A mobile phone these days is more of a status symbol than an instrument that aids communication. Somehow, I feel that we are giving more importance to these instruments than we should. The world has gone crazy! Or is it the People?
‘What? Your phone does not have 200MP back camera and 100MP front camera?’ exclaimed a friend of mine! (MP stands for mega pixel). Science defines MP as “a unit of measurement equal to one million pixels, representing the resolution of a digital camera sensor or image.” If you still do not understand, it’s your funeral. I cannot help it!
“You have an old Android version of 11.70! That slows your phone”. Said the other looking at me as a piece of museum. The Latin root ‘androides’ literally means “resembling a man,” and androids really know how to blend in. Androids mostly appear in science fiction novels and films, but who knows, maybe you’re friends with an android and you don’t even know it. But here android is an operating system based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and other open-source software, designed primarily for touchscreen-based mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. If you still do not understand, it’s your funeral. I cannot help it!
“Download this ‘Goddamn’ App. It prevents fraud calls” Said yet another. App is a piece of software designed to perform a particular function, especially designed to run on a mobile phone or similar device. If you still do not understand what an App is, it’s your funeral. I cannot help it!
For me a telephone is a machine that used for timely, effective and precise communication. Nothing more. I am sure no one understands what MP is though everyone talks of it. Recently I came to know MP stands for Mega Pixel. I am in dark as to what a pixel is and I do not wish to be enlightened either.
I am not a person who uses telephone as a camera. What will I do after taking a picture? How many of you have seen your own marriage or childhood album again? Or for that matter any photo album? In the airports and railway station waiting halls I have seen many who resolutely sit to delete all photographs. I, hence, always wondered what I will do with a 200MP mega pixel camera.
They also say front camera and the back camera of a phone. Which side is front will depend on from which side you are looking at the phone. I tried to get these issues clarified, but the clarifications are more confusing. I decided to stay confused, for a confused life is a comfortable life!
Android 16 version in a phone is a familiar as mitochondria of an alien plant! Now do not ask me what the hell mitochondria is! Intelligent people do not ask! It is said, android versions represent incremental updates to the Google-developed operating system, with the latest release being Android 16 (2025). Android 15 currently widely available. These versions introduce new features, security updates, and UI enhancements, often identified by numerical versions (e.g., Android 14) or dessert-themed codenames, with older versions featuring names like Pie, Oreo, and Marshmallow. If you still do not understand what an android version is, it’s your funeral. I cannot help it!
And they also say, unaware of what they are saying and whether they are being understood, both Android and Ubuntu are free operating systems and among them Android is better, but not as great as
iOS! Well, my understanding is as clear and sound as yours. Ubuntu is the modern, opensource operating system on Linux for the enterprise server, desktop, cloud, and IoT. iOS is an operating system used for mobile devices manufactured by Apple Inc. If you still do not understand what I am saying, it’s your funeral. I cannot help it! With all the information unfolding, you have now reached a stage where to talk on a mobile phone one has to become a Wizkid!
I always wondered why all people hold their mobile phones in their hands. Needless to say, they must be expecting a call from their friend or colleague. What is baffling is all people are expecting calls from their friends or colleagues, then who would call? People hold mobile phones in their hands primarily for immediate access to information, constant communication, and a sense of safety or comfort. This is bull shit. This behaviour is driven by habit and, for all generations, a preference for using speakerphone or video calls. It serves a display of social status, similar to wearing jewellery or possessing a car!
I must not forget the Goddamn App! The man who sells ‘Nothing’ phone said “go to ‘play store’ and download the Goddamn App”! Those of you who do not still know what an App is then let me tell you that App is an abbreviation for ‘Application’. For me ‘Application’ means like applying for the post of a clerk or for admission in a college. The entire meaning is changed! I do know about the ‘Goddamn App’, (of which I shall discuss later) but I am told there are millions of Apps!
Moral of the story is this: I beg all phone manufacturers, keep the phone as a phone. A wife as a wife. You cannot use wife as a maid servant! Similarly, when people make a phone into a camera, a bank, a TV, a grocery store, a place where lovers meet, a school, a workplace, a road map, etc., I must insist I do not want it. If you still do not understand what I am saying, it’s your funeral. I cannot help it!
About the Author
Dr. K. Raja Gopal Reddy is a seasoned internationally qualified Insurance professional. What you are reading here, may not answer all the questions we have, but has the absolute power of asking unsettling questions which increase the interest in the strange world, and show the contradictory wonders lying just below the surface of the commonest things of life. Look at this disturbing but beautiful thought of Friedrich Nietzsche “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him”. Dr. Reddy can be reached at: raja66gopal@gmail.com
