Flashy phones are too complex 2 Mar 2007

Do you use alll the features that your phone has to offer? No? Well, you're not the only one. According to a recent study by the Forum to Advance the Mobile Experience:

"'Function fatigue' was the No. 1 complaint of mobile phone users, according to the survey of 15,000 consumers in 37 countries. It was conducted in late 2006 and was partially funded by Palm, a maker of mobile devices...Manufacturers have become so enamored of cool features - including cameras, recording devices and video-streaming capabilities - that they have lost sight of the fact that many consumers just want good voice reception."

The survey seems to blame consumers' feelings of being overwhelmed on retailers poorly explaining things and a lack of demos. We disagree - sure, better "Help" information and customer support would be useful, but shouldn't these products be simple to use out of the box? And shouldn't mobile phone manufacturers be asking themselves whether their customers really want some of the advanced features they are offering?

[via PSFK]