Forty-eight per cent of smartphone owners use their devices while on vacation if a computer or a laptop is unavailable, according to a new survey.

While 17 per cent of iPhone users preferred the use of their devices, that figures comes down to 7 per cent for BlackBerry users, said the survey conducted by  O+K Research for Kaspersky Lab.

A significant 25 per cent proportion of users is content to use a smartphone if they do not have a computer at hand, although the fashion for tablets seems to be slightly behind the convenience of a pocket-sized smartphone. For example, only 15 per cent of surveyed use Apple iPad on vacation, while 8 per cent of respondents prefer to spend their holidays entirely cut off from any mobile devices.

Mobile devices at work or on vacation are most often used for email communication – this activity was selected by 62 per cent of tablet and 54 per cent of smartphone owners. Next come social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter with 59 per cent and 54 per cent respectively.

Forty-seven per cent of respondents use their mobile devices for IMS communication.

Multimedia entertainment is only slightly less popular, with 58 per cent of tablet owners using their devices to watch online video. Not surprisingly, perhaps, smaller smartphone screens are less attractive for viewing – just 30 per cent of mobile users tune in to online shows, the survey said.

Forty-one per cent of mobile device users regularly listen to music online, including various Internet radio stations. Twenty per cent of tablet owners and 12 per cent of smartphone users post and view photos on the Internet.

The data collected by O+K Research show that smartphones and tablet are ever more frequently used in place of computers, said a statement from Kaspersky Lab.

They are also often used to store important personal information which must be reliably protected from malicious activity and unauthorized access in case of loss or theft.

This can be done with the help of two specialized products from Kaspersky Lab - Kaspersky Mobile Security designed to protect smartphones and Kaspersky Tablet Security which guards tablets, the statement added. – TradeArabia News Service