In 2022, technology experiments unravel with hits & misses
NEW DELHI: Football, as they say, is a game of two halves. That may also be true for 2022 from the standpoint of technology.
Over the year, there was the inevitable step forward with 5G in India. We welcomed more powerful new phones, where some tried more than others to stand out. There was an ongoing power struggle in the gaming ecosystem. Data privacy continued to be a talking point for tech giants. And new social media platforms were evolving.
Parallelly, there was also the unfolding distress of layoffs by tech companies, particularly in the latter part of the year. Supply chain issues and semiconductor shortages persisted, as China persevered with a policy that put cities in lockdown mode. Then, there was the absolute fiasco of leadership over at Twitter after Elon Musk took over the social media platform.
If nothing, including pandemic-related chip shortages, could stall smartphone launches in 2021, then nothing could slow them down in 2022 either. And nothing did.
Of course, some smartphones got our attention more than others: mainly, the 2022 edition of Apple iPhones which evolved further, albeit incrementally. Apple’s newest mobile operating system, the iOS 16, and the always-on display options, provided the major experiential leap forward; even if the latter received some important tweaks subsequently.
Samsung did what it does best: launch a lot of phones, and many hit the proverbial sweet spot, including the Galaxy S22 Ultra, which -- with its powerful specs, the right software tweaks and focus on ergonomics -- was a step forward in terms of the experience.
After many years, Google, finally, launched Pixel smartphone flagships in India. It was as pure an Android experience as one can get, with a heavy dose of artificial intelligence (AI). Yet, gaps remain in the experience: these are the last phones to get 5G-enabling software updates.
A tech startup that could not be ignored was the London-based Nothing, founded by Carl Pei. It delivered the Nothing Phone (1), which, complete with a transparent back and lighting array that adds a visual thrill, looked nothing (no pun intended) like anything else in the market. Nothing, for its first ever phone, could have simply followed the template of thousands of Android phones. But it didn’t, giving us something that took courage and therefore stood out in a sea of sameness.
5G finally arrived on our phones. Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio flipped the switch on the much-awaited faster mobile data connectivity.
The network roll-out across India will continue, and it is likely there will be close to complete 5G coverage in urban centres by mid-2023, with nationwide availability by the end of the year.
Uptake has been swift among consumers, as phone makers rolled out the necessary software updates for 5G-ready phones, especially since 5G upgrades are available at the same rate as 4G data plans, adding no more financial burden on users.
Moving on to the travel experience, amid what was described as post-pandemic revenge travel, you probably heard about passenger congestion at Indian airports.
At some airports in the country, technology was able to provide the antidote. The DigiYatra system went live in Delhi, Bengaluru, and Varanasi airports, with Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune, and Vijayawada joining in.
The focus, at the moment, is on domestic routes. The pitch is simplified contactless travel and the app is available on both Android phones and iPhones. Your mobile number, Aadhaar, coronavirus vaccine status, and your selfie provide the identity foundation. At the airport, you need to scan your boarding card on the app and verify your identity through the facial recognition system to proceed.
Speaking of travel, did we get any closer to the metaverse?
There was hope that 2022 would be a defining period, but it’s been far from it. The tech giant most invested in the evolution of the web, did not have the best of years. Meta, formerly Facebook, put billions of dollars into the Reality Labs division and lost most of that money.
Neither its virtual reality (VR) headset nor its use cases managed to become mainstream. The problem is that even after all this time, we still don’t have a clear understanding of what the metaverse is. The virtual reality, including avatar systems, still don’t hold an attraction for masses the way some other technologies do.
Gloss