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Mobile network made a humble beginning with 0G. It is regarded as precursor to mobile network. With 1G came the facility of making calls on portable mobile devices . 2G brought calls, short message services (SMS) and basic internet services. 3G made high speed internet possible on mobile devices and one could watch you tube videos on mobile devices. 4G further enhanced mobile internet speed experience. With 4G one could watch live stream videos, so watching live telecast on mobile devices became possible. But with all the above generations, internet was experienced but never applied. With 5G the era of internet applications will begin. Because of low latency time doctors could perform critical operations from one place on patients on another place with robotic arms. One could monitor the conditions of the agriculture land and accordingly provide what is required by the click of a virtual button on mobile devices. Internet of things (IOT) will become real. But yet there are certain facilities provided by the older generation mobile network that we cannot ignore.
Firstly, voice phone call facilities. No matter how technologically progressive mobile network and mobile devices become, we cannot ignore the charm of voice calls. And it's true that video call is becoming common and seeing our near ones in video is all too good but voice call has it's own magic. You cannot do video call anywhere. First, in video call everyone can see with whom you are talking and second also hear what you are talking. Although you can use a headphone but it will only mask the voice not the video, so yes privacy is a issue. Whereas with voice calls you are still connected to your dear ones, there is no privacy issue and also you don't need headphones.
Secondly, short message services (SMS). Even today in the age of WhatsApp, Telegram, etc, the value of SMS cannot be ignored. You can easily judge it's importance by the fact that even today telemarketers use SMS to market their products or services. Why you may ask? First, the marketer doesn't know what type of mobile device the customers have, so it's better to send simple SMS which is available in all mobile devices. Second, internet based mobile message services are app based, but how can one ensure that one's customer is using a particular app or not. Third, if the internet is off, the message will never reach the internet based message app and also if the notification is kept off, the customer will never know about the message unless he opens the app. Fourth, SMS is better than calling customers.
Thirdly, contact storage. It's true now we can add profile picture to our contacts and also keep backup of the same in both physical storage as well as cloud backup. But undoubtedly it's the most useful feature that has been passed down to us from earlier generation of mobile devices. With True Caller, we do get the idea of who is calling us but saving the same into contacts help us to call that person anytime we want.
Fourthly, the clock and the calendar. It's true that we do have watch for seeing time and some watch do have date as an added feature. But having a device which has time and date in it for ready reference is really helpful. Many of us have actually view the date and time in mobile devices rather than in calendar or watches.
Fifthly, the alarm. Having a handy alarm at our disposal really make us free. We don't have to worry about getting up in time, even when we are away from home because we have an alarm that we can carry with us anywhere.
Sixthly, FM radio. And even today, FM radio is a facility that is still provided. And the good thing is you still don't require internet for FM radio. You just have to connect you headphone to the mobile devices, the headphone then act as an antenna.
Seventhly, although all the above facilities mentioned above had certain direct or indirect dependency on mobile networks but the next one has no dependence on mobile network but is worth mentioning. Our good old mobile torch. Even today it is found in all the latest mobile devices because it's importance cannot be ignored.
Perhaps these are some of the facilities that will always stay with mobile devices and mobile networks. 'Old is Gold', holds true for these facilities.
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