Heated hair straighteners are rated higher than televisions by people asked to name the top gadget that has changed their life, a survey of over 1,000 people reveals.

Both hair straighteners and televisions, however, were beaten to a spot in the top 10 most important gadgets by the likes of the satnav device, the digital camera, the MP3 player and the laptop. Ahead of all of these came the ubiquitous mobile phone.

“Forget games consoles and TVs,” says Jess Ross, editor of consumer website which.co.uk. “We’ve found that the mobile phone is the gadget that most people say has changed their life.”

Public's favourite gadget
The mobile phone was selected by nearly a quarter of all people surveyed. Among the survey takers aged 16 to 24, the mobile’s popularity rose as high as 42%.

The youthful enthusiasm for mobile phones was contrasted by relative indifference for gadgets in the senior camp: about half of the over-65s claimed that no gadget had changed their life.

Though the television did not make it into the top 10 – it was deemed less life-changing than the washing machine, upright vacuum cleaner and microwave - home entertainment in the shape of the games console and the DVD player ranked highly.

Least useful gadgets
At the other end of the life-changing scale, the “relaxing” foot spa was named and shamed as the world’s most useless gadget, with the bread maker coming close behind.

Asked why a satnav system was their most life-changing device, one survey taker explained: “[It] took us cross country to the airport when the motorway was at a standstill – this saved us the price of buying new plane tickets to get home and therefore earned its keep immediately!”

To prove that life-changing gadgets need not be complex or even electronic, one person surveyed even picked a simple kitchen helper as their most important gizmo: “Salad spinner – love it. I thought it was a bit of a sad purchase when someone asked for one as a wedding present - then I got one for myself.”