Mobile Web usage was up 29.4 percent from the first quarter of this year to the second, according to data from mobile site developer and manager Crisp Wireless.

Included in the Crisp Wireless Index, the data reflects consumer activity on mobile devices based on usage across select publishers within the Crisp Wireless Publisher Network. Constituents of that network are mobile sites for Time magazine, USA Today and other Gannett titles, NBC Sports, Hearst Digital Media, A&E Television Networks, Paramount Pictures, El Tiempo and Discovery Communications.

Per the second-quarter readings, local news is viewed mostly in the mornings, while national news is read continuously through the day.

Another finding showed that sports fans check scores and highlights on the mobile Web during their favorite games. The highest traffic is recorded on evenings and weekends.

Also, women tend to visit the mobile Web late at night and early in the week, repeating a pattern seen on the traditional Web. Young girls browse late at night, particularly on weekends.

Equally interesting, entertainment and online services are visited most evenings on the mobile Web, especially on weekends as site visitors make their weekend plans, according to Crisp.

In other statistics, the index showed that visits per unique visitor rose slightly from 2.02 visits per unique visitor in the first quarter to 2.06 in the second quarter.

However, average page views per visit went down from 3.96 in the first quarter to 3.77 in the second quarter.

Search perch
In a key finding, users typing property or site names drove 28.9 percent of search engine traffic.

Also, for sites that have an on-deck presence on AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint, carrier decks drove 45.74 percent of overall mobile Web traffic, a sharp decrease from 53.4 percent in the first quarter.

The index revealed that the percentage of traffic driven from wireless carrier decks is falling even as mobile search-driven traffic continues to grow.

According to the data, search engines drove 9.45 percent of overall mobile Web traffic in the second quarter, a 25.8 percent increase from a 7.51 percent share in the first quarter.

Just it as it does online, Google dominates the mobile Web with an 82 percent share of the mobile search engine traffic.

Among the most searched terms, politics and entertainment continued to lead in mobile. "Movies/Movie Listings" was No. 1, followed by president candidate, Sen. Barack Obama.

"American Idol" was up six spots at fourth place, followed by "Miley Cyrus" and her photo ruckus. Sen. Hillary Clinton rose four points to gain the No. 10 spot, outpaced by the seventh, eighth and ninth most searched terms -- "Iron Man," "Tim Russert" and "Sex," respectively.