The Smartphone

A wallet-sized, sleek, hand-held device that gives instant text, voice communication as well as all the information at our finger-tips. A device so ubiquitous with almost all our daily uses that we can’t do without it now-a-days. The smartphone is basically an electronic device that enables the user to use apps for everything viz - making phone calls, sending/receiving text messages, checking social-media updates, making video-calls, checking bank a/cs, doing online shopping, learning/training, gossiping etc. very instantly and elaborately. A long development from the traditional landline phones which could be used for voice calling only, the smartphones have evolved into versatile, multi-tasking devices making communications easy, personal as well as fast. It can work as a watch, a TV, a landline phone, a calculator, a PC, a camera, a video-recorder, a notecopy, an ATM, a music-player, a video-player all-in-one. Apart from dialing people for private or professional purposes, we can connect live with video-calls, send receive, text messages, as well as exchange pictures, files-text documents, spreadsheets, projects, PDF files,  alongwith videos to almost every person on anywhere on the earth. The uses are so easy that even children, people with basic literacy, without any special knowledge can communicate with it. Our connectivity has become so fast, instant as well as voluminous that the world has become much faster, closer as well as interconnected soon. Messages, documents, files, pictures or data which hitherto took weeks, days or months can now be sent/received instantly at our finger tips.

Smartphones are somewhat a mix of the hand-held phones and the computer. Features of the computers like sending/receiving email, use of apps for all kinds of activities like typing documents in MS-Word, Notepad, or Spread sheets like MS-Excel, photo-editing, graphic designing, using browsers for websites, reading PDF (Portable Document Format) files, Video-calling, Selfies using Cameras etc. have transformed the lame looking feature phone into a very smart device that is used so often. Some describe them as miniature computers. It has a touch-screen 5”, 5.5” or 6” -7” in dimension with two switches to increase/decrease volume and power buttons usually. A USB port type C now-a-days is used both charging as well connecting the device through USB with PCs, Digital Cameras etc. alongwith Cameras both on the front for selfies and back for taking pictures. In the inside it has a motherboard, a Chip to process popularly Qualcomm Snapdragon, Apple A15, AMD Ryzen, Samsung Exynos etc. ROM and other smaller chipsets. It has a slot for one or more SIM cards and Memory Card for expanding memory. Most popular Smartphones globally are iPhones 15, 14, 12, Samsung Galaxy S24, A15, A54, Vivo Y56 5G, Oppo A78 etc. The connectivities are provided by telecom companies that enable the phones to connect by satellite communication through mobile towers, broadband lines etc. Popular telecom brands include Airtel, Reliance, Vodafone-Idea, BSNL etc. offering 4G or 5G connectivities.                 
 

Such is the attachment to the smartphones these days that people prefer to connect via them instead of direct communication. Greetings, wishes for festivals,  personal achievements, marriages, invitations etc. are done through text or decorative and attractive posts/cards sent though them. Taking selfies and 

posting them instantly, updating are common now-a-days. Smartphones have made communications very personalized and quick these days. We can communicate no matter where we are - while in a bus/train, shopping malls, offices, bedrooms, streets anywhere. Alongside these,  accidents, mishaps have also increased. People texting, busy over phones are more prone to road accidents on streets and lanes. Many also died taking selfies in risky places like a high mountain-top, running streams, rivers or alongwith animals like crocodiles, snakes, etc. Added to that our privacy also seem to be at risk due to them. Smartphones are hacked leading to loss of money, access to private pictures, videos or the traps of scamsters for lucrative financial profits, jobs etc. Smartphones are also costly. Popular phones often cost a good fortune to own. In addition physical and in person communication have decreased leading to tense relationships, digital divide, seclusion etc. 

With more features like the use of AI in apps, use of phones as remotes for car locks, switches, transparent devices, health-monitoring devices etc. coming , technology will transform them into smarter ones to accomplish more. The basic point would be to use them for the benefit of all instead of harm to one and all.