GLOBAL – Well that’s the verdict according to our most recent reader poll in which we posed you with the question what is the most important feature in a business device? It certainly surprised me that long battery life landed the top slot as the most crucial aspect of an enterprise device (of course I see it as important, but most important?). What’s interesting is that battery life has proved itself a most popular and top ranking feature in each of our recent series of polls, landing first place in the music phone stakes too. Opening the question, do we underestimate the significance of long battery lives, or does it remain true that some devices require it more than others (such as basic devices aimed at rural communities in emerging markets)? Share your thoughts on this topic and read on to find out all the results of our recent business phone reader poll.
‘Long battery life’ took first place on the podium with 22% of the vote, followed in joint second place (and perhaps more likely contenders for the number one slot) by ‘push email’ and the ability to ‘easily connect to Exchange-based email and directory’, each securing 16% of the vote.
The poll sparked a number of great in-depth comments too, on topics ranging from “how you mentally interface with your phone” to software suggestions such as “project management” tools, so head that way to dive into the discussion.
Quick side note. Apologies to those of you who wanted to be able to select multiple answers in this reader poll, but we wanted to truly hone in on what you think is singularly the most important feature (and avoid many people clicking everything), as we’re keen to use this poll info to help fuel further debate on the topic, and the one-answer approach really helps highlight those standout features. Hope you understand why we chose to do it that way. Anyway, onto the next results.
Clipping at the heels of push email and Exchange was the ‘QWERTY keyboard’ with 15% of the vote, followed by ‘other’ option with 9%, which included suggestions such as “reliability and excellent support” , “stability and speed” and perhaps overlooked “the ability to make phone calls”. Very good point.
‘Proper productivity apps’ earned fifth place with 8%. This was followed by the style focused ‘quality materials and finish’ answer, ‘touchscreen’ option and ‘file synchronization to a server or PC’ each with 4%.
‘Separate work and private modes’ ranked low with 2%, and sharing the bottom slot with 1% each are an ‘in-built SIP client’ and ‘great camera’.
What do you reckon to these results, and the question of long battery life posed higher up the piece? As always, please share your thoughts in the comments section directly south.