ARC Mode Hug Of One-Handed Technology

Childhood- how much this word soothes my soul, and brings back the sweet memories of childhood, but my childhood was a reason for me to revive and evolve, so along with some sweet candies there are few bitter gourd seeds as well in my childhood history. Being the youngest of my clan, I had been the center of excellence for everybody, my each and every demand was taken as an oxygen for my family members, and no doubt, I had been a cynosure of my elder brother- Abhinav Singh’s eyes, for reaping the attention in a mass. Like every elder sibling, I am sure, Abhinav also not had a warm set of feelings for me, but he had never showcased his emotions. As time passed, Abhinav excelled in studies, resulting into expectation from my parents to beat his trend, but on the contrary,  I was not an average, but not the Einstein either in studies, so somehow since we grew up, my brother’s advice was heard aloud in the family and mine was simply passed with a smile.

But I decided to mark a niche for myself, not through my studies, but at least through my decision making skills, I always misjudged myself as the best decision maker of my age, but something happened way back in 2013, which left me long-faced. Microsoft, always inspired me from all the four corners and I was highly influenced by Mr. Bill Gates, his elevator story, his brand influenced me till the extent, that I ended up filling up my room with Microsoft gadgets. On one of the casual chat, I told Abhinav to gift me Windows phone, but he gaped at me, and continued by saying, other gadgets are better investment from Microsoft but not the phone. I smirked and remained determined to grab a windows phone, consequently, I was gifted with one windows phone on my birthday, and I felt as if the Kohinoor diamond was handed over to me. I kept the phone all covered, with daily cleanings, but sooner I realized the blunder my rigid attitude cost me. I was shocked to experience the numerous functions turning into a failure. One night I swept myself on my brother’s bed corner, with all the love of the world filled in my eyes, and shared the problem, he didn’t say a word and the next evening I saw a new iPhone box was there on my side-table. I couldn’t thank my brother enough for a sweet gesture he showed, but somewhere my pride was shattered, since I took a wrong decision by choosing Microsoft as my handset.

My journey with Apple, had also not been a saga of love, but proven as my rescue from the window technology. There had been a myriad of situations, where I always yearned to get a replacement for a  few of the Apple phones’ features, but nothing came to save me from the sinking board….But something which kept on banging within my head was, how  Microsoft can shatter my pride, but every time my question remained unrequited. But last weekend, something changed the game,  I went through a trauma of being extremely exerted due to work demands, but had no choice then to reply my clients continuously for their upcoming new projects’ requirements…due to tedious process of typing on iPhone, a point came in that duration when my elbows ached to break and my fingers swelled to burst, but even all this did not stop me from work, but somewhere back in my mind, I cursed the technology, I shared it with Abhinav and he complained the same,with an additional statement “no pain-no gain”.

But Tuesday came with a pleasant surprise for me and off-course, bringing back my pride as well, my favorite brand Microsoft launched a new app for my existing mobile brand iPhone. Albeit, it’s a surprise, but I felt relieved, to discuss further the Microsoft’s newest app, it’s a keyboard replacement called Word Flow. The free keyboard, currently only available in English in the U.S., is designed to make it easier to text with a single hand. This can be used like a traditional QWERTY keyboard, with an additional feature of texting by swiping between letters to string together words and sentences quickly. But the remarkable feature within this app is its “arc” mode; once activated, the keyboard scrunches up into an arc (for lefties and righties), which makes it easier to type with one hand, especially on larger iPhones. Word Flow comes with a predictive algorithm to anticipate the next word for faster texting. Even the app background can be customized as per the user’s choice. It can also be synced with the phone contacts, allowing it to predict names even faster.

Microsoft has been experimenting with a variety of Android and iOS keyboards lately. I jumped into my elder brother’s cabin with full information and a confident smile dancing on my lips. He read and read and got up and patted my back, as if I designed the app, but this appreciation from him actually made me fill my eyes with tears and I realized his hidden affection for me. So people out there,  I , Ankit Singh, now can announce with a pride that my decision making skills has improved more with the time….and Microsoft for a handset was not a bad but an impulsive choice of mine, since just like me, Microsoft too has a long way to potray the gimmick of technicalities with a gusto..

ANKIT SINGH