Tech Talk: When Technology Backfires!

By Ila Garg 

Technology is ever growing, ever expanding! With the market flooded with gadgets of all shapes and sizes, it is nearly impossible for a person to pinpoint one gadget that they won’t get bored of. Well, yes eventually we all find something new, something better that tempts us to dump our prior gadget and happily switch to the new one. every other day a new gadget is launched with an array of fancy features, but do we really need them? Are they ever going to match our expectations?

But even after changing your gadgets multiple time, you encounter similar issues, don't you?

Technology fails you just when you think you have found the right match. Even iPhones don't hold your interest for too long then how can smartphones ever match your ever changing desires!

Only a few months back, I got this pretty hyped smartphone by Xolo – Omega 5.5. I thought it would be nice to get a hands-on experience of this gadget as it is not only affordable but offers a 1.4GHz octa-core processor. This means I can use multiple apps without cutting on the speed. With a HD display and a 5.5 screen size, this seemed to be a promising product at that time.

Next in its specs list was a 13 megapixel rear camera equipped with flash. I was hooked instantly as the shop assistant told me that yet I decided to act rationally. Before I could ask for other options, this assistant told me that it has a 2 megapixel front camera, 1 GB RAM, HIVE UI skin, and has a 2600mAh Li-Ion battery.

Of course, I bought it.

So my experiment started. I was disappointed by each passing day. The 2 megapixel front camera wasn’t worth anything as howsoever hard I tried to click a selfie, it was blurred. An abrupt haziness surrounded my pictures and I was compelled to stop taking selfies. From a phone filled with thousands of selfies, switching to a phone that doesn’t allow me to click one single shareable selfie was a pain. Anyways, I survived that somehow.

Only after a month of my purchase, the screen of this “smartphone” cracked, breaking my heart into pieces. How? Oh no, it didn’t fell. I had nonchalantly kept some books on it and later when I finally reached for my phone, it was cracked. Oh wait, that’s not all. I was gradually coming in terms with the cracked screen as the phone was working fine but suddenly another problem started to occur. The touchscreen encountered some defaults making it impossible for me to type anything correctly in one go. I had to at least tap multiple times before seeing an input on the screen.

And the problem just worsened when I woke up from my slumber only to find my phone super-heated. A pop error message said – Overheated. Remove your battery immediately – I was obviously scared. We have heard cases of battery blasts, haven’t we? With shaking hands, I finally managed to remove the battery. It was so hot to touch. I kept it separately for some time and then replaced it back into the phone. I breathed a sigh of relief as the phone finally came back to life.

But this experience has made me lose my faith in technology. It can backfire anytime, anywhere. For now, I am seriously about to dump this “smartphone”, maybe I need a smarter phone and not just a smartphone.

Time to explore the market once again. Any suggestions? Did I hear someone say iPhone 6s? Do you think that would satisfy my longing? Will it satisfy yours? Let's put our thinking caps on and maybe for once let the rational mind think and decide.