Being far from Russia with its not-spring-cold days, I tried to completely abstract myself from the battle between the ILV and Telegram (fortunately, the ILV did not reach Italy, and Durov's brainchild works here without problems), and from the outbreak of the trade war between the USA and China, plunge headlong into new impressions and positive emotions. It worked. However…
I will not open America if I say that the activities that we do leave an imprint on our perception and make us pay more attention to what we are most interested in and what we do as either our main activity or a hobby. So it happened to me – when I arrived in Rome, the first thing I started to pay attention to were not local attractions, but what phones the people around me use. Someone may say that this is not normal and in Rome you need to look at the Colosseum and other ancient ruins, and not at the phones in the hands of people, to which I will answer – one does not interfere with the other.
In Runet, there is a strong opinion that in the West, both in the USA and in Europe, phones cost a penny thanks to operator subsidies and everyone can afford a modern flagship, and therefore all foreigners go with iPhone (this is not the case ). It was this thesis that I decided to check, looking at the phones in the hands of the Romans. One of the first impressions on this topic was the dominance of Samsung S9 / S9 + and Huawei P20 / P20 Pro ads.
This advertisement is everywhere – at the airport, in the subway, and on the streets. And if Huawei mainly uses small billboards at eye level in walk-through areas, Samsung decided not to waste time on trifles and used huge advertising spaces on the walls of buildings.
It is difficult to say whether this is bearing fruit, since at first glance it is quite difficult to distinguish S8 from S9 in the hands of people. But the fact remains – every now and then and here and there in the hands of people flashes Samsung. If we are talking about the older generation, then often these are simple Samsung models of the Grand series, etc., or the flagships of previous generations.
However, there are some exceptions.
Young people, on the other hand, prefer more modern Samsung and Apple models.
By the way, just in the hands of young people (mainly schoolchildren) you can most often see iPhone of different generations, ranging from 5 / 5S to 6 / 6S.
I saw very few apple “sevens” and mostly in the hands of tourists.
What else seemed interesting – almost all the carabinieri (military police) with whom I had a chance to talk (I didn’t do anything, I was just curious) use the flagships of the Korean manufacturer, starting from S7 and ending with S9. Moreover, the younger the owner of the phone, the more modern the model (unfortunately, they did not allow themselves to be photographed, so there are only spy photos from the side from a not very convenient angle).
And it was often difficult to identify not only a specific model, but also the manufacturer of the phone, since the Romans are very fond of all kinds of covers and protective glasses. The not quite indigenous Romans who came here from India and neighboring countries are very fond of this business (there is a separate story with these guys, about which in the next article).
In my observations, I tried to pay attention to what the townspeople themselves use, and not tourists, for which I had to specially look for objects for filming and seize the moment by making spy shots. No matter what anyone says about the openness of Europeans, they do not really like when they are photographed, and most often they react in bewilderment, trying to understand why you need their photos. ?
What was even more surprising was the behavior of people in the metro – unlike the Moscow metro with its frantic rhythm and immersion in gadgets, in the Roman metro people communicate more with each other and quite rarely spend their time buried in the screens of phones or tablets.
Moreover, speaking about communication, I mean not only those who are not traveling alone, but also complete strangers who start a conversation with each other. It seems that the local population is much less dependent on gadgets and prefers real communication to virtual.
Conclusion
Coming to the next country and city, most of all I love non-tourist places and routes, which are not written about in guidebooks and brochures. This allows you to see local life from the inside and better understand and experience the life of people in another country. That is why the locals became the objects of my observations. And in a few days I got the impression that, at least in Rome Android, in the person of Samsung, it feels very confident, taking a leading position not in some virtual tables and reports, but in reality, in hands of people around.
P.S. Next time I'll tell you about what to do and where to go in Rome if your phone breaks or crashes.