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There is this ad series where a girl shows off the map in her phone to an ‘uncle’ who has an outdated device. In one ad, she just taps the phone a couple of times – and the map with the exact location pops up. In another, just two taps (or is it just one) bring her US stock market details.
If you are one of those who have bought gadgets, I am almost sure you haven’t got anywhere by clicking on the phone once. Maybe the only ‘successful’ operation would have been what you would not have wanted - a call to the last dialled number.
Yes, there are things you can do with just a couple of clicks. They are few and they work if you have the app on the home screen or as a widget.
Maps work well if location is enabled. If you are one of those paranoid people not comfortable with your device ‘knowing’ your location (it does anyway secretly, even if you don’t want it to do), it takes some time for the map app to find out where you are. And finding locations? It may depend on what you type. If the GPS or location is not enabled, there is every possibility the maps thinks you are sitting on top of a mobile signal tower because it takes the nearest tower as your location.
How do you make the device find out where ‘exactly’ you are? You have to have GPS on. And if you do that, your will discover your battery is being used up. This means you have to switch on the GPS only when the uncle asks you for directions. So, now, you switch on the GPS, open the map. And wait. Till the device gets GPS lock. And wait. Till you get the location, and search for the place where the guy wants to go, see the directions, and tell him. But wait, uncle is not there. Some chaiwallah has given him the directions and maybe he has even reached his destination!
I have a ‘phablet’ - and I am yet to learn to write properly, leave alone draw something, crop it, superimpose my masterpiece on another picture and send it to someone - as the ad shows.
The moral of the story is: Gadgets may look great in ads, but may not work exactly like they do in them.
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