After the cheerful festival
celebrations we have finally entared into the New Year. It’s not only New
Year but also a fresh new decade. I wish healthy and prosperous New Year and New
Decade to all my readers. I was randomly discussing with my friend regarding
the changes that we all experienced in previous years and decided to put my
observations in a blog post. I am sure this will make you feel more nostalgic.
So relax and enjoy this time travel.
Keypad to touch screen
Do you remember the keypad style panels used in feature
phones, electronic appliances? I used to enjoy them a lot since they had some
tack tile feedback. Now this is transformed completely and we interact with our
gadgets with responsive touch screens. Smart phones, electronic appliances even
floor panel inside elevator is now works through a touch screen. I believe this
is one of the biggest transformations in last decade.
Laptop to tablets
Laptop was one of the prime gadgets during those days. I
bought my Sony Vaio with 2 gigs of ram and 128 gigs of HDD. I remember I used
to carry that everywhere with pride and attitude (lol). It was an eye catchy
machine. Years passed and we look at it as a bulky affair. Now people switched
to portable and stunning tablet devices.
SMS to chat
Do you remember that late night SMS from your friend? Oh
what a feeling! We all used to send those short messages to everyone.
Everything is changed and SMS was killed by chat apps like ‘WhatsApp’, ‘Hike’.
With fancy stickers, interactive emojis, group chat and voice messages these
apps have become crucial part of our life whereas now SMS is used only to
receive OTP’s and balance alerts.
Broadband to heavy mobile data
In last decade most of the Indian homes got equipped with
broadband service with limited data plans. Limited means really limited, I had
a MTNL plan of 1 gigs which I used to utilize throughout the month. If it is
rapidly going then I used to turn off OS updates on my laptop and in case of excessive
data left unused then on last day I used to download lot of MP3 songs and
movies. Oh! Those were the days. I am sure many of you must have done this in
their houses. Now situation is completely different, we have 1.5 gigs of data
for the day. It means almost 50 times growth in our consumption.
Voice calling to Video calling
Struggle of getting network coverage for a simple voice call
is now an old story. People started using the interactive video calling. Right
from showing the scenes from your expensive international holiday to sharing
your favorite recipe, video call is a preferred choice.
Voice tag to virtual assistant
I don’t know how many of you used this amazing feature in
old Nokia Symbian phones called as ‘Voice Tag’. Once added to any number, you
can dial the same just by using your voice. This was an initial form of virtual
assistant I feel. Now after so many years
here we are with rich and interactive virtual assistants like Google or Siri
which can respond to your queries, dial a number, and set an alarm and so on…
Banking to Digital Banking
Can you recollect your last bank visit? I remember I went to
my bank’s branch for opening a fixed deposit. This banking paradigm is transform
at a truly amazing pace. Now we can open new account, fixed deposit, recurring
deposit, and transfer money to another account, update address by just tapping
few menus on web or mobile app. Are you really missing that bank queue? then
just go and get your passbook printed from your nearest branch.
Street shopping to online shopping
Street shopping! Oh what a chaotic experience I had here in
Mumbai. My mum used to go crazy for this as she could bargain at her best. From
the early days of last decade we have been introduced to this massive
phenomenon called ‘Shopping malls’. We were enjoying this experience but now
one more new easy and interactive option launched. It is called ‘E-commerce’.
Story started by ordering books and now we are in the age of buying expensive
gadgets online. Grocery, apparels, toys, fashion and grooming accessories
everything is online. Forget about this, people even order their bike and car online.
Isn’t that too much?
T.V., media to online music and streaming
Last decade was all about movies, sports and fashion
specific channels. We even enjoyed the liberty of ‘Conditional Access System’
through set-top boxes and ‘Direct to Home’ services. In last couple of years
people started going away from that so called ‘Idiot Box’. Ease and always
available approach of online streaming platforms like ‘Amazon Prime’, ‘Netflix’
made them really popular amongst the all age groups. Rich regional and
international content is one of the big reasons behind the success of these
services. 24x7 availability of your favorite movie or series is the key of this
new type of entertainment hub. Audio
described movies and T.V. shows are a big boom for all my visually impaired
friends to enjoy this diverse content without any hindrance. We used to store
lot of MP3 songs on our mobile devices and used to buy those small memory cards
for extra memory. Now everything is subscription based and available 24x7 on
demand.
‘Where is this address?’ to Google maps
Are you lost on the road? Is this place new for you? Then
just go and ask any shopkeeper, specifically tea seller or Panwala. They are
the most useful and correct navigators in new areas. I’m sure all of us have
done this before. With the availability of GPS and Google Map service nowadays
we first check the address or route on the smart phones and then seek for human
help if required.
Taxi to app based cabs
Iconic ‘Black & Yellow’ taxi, ‘Kali Pili’ in local
language was the only option apart from crowded public transport. Convincing
these taxi guys for a desired route was a nightmare. This picture changed with
the introduction of app based cab aggregators like ‘Uber’ and ‘Ola’. On demand
availability, Door to door service, comfortable AC cars, choice of payment
methods and most of other features were few reasons behind the success of these
services.
Will sci-fi movies be the next reality?
These are few of the changes we experienced in last decade
but there are lots of other interesting things entered in our life like smart
devices, IOT, online food delivery, business and social networks, connected
cars and so on. As we all know, next decade will be driven by Artificial Intelligence
(AI), Machine Learning and 5G connectivity. As a result we will see interactive
software and hardware, wireless infrastructure, lightning speed for data
transfer, drones for delivery and many more interesting technologies. I
remember when I started using smart speaker in my house two years ago I felt
like a character in a sci-fi movie but the actual movie will start now. A blind
individual like me will wear smart glasses while walking on the road
independently and can also drive a driverless car using an onboard computer. So
fasten your seat belts, adjust your chair and get ready to travel into a highly
advanced and interesting new decade of 2020!