch system (8.2%).
Amongst women, looks and the touch screen won out again (29% and 14% respectively), with its Wi-Fi capability coming in third (12.2%).
35-44 year-olds seem to most value the iPhone's looks, with 33% of that group voting it the iPhone's best feature. 25-34s rated it next (32.2%), followed by 45-54 year-olds (24.6%) and 16-24s (22.4%).
Again, 35-44 year-olds value the touch screen most, with 22.3% versus 22.4% for the 16-24s, 14.7% for the 25-34 year-olds, and 10.5% for the 45-54 year olds.
It's the 16-24 year olds that like the revolutionary new interface the most (13.2%)whereas it's Wi-Fi that takes third place for every other age group.
All other features are fairly evenly matched across the age groups.
Conclusions
For a phone that hasn't been released, these figures aren't particularly surprising. We've all only been able to gaze longingly at photos of the iPhone, and as with most Apple products, it's visually appealing, so it's no wonder that's the most popular, or recalled, feature.
Again, much has been made of the iPhone's touchscreen, which, when coupled with the new interface, is new and unique. This is made possible by the large screen size.
Other functions won't be truly valued as great features until people get to try them for themselves.
Seeing images on the iPhone's screen correctly orienting themselves, thanks to the inbuilt sensors, working with the Visual Voicemail, or using OS X (for those not used to Macs), won't be appreciated until they can be experienced first hand.
The fact that they're not to be found on any other handset means people have no reference point. That's not a bad thing.
The results also suggest that people value the 'bling' factor of their handset, and Apple doesn't disappoint here.
Tomorrow, I'll look at the factors that people thought could let the iPhone down.
Shiny iPhone Survey Results: Part 1: Who's getting an iPhone?
Shiny iPhone Survey Results: Part 2: The price is right
Shiny iPhone Survey Results: Part 4: iPhone's let downs
Shiny iPhone Survey Results: Part 5: Network issues
Survey Results: Part 6: The Rivals
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