Mobile phones replacing household devices

Common household devices are becoming redundant as consumers rely on increasingly advanced mobile phones, a poll suggests.

The mobile phone is slowly replacing digital cameras, alarm clocks, calendars and calculators, according to the survey for comparison website rightmobilephone.co.uk.

It found 54 per cent of MP3 owners were more likely to use their phone for personal audio and 92 per cent of those with a landline used their mobile more for calls. Of all the respondents, 21 per cent said they only had a landline because it came with their entertainment bundle.

Fewer than half (42 per cent) said they did not own a digital camera, but 79 per cent of those respondents said it was because they used their mobile phone instead. Among those who did not own a traditional calculator (91 per cent), 82 per cent used the calculator on their phone.

More than two thirds (67 per cent) used their phone to log important dates in place of a traditional calendar and 11 per cent estimated they used their phone to go online more regularly than using their PC or laptop. A quarter (26 per cent) regularly used a map application on their mobile. However, 81 per cent said they would prefer to use a "proper" sat nav device when travelling.

More than half of those surveyed (55 per cent) said they would prefer to use one main device rather than several for different purposes.

Neil McHugh, co-founder of rightmobilephone.co.uk, said: "When we carried out a study last year to see if the mobile was replacing the alarm clock, we did speculate that handsets would also threaten other stand alone devices and it's now clear from this study that people are starting to use their phones more and more in replacement for cameras, calendars, calculators and even their landline.