Master or Slave. Does Technology Have You?

Some of man's inventions have mainly been an extension of the human mind or human interaction. Take the personal computer for example, it was made to possess a processor mimicking the cognitive centre of the brain; Read Only Memory is akin to our genetic make up that cannot be altered. So if technology is an extension of humanity, it's purpose to do some form of work for us thereby establishing a master-slave relationship. Man being the master, technology being the slave.

Artificial intelligence on which the movie "Terminator" is based maybe decades or centuries away but it seems that while we went about making things that are supposed to make life easier and more enjoyable we flipped the master-slave balance in favour of technology. The smartphone is meant to be a problem solver in quick reach yet we find ourselves wholly dependent on it. Social networking websites started out as ways to connect people separated by vast distances but have slowly replaced the need for actual physical interaction. The Internet, which I call the ring leader, was built as a way to interconnect the globe for information sharing but now we spend a good portion of our waking breaths doing something that involves the Internet. If your service provider suffered an outage right now that was projected to last a week, would you just say OK or think about switching?

An argument may be put forth that there is no master-slave relationship, only pockets of people addicted to technology and that argument may have merit. Some are able to use technology when they absolutely need to but from my observation a good number have already fallen victim to this silent addiction. Need proof? Download an application that monitors how often you unlock your phone to use it. If you're like me you'll be astounded by the results.

The best way to make sure you don't fall into this master-slave trap is by practising disconnection; time away from technology be it hours or days. Then you'll discover that you only us gadgets when absolutely. Make technology work for you and not the other way around.

On which side do you sit...the master or the slave?

A Glimpse into the Future . The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ & Note 5!

Disclaimer: No Unicorns were harmed during the writing of this piece.

About a month ago, Lexus announced something that brought tears to your eyes if you watched a movie called Back To The Future starring Michael J. Fox. The hover board, a skate board without wheels that glides over the ground with the help of superconductors and a mechanism that would make the cast of the Big Bang Theory sitcom feel right at home. Not to say that what Samsung have done is forging out of science fiction, they have simply opened a portal to the future with the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge + (what a mouthful) and the Note 5.

Let the glimpsing begin.....

This mainly an impressions piece from a brief hands on experience with the S6E+, as I'll call it for short hand, and the Note 5.

Design....

Boring from the recently (some asked why one release so soon after another) released S6 and S6 Edge, both the S6E+ & Note 5 have a curved rear form factor with a metallic bezel. The Edge+ has a more flat feel to it owing to the curved glass display that has been refined from the Note 4 Edge and later the S6 Edge.
Metal has replaced ceramic type buttons on the Note 4 for the 5.

No replaceable batteries for both phones, you get a unibody construction with a pop out tray for your sim card at the top of the device. What most will miss is the absent micro SD memory card slot. Like most power users (geeks/phone buyers that use their phones to the Max) I wonder if we'll ever see a return of the memory card to the premium range of Samsung phones.

Ergonomically, both sit nicely in the palm of your hand. I still question the claim of one handed use because the display is pretty wide from top left corner to bottom right.

Hardware....
Both smartphones boast a 5.7” Super AMOLED touchscreen with 517 pixels per inch make the user interface glorious to look at, the app icons look brilliant. You just want to stare at it in awe. Capacitive multitasking and back buttons maintain their familiar positions and in between them is the “press down” finger print scanner. On the Note 5, this is a departure from the “swipe” motion finger print scanner on its predecessor.

The top side of the frame sports a nano sim card pop out tray…say goodbye to the Infra-Red blaster. I wonder how I’d use the Note 5 as a remote control for my TV. The headphone jack has been relocated to the bottom of the phone and I ask WHY. My personal preference is a top mounted jack so that the cable doesn’t get bent when the phone is in my pocket but I can already see the counter argument as I’m typing this. My ‘why’ has been withdrawn.

Samsung have boasted that their latest flagship phones are powered by their in-house developed Exynos 7420 octa-core processor. In the strictest sense, it’s a split of 2 quad-core processors. No more Snapdragon processors from Qualcomm. The 4 GB RAM compliments the processor well though this is from a limited hands on experience.

With no micro SD card slot, all your file storage and apps will sit on the phone’s memory. There are only 32 and 64 GB variants which comes as a surprise in the age bigger storage, 128 GB should have been the upper limit. 32 GB on the Note 4 is barely sufficient for the power user. The user would have to leverage on various cloud storage services such as Google Drive, OneDrive and/or DropBox.

With a 16 megapixel camera at the back and 5 megapixels in the front, you can capture those precise moments with stunning clarity. The front facing camera is pretty good, knocked me off my feet with its consistent performance in a well-lit night environment.

The Note 5 and S6 Edge + have the same battery, non-removable 3000 mAh that accommodate fast wireless charging in from dead to full in 90mins and 60mins respectively. The battery on the Note 4 is 3220 mAh, my guess is that the battery had to be slimmed down a tad to fit in the both slim phones and not add more weight.

I think the S6 Edge + should have had a S-Pen. This is one feature that sets the Note 5 apart from it. As Note 4 owner, I’m more inclined to enjoy the Note 5. The S-Pen eject mechanism was well thought. Gone is the need to pull out the stylus with you nails and then fingers. A simple push of the button at the top or is it bottom of the pen and its pushes out the pulling handle if I can call it that. I tried out the Note 4 S-Pen on the Note 5 and it performed well and vice-versa. I half expected one not to work on the other. All the air-commands popped up to my delight.

Software....

Shipped with lollipop 5.1.1 out of the box and a re-skinned TouchWiz UI, flipping through the home screens is good experience, one the owner of either device is bound to enjoy.

On the Note 5, the Air Command related to the S-Pen has been improved with a better icons and the ability to include apps of your choice. There is also the much talked about
YouTube integration at an operating system level that allows you to share moments that you are capturing live the subscribers of your YouTube channel. It would be nice it pit it against Twitter’s Periscope which offers something similar.

The Note 5 has the ability to capture screenshots of a webpage or document that requires you to scroll down. This is one that will be a hit.

Samsung are not bundling Microsoft apps onto the Galaxy models, i.e. OneDrive and OneNote. The People Edge/App Edge feature for the S6 Edge + looks interesting, I’m just curious as to the usability level of People Edge.

The Note 5 can take notes with screen locked, that’s massively important. Beats having to unlock the phone, pull out the stylus and take your notes.

Multi-window display has been changed to a more defined split screen. I hope more apps have been included that can function this way.

Not so much emphasis on was put on voice commands which I found strange. Personal Assistants are taking centre stage and I feel the Google alternative is behind Microsoft’s Cortana and Apple’s Siri.

Price….

Both will cost you more than 8000.00 ZMW around launch time with the S6 Edge + costing close to a 1000 more Kwachas than the Note 5.

The Wrap…

The S6 Edge + is the first of its generation and it does stand out in the crowd as a stylish alternative to the Note 5 which stands on the shoulders of it forbearers and is a positive iteration in the dynasty that brought us the original ‘phablet’. Both would make perfect phones for the business man or fashionista.

Did we spot a couple of Unicorns? Close but not just yet.

Technology Waste: Where does it go?

When you call someone to your offices to fix your photocopier and they give you that engineering report that it's beyond fixing, all you think about is justifying the purchase of a replacement and how soon you can get it.

You rarely think of the disposal of the old one. It's usually sold for a song or given away for free to whoever can take it way. Where it goes depends on how 'salvageable' it is. Stripped for parts, pieces are thrown anywhere without caring what effect their non-'biodegradable' nature will have on the environment.

In Zambia, our idea of waste disposal is throwing things in the garbage which is later dumped at a landfill. Technology waste or "technotrash" contains hazardous materials from metals to liquids that end up going to the ground and may end up in our water. Someone may argue that even stuff from other waste does already end up contaminating our soils at the dump site rendering it useless either way but this added special waste is one that makes the mix more dangerous.

My hope is that some for of legislature exists to outlaw the dumping of technotrash like household waste. It's enforcement is another issue all together but having a law would mean government is alive to the potential risks to the environment.

Cracking Mobile Payments

The Problem...

Despite the launch of many forms of mobile payments in Zambia, there has not been an increase in their use leading to the question of whether it is a viable business segment especially that it is viewed as a competitive advantage by banks and mobile network operators.

These mobile payments vary from bill payments, purchasing of prepaid mobile airtime or power units to money transfers.

The Reasons...

Many of those with bank accounts in Zambia (the banked) prefer paying for goods and services with cash despite the convenience of using a cellphone to perform the transaction. Even when it comes to making transfers to friends and family, they would rather withdraw the money and walk to a post office to use MoneyGram.

To add to this number, many have a distrust for technology and it's perceived advantages over cash. They prefer physical contact with bank tellers, those selling airtime, or Zesco prepaid units.

Consumers would rather send money using moneygram and Zoona than open an mobile money account/send an ewallet and encourage the recipient to open a similar account. The word is not spreading fast enough to achieve critical mass. Zambia has a long way to go before they reach even a third of Kenya's M-Pesa.

A high percentage of Zambians are 'unbanked' meaning the mobile payments offering from banking institutions loses potential users.

What Can Be Done....

The high number of unbanked Zambians offers an opportunity for mobile network operators to offer some form of banking that offers mobile payments as a part of its product suit.

Banks need to also offer fault-free, seemless, services on mobile devices be it smartphones or simple phones so as not to segment or fragment the customer base.

User education is also key at the point of account opening or signing up for a mobile number. Customers need to aware of the capabilities that exist on mobile banking/payments. Highlighting the convenience and ease of such services is a big selling point. Telling someone that they don't need cash to pay for services is a plus.

The age of cash and walking into banks for account inquiry services should slowly be behind us.

We like pulling government into everything and I am of the opinion that some form of legislation compelling Zambians to open accounts or be less reliant on paper based transactions could be the push necessary.

In the absence of government will it is up to the private sector to be the driver as well as you and me.

If you don't use mobile payments and you're reading this,shame on you....Just kidding.