If you’re in the technology industry like I am, you know how challenging it can be to stay up-to-date in our fast-changing niche.
Even the word technology has a different meaning today than it did a few years ago. It’s no longer just about our gadgets and computers. These days, technology touches almost every aspect of our lives.
The older we get, the more set in our ways we become. Or maybe that’s just me.
I’ve been a tech-lover for as long as I can remember. The tech milestones we’ve all celebrated on social media are permanently etched on my brain. (remember Google Glass?)
But being set in your ways doesn’t just apply to your favorite Starbucks drink and whether you like your toilet paper to hang over or under.
It also applies to tech (and how you use it).
Today I’d like to share 4 ways Huawei changed the way I think about tech – and how that affects my life.
Before I get into the nitty-gritty details, I’d like to take a moment for full disclosure.
I was invited to a VIP tour of Huawei Technologies in Shenzhen last month. I accepted. As a result, I experienced a week’s worth of tech fantasies that would make any geek drool.
For me, visiting Huawei Technologies was like visiting Disney World.
Huawei asked me to share my thoughts with the world. These are my own words based on my own experience. This is not a sponsored article. This is all me!
I know it’s rare to get an inside look at Huawei, and how the company does business.
(I took this pic inside the offices on the Huawei campus in Shenzhen)
I toured the headquarters. I attended a slew of executive briefings. I spoke with many employees. I visited the manufacturing center. It was all very open and inviting.
I stood in an air-conditioned server room that purred like a kitten. I learned about the future of IoT. And I played with some insanely cool video conferencing and surveillance tech.
Like I said… it was like Disney World for a tech-lover like me.
(@2morrowknight, @tomfgoodwin, @24K, @petershankman, and me)
I came away from it all with a different view of the company than I had before.
I could write for days about my experiences there, but for this post, let’s focus on the tech.
I’m talking about the juicy, mouth-watering, innovative, forward-thinking tech that we all love.
Stop for a moment and imagine what it would be like if everyone in the world could connect to each other.
A better connected world means more opportunities, faster growing economies and a better life for all.
Huawei is on a mission to make that a reality. How?
By focusing on:
Digital technology is shaping our future – which is quickly becoming our now.
These new developments will affect all of us, regardless of what industry we’re in.
The applications in our everyday lives are endless.
For example, we could build safer cities. As we all know, public safety is more of an issue now than ever before.
According to Huawei:
Cities today need effective public safety solutions for incident prevention, emergency response, and evidence collection.
See it in action here –
– Use emerging IoT tech and open cloud platforms to develop, grow and maintain reliable energy. Imagine distributing electricity to anyone, anywhere at any time.
– Make much-needed upgrades in the education, banking and medical industries. (and create specialized solutions for countless other verticals)
– Big businesses could become more agile and able to respond quickly to change. It would make it easier to perform like a fast, lean startup rather than a slow-moving giant.
I could go on and on.
Our world is changing rapidly, and there is nothing that gets me more excited about the possibilities than ICT.
Read more about this by downloading this PDF – Huawei ICT Insights (issue 17)
Holy Batman! Ready or not, here it comes.
I live in the United States. We have some of the best 4G networks in the world, which is a good and bad thing.
It’s good because we can access what we want, when we want, wherever we want. There are no restrictions and very few delays.
It’s bad because that digital luxury is turning us into spoiled brats when it comes to connectivity.
Many of us even have backup connections in the rare case that our primary connection fails.
When it comes to our Internet connection, we don’t mess around.
So as an American, learning about 5G technology at Huawei made me feel like a kid on Christmas morning.
Obviously Huawei is not the only company working on and testing 5G technology. Verizon, AT&T and many other tech giants are exploring this tech too.
Huawei has invested heavily in 5G, and their vision for how it will enhance our lives is inspiring.
What is 5G?
Think about all the devices that are connected to the Internet (between 6 and 7 billion).
You think that’s a lot? It isn’t. 99% of machines in the world today are not connected. But that’s changing fast.
Think about this from an IoT perspective. According to CNBC, there will be around 21 billion connected devices by 2020.
Okay, that’s insane.
How is our existing 4G network going to increase speed (which we want) while still being able to manage all those connected devices?
That’s where 5G comes in.
5G is the 5th generation of mobile technology.
How will this affect your life?
Imagine your Internet speed increasing by about 50%.
Sound good?
You’ll be able to download a whole movie faster than most web pages load today.
And what about 5G-enabled driverless cars? Yep, those fit into the equation too.
According to Huawei:
The combination of holographic imaging, augmented reality, driverless cars, smart factory, intelligent agriculture, smart logistics along with 5G’s ultra-high throughput, ultra-low latency and massive connections will stimulate an astonishing transformation of the way we live our lives, and even inspire the creation of new business models and industries.
My question is, won’t our demand increase with 5G?
Won’t we want more resolution, more pixels, more augmented/virtual reality and more data in everything?
And what about global standardization?
Not to mention, building a 5G infrastructure seems like a daunting task.
We’ll see how it all plays out. I can’t wait!
As Huawei puts it, 5G will lead the human race into the era of “everything on mobile.”
Just think, kids born today will never know what it’s like to wait for a video to buffer. That’s nuts!
According to Huawei’s rotating CEO Guo Ping, there are some things we should do before 5G arrives. You can read that interview here.
If you’d like, you can also download Huawei’s white paper on 5G security.
For now, we’ll just have to be happy with 4.5G technology which is coming this year!
One thing I’ve written about a few times is how Huawei taught me to think more globally.
For me, life is technology and vice versa. You can’t have one without the other.
When I think about life, work, love and our existence from that perspective – I quickly realize that we can’t leave anyone behind.
And when I say “anyone” – I mean developing countries.
I believe everyone on our planet has a right to connect to the Internet.
We all deserve the gift of connectivity and the opportunity to build relationships as a result.
But not all countries are progressing at the same rate.
That’s where the Global Connectivity Index becomes relevant.
In a nutshell, my friend Julia and her team at Huawei devote much of their time to collecting intense data from around the world.
They then use this data and analytics to compile a report that explains how we are all progressing globally in this digital era.
I wrote about the Global Connectivity Index in detail last week. You can learn more by clicking over to that post at Global Connectivity and the Digital Economy: A Comparative Analysis.
You can also download and read the 94 page 2016 Global Connectivity Index Report for yourself.
See where your country ranks by clicking over to their interactive Global Connectivity site.
Here is the breakdown:
I know what you’re thinking, and I agree. It’s fascinating to view your own country from a global connectivity perspective!
True. You don’t have to travel all the way to China to experience the P9 – but it’s still definitely worthy of being in my top 4.
When I arrived at my hotel in Hong Kong, the concierge handed me a pretty P9, all set for unboxing.
Huawei is the world’s 3rd largest smartphone manufacturer. (Huawei bumped Microsoft out of that spot last summer)
And now I understand why.
There are a lot of people in China – and just like here in America, almost all of them have a phone in their pockets.
It makes sense that Huawei would produce an irresistible phone, and they’ve done it with the P9.
I’m typically an iOS girl, but I haven’t been able to put my P9 since I received it.
This blog post is not a P9 phone review, but the awesomeness of the camera cannot be understated.
Let me explain.
The P9 has a dual camera system (co-engineered with Leica).
For someone like me who doesn’t own any fancy camera equipment, it feels like I’m carrying around a DSLR lens.
The way the dual camera works is simple. For every pic you snap, the camera takes 2 pictures – 1 is color and the other is black and white.
These 2 pictures are then layered on top of each other to enhance the contrast and light.
The result is the best smartphone pic you’ve ever taken. Seriously. If you get your hands on this phone, try it. You’ll never use Instagram filters again.
The P9 allows you to be as much in control of your phone’s camera features as you’d like.
In other words, it allows you to have professional control, but only if you want it. With one tap you can control the aperture and other settings.
It also allows you to control the focus and depth of field of the photo after it’s taken.
This is one of the first pictures I took with the P9 – and that was before I learned about any of the features. I l-o-v-e this camera!
no filter, no Photoshop, no adjustments and no skills. 🙂
again…no filter, no Photoshop, no adjustments and no skills. 🙂
If you want to read about all the technical specs on the P9 camera, just click over to How to Use the Huawei P9’s Superb Dual-Lens Camera.
(This is Cipher. He works at Huawei, and he taught me all about the P9.)
Before I visited the Huawei campus in Shenzhen last month, I had a completely different opinion of the company.
It was a subtle reminder that you can’t always believe what you hear. And sometimes, you just have to see it for yourself.
I feel blessed that I was given that opportunity.
Thank you, Huawei for all the innovation and inspiration. Technology will pave the road for the future of humanity.
It’s a great time to be alive!
If you’d like to continue the conversation, tweet me at @adamsconsulting.
Thank you for reading my article!
