1 Year with my Smartphone
On the same day in previous year, I was awarded with a smartphone. A person who has spent more than 7 years in using Nokia 1100 and 2 years in Nokia 225, transitioning from a keypad phone to the smartphone was difficult but rewarding. So, it has been 1 year since my SIM travelled from a keypad phone to a smartphone and I’ve a lot to say.
Virtual Keyboard
The first challenge that I had to deal with was the typing on virtual keyboard. I seriously missed the tactile response of a keypad phone as compared to a keyboard that I could not even feel. Thus, typing speed was terrible and mistakes were rampant. But, as soon as, I shifted from Samsung Keyboard to Gboard, I was successful in curbing my typing errors, thanks to its AI driven Auto Correct function with a speed that was more than enough. Also, the haptic feedback is much appreciated, making me feel that I am typing something.
Similarities between a Smartphone and a PC
As I have said several times, smartphones are the mini PCs. There are many key similarities between the two. For instance, you can multitask in both Android (2 apps only) and Windows. Clipboard is included in both the operating systems. You can literally create word documents, Excel sheets and PowerPoint presentations all within the smartphone. Heck there is even a Task Manager built right into the Developers Options. Thus, the usage of my smartphone felt like a mini-PC.
Writing On-The-Go
With the span of this year, I’ve written more words as compared to my performance in previous years. In feature phone, I was only able to write almost 200 words in a go. However, in a smartphone, I was able to write 1,000 words in a sitting. In fact, I wrote all the answers for the questions in MA English Literature Part 2 via my smartphone. (I previously used to accomplish the same task via typing on the PC.) It is even my go-to resort in writing my clumsy novella (Currently at 24,100 words).
Decent Camera
The cameras in smartphones are exceptional as compared to their dumb phone companions. In my early days with the smartphone, I would only capture a full scene. But I accidentally discovered that I can shoot excellent macro shots with natural bokeh. With manual control, I was even able to see the overall texture of the moon for the first time!
Faster Cellular Data
Faster Connectivity was one of the major upgrades I enjoyed over a dumb phone. In a tyoica6 feature phone, you can only use either GPRS (2G) or EDGE (2.7G) to connect to the internet. But it was fascinating to see websites load in a matter of seconds, videos streaming in real time as well as uploading videos with a speed of 20 Mbps on 4G. But the 4G speeds are too fast and throttling to 3G saved MBs as well as battery (besides I use Wi-Fi)
Distractions
With all the benefits of faster connectivity speeds, adequate camera quality as well as freedom of writing thoughts at length, we, the smartphone users have to pay a heavy price of our valuable time in the form of distractions. I, too, have wasted hours on reading useless comments in controversial Reddit or Facebook posts or in reading about the character sketches of the shows I watch at Fandom or Wikipedia. It is an uphill battle to focus and work on the real task when you have so much access to entertainment and information just a tap away. Sure, there are features and apps like Focus Mode or Lock Me Down yet it is hard to curb the craving of the dopamine pills. It is something that can only be achieved by self determination and self restrictions. (Here’s a tip. Pull up the Widget of Digital Wellbeing and feel yourself shameful and chastise yourself for wasting 2 hours on Facebook at the end of a day which you could have spent reading a book. )
Conclusion
On its surface, this phone may look like an abandoned old project but in reality, it is a mixture of both classicism and modernism. It is classic in terms of its hardware with dedicated navigation buttons, headphone jack, micro SD card support, a notch free 16:9 display but most importantly, removable battery. It is modern in the software department. Although it is running a two years old operating system but Android 10 is a part of Project Mainline, making its core components to be updated independently via Play Store.
Overall, my one year experience with this phone was marked with a number of achievements, both productive and distracting. I hope to achieve even more in this year. However, I won’t be changing this phone anytime as its small form factor fits appropriately in my pocket.
