The convergence of cars and gadgets!
Whenever I meet up with friends, many of whom read my columns, they often tease me that I'm too serious, which I submit is true to a great extent; after all, the problems we're having in this country are very serious, especially when for the last 28 years our people have remained poor and the latest Social Weather Station (SWS) surveys say that 55% of Filipinos feel that they are poor. But then those figures could be higher because we know too well that SWS is a propaganda tool of the Aquino Regime. But then, we can do away with serious matters for one day, so for today, we'll be talking about gadgets and cars.
I've been blessed by the fact that when I started my journalism career 28 years ago, I felt that the rickety old manual typewriter (even the electronic IBM one) was just too slow and outdated that I needed to use something smarter. Somehow my entry to the world of journalism was perfectly timed when a new technology appeared called the Personal Computer (PC), which later evolved into what we call the laptop today. This is why I was amongst the first journalists to embrace this new technology in writing my columns.
By the early 90's another technology came up called the Cellular Telephone. I had a huge Panasonic phone that you had to lug around like a big bag and my mentor, the late Sir Max Soliven, would kid me for carrying around that big stuff. But while in the Captain's Bar lobby in the Mandarin Oriental, I could make my calls to the amazement of Max Soliven.
Fast forward to the present time and what do we have? As early as 10 years ago, Manny V. Pangilinan and my old barkada Mr. Napoleon "Poly" Nazareno of the Philippine Long Distance & Telephone Company (PLDT) and Smart Communications would call it "Convergence". This means, your music, television, email or Internet browser, movies, camera, and yes, your telephone would converge into one simple, but complicated gadget and this technology is happening right before your eyes.
A few days ago, I read the shocking news that Microsoft had decided to retire the Nokia brand name and when they finalized this, they will call their phones Microsoft Lumia. In the 90's to the middle of 2005, the Nokia brand was King of the Hill. They bested the best of Sony Corporation, which was the former King of the Hill. Alas, despite their being the technology leader, Nokia did not pursue its technological research and thus, the new top cellphones are using either the Android operating systems or Apple's IOS. Almost all brands, Samsung, Sony, LG's Lenovo, HTC etc. etc. use the Android platform, while Apple is the sole owner of the IOS system.
Yes, I used to have a Blackberry phone, but when my camera conked out and couldn't find a service center here… I threw out that phone. I did have a Samsung Note One, but I sold it to get the Samsung S-4 Zoom. Somehow, the battery always heated up and in fairness, Samsung Service center finally decided to reimburse me for that phone. Yes in today's fast paced lifestyle…gadgets often conk out, which is why having a very good service center within our midst is a huge plus factor.
Yes, kudos to Samsung for it has a very good service here in Cebu. I had a lot of Sony products in the past when it was the King of the Hill…but its service center at that time sucked! However, the last time I had a TV fixed, Sony did that in a jiffy. This only means that competition has been good for the consumer. I was also satisfied with Apple's service centers that are helpful with my needs. E-Central of Joy Chiong who leases our space in Century Plaza Complex gives out the best in Apple products.
Today, cars and gadgets have begun converging too. For the past 6 months, I've been looking to get a new car to replace my old one and after getting the brochures from all the car companies, I decided to get the new Honda City VX-Plus as it fits my criterion. First on the list was gas mileage and since it has 1.5 engine, it was perfect for city driving. I don't like big cars. It had to be automatic so my wife and daughter could drive it… and yes, the Constant Velocity Transmission in the Honda City is even better than a manual transmission especially these days when traffic is already bad.
Finally, the Honda VX-Plus has all the gadgets inside that can linked to my iPhone, like hands-free system, which is linked to my music and with the car's 8 speakers… it gives the best sounds that anyone could want. Yes, the Honda is also linked to a Navigation System from your phone, which means you can use this system when you drive to areas that are unfamiliar to you. Indeed as far as gadgets and cars are concerned, their convergence leads to convenience of motorists and soon we will see more of this in future cars and gadgets. I'm already enjoying it with my car today.
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