Whites falling behind in smartphone usage, Nielsen study shows

The New York Post ^ | September 23, 2012 | By CHRISTINE PARKER

[spodefly]

After all the hoopla, the Apple’s iPhone debut on Friday more than lived up to expectations, with analysts estimating as many as 10 million sales by tomorrow and more than 130 million by the end of the year.. But there is a surprising quirk in the numbers. More than half of American mobile subscribers — 55.5 percent — are now owners of smartphones of all types, but for white people, the numbers make up just 45 percent, the lowest of any ethnic group, new findings from Nielsen show. Sixty-six percent of Asians, 56 percent of Hispanics and 55 percent of African-Americans use smartphones to check e-mail, play games and surf the Web.

[DeadFurrow]

ProtectOurFreedom, I’m pushing 70 and I can add a little bit to your list. I podcast Rush and listen, to him, anytime and to any show that interests me. I can track my children and grandchildren with the “Find iPhone” app. And yes, they can keep track of me. I love the “GPS Motion X” and “GPS Motion X Drive App.” Motion X has a new app that will record a persons heart rate. I still have to investigate it some more. My iPhone can even read any web page, to me.

I couldn’t read the model and serial number on my lawn tractor, so I simply took a picture, of the tag, with the numbers, enlarged the picture, on the phone, problem solved. I could go on and on. But, the best thing it helps keep me sharp and I love chatting with the young ones, they all enjoy helping me, with something new, that I may be having a problem with. And oh ya, sometimes I surprise them with something they can’t figure out.

[Arrowhead1952]

I hope taxpayers didn't fund this survey.

You can bet we did fund this. I have so many phone numbers and other info in my brain, I am considered dangerous. I was requesting military orders for my section, and had the SSN, date of birth, and all the other info filled in. I just had to verify the home of record.

I asked an LTC if he still lived at a certain address, and he said "No, I live at (fill in the blank)". Then he looked at the desk for a folder or paper with his other info and asked me where I had all the other info for the entire section. I pointed to my head.

He looked shocked that I had all their personal info memorized. He said, "You could be a dangerous person being able to store all that info".

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Because we don’t get free phones paid for by the government?

[fireman15]

I have never owned an Apple product; I am too cheap and the company rubs me the wrong way. I do know what you mean however; I ended up buying a used Samsung Galaxy Tab android tablet through Ebay to use the built in GPS with aviation software in our airplane. The thing has turned out to be far more useful than I ever figured that it would be. It has amazing capabilities.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Hi, DF. Cool stuff, huh? I got a Wahoo Blue HR Monitor for my mountain hikes on the weekends which links with the GPS. They don't do a very good job (yet) of showing your path, HR, pace and elevation/grade. I'm sure that's coming. They also don't do a good job of merging the HR data with the MapMyRun data.

I find my self taking photos of things that I need reminders on. If I'm walking through town and see an interesting poster in a window, I take a quick photo for a later reminder (sign up for history walks, concerts, etc).

My kids and I shoot SMS text messages back and forth a lot with great scenic photos of where we are. My daughter moved to Whistler, BC a couple months ago for work and sent me some great shots of the park at the lake near Whistler Village today. The neatest thing was our family vacation in July 2011 for my 60th. We climbed Mt. Washburn, the tallest peak in Yellowstone Park, about 10,200 ft. At the top is a Ranger Station / Fire Outlook and a cell connection. The kids snapped photos on the peak and had them on Facebook in a minute or two and were getting responses from their friends right away!

That's a great idea about shooting photos of serial numbers! I can't see the numbers on my equipment without pulling it out of the rack. I can just shove the camera behind the rack and take a pic.

I saw a cool article about a new McClaren car being introduced in 2013 in our local paper today. It doesn't have a daily web page (yuck), so I snapped a pic of the photo in the newspaper and sent it to my son who's a huge McClaren fan.

I also dictate text messages to Siri when I'm driving or walking and shoot off SMS messages that way. MUCH faster than keyboarding.

It is truly an amazing machine.

[varyouga]

I'm a bit frustrated to see so many here disparaging a tool and everyone using one. All because either they don't think they need it and/or think some people misuse it. It reminds me of the attitude some people have about guns.

I had a flip phone until 2009 and didn't think I “needed” a smartphone until I saw how much it can do for me. Yes, some idiots just use it to play games and announce when they take a crap on facebook but it is an almost limitless tool when used to its full potential.

Here are just a few of the things I used it for. I know there are other devices that can do the same and do them better but my phone does them ALL in a stand-alone package smaller than my wallet.

-Access 95% of the internet anywhere, anytime. Look up anything right away nomatter where you are. I'm typing this on my phone right now and maybe use my PC once a month to go online.

-Receive and respond to emails instantly, anywhere. I don't keep up with every email constantly but it has been crucial for negotiating time sensitive deals/issues that would otherwise force me to change plans. Instead of having to be tied down at home to write that time critical response, I can go anywhere I want and still respond instantly.

-Update or create practically any document anywhere and send it anywhere.

-Receive huge amounts of information from anyone in the world in real time. I can be out in the field practically anywhere in the world and receive a full set of plans/drawings of whatever I'm looking at. For some recently designed machinery and buildings, I can have a full 3D model sent to my phone. Once I was stalled in the desert with help 100+ miles away and manually reset the truck's faulty ECU with diagrams I instantly downloaded with my phone.

-A graphing calculator and fully programmable math simulator. Heck, I can program and debug in practically any language.

-Always carry a good amount of music with me. I can also access countless radio/TV stations around the world through the internet. Some commercial free.

-Carry all my favorite photos/videos with me.

-Stream practically any movie or download practically any book, anywhere. I can be stuck in some airport at 2am with nothing else around me and get anything I want.

-Take very decent 8MP photos and 1080 HD videos. During the day, the quality is equal to most point & shoots but in an even smaller package that does so much more. I only wish it had a real flash.

-Scan a barcode of any item I see in a store and instantly compare prices at other stores.

-As a digital compass and star mapper. You can point the phone anywhere in the night sky and it identifies every known object.

-As an impromptu voice recorder that can even instantly upload to the web. Great for encounters with law enforcement or getting records of heated meetings (where still legal).

-In NYC, you can use it to track buses via GPS and plan an optimal route with subways. It instantly takes delays into account. I haven't looked at a subway map or not known exactly when a bus comes in over a year.

-Complete integration with home security. If someone comes onto my property, it instantly triggers a motion sensor and alerts my phone. If I want, I can then turn on an instant video feed of my property and alert a neighbor/security if necessary. If you are worried about privacy with cameras inside the home, you can run your own server and encrypt all the feeds before they are sent over the web.

-As a GPS navigator that monitors traffic in real time. Mine is smaller than most stand-units. I drive to new places often and it has never been wrong. It is also useful for walking quickly through a new city. I travel all the time and haven't touched a paper map or written directions down in years.

-A decent GPS for hiking. You can pre-load satellite and terrain data and still use if the area is too remote for cell service.

-Send my personal documents to most wireless printers without having to touch someone else’s PC.

-As a wireless, portable video phone. It still blows my mind that I can be sitting in the passenger seat of a car and talk to someone on the other side of the world while seeing them.

-See live and predicted weather radar maps, anywhere. You can know exactly when the rain/snow will start/stop and better plan for it.

-Get many other apps or program the phone yourself to do just about anything. The sky isn't the limit.

Again, this isn't everything I have used it for and the thing is smaller than my frickin wallet. Truly an amazing tool.

[Bobalu]

I can tell you are a pretty smart guy, probably a technician or engineer. I’m an embedded systems guy. I made a flip remark because of the silly “whites falling behind” title :-)

I actually program the processors that power most smart phones and tablets, the ARM. .. a remarkable and very inexpensive micro controller.

[GeronL]

What a stupid headline, absolutely true.

[Born to Conserve]

Are whites also the oldest on average?

[JCBreckenridge]

Rayyysisss. :p

[fireman15]

I think some of us were poking fun at ourselves. I have many friends who spend large sums and obligate themselves to years of expensive cellular contracts to have the latest and greatest electronic trinket. I think as the economy has deteriorated... in some groups expensive phones have partially replaced expensive clothes and cars as some sort of status symbols.

I appreciate you pointing out all the amazing and in some cases semi-useful tasks that can be performed with our new phones and tablet computers. I am definitely with you... I love to dazzle people and especially my wife with the same types of electronic wizardry. (See honey this pocket sized electronic trinket was definitely worth $500 and a 2 year extension to our cellular contract!)

After owning “smart phones” since 2005 I am finally willing to admit to people (other than my wife) that I accomplish very little with my phones or tablet that increases my actual productivity. When I found out that the fire department was spending tens of thousands of dollars to buy iPhones for all of our Battalion Chiefs during a budget crisis... I have to admit that I planted my face in my palms and wondered what the hell they were thinking.

[JCBreckenridge]

I can do about half that stuff without the phone. :)

[AFreeBird]

I used the MotionX app at the restoring honor rally in DC. We had two groups meeting up. My group got there first, the other group coming in that morning. We scoped out our spot and then I got our GPS coordinates and sent them off to my friend in the other group.

They found us in a crowd of one million people. How cool is that?

[wtc911]

They found us in a crowd of one million people. How cool is that?

______________________________________

With DHS monitoring every text and move...really cool.

[Scotswife]

It’s a smart phone - maybe they just asked the phone?

[Chickensoup]

So I guess my question is, if you have one of the government free phones are you able to upgrade them to smart phones without paying much or anything?

[Scotswife]

I haven’t checked out what kind of phones you can get for free

[RFEngineer]

Whites are also probably behind in the use of hydraulics and spinner rims on their automobiles, purchases of malt liquor, expensive tennis shoes and mouth grilles.

Folks who have limited funds and responsible financial management will place high-cost/high recurring-cost items like smartphones and their data plans fairly low on the list of priorities.

Those who aren’t smart enough to resist marketing hype and who don’t have to be financially responsible, are also more likely to have things that give the mere “appearance” of success.

[DeadFurrow]

What a beautiful picture,of you and your family! Have you ever heard Rush ask Siri questions on the air. Priceless. I literately crack up. My 4 doesn’t have Siri, but really seriously thinking of selling my phone, and upgrading.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Thank you re our family. That was a great vacation trip — best ever.

It was actually Rush who got me curious about Siri on my phone. I bought an iPhone 4s, but had never tried Siri until he started laughing about the response he got from it — and the mysterious response, as well. That’s when I discovered how useful it is. I just installed IOS 6 on my phone and it includes a lot of Siri enhancements that promise to be very useful.

Also, thanks for the tip on MotionX. I just bought the app. I love the idea of being able to find others in a huge crowd!