Six in 10 Americans are going online wirelessly using a laptop or a cell phone, according to the latest survey from the Pew Research Center. U.S. mobile-device users are also taking advantage of a much wider range of data applications than last year, the new report said.
Nearly half of all U.S. adults surveyed this year during April and May said they were using a laptop equipped with a Wi-Fi radio or mobile broadband card — up from 39 percent in April 2009. However, 40 percent indicated they were also accessing the Internet, e-mail or instant messaging on mobile phones, noted Aaron Smith, the author of the report.
“The growing functionality of mobile phones makes them ever more powerful devices for on-the-go communications and computing,” Smith said. “Cell phones have become for many owners an all-purpose chat-text-gaming-photo-sharing media hub that is an essential utility for work and a really fancy toy for fun.”
The Demographic Divide
U.S. adults between 18 and 29 had the highest levels of mobile data application use among all survey age groups, with more than 90 percent of those respondents saying they snap photos as well as send or receive text messages with their phones. What’s more, 81 percent said they use their handsets to exchange photos or video clips with others. Additionally, more than 60 percent use their devices to access the Internet, listen to music, or play games.
Cell-phone owners between the ages of 30 and 49 are also significantly more likely to use a range of mobile data applications on a handheld device than older handset users, Smith wrote. For example, 83 percent of the respondents in this demographic group said they now take pictures with their phones — a 12-point increase from 2009.
Between 35 percent and 39 percent of middle-aged handset users also…