The smartphone revolution and importance of mobilecomputing to stay relevant on smart device market: : An analysis of user priorities when choosing a new smartphone and prototyping of an online performance comparison service

Abstract: This master thesis in media technology depicts the development on the smartphone market globally but with focus on Swedish users. It underlines the importance of performance and processing power of smartphones on the Swedish market. In this study, user priorities when choosing a new smartphone are examined as well as user habits and user experience. The study proves that users value performance as the second most important factor, after the operating system when choosing a new smartphone and that the majority are comparing prices of smartphones before purchase, which is why this thesis proposes an online service presenting smartphone performance comparisons. For this, a web prototype is developed incorporating already documented performance benchmark results for the majority of smartphones on the Swedish market. The way of measuring performance through benchmark applications is discussed in this thesis but the specific test procedures for the documented results are not. Recommendations on functionality and approach for further development and implementation of the online service are made in this thesis. Keywords: Smartphone usage, Benchmarking, Mobile computing, User experience, User habits, Web prototyping, CMS, Performance comparison, SOC