What’s in Your Smartphone?

THE ANSWER: EVERYTHING

By Tak Sato

Lately, the old advertising tagline, “What’s in your wallet?” has joined the cacophony in my head. Today, that same question could be, “What’s in your smartphone?”

Or, taken one step further: Who needs a wallet?

I’m sure many of you, as I have numerous times, forgotten your wallet when rushing out of your house. Before smartphones became a thing, I’d make a quick trip back home to fetch it. Today, thanks to my smartphone, I’m less likely to make that U-turn.

Fast Access

Remember how we used to carry a few family pictures in our wallets? Now, we just open our photos app — on our Apple iPhone, iPad or Android smartphone or tablet — and we instantly have access to hundreds (thousands?) of photos and videos.

How many credit and debit cards are fattening your leather wallet? For the iPhone, Apple Pay works in conjunction with its Apple Wallet app (digital wallet) in your smartphone so you don’t have to reach for your physical card to buy stuff. Google Pay, in conjunction with Google Wallet, is for Android-based smartphones and offers similar payment features.

Google Pay and Apple Pay are contactless payment methods. Most payment terminals at brick-andmortar stores accept traditional magnetic stripe or chip cards, and many have been upgraded to also accept contactless payment through smartphones, often with just a tap of the phone on the terminal pad.

If you feel naked if you forget your driver’s license or a state-issued ID card, there’s an app for that (yes, another tagline). Google Wallet and Apple Wallet apps not only store credit or debit card information for contactless payment, but they can also securely store your driver’s license, ID card, airplane boarding pass, event ticket, digital key, etc. on your smartphone. It’s another “not-ifbut-when” kind of thing.

When my mom and nephew visited Cleveland in 2019, a friend threw a beach party to welcome them. I did a lot of translating because Mom doesn’t speak English. I opened the Google Translate app on my smartphone to help with communication.

The free Translate app is available for iPhone/iPad. In the newest version, the translations are much smoother and better integrated with Google services, such as the Google

Lens. For example, I simply point the smartphone’s camera at something I want to be translated and the app starts translating.

With the summer travel season approaching, this app would be useful abroad, translating everything from road signs to menus. Even though you don’t speak French, you’ll “vous commanderez une baguette et un café pour deux” at a cafe near the Eiffel Tower that accepts Apple Pay. In Paris, you can pay with your smartphone, let the app translate any road signs to avoid jaywalking, and enjoy your vacation.