Secrets of your device

SMARTPHONE: COOL AND POWERFUL FEATURES AT YOUR FINGERTIPS

- Arthur Goldstuck

Think you know your smartphone? Many people don't realize how many cool and powerful features are literally at their fingertips.

Most people think they know their smartphones inside out, yet the true revolution in our pockets remains largely invisible. In both entry-level devices and glittering new models, hidden features buried in menus and settings have the power to transform daily existence.

On Android phones especially, these are often overlooked, because most of us use only what we need when we think we need it.

Yes, these secret weapons could mean the difference between thriving and merely surviving in our digital lives.

The journey of Android from a basic mobile operating system to a full-blown personal empowerment platform has been almost accidental. When Google bought Android in 2005, it was reacting to what it saw as an attempt at mobile dominance by Microsoft.

They needn't have worried: Microsoft fumbled its acquisition of Nokia so badly, it destroyed the brand as a phone business.

But just as well it did worry because, 20 years later, Android forms the nervous system of billions of lives. Along the way, an ecosystem of features has developed, driven by a mixture of necessity, competition, and experimentation. South Africa alone boasts well over 30 million Android users, and across Africa the figure is probably heading for the billion mark. It is astonishing, then, that few users are aware of Android's most life-altering tools.

Here are just a few of them:

Digital Wellbeing, Focus Mode

Hidden within Android's menus is a feature called Digital Wellbeing. It reveals how time is spent across various apps and provides users with tools to reshape their relationship with technology.