Smartphone makers swift to adopt Wi-Fi and GPS

GPS and Wi-Fi are having a negative effect on smartphone battery life

Smartphone manufacturers are cramming more and more technology onto platforms, but the end result is shorter battery life and more disgruntled customers.

Analyst house Canalys said in its latest report into European smartphone sales that 38 per cent of smartphones now come with GPS built in, and 58 per cent are capable of connecting using Wi-Fi.

However, the extra features and large touch screens which make up 13 per cent of the smartphone market are having a negative effect on battery life, and this is causing customer dissatisfaction.

"People are wary of draining their battery and not being able to make calls, " said Canalys senior analyst Pete Cunningham.

"Battery life is not helped by having GPS and Wi-Fi turned on, nor by having a large bright screen for navigation or web browsing.

"But there is clear demand for those features and applications, and advances in battery technology would enable quite substantial changes in usage patterns with all the service revenue benefits that would bring."

Canalys polled 4,000 European phone users and the number-one concern they expressed was battery life.

Overall Nokia dominated smartphone sales with over 70 per cent of the market. However strong growth from Motorola and Samsung saw their sales increase by over 200 per cent.