Can you even imagine your life without your smart phone? It hasn’t taken long for these must-have devices to become an essential and integral part of daily life. It’s estimated that as much as 58,7% of the world use smartphones.
Just 10 years ago, most people couldn’t conceive having an actual conversation with a mobile device. Now it’s common to have an intricate chat with your very own built-in personal assistant. From getting directions and restaurant recommendations to dictating e-mails or ordering flowers online for your mom, smartphones and their assistants can do just about anything.
According to a survey, almost half of smartphone users use their phone for access health related services. Whether it’s to use an app to monitor glucose levels or verify a prescription, a fitness tracker or healthy recipe finder, smartphones have impacted the way people interact with their own health and wellness.
Social media accounts for almost two hours each day, with the top apps being YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter.
In 2012, the editor of the website The Next Web, catalogued devices that were made obsolete by smartphone. His list included MP3 players, point-and-shoot digital cameras, GPS, alarm clocks, flashlights, handheld gaming systems, e-readers, voice recorders, dictionaries, infrared remotes and web-conferencing devices. This is a lot longer now.
A recent UK poll indicated that using a smartphone to make phone calls doesn’t even reach the top 10 reasons for owning one. The majority of people cited the following regarding their smartphone use: texting — 88%; e-mail — 70%, Facebook — 62%, camera — 61%, reading news — 58%, online shopping – 56 per cent, checking the weather — 54%, WhatsApp — 51%, Banking — 45%, watching videos on YouTube — 42%.
Craige Fleischer, vice-president: integrated mobility at Samsung, says: “Most people don’t realise that as early as 2001, Samsung was already building smartphones — the SPH-1300 came out in October that year. And that was just the beginning of the smartphone rise. From the BlackJack line to the Instinct, which were before Android, to the Omnia with TouchWiz and then the current star of the smartphone show — the Galaxy S line.”
