Smartphones are taking over the world

Mobile Phones, in the last ten years they have become synonymous with our life. I mean most of us can’t imagine a life without them. The keep us so connected to everyone. First came the Phone calls and SMS’s , then came the messaging services , then came social networking sites on phones. In the past few years there has been a revolution in the mobile phone industry , all thanks to Apple and its iPhone. From being devices to talk and message , the humble mobile phone changed completely and became capable of doing a variety of things, like money transfer , painting , gaming, video editing, photography, eBook reader, and a lot more. The iPhone started the revolution which made the mobile phone a Smart Phone.

Everything on my Phone

Now, this is not about which phone you have, it might be Android or IOS or Windows, but if you own a smart phone there are a variety of things you can do with them, which undoubtedly makes life a lot easier to live. These smart phones give us a lot of conveniences, like what I mentioned earlier; let’s say you suddenly remember that it’s the last day to pay your power bill and you are out enjoying a holiday, guess what you have your phone in your pocket , you can take it out and use it to pay your bills. Putting a reminder on your Smartphone would have ensured that you don’t miss paying your bill or for that matter it can even ensure that you don’t miss your anniversary or your wife’s birthday. For, these things you won’t even need a reminder, if these things are mentioned on facebook or any other online forum which is synced with your phone then the phone will remind you automatically.  That apart you can do all sorts of other things like

·         Check the latest stock prices or Gold prices.

·         Listen to the latest Music or the Golden Oldies.

·         Play some Amazing Games.

·         Connect with almost everyone on the planet via social networking platforms.

·         Educational apps help you study.

·         Stay updated of the latest News and happenings.

·         Learn a new recipe.

·         Search for the nearest restaurant or places of interest, this can be done sometimes by just pointing the camera of the phone in a particular direction. 

Well, this list could be endless, that’s why the phone is called a Smartphone.

                So, how smart is the Smartphone, well if you ask me, really Smart, from what I am seeing its able to control not just everything happening in our lives, but our lives as well. What in the world am I talking about, well read on 

Everyone on their Phones

Whenever, you travel, by travel I mean just stepping out of the house, just try to observe the people around you, you’ll find that most of them are glued to their phones, Board a bus or a train, people are sitting there inside the bus or train with you but are someplace else. Some are listening to music, but most of them you’ll find are just looking into their phones. I mean we all travel to work or for personal purposes daily and we let the world pass by. We, never pay any attention to what’s happening around us anymore, we just look into our phones and are happy in our own world.  Some time ago I was standing at a railway platform with a friend or mine, when he told me, “Hey look I just read on twitter someone was hit by a train right here on this station, and guess what we realized that we were standing about 10 meters away from the point where the incident had happened. There was a crowd of people surrounding the injured man. Thankfully, he was just slightly hit by the train and looked woozy, no major damage dome. The point is we were standing right there but we never realized that something had happened and we actually needed a Smartphone to tell us that.  But, that’s the reality now a day’s more than news papers Twitter has become the fastest news channel in the world. Even when the American special forces went to capture Osama Bin Laden it was a Tweet that diverted the world’s attention towards it. The point which I am trying to stress here is that we are a lot into our phones, people are always doing something or the other , even when travelling , we are just looking into the screen, playing games , scrolling twitter feeds, making  a comment on facebook, sending a message on whatsapp and lots of other things. 

Social Disconnect

When was the last time you sat with your family or friends and had a healthy discussion or friendly banter for 15 minutes without looking into or looking for your phone? Yesterday or ever other day, congratulations you are in control of your life, if not your phone is controlling you. What the growth of Social media has done is made us forget about the people who are close to us, who live with us. Yes but that’s the harsh truth when it comes to the smart phones. Even when we are home , we tend to have the phone in our hand. We are either playing games, or on social networking platforms, chatting with someone far far away while ignoring those who are sitting with us.

                Things are simple as watching T.V. together have become a rarity, even when the whole family is sitting together watching television we might end up staring into the screen of our Smartphone. That’s how we are getting disconnected with those who are close to us. Social networking platforms, help us connect with a lot of people, they have their advantages, but they are leading to a social disconnect in the real worlds. Nowadays, the son doesn’t know his mom or for that matter the mom doesn’t know her son is, she might have to look at his facebook account to see where he has checked in. The simple pleasures of a simple phone call have become a rarity. We use our phone to call people mostly when we have some work or when we need something. The concept of a call to ask how are you is gone, we just Whatsapp that. 

The world is passing by

                The world is passing by while you are glued to your phone and zoned out. When was the last time you looked out of the window of the bus or train you are travelling in? Have you observed the vibrant colors or shades surrounding you. Have you seen the beauty that surrounds you or for that matter the person sitting next to you on the bus or train. As, we spend more and more time just playing around with our phones and living in the virtual world disconnected from the real world we fail to realize that we are missing out on lots of things around us. If you really try to analyze and you find that you do spend more time in a day on your phone than talking to real people then you really need to start drawing the line. The line where you will self consciously tell yourself to drop that phone and get talking to real people on a face to face basis and get connected to the real world.  

There is beauty all around you

The fact of the matter is that Smartphone are good, any technology or advancement in technology is good for us as it gives us a lot of conveniences and makes our lives a lot easier to live. But, there is point till where that is true, when you start to realize that your fascination with the technology is becoming an addiction that is when you need to step back a little. Next time you travel try keeping your phone inside your bag and try to see what is going on around you, I am sure you’ll find a lot of people looking into their phones, ignore that, look at other things, observe people, surroundings. Try to find beauty in this world. Try interacting with real people, spend some time with your family, and understand that being there with people should mean really being there and not just being present and being mentally someplace else. Try it and you’ll know what you have been missing.

Mobile Phone Review Nokia Asha 502 503

So, what is the Nokia Asha 502. Let me introduce the phone first , it’s a phone which is an upgraded version of the Asha 501. Let’s look at the basic comparison between the two phones, as always I will make use of a table to illustrate it for clarity

Design

This is where the Asha 502 is different, it looks completely different from the 501 . The 501 is curve, and Nokia has taken off the curves from the 502 and added a layer of transparent plastic to it . Of course the advertisement says that the difference is crystal clear , but its plastic , sad jokes apart . The plastic does give the phone a very elegant and classy finish. The finishing and the build quality feels good as well. And, in spite of the additional layer of plastic the 502 is slimmer than the 501. The 501 is 12.1 mm thick while the 502 is 11.1 mm. Well, its slimmer but it definitely heavier than the 501 and feels better when you hold it. Sometimes, weight does add an air of solidity to phones , is it , or is it me who feels so.

The navigation button of the 501 which is a physical button under the screen is replaced by a touch sensitive button. The phone has a 305m audio port and a micro USB port at the top. The power and Volume buttons are placed at the right.

The screen is 3 inches , which is the same as the 501 and the operating system is Asha 1.1 while the 501 had Asha 1.0 The micro SD card is already inserted into the slot , but it’s just 4 GB , what did I expect 32 GB , that would have been like a dream come true. The 3 inch screen has a 320x240 resolution and the touch is pretty responsive, yes but with the screen size , if you have bigger or fatter fingers it could become a little difficult.  Accelerometer and proximity sensors are in built in the phone and like the 501 the 502 also supports 2 point multi touch. 

Performance

The 64MB memory in the phone is enough to support it , and the extendable memory up to 32GB is enough storage. The Asha is a dual SIM phone and you need micro SIM’s , the same as the 501. Anyway, everyone is shifting to Micro SIMS, the iPhone started it all.  This is a 2G ( GPRS/EDGE) handset, no 3G supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It runs pretty smooth and comes pre installed with Facebook and Twitter, and yes Whatsapp. After, Whatsapp came for the 501 the phone suddenly felt like it already got an upgrade.

Yes performance wise do remember, this is a budget phone, and comes with some basic games, if you want more performance , spend more money.  Don’t expect the Asha to be an iPhone competitor. 

Camera
This is an upgrade over the 501, the 501 had a 3.2MP camera and the 502 sports a 5MP camera and yes it has a flash , I mean the Lumia 525 doesn’t have one, so the Asha can keep clicking pictures even after sunset. The pictures come out pretty nice, again not a Lumia 1020 remember. The video quality , well how do I put it sucks, reminded me of the age old phones when camera phones just began. That’s it just one camera and no front camera, so all you selfie addicts , turn your phone and click. 

Battery

The 1010 mAh battery is a downgrade over the 1200 mAh battery of the 501 , now you know why the phone is slimmer, with the 501 you can talk for 17 hours and with the 502 the limit is set at 13 hours , so talk a little less. Anyway, with Whatsapp running constantly I don’t know how long your battery will last anyway. Yes you can play music up to around 40 hours. 

Verdict
If you ask me the 502 definitely looks better than the 501 with the transparent plastic , and the camera is better . If you want a budget handset then the 502 is a great option. You get 6 bright and brilliant colours too and with the price difference being about  Rs 1000 it is definitely better than the 501. 

A Note about Asha 503

The Nokia Asha 503 is a smart phone similar to the 502 in look and design , but it supports 3G , so if you want a Asha with 3G capabilities then the 503 is the phone for you, further the 503 has a battery which is 1200mah, slightly more than the 502, but with 3G the batterey won’t make such a big difference. The price difference between 502 and 503 is almost Rs 1500 and I don’t think that it’s that big an upgrade to pay 1500 for a 3G capable Asha. The rest is left to you.