MOBILE PHONES

Which mobile phones and contracts are best for international student in Leicester city?



Which mobile phones and contracts are best for international student in Leicester city?

Introduction

The use of digital gadgets has been growing in the developed countries and is becoming to grow in the developing world as well. Today, the number of iPods, cell phones, tablet PCs and personal digital assistants (PDAs) is increasing as they are among the most useful and popular gadgets. ?ore than one out of six people worldwide own mobile phones, digital cameras, PDAs and laptops which are equipped with wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) since one of the most important characteristics of computer devices is wireless network access . In recent years, handheld devices are in a time of rapid change with subscriptions reaching over two billion worldwide (Wireless Inteligence, 2005). There has been a big growth in the variety of devices that are mobile and can process digital data and media. As a result, the use of mobile phones is almost twice as high as that of personal computers.

A PDA is generally viewed as a handheld device that provides electronic versions of the functions of a paper-based personal organizer. Such functions are often grouped together under the term personal information manager (PIM). Moreover, modern PDAs include many of the features of a typical desktop PC machine with basic office applications. Two important matters regarding handheld devices are wireless connectivity and data synchronization (transfer to PDAs of the data stored in desktop and vice versa).

Methodology

During spring 2006, a questionnaire was designed to determine the comparative importance of mobile devices' features and operations, and the amount of money people would spend for these extra characteristics and services. During 2006-07 the questionnaire was distributed to 416 full-time undergraduate University students in a European Union country. Most of the respondents were between the ages of 18 and 25. They answered the questionnaire anonymously and voluntarily. There were completed 384 questionnaires. Female students accounted for 55 percent of the respondents. All participants had one hour to fill out the questionnaire. They were given mainly two-choice and multiple-choice questions to answer. The students also participated in other surveys where it was discovered that they used the mobile phone mostly for sending messages and making phone -calls.

The last two questions try to qualitatively estimate the perceived importance and the willingness to pay for various devices' features. The 7th question contains 25 technical ...