A writer, a smartphone, and a thriller in the making

This is the story of a writer who leaves his desk at dusk and goes out in search of a thriller. No, he was not carrying with him a pistol and 9mm bullets, nor is he trained in any of the martial arts… but he fortunately remembers to carry with him his new Moto G5 Plus and thinks he is ready to face the twists and turns that would certainly be out there waiting for him.

As he turns the corner to leave the bylane and go on to the main road he notices an expensive car overtaking him and swerve against the traffic to take an unethical short-cut. ‘Now! Now!’ mutters the writer as he quickly pulls out his new smartphone, and with a double-twist of his arm manages to activate the camera. In less than it takes even a fast car to zoom away he aims and shoots.

‘I have an incriminating picture with me already,’ he says aloud and seeing a traffic cop on the other side of the road he stops. It is not possible to run through the fast moving traffic despite the fact that the maverick driver of that expensive car in his bid to go in the wrong direction, had already disrupted the flow. This is when he remembers how his wife chops bottle gourds at home and does what some may even call a karate chop. The flash-light of his phone immediately switches on and he frantically waves this light to attract the attention of the cop on the other side of the road.

The cop notices his frantic waving and raises his arm to ask why he is doing whatever he is doing. The writer points to the car that was by now surrounded by a few angry drivers of other vehicles that have been stranded because of his action. And then the cop understands and, as cops normally do, blew his whistle to warn the drivers on the other side, and crosses the road but the maverick traffic-law breaker has, by then managed to zip away.

The cop comes to the driver and asks, ‘Did you note down his number?’

‘I have a Moto G5 Plus,’ says the writer with a tinge of pride and shows him the picture he has clicked. The 5.2 inch IPS display with full-HD resolution and an impressive 424ppi pixel density has all the details etched sharply despite the fading light. The writer’s phone with a 2GHz octa-core Snapdragon 625 SoC coupled with Adreno 506 GPU and a 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage (by the way, there is another model with 3GB of RAM and 16GB of storage as well) has not ditched him when he need it most.

The cop takes the phone and walks to a nearby kiosk selling water. He is obviously tired and his hands shake as he picks up a glass filled with water and spills some on the phone. ‘Oops! I’m so sorry sir,’ says the cop.

‘No, don’t worry,’ says the writer, ‘this phone comes with a water-repellant nano-coating and this is why I preferred to buy it over other competing brands. A simple wipe will do.’

‘Lovely’, remarks the cop, ‘I am able to grip it firmly and the phone does feel sturdy. My own phone is too thick and there is always a risk that it may slip from my hands. I’m already having two phone with broken screens at home.’

‘You’re right,’ says the writer, ‘I’ve researched well before investing in this smartphone and am rather taken in by the sturdy aluminum finish. The 7.7 mm thickness makes it rather appropriate for a firm grip and then even the screen uses a Corning Gorilla Glass 3 for protection from falls and bumps. Not that a writer like me will keep dropping phones. But I’m careful, you see.’

‘So I see. And you’re observant as well,’ says the cop, and then after looking at the picture, adds, ‘you focused well, despite the split second that you had.’

‘Well, the G5 Plus has a 12 MP rear camera with a feature called Dual Autofocus Pixels and this lets me lock focus in a blink. The advantage of an f/1.7 aperture helped me capture this shot even in low light and had it been darker, I’d probably have used the dual LED flash. By the way, there is also a 5-megapixel front camera with an f/2.2 aperture and display flash that can give me a selfie with you for my record.’ So yes, there was a selfie session with a sweaty but smiling cop and the writer managed it all without delay. He then told the cop that the camera had an 8X digital zoom to read the registration number of the offending car, ‘And I can also read QR codes and barcodes using my camera.’

‘What about videos?’

‘I can shoot 4K videos at 30fps,’ said the writer, but could see that this was making the cop a bit uncomfortable, so he asked, ‘I hope some action will be taken on the traffic offence that I have seen and captured.’

The cop then took out his own phone and asked, ‘I hope you can transfer this image to my phone.’

‘No problem at all,’ said the writer, ‘this phone has support for NFC, VoLTE, and GLONASS. It also has a micro-USB port for charging as well as data transfer.’ But the cop seemed hesitant and said, ‘I do not understand this.’

‘No worries. I can transfer the image to the micro SD card that is there in my phone and give it to you. But I think it will be better if I just whatsapped the image to you. Don’t worry, it won’t take long as the phone supports 4G and 4G is what I have.’

‘That’s great.’

Moto G5 Plus – performance is what differentiates!

This discussion went on then about how the Moto G5 Plus could accommodate two nano SIMs as well as a microSD card and how much of a boon this was in today’s world where communication is vital. ‘And if you love listening to songs while on duty,’ said the writer with a smile, ‘the 3.5 mm audio jack is there. But I know you don’t do these things when you’re on-duty. But what really impresses me is the fact that my phone has a 3000mAh battery that turbo-charges. So I’m never worried about being powerless.’

The cop, it seemed, was now more interested in the phone than on taking action… but even writers are the sort who flow with the moment and so he goes on about how a 150.2x74x7.7mm device that weighs just 155 gms is just right for his short and lean self. ‘And I have activated all features in the phone. That is why with just a twist of my arms I was able to activate the camera. And a single karate chop motion toggled the torch to attract your attention. The one-button navigation allows me to tap or swipe the fingerprint sensor instead of reaching for the Android navigation buttons. And I also use the fingerprint sensor to lock the phone. Makes it secure from prying eyes, you see.’

‘I see that.’

‘So how about some action on that law breaker now?’

‘Don’t worry. The fellow will be booked. I have the evidence with me.’

The writer is happy and thinks he has had enough of adventures for the day and decides to hurry back to his desk to write a thriller about a cop who discovers that an errant driver was his son’s employer. But then that’s a story for another time.

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A writer, a smartphone, and a thriller in the making

The Moto G5 Plus

This phone has everything geared up for fast action

Smartphone buyers must learn to use all features in a phone…

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Arvind Passey
17 April 2017