Ever wondered how technology at the turn of century has changed the lives of all and sundry, especially students. Flipping through the vast repertoire of apps on my new razor fast, octa-core processor powered Android smartphone running on latest Marshmallow OS brings vivid images of my college days.
I remember waiting beside the hostel telephone at 9:00 p.m. every Saturday for a call from home. The loud, hoarse sound of hostel warden reverberated across the walls as she shouted out a student’s name and her room number. A lithe figure ran across the corridor, often tumbling down the steps, to receive the call before the line went dead.
Even more adventurous was surfing the catalog at the library and exploring daunting archives to gain some critical bit of information hidden in solitary pages of a certain autobiography, in a certain rack on a certain floor.
Then came the age of Google and Wikipedia, as we happily browsed the internet to extract much-coveted treasures of knowledge. But wait, it involved the small task of cycling to the cyber café and waiting for your moment to use the ‘INTERNET’. Rush hour traffic and long queues! Ha, the treasure trove was worth hundreds of it. Poor parents were always worried where monthly stipend went away.
Then came the actual revolution of a new world. The age of home desktops and laptops. Information at the click of a key – movies, songs, sitcoms, web surfing, web chats, texts, presentations, etc. (The order of things did mean a thing!) In short, the entire world at fingertips. No wonder, we were the kings, the owner of the key to the entire information across the World Wide Web.
Could things become better? Imaginations do have a limit, don’t they?
Then someone said ‘Smartphone’. Smartphone? What’s that now? I had heard of the cell phone. A Nokia enhanced my pockets and my prestige. And my sweet, lovely crush of an Assistant professor did own a PDA. Ah, the number of times he flaunted it.
My oh-so-adorable cousin brother, a Silicon Valley big shot (or so I believed) gifted me a new Android phone. It took me days to even understand its basic functions. Just have a peek on technology trashes on offer. Address book, messaging facility, video calling, web browser, email, watch, alarm clock, calculator, calendar, notebook, music player, video game, camera, photo album, GPS navigation, flashlight, dictionary, news, magnifying glass, compass, paint canvas, et cetera, et cetera. And this was not even a decent list.
Just for a brief second imagine the number of items from a cluttered student room replaced by just one smartphone. Well, the world now lives in my pocket. I am not just King Arthur with his magical Excalibur, I am also Captain Jack Sparrow on my beloved Black Pearl. I am Picasso, I am Beethoven. I am Nolan.
But my world’s not even an iota of what there can be. The new generation of mobile communication technology, the enviable 4G has rendered in an absolutely new wave of accessibility and mobility to the youth. An end-to-end Internet Protocol connection, with average speeds of 20 Mbps and potential reach of 100 Mbps, 4G is revolutionizing the internet access that we know today. HD video streaming with zero buffering, uninterrupted video chats, movie downloads in less than even half an hour, album uploads in just a few minutes, unhindered gaming across networks.
The ultrafast Octa-core processors or two-quadcore processors-in one have redefined mobile handset speeds and coupled with the Marshmallow OS, the new Android smartphones have made life much quicker, smoother and more energy efficient.
sheelajoby 