Using a cell phone or a Smartphone to get online unfolds differently for Americans than it does for laptops. More people have a handheld device than have laptops, but fewer have accessed the internet with it. This gap is not entirely behavioral. Not all cell phones may be equipped to get online and not every user may be in reasonable proximity to a network that allows access. Still, when defining online access on a handheld as those who have used email, sent or received instant messages, or accessed the internet for information, some 32% of cell or Smartphone users have accessed the internet on their device.

Our April 2009 survey also asked respondents if “yesterday” (i.e., the day before they answered our survey) they engaged in the activities that constitute online use. Analysis of those activities shows that 23% of cell users went online on the typical day. That contrasts with 64% of laptop users who did this. Representing these figures as a share of all adults shows that:

• 19% of adults access the internet on the typical day with a cell or smartphone;
• 31% of laptop users access the internet wirelessly at least once a day.

The demographic look of handheld internet users differs in certain respects than that of laptop users. With an average of 32% of all adults having ever gone online with a handheld as a baseline:

• 53% of those between the ages of 18 and 29 have used the internet on a handheld device.
• 48% of African Americans have used the internet on a handheld device.
• 47% of English-speaking Hispanics have gone online using a handheld device.
• 39% of college graduates have gone online with a handheld device.
• 28% of white Americans have gone online with a handheld device.²