back to article iPhone fanbois outsmart fandroids in totally reliable test of brain power

A survey has found that iPhone owners may be slightly smarter than their Android-owing counterparts when it comes to brain teasers. The highly scientific test, apparently commissioned by bookies Ladbrokes, found that on average iPhone fanbois were able to complete a series of puzzles in less time than folks with other handsets …

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  1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Trollface

    Clearly we are in conservative-vs.-liberals territory, complete with brainscans showing the shriveled conservative hypothalamus and explanations about their fear of otherness being due to childhood trauma, while the sun-seeking open liberal mindset is due to caring parenthood and education in non-violence resulting in strong outswells of inner crying whenever non-liberals need to be forcefully controlled for their own good or sand-denizens need to be incinerated for democracy. Praise be!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Not really a surprise

      It's been known for years that iPhone users are more affluent and generally better educated, study after study has shown this in the demographic that uses or buys the phone.

      It is no surprise, especially as the majority of Android handsets are cheaper and aimed at the lower end of the market and a lower demographic.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Not really a surprise

        And just to prove a point "Though possibly smarter, a 2011 survey found that iPhone owners have a higher opinion of themselves."

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Not really a surprise

        Apple makes one product, everyone else makes multiple. It is possible that the Android phones polled here were low end/slower models, thus making the questions render more slowly.

        1. Michael Thibault

          Re: Not really a surprise

          @Bullseyed

          At the extreme, more slowly in milliseconds--perhaps centiseconds. Otherwise, bullshit!

  2. codeusirae
    Holmes

    Touchscreen Bias ..

    "Punters are scored based on the time taken to complete the test"

    Maybe the time difference is because the iPhone touchscreen is slightly more responsive that the others.

    1. Adam 1

      Re: Touchscreen Bias ..

      No. It is clearly the additional time to move your finger around the giant screens on the Samsung

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Touchscreen Bias ..

        "No. It is clearly the additional time to move your finger around the giant screens on the Samsung"

        That's a really good point. I hadn't considered that.

        Why would HTC, Blackberry, etc be slower though then? I guess if the Blackberry people were using a trackball that could slow things down.

  3. Gray Ham Bronze badge

    As a Samsung user ...

    ... may I say ... er ... let me think .... wait ... what was the question again?

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "iPhone owners have a higher opinion of themselves"

    Whereas everyone else know differently :)

  5. Tim Worstal

    I had a go at this test

    And the way to get a fast time is not even read the questions. Just select a as the answer. If it's correct (25% chance) then on to the next. If not, hit b. If not, c and so on.

    You get through it in perhaps 30 seconds.

    So, fanbois are better at randomly pushing buttons to see what happens next?

    1. Eponymous Cowherd

      Re: I had a go at this test

      Yes, did that.

      15 seconds.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I had a go at this test

      or they're smart enough to realise how to game the system?

    3. JulianB

      Re: I had a go at this test

      What this shows me is that phones are slower than computers (or perhaps that touch screens are slower than mice) for web-based interactions. Their fastest finisher took 47 seconds and I've just done it in 45 on a Win7 laptop, doing it "seriously" rather than trying to beat the system.

    4. Eddy Ito

      Re: I had a go at this test

      That was my first thought, it's a test of speed nothing else and may give an advantage to those with faster network access or better hardware. Pity it doesn't add a penalty of a few seconds for every wrong answer.

      P.S. Damn, I must be getting old. 23 seconds.

  6. xyz Silver badge

    err....

    >iPhone owners are also more likely to travel abroad and have a higher opinion of themselves.

    Does that mean Thailand and up their own asses?

    1. stanimir

      Re: err....

      Actually, during the last December I visited Thailand for a couple of week but iphones were quite rare to be seen.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: err....

      Any colour so long as it's GREEN?

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Gimp

      Re: err....

      "have a higher opinion of themselves"

      No wonder they try so hard on these brain-teaser tests.

      Wouldn't want a poor score to taint their high opinions of themselves.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: err....

        At what point did low self-esteem become a positive personality trait?

  7. David 138

    Not sure anyone of them could be considered intelligent if they are with Ladbrooks :P

    1. MrXavia

      That is what I was thinking, if they were THAT intelligent, then surely they would not bother with such a test..

      And if I read that right, it is an average... the more you do something the better your speed... so I would assume iPhone users tried over and over and over again...

      but also the key point is this...

      "each must be correctly answered in order to advance to the next question"

      So you just hit an answer until it lets you pass...

      What was the rate of failed answer? THAT is more important than speed...

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I wonder if these figures are as accurate as their odds!!!

    Bookies running a "scientific" test.. Bollocks... No doubt funded by the appaling gamble addict nation we appear to becoming...

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I wonder if what is being "tested" here is something completely different

    step 1) Get it linked at a bunch of places like CNET and El Reg

    step 3) Profit!

    The missing step 2 has something to do with seeing how many fanboys of all stripes who read these articles follow the link and try to get a fast time and boost the score of their favorite, or take a half hour while claiming to be a user of the "other guy" to drag them down.

    The results they show came from an initial small test before people knew it had anything to do with their phone, but now they could get some interesting data seeing how many people take the test over and over again to boost "their" scores, or who take over 10 minutes (safe to say those people are trying the latter strategy)

    The outcome of this study would be more interesting and relevant to the psyche of the various types of fanboy than the article was anyway.

  10. Mystic Megabyte
    Joke

    Question 42

    How many 9s are there in the price of an iPhone? A) 10 B) 20 C) I don't know but it's shiny.

  11. ISYS

    Ummm

    All this proves is that iPhone users are quicker to get the correct answers - not that they got more.

    1. Tom 13

      Re: Ummm

      I'd like to see the raw data for the study. I'm betting once I've got it I can prove Apple users are the dumbest in the group because of they were the ones. I'd say the smartest ones are the ones who DIDN'T take the test and I'd bet Apple had the highest percentage of responders.

  12. Ben Rosenthal

    Yeah, all the really smart people are at Ladbrokes pissing their wages away on nags and tabs.

  13. h4rm0ny

    I got as far as the second question and then decided I was smarter than the test's author. "How many months have 28 days?"

    Obviously we all read that and know it is supposed to be a clever trick - "OMG! 'Cause like months that have 31 days totally also 28 days". But seriously? Every native English speaker naturally interprets that question to mean "how many months have exactly 28 days" and the question author fucking well knows that they're phrasing the question badly. They even set it up that way in their own phrasing with "some months have 30 days, some months have 31 days" implying that the latter case is distinct from the former case when in fact the correct wording EVEN IF YOU WERE USING THE QUESTIONER'S INTERPRETATION would be "some months have 30 days, some months also have 31 days". It's badly phrased twice over even within itself. I loathe questions that rely on their own ineptness with phrasing. If you want to test my actual ability with something, test it. Stupid little gotchas like that are obvious and for petty people.

    The one about "how many nines between 1 and a 100" is also another stupid question. There is one. Obviously they mean how many times does the digit '9' appear in representations of all the numbers between 1 and 100, but to anyone with a programming / mathematical bent (which I will willingly argue is the more accurate way to think), the answer that immediately occurs is that there is 1. 9 is not 19, however you write it down.

    The smartest people? Those that realize the test is only testing their willingness to wilfully go against the normal meanings of language. No-one can claim the test author isn't knowingly phrasing things in a way that isn't natural to the English language.

    1. MrXavia
      Thumb Up

      You are exactly right, I had the same questions and the same issues with the questions! This kind of test really annoys me....

      Although I suspect the test is more designed to work out HOW they can use word play to trick gamers of different phones...

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      > Obviously they mean how many times does the digit '9' appear in representations of all the numbers between 1 and 100

      It's also implied but not stated that they are talking about integer values rather than fractions, otherwise it's an infinite number.

    3. cambsukguy

      Um, do they mention a year at all? If not, the answer would be 'infinite' since one can project our date system forwards and backwards indefinitely. This is regardless of the stupid question, it is just infinity or 12 * infinity.

    4. Adam 1

      > No-one can claim the test author isn't knowingly phrasing things in a way that isn't natural to the English language.

      Spoken like a true Samsung user ;p

      1. h4rm0ny

        >>"Spoken like a true Samsung user ;p"

        Not quite sure I get the joke, but I use WP8, actually (Lumia 820).

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I guess you're so mad because you got the wrong answer?

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Is it clever?

    To pay over the top for anything?

    To use a bit of shiny in an feeble attempt to boost your status amongst your peer group?

    NO is the answer.

    If you see a can of baked beans for 50 pence and and same beans for 75 pence, you don't buy 75 pence beans because you can afford to!

    The stupidity!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      But what if the more expensive beans come in a shiny gold can and make you have a higher opinion of yourself?

      1. MrDamage Silver badge

        "But what if the more expensive beans come in a shiny gold can and make you have a higher opinion of yourself?"

        Not to mention the inbuilt hypnotic suggestion that your farts dont stink.

    2. Observer1959

      "If you see a can of baked beans for 50 pence and and same beans for 75 pence, you don't buy 75 pence beans because you can afford to!"

      The key word here is "same" which implies identical in every way.

      What if you can buy a can of beans for 50 cents and a better brand of bean for 75 cents, if you can afford to you might choose to buy the better quality beans.

  15. Steven Raith
    Joke

    And in unrelated news...

    People who get their sense of self worth improved by results of a bookies online game are shown to be....just awful people, regardless of smartphone platform.

    They also spend a lot of time on the Daily Mail website, although there is no causal link noted. But lots of circumstantial evidence. Like the fact they spend a lot of time on the Daily Mail website.

    Steven R

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Not what it's cracked up to be

    How many 9s are there between 0 and 100? The correct answer is: f) 11

    How many number 9s are there between 0 and 100? The correct answer is: d) 1

    How many 9s are there in the number 99? The correct answer is: 2

    1. davemcwish

      Re: Not what it's cracked up to be

      Glad someone else spotted the mistake with the 9s question. I made the same assumption only I'm not a coward...

    2. Darryl

      Re: Not what it's cracked up to be

      Actually, wouldn't the third answer be 11?

      11 x 9 = 99

      Good quiz, alright

    3. Ben Bonsall

      Re: Not what it's cracked up to be

      - How many 9s are there between 0 and 100? The correct answer is: f) 11

      are you sure?

    4. cambsukguy
      Coat

      Re: Not what it's cracked up to be

      I checked... there are no 9's between that 0 and that 100 in your statement.

      I double checked and just saw an 'a', an 'n' and a 'd'. Obviously there were spaces also, I didn't see them per se but I knew they were there by inference using the gaps - not sure if they were 'm' spaces or 'n' spaces though.

      1. silent_count
        Trollface

        Re: Not what it's cracked up to be

        They were silent 9's. :)

        1. oolor

          Re: Not what it's cracked up to be

          Are 6's upside down nines?

        2. Jamie Jones Silver badge
          Joke

          Re: Not what it's cracked up to be

          silent_count • joined Monday 21st November 2011 01:09 GMT

          " They were silent 9's. :)"

          Bloody hell - you've waited over 2 years to be able to make a post entirely relevant to your username!

  17. Haku

    Isn't that just the modern equivilant of mice running through mazes?

    As in it only proves some mice are better at learning how mazes are constructed.

  18. elaar

    A more interesting test would be to compare the average mobile phone user IQ to that of one that uses Ladbroke on their device.

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