Since everything is revolving around Coronavirus, it’s treatment and the ‘new normal’, let’s think about what the world might look like if technology was to evolve too. I mean, if besides social distancing, we were to maintain a distance from gadgets too, yet operate them at the same time, how would it be?
While touchscreen technology has been around for more than a decade now, we can hardly imagine life without it. Touchscreen phones, tabs, laptops, everything. Since viruses (especially Coronavirus) and other microorganisms tend to live on surfaces, can we really control a breakout of the same by coming up with ‘touchless’ technology?
Fast-forward to 2025 and I’m leaving to buy some groceries. I simply wink at my car door to open it. A ‘wink and blink’ technology. Cool, quick and efficient. Isn’t it? I remember registering my eyelid for anti-theft certification. It was a long process and my eye did hurt but we have to be cautious. It is better to have my eye hurt than contract Coronavirus. Now I can be sure that neither will my car be stolen nor will I contract Coronavirus (at least not by touching the surface of my car). What a relief.
I am back home and it is time to check my phone. It is at my work desk and I only have to wave ‘hello’ to it for its screen to appear on my TV – the big screen experience! I feel super lazy for not even lifting my hand to touch the phone but that’s what all of this new Touchless technology is about! Besides, my hand already hurts from waving ‘hello’. And now that the display is on the big screen, I’d finish a few tasks and enter a Zoom call for my official meeting. Let’s go with checking my social media accounts first. To enter my Instagram account, I simply make a ‘duck face’, for TikTok I need to make an exaggerated dance move and for Twitter, I need to speak a strong opinion for a ’cause’. Touchless technology is that simple! Crazy, isn’t it? For the Zoom call thereafter, I simply make an ‘It’s Monday again’ face and there we go. I’m beginning to think that why wasn’t Touchless technology always a way of life?
The whole of my face and body hurt right now by making all those expressions and gestures so it’s a free workout session every day too! That’s quite a bonus. I’m not complaining. What I’m thinking about is just this, that if we were winking at our cars without this ‘touchless’ technology, it would be so odd. Think about making that ‘it’s Monday again’ face to login to Zoom meetings and getting fired by your boss.
Well, so much for avoiding pandemics. We’re afraid of the touch but I guess we should be more afraid of the ‘touchless’ unless we want to get weirder, looted by tech companies for the new technology and well, more susceptible to a mental care rehabilitation centre. We’re okay with building herd immunity for now, I guess?
In the first-quarter report for 2020, Google’s parent company Alphabet reported its earnings during which Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai shared that Google’s video conferencing app ‘Meet’ is reporting a heavy addition of users. The addition of users goes up to 3 million users on a daily basis which is a big jump from its 2 million a day users when it reported earlier in the month.
Google Meet is a video conferencing application
Google Meet is a video conferencing application like other that we know of and the platform has been seeing a steady rise in its user base, most of it triggered by the current stay at home situation. The current rise in users is basically a three-fold increase in users since the month of January taking the total to over 100 million now.
Google Meet has been experiencing a strong surge in its user base and Google has been putting constant efforts in its developments. The company recently rolled out several updates last week including tiled layouts. The current update allows the app to 16 people together as opposed to four previously. Google meet also allows users to share high-quality video with audio with the new feature ‘Present a Chrome tab’. other features include a low-light mode for better visibility and improved noise cancellation.
Not only this, but Google also rechristened its video conferencing app for G Suite customers from ‘Hangouts Meet’ to just being ‘Meet’ now. Moreover, the company has made all the premium features of meet absolutely free for people until the 30th of September. The following extension has been made owing to the current pandemic situation across the world.
A camera is one of the most used gadgets in the present time. We all have a small and capable camera with us at all times – our smartphones. Smartphones cameras have now evolved to be more capable than they were five years ago. Most of us love our smartphones which can carry out the day to day imaging needs very easily. However, if you are looking to upgrade to a different camera, it is a different ball game altogether.
Tips to Buying a New Camera
Buying a new camera is much simpler now. You have a lot of brands and types of cameras that are available within a wide price range. What becomes difficult is the process of choosing which camera to buy. There are many choices which usually confuse buyers. Megapixels, zoom, battery life etc, a lot to consider before putting your money on one.
Buying a camera is basically identifying what you would be doing with your camera. Are you shooting your regular life or doing something which required more control? In this guide, we have narrowed down the types of cameras according to their capabilities and uses.
The first thing you do is set a budget range. Your budget will depend on what you want to get. Needless to say, the higher your budget, the better equipment you can buy. So, set a budget which will enable you to narrow down the options available in the same range.
Now that your budget has been finalized, you can choose what type of camera to buy. For someone who would use the camera for his day to day photos, vacations etc, you can go for a small but powerful digital camera. Digital cameras have now become extremely capable and pack very powerful sensors and processors inside. Digital cameras are easier to operate and you do not need to be a pro to actually take pictures. Simply setting up it in auto mode will allow you to take pictures very easily. While portability and image quality is the advantage, the downside of digital cameras is basically the small sensor and limited flexibility that could be an issue for someone who likes more control.
Interchangeable lens cameras are making most of the noise. The name suggests, allows you to change the lens of the camera. An interchangeable lens camera could have various sizes of sensors. Micro four-thirds, APS-C or 35mm sensor which is commonly known as Full-Frame cameras. Interchangeable lens cameras have a major division now which is the DSLRs and the Mirrorless camera. While DSLRs are traditional cameras with big bulky bodies and a pentaprism mirror for their optical viewfinders, mirrorless cameras have ditched all the extra flab and become smaller and lighter which eases the handling.
The choice of the sensor size is an important factor when buying an interchangeable camera. While DSLRs will leave with the choice of either an APS-C or a Full-Frame sensor, mirrorless cameras can come with a micro four-third sensor which is smaller than the traditional crop (APS-C) sensor. In digital photography, the size of the sensor plays an important role, especially with image quality. Megapixels do count, but honestly, the megapixel roar is just gimmick. Any camera with a megapixel count above 20 is just good enough for the images that you would take. With a full-frame sensor, you will have more data which can be later processed if you are shooting for commercial purposes or need to make very large prints.
What about those who do not want the normal conventional cameras? Well for those who like to capture their adventures, an action camera is the way to go. Action cameras, do not get it wrong, are quite powerful when compared to their tiny size. Most of the top of the line action cameras can record 4K footage as well as large images. Action cameras are built very rough and tough and come with weather sealing, allowing you to take it anywhere in any weather condition. Images taken on action cameras are usually warped as the angle of view is very wide. However, you can choose different options of crop like the narrow-angle of view or the superwide.
Remember, you will use the camera to its best abilities if it actually suffices all the requirements you have. Buying a very expensive camera without the technical know-how makes it just as obsolete as buying a sports car for driving on the country roads. You know it is going to scrape its belly. Why not get an SUV and take advantage of the higher ground clearance instead?
Chipset manufacturing giant Qualcomm Technologies have announced the arrival of Quick Charge 3+ technology. This is their latest addition to their Quick Charge family. Quick Charge is the biggest fast charging ecosystem in the world with more than 1000 devices facilitating Quick Charge. With Quick Charge 3+, Qualcomm aims to bring faster charging across a range of affordable devices and providing convenience.
Until now, Quick Charge was only seen on high-end and premium devices which might not have been accessible to all. However, with Quick Charge 3+ devices with Qualcomm Snapdragon 765 and Qualcomm Snapdragon 765+ processors will be enabled with wilt the Quick Charge 3+ which will be followed by other new Snapdragon platforms across tiers in 2020. Xiaomi’s Mi Lite Zoom which is powered by Snapdragon 765G is the world’s first smartphone with both Quick Charge 4+ and Quick Charge 3+ charging technology.
Some features of the Quick Charge 3+ :
Fast Charging with better efficiency: 0%-50% in 15 minutes, 35% faster and 9 degrees Celsius cooler comparing to previous generations.
Quick Charge 3+ will support industry-standard USB type A-to-type C cables and accessories that support scalable voltage with 20mV steps from Quick Charge 4, which are more affordable for OEMs and consumers
Quick Charge 3+ is backwards compatible with previous-generation Quick Charge devices and newer devices can work with Quick Charge 3+ accessories thereby always providing the most flexible charging experiences
Other key features include: Integrated cable power capability/identification, various safety mechanisms
Additionally, Quick Charge 3+ will bring in the following benefits to the table for smartphone manufacturers
Scalable architecture to allow OEMs to a move to higher charge power with the same software implementation and address different system requirement in terms of PCB design, charger IC location, etc.
Support of ultra-fast charging with lower-cost, variable voltage charging accessories such as Quick Charge 3+
Eliminating the need for external components such as OVP (Over Voltage Protection) chip, sense resistor and others
Support of two input, wireless and wired (SMB1396)
Folding phones are the current trend now. The moment screen manufacturers realised the fact that screens could be folded to attain a different form factor altogether, all efforts were concentrated towards making the folding screen incorporate with a smart device.
Folding smartphones have made serial waves in the smartphone industry. This is more because of people who are intrigued by the idea of a folding smartphone and want to have the latest trending device in their hands. Some of the first folding devices to hit the markets were the Royole FlexPai folding phone and the Huawei Mate X. Samsung, who was trailing the folding smartphone wars came up with the Samsung Galaxy Fold to take advantage of of the time and become one of the first movers in the folding smartphone game.
Samsung’s Galaxy Fold was a big failure in its first iteration. Galaxy Folds from all around the world started to crack and the external layer of the screen started to peel off. Tech reviewers from all around the globe started to share their experiences as to how the external layer on the screen which seemed to be like a protective layer for the screen started to peel off leaving the flexible OLED screen destroyed.
Meanwhile, Samsung did take its failure seriously and worked on to bring the second generation of the Galaxy Fold which did manage to impress the crowd because it is very well made and manage to keep the screen intact even after numerous flipping and folding of the screen. While a lot was happening in the foldable smartphone market, Motorola dropped their Moto Razr which came with a blast from the design resembling its very popular folding Motorola Razr phone. The Motorola Razr is the first phone to have the smartphone form factor fold in half, making it one of the first phones to do so. It does not come with top of the line hardware specifications but is aimed towards being a lifestyle device.
While Motorola was making all the noise about their Razr, Samsung dropped the Galaxy Z Flip along with the launch of the Galaxy S20 series. The Galaxy Z Flip comes with more like a smartphone looking form factor which can be folded in between. Specifications on the Z Flip are quite up to the mark with very capable hardware, however, it is still a lifestyle device which is more of a style statement rather than being a full-blown flagship phone.
Huawei’s follow up to the Mate X was soon to follow bearing the Mate Xs name tag. The Huawei Mate Xs is touted to be one of the best folding devices out there with a solid hinge and a great screen which has surely impressed the tech world. Last but not least, TCL, a brand we associate more with making TVs have dropped in their latest concept folding phones. Not one but two different smartphones which have a unique screen. One of them can be folded twice while the other is an interesting concept where the screen extends itself from inside the smartphone resulting in a bigger screen when needed. When not in use, the screen can be rolled back which brings it to the smartphone form factor. Folding smartphones might seem very cool, the ones available come at a steep price.
Now comes the interesting part of the whole folding situation. Escobar Inc – the tech company which is owned by Pablo Escobar’s brother Roberto De Jesus Escobar Gaviria came up with the Escobar Fold 2. If you wondering the Escobar name, well you are right. The Escobar name is associated with Pablo Escobar, the Columbian Drug Lord who was the head of the Medellin Cartel and one of the most powerful drug traffickers, of the 1980s as well as the early 90s.
The Escobar Fold 2
The Escobar Fold 2 was the follow up of the Escobar Fold which was essentially a rebranded Royole FlexPai, one of the first folding smartphones to come into existence. Touted as the ‘Real Samsing Killer Phone’ it features a striking similarity in design of both the devices including the number of cameras and the exact folding schematics. However, the Escobar Fold 2 gets gold-coloured skin on the back and the sides of the phone with Excobar Inc. which helps it to identify from the regular Galaxy Fold.
What makes the Escobar Fold special? In a press statement, Gaviria has specified that some parts of the Escobar Fold have been sourced from China. According to the brand, they aim at giving the clients direct discounts under the Escobar brand name. In attempts of crazy marketing, a promotional video shows scantily clad women smashing Samsung Galaxy Fold smartphones. Such attempts taking a dig at smartphone makers is not the 2020 way of marketing.
A domain names ‘ripsamsung.com’ has been created by the company which redirects to the order page of the Fold 2. Here comes the most interesting part – the fold 2 is priced at $399 which is roughly Rs. 29,000 here in India. This is much much lower to the Galaxy Fold which retails at $1,980 or Rs.1,74,999 in India. This raises serious concerns over the ingenuity of the Escobar Fold 2 when the phone shows Samsung logos hidden under its gold stickering. It could be a classic case of exact Chinese clones of the Galaxy Fold which are much cheaper but nowhere close to the actual Fold from Samsung.
The first Escobar folding phone Escobar Fold 1 was none other than the Royole FlexPai which was rebranded into the Escobar version. A large number of reports and personal experiences on the web depict people’s frustrations after they pre-ordered the phone but never received one. However, a lot of known YouTubers in the technology space have claimed that the company got in touch with them asking them to make video reviews for the phone in exchange for the device. Sadly, the marketing was shabby and this left many people with bad impressions. Tech experts have also asked people to refrain from ordering the phone which does not get delivered. A perfect way to run a scam; The folding scam.
The current pandemic situation has kept most of the people inside. Apart from the people working in healthcare and essential services, people have been asked or rather say forced to contain themselves inside the four-walls if their homes.
As naturally, it would come to every one of us, being confined in the house is not exciting and this everyone is looking to connect to their friends, family and the whole world for that matter with their phones and laptops. Things like online deliver and OTT platform engagements have shot up and similarly, chat and video conferencing applications are enjoying this sudden blast of unprecedented traffic. Hence developers are taking this opportunity to develop new avenues to help more and more people connect in this current situation.
As it would be, video calling applications have seen a massive spike in their traffic. WhatsApp, Messenger, Zoom and Houseparty are the ones which are enjoying the major share of the fame now. However, each one of them come with their flaws. WhatsApp can only connect four users per call, Zoom can handle multiple user connections (100) but recently it has been subject to data hacks and private user data was leaked due to security issues. Houseparty is another solution but the sheer number of notifications it keeps pushing can irritate anyone off from using it.
Facebook, on the other hand, is learning from the situation and recently has announced the ‘Messenger Rooms’ which will allow a group of 50 people to connect on a single video call. Not only this, on Facebook Messenger Rooms, one can post links in their news feed, groups or even create event pages.
How does it work? One can simply create a room and users can join the room via their browser. The moderator or room creator can also lock the rooms to prevent unwanted people from entering which seems like a form of moderation.
Messenger Rooms is said to have Zoom-like features including the background changing effects which is done to avoid people seeing the cluttered background at times. Moreover, Facebook has added multiple filters and lighting effects to compensate for any lighting defects on video. The Facebook Messenger Rooms will be launched in a few weeks; pointing that it is currently under rapid development.
It is said that approximately 700 million people are using various applications to make calls daily. Zoom has been plagued by privacy and security issues. It has breached the 300 million user limit already. This is a massive spike in user demand and Facebook is surely taking notes while doing its homework. The video-meeting platforms have seen a massive surge in users since the COVID-19 pandemic which has forced millions of people to work from their homes.
With the looks of an iPhone 8, it packs more modern specs to match the performance
Apple has finally taken the covers off the new iPhone SE 2. The iPhone is the cheapest offering from the house of Apple and the prices start from $399 for the 6GB storage version. But with the looks of it, most of the people will mistake it for an iPhone 8. Well, it would take some really trained eyes to differentiate it from the iPhone 8.
Starting with the screen, it features a 4.7-inch screen, yes the most friendly iPhone size, large bezels on the top and button and the now missing home button with Touch ID. This design has been consistent since the arrival of the iPhone 6. So the SE second generation is the fifth device to carry this design and Apple has really mastered this design over the years.
Apple says it will be available for pre-order from April 17th onwards and start shipping from the 24th of April. Depending on the on-board memory, you have a 128GB variant priced at $499 and a 256GB model $549. Moreover like any other iPhone, it will ship with one year of Apple TV Plus. The iPhone SE second generation will be offered in three colours – Black, White and Product Red.
What’s New?
Now don’t get this wrong but the new iPhone SE is basically an iPhone 8, but it packs a better camera, hardware and specifications. The surprise here is the A13 Bionic chip, which also powers the latest iPhone 11 and 11 Pro models.
What this means that the new iPhone will have a long life from the time you pick it up from the shelves. In fact, it now will claim the life of the iPhone 8 which it is replacing. However, Apple has said that the iPhone 8 Plus will be available in some select markets only. These select markets could include price-sensitive markets like India too.
With the new A13 processor, the camera on the new iPhone SE has gained some new features. It gets a single 12-megapixel camera on the back along with a flash. Apple claims that with the A13 chip on board, the new SE offers improved Smart HDR photography, which combines multiple shots into a single image to massively improve the lighting and detail.
The surprise here with the single-camera is the portrait mode technology. Apple has named it ‘monocular depth-sensing’ (just better software detection) which uses machine learning to detect depth and faces. But it also raises doubts on the subjects as it should work on humans but cannot really say how it would be on pets or other objects. Lastly, the camera is blessed with Apple’s optical stabilization which claims to provide ‘cinematic’ stabilization. The camera can record 4K video at 60fps. What a delight for creators who shoot on their phone. On the front, the selfie camera comes with a 7-megapixel sensor. The front camera can also do portrait effects. Apple is achieving the same results what others have been trying to do with multiple cameras. Good move Apple.
The Hardware
Most of the parts of the new iPhone SE are identical to the iPhone 8. You can expect a similar battery life. However, Apple has not revealed any numbers for the battery on this one. The screen is Apple’s 4.7-inch IPS LED Retina display with True Tone colour. It might sound different, but it is the exact screen as we have already seen on the iPhone 8. Moreover, Apple says the cases made for iPhone 8 will fit the new iPhone SE with ease.
Now here is something that would leave some waiting for more. In the days of blazing-fast charging times, Apple’s new SE comes with a puny 5W charger in the box. Although, it has support for 18W fast charging, as well as support for Qi wireless charging. What you won’t see is a headphone jack, the 3.5mm jack has been ditched. Apple will ship with Lightning headphones in the box.
What else? Some modern specs like support for Wi-Fi 6, Gigabit LTE and dual-sims (e-sim for the second one). It has now support for Haptic Touch, which is a replacement for Apple’s 3D Touch. Apple is sure to lift some hopes despite the current pandemic situation. This $399 iPhone is sure to appeal a lot of buyers, especially the ones who have been a fan of the screen size but wanted some better specs. Apple has finally addressed the problem. Last but not least, the new iPhone SE will secure its user with software updates over the years to come.
iPhone SE 2 Specifications
Screen: 4.7-inch True Tone display
Rear cameras: 12-megapixel single 6-element lens, features OIS, flicker sensor for white balance, focus pixels, HDR, and portrait mode for people, video recording at 4K/60fps
Selfie camera: 7-megapixel camera
Dimensions: 67.3 x 138.4 x 7.3mm, 148 grams
Processor: A13 Bionic
Memory: TBD
Storage: 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB
Battery: TBD
OS: iOS 13
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6, Gigabit LTE, Dual SIM with eSIM
Biometric authentication: second-generation Touch ID fingerprint sensor
Wireless charging, Lightning connector, 5W charger included
It is about time India gets into the 5G race, similar when 2G, 3G and 4G had arrived. With the arrival of 5G, it would enable massive commercial deployment of technologies like IoT, AI, AR/VR, RPA etc which would facilitate use across many industries like automotive, media and entertainment, healthcare, retail, manufacturing and agriculture to name a few.
Not only this, but 5G implementation would also have major applications in Smart Cities which ultimately would spread the use of IoT applications.
The rollout of 5G in India is expected to create an economic impact of 1 trillion USD in India by 2035.
With new connected devices being launched, it would require the existing wireless infrastructure to be enhanced as well as an advanced operating model of operating 5G networks in India.
While 5G will require a huge level of transformation, the Indian mobile network operators will need to form skills, competence and operating models, as well as an entirely new ecosystem, has to be developed for the implementation.
In recent times, service providers are facing massive challenges and huge debts due to crashing markets, delayed payments to DoT, crashing rupee and rising oil prices along with a cut-throat competition among the telcos. Right now only JIO, Airtel, BSNL and Vodafone Idea are the active operators India who are fighting hard for survival. While Vodafone merged with Idea to save themselves, Airtel is having a hard time keeping up. BSNL and MTNL are on the verge of being dissolved and Vodafone is also contemplating to quit the Indian market.
This has made credit acquisition difficult for the telcos as banks are no longer offering loans to the bootstrapped companies leading to more losses and exiting from telecom business. It is calculated that an approximate amount of 60-70 billion US dollars will be required to seamlessly implement 5G network infrastructure in India.
While the industry is gearing towards providing the service platform, delivery model and logistics support, it has to be seen if the government is truly interested in an upgrade to 5G soon as it has to go about 5G spectrum auctions which will allow them to raise finances for improving the infrastructure.
The telecom ministry has to take bold steps to improve the financial condition of the service providers. Last but not least, will the consumer demand be enough to justify these huge investments?
These are some real issues which have to be addressed before India can experience 5G rollout. In fact, these real issues and their solutions will determine if India would be running 5G in the years to come.
The Chinese consumer market is considered as the lion’s share in the luxury global market. But the virulent spread of Coronavirus 134769 cases around the world. For the international luxury industry, which relies heavily on Chinese shoppers, it’s already taking a financial toll.
The outbreak has dramatically reduced the number of shoppers in Chinese cities and made companies to shut stores. Travel restrictions also are curtailing the traditional flow of tourists to other destinations that sometimes host many visitors buying luxury goods. Chinese shoppers structure a few third of worldwide luxury spending, counting their spending inside and out of doors the country, consistent with management consultancy Bain & Company. That’s quite the other nationality.
To stop the spread of disease, travel to, from and within China has been curtailed. Stores are closed and even those that are open see a dramatic decline in pedestrian traffic . for instance, 150 out of Capri Holdings’ 250 China stores are closed, Ralph Lauren has closed half its 115 stores, and Adidas reports it’s temporarily pack up a “considerable” number of its 12,000 stores there.
The supply chain for goods beginning of China is additionally taking an enormous hit. Factories are traditionally closed for the Chinese New Year celebration, which this year was from January 25 through Groundhog Day, but in some regions, the shutdown has been extended through February 10, though it’s going to go longer depending upon the speed of infection.
But looking across China’s vast $14.3 trillion economies, Cowen’s Oliver Chen believes luxury brands are going to be the foremost impacted by the epidemic, as long as the businesses he covers depend upon China for a mean of 14% in revenues.
In particular, LVMH (17% of revenues) and Tiffany (17%) are most in danger, with Richemont (11%), Tapestry (10%), honker (10%), and Capri Holdings (6%) having less exposure there.
Farfetch is additionally heavily hooked into China, accounting for 28% of its business, but because it’s an e-commerce company, it won’t likely suffer the maximum amount as other brands relying upon in-store sales. Noting that wealthy Chinese consumers are within the habit of flying into luxury shopping capitals of the planet to form opportunistic purchases, Gandhi sees this halted, albeit people can get a flight out of the country. “Nobody’s getting to get on a plane and risk their health to shop for something.”
For some purchases, particularly the very high-end segment, he expects those purchases are going to be deferred and are available back once travel bans are lifted. except for cheaper luxury, like trend-driven fashion, those sales are lost permanently. “It’s an entirely different purchasing cycle.”
Most are relying on the Chinese luxury consumers to return roaring back after the pandemic subsides driven by pent up demand and therefore the symbolic meaning luxury brands hold for them.
“Luxury goods in China represent a way of accomplishment both at a private level but even more importantly, pride within the nation,” says the Jean Baptist Voisin who is the global strategist at LVMH. “While I’m not a psychologist, I hypothesise that the demand for luxury will increase once this ends.”
That is assuming that the consumers on which the posh market depends have jobs and remain willing to spend their income on luxury indulgences.
What a time to be alive, isn’t it? Remember the time when you were slacking close to 10 hours a day and sometimes even working on the weekends without a day off. You were sick of it. And you were desperate enough for that much-needed break. Well, here’s your chance. We found out a few apps that might keep you occupied in this lockdown period. Assuming that you start your day by doing some chores in the morning like you usually would on a regular working day and then head straight to work. Things are a bit different unless you’re one from the ‘heroes’ category. Thank you for your never-ending patience and support! Coming back, the next step would be for us individuals is most likely an option to work from home.
ZOOM Cloud Meetings
Now, working from home can be fun for some and boring for others. Of course, let’s be honest here, some meetings are boring. You have no idea why you are a part of it. Until the Boss finally asks you for your precious opinion. Well, this app is going to help your Boss out. While you’re at home in your comfort zone, he can schedule a meeting with you and your 100 other colleagues. You just need a computer or a laptop or a smartphone and a decent internet connection for you to join in the meeting. But hold it, if you are thinking where am I gaining at this. Well, you are. You can show your clients your presentations and crack that deal which you have been dying to crack. All this by you sharing your screen with the respective members on the call. So much better than those darkroom PowerPoint presentations, where some are found napping. It is a decent app to catch up with your colleagues too.
Houseparty
Wait a moment. Let me proceed ahead with caution. Houseparty was in the news for all the right reasons, until people claimed that their accounts were hacked. Relax! That was a smear campaign started by somebody. Houseparty will be awarding you 1 million dollars (₹7.6 crores) if you manage to prove that somebody was spreading these rumours. Anyway, you are better off enjoying your quarantine period by spending quality time with your family members at home and for someone not that lucky they can do so by playing different games on this app while they are video chatting. Talk to mutual friends and still stay in touch with everyone. The application is really smart, it will alert your friends whenever you are back online on the app. You can even join them, drop a face mail if they have missed a call or just get in touch with them whenever they are back online. You can have a private party of your own too, by locking the rooms in which you and your friends are. Quite cool. A genius idea that was based on a simple concept. Talk to each other while you are playing with each other. Well, the application has gone viral ever since lockdown came into force. Maybe you too should jump on the Houseparty bandwagon and let yourself loose. Sounds fun? It is!
Bumble
This is no joke, virtual dating is a thing, you guys. If you have been sitting on the fence with dating apps. Now is the time to try them out. Many bored people are going to get on the app looking to have a decent conversation with people who share the same interests. So I popped up to look out for people who were exactly doing the same thing. What do you do when you’re in a lockdown situation? Chat up with strangers, and possibly get to know them better before actually meeting them once the quarantine period ends. And the app that I enjoyed using was Bumble. To start with, Bumble has three options for you to choose from. Whether you want to find dates, or friends to hang out with or expand your business network with like-minded individuals. It is truly your choice. Not that you only have to go looking for dates, there are interesting people out there who you can interact with. Every single person out there is in isolation and there’s no harm in trying your luck with someone special. You never know, the person you meet during your quarantine period might be the one who you could be spending your future with. You never know.
AmpMe
Once you’re done looking out for your future significant others, you might want to try this fun app too. It’s for being a bit romantic when you’re alone. No, not what you are thinking. I have no business looking for other things on this app but this one special feature I like to use. Suppose you have a special friend that stays away who has a similar taste in music. You both cannot listen to the same music together at the same time because we’re all isolating in our own houses. We expect you both too. Well, nobody is stopping you to do the same thing virtually. Yes, you and your special friend can play songs from YouTube, Spotify, and your Music library for free. All of that at the same time. Syncing the audio on both your smartphones. Again, all you both need is a fast internet connection and a good choice of songs. And, of course, you can restrict others from joining your private listening session. Apart from that, it gives you an option to chat while you are enjoying your playlist on YouTube or Spotify or your Music Library. It is a sweet way of enjoying the songs together. Or if you want to create a listening session for your whole group then you can ask other friends to join in. Try it out, you might want to ask your Bumble date to join you there. See, I gave you an idea already to do a fun virtual activity together.
Starmaker
Are you tired of playing Ludo, COD, PUBG and what not? You might want to relax your fingers then. This one will rather test your vocal skills. Ever played an online karaoke game? No? It’s pretty simple. Ask all your friends to sing a chorus of their favourite songs and share them on the group. A fun way of keeping your friends and yourself entertained, no? Well, the Starmaker app does act like a karaoke machine. All you have to do is search for your favourite song and play it. The app will automatically collect lyrics and flash it for you as the regular karaoke machines would do. However, I found its instrumentals to be not as accurate but enough for one to have an enjoyable karaoke session with. And when you are done recording your first single, you will be given points and scores, which to be honest, I had no interest in tracking. All I wanted to do was record the single and share it with my friends. Also, they had a good laugh about it. Go on, try it out.
Countries are getting lockdown for days and some for months. It is quite a serious situation out there. If you happen to read this, I am sure you come in the privileged lot. Well, hear me out on this. It is our responsibility to win over this situation. How are we going to do that? By staying home, following basic hygiene and keeping yourself fit. When all of this is over, you will come out of this as a more mature person who has seen through a tough period. For now, enjoy these random apps. You might thank yourself later for doing so. Stay safe, everyone!
