Should the Next Generation of Smartphones and Tablet Computers Be Tailored for Asian Users?

Given that India and the People’s Republic of China are now the fastest growing purchasers of the latest smartphones and tablet computers - should the next generation of these devices be more tailored to Asian users?

By: Ringo Bones

Even though these miracles of modern technology are designed in the West and then manufactured in the low-wage parts of the Far East, does it make good sense for the major “Westward Looking” consumer electronic companies start tailoring their next generation of smartphones and tablet computers for Asian users/customers? As of October 5, 2011, India and Mainland China had been shown from case studies to be slowly but continuously shown increasing demand for smartphones and tablet computers. And in these places, smartphones and tablet computers are for all intents and purposes the only way for ordinary people to access the internet.

Could we be seeing standard Mandarin and Sanskrit capable smartphones and tablet computers in the near future? Maybe, but given the internet had been very slow to adapt languages that doesn’t use the ubiquitous Roman letters, many see it as one of the obstacles in tailoring a significant number of next generation smartphones and tablet computers that could seamlessly be introduced to Indian Mainland Chinese markets, not to mention those that don’t use Roman letters in their written communications like Thai, Urdu or Pashtu.

But given retail consumerism that has been steadily shifting Eastward – as in toward the Mainland China and the Indian subcontinent, major consumer electronics firms may be ignoring this major chunk of the market at their own peril. Or maybe it could initiate a spin-off in devices that could smartly translate any written non-Roman lettered languages into something we at the deeply insular West can finally understand.

Medical Apps To Turn Your Smartphone Into A Stethoscope

The latest downloadable apps have made existing smartphones double-up as something else, but can a medical app be used to make your smartphone double-up as a stethoscope or other viable medical diagnostic instrument?


By: Ringo Bones


Unfortunately, we don’t yet have X-Ray capable light-emitting-diodes that can allow current smartphones to double-up as portable hand-held medical X-Ray machines. But given that the built-in microphones in a majority of smartphones made by leading-brand manufacturers are supposedly as sensitive as the diaphragms of the medical doctor’s / general practitioner’s stethoscope; can downloading certain medical apps really make our smartphones double up as a medical-grade stethoscope?

One advantage that a mobile smartphone has over a traditional run-of-the-mill medical stethoscope is that the resulting medical data or diagnoses can be e-mailed to a certified medical doctor. Converting your smartphone into a viable and reliable medical diagnostic instrument can certainly be an advantage if you live in an area when a visit to a doctor involves a 3-hour – or longer – travel time.

Though smartphones with medical apps – if you don’t even have the most basic of medical training – is certainly no match to a well-trained medical doctor wielding a traditional stethoscope, it can be very useful in providing relatively inexpensive real-time medical diagnosis. Very useful if your pre-existing heart condition demands constant real-time monitoring without the prohibitive costs of dedicated hospital-based medical diagnostic gear.