Smartphone

So I finally did it - I traded my old, banged-up (but impeccably reliable, albeit struggling slightly from wear and tear) Nokia for a Samsung Galaxy Nexus. It cost me just shy of $400, but from the start it has been a terrific investment.

Where to start? I literally leap-frogged mobile evolution, going from a call-and-text phone to Androids new Jelly Bean (funny name, but that just so people know the difference) operating system. This means that simply being able to access the internet is new to me, and hence the convenience to check emails and facebook (yes, sad I know, but practical for updates of events on the go). I synchronize my calendar, I have Google Maps available (as well as navigation), and can listen to songs online. Furthermore, this means an exposure to apps. Basically free applications (some you pay for) for your phone, I can now read BBC news, check bus schedules, book work-out sessions, buy train tickets, and access my online banking over the phone. Sure many of these things are irrelevant, but the option is handy if you need it. There are apps for almost anything - recipes, live-scores, betting, video streaming - you name it. Shazam is for example a nifty app that records a song playing and finds it for you to buy. Communication apps such as Whatsapp (free texting) and Skype essentially enable you to call / text for free over the internet. Most cell phone deals have free call / texting / internet usage, so for national use it is irrelevant, but free calls to my parents in Denmark, my brother in Switzerland, or my girlfriend in Hong Kong is pretty neat. When a company does NOT have a well-functioning app it is quite a frustration: The Economist has received its first bad comment from me (ever!) - normally you can download the paper to your phone and read it off-line if you have a subscription, but its app is not compatible with newer operating systems. Disappointing.

That is like going from Stoneage to industrial revolution - now for internet revolution. Having all these functions is great - combining them is genius. Google has some pretty cool features out there (more than I can list), but Google Now and Google Play are my favourites so far. Google Play basically lets you put all your music in the cloud so you can stream it from your device, rather than having the files take up memory space - limit is 20.000 songs on your phone. Google Now is a program / feature that just makes your phone more intelligent. It reminds you that your calendar has a meeting at 10 PM, and shows you the way there on navigation. It also reminds you when to leave to reach your destination on time. It will update flight information, train schedules, traffic information on often-used routes, live scores of favourite teams; it will automatically convert text and currency to local terms when abroad; it will show places near by for coffee -and much, much more.

There are a million new things to get used to, and I am only on baby steps. My professor said that we were the first generation growing up in a digitised world of smartphones and interconnectivity. If that is a competitive advantage, I'd better get on the bandwagon.