Is it really time to replace the plastic sim with Esim? | Do you run a Mac? Know these shortcuts that will save you time

Is it really time to replace the plastic sim with Esim?

 It has been five years since the development of eSIM for smartphones. However, the trend of SIM cards made of plastic, which started in 1991, has not changed.

Is it really time to replace the old SIM with an Esim? Why are we still behind SIM cards? Among these questions, today we are discussing about the latest situation in the question of ESM self-help.

Why is Esim not yet common?

Even now America is the country that is leading the 'trend setting' in the global technology market.

As a mobile service provider-driven market, US service providers do not appear to be very keen to accelerate SIM. According to GSMA's latest report on the state of the consumer market for eSIMs, only 17 percent in the US are aware of this 'embedded digital format'.

This level is still low in UK and Canada. Having 'debuted' with Pixel 2 and iPhone X in 2017, this is a strange thing for the development of SIM. An eSIM-embedded phone has the ability to hold multiple SIM cards.

This makes switching from one mobile or data network to another as common as a WiFi network. But in areas with poor connectivity or rural networks, users will easily switch to alternative service providers.

This also means the loss of the market of the main and large mobile service providers. In markets like Nepal-India, it is considered normal in terms of good data, voice and favorable price rates.

Removing the hassle of having to keep changing physical SIM cards scares service providers of losing customers, so major service providers want to avoid eSIM whenever possible. In theory, setting up an eSIM on any network is as simple as pointing the camera at a QR code and activating it.

But practically this is a very rare truth. Nepal Telecom users have to go to the company's office to get an Esim and activate it.

But in the case of service providers of some countries, it is necessary to install an app for Esim. While internet based calling, texting and video messaging has become common.

In this situation, there are few options left for mobile service providers to increase their income. In this case, high frequency Dastur and Esim are not able to attract the service providers that much.

Similarly, premium-priced international roaming plans are a source of profit for service providers, which can be affected by eSIM.

The Esim market is tough

Marketing is another problem for Esim. A recent report by Juniper Research states that by 2025, the number of Esim-embedded devices will reach 3.4 billion.

It is estimated that there are already about 1 billion 200 million devices that support Esim.

But consumer awareness is very low. Also, the mobile service providers have seen little benefit in the matter in promoting Esim.

Apart from the initial process and the positive attitude towards people who are traveling, the mobile service providers and smartphone manufacturers have not been able to present much benefit for the customers to give up their SIM card slot and get an eSIM.

Most smartphone users use the phone for two to three years. So that once the SIM is placed, there is no need to take it out and put it in another one.

Apart from the ease of placing and removing the SIM card, there is no need for smartphone users to abandon the plastic SIM. So much so that a model without a SIM card slot has been introduced in the US under the recently released iPhone 14 series.

It has not shown much benefit of abandoning the ubiquitous SIM card. But moving the iPhone to an eSIM-only option may allow mobile service providers to improve the SIM placement process and push users away from physical SIM placement.

However, the fact is that customers will not get anything special if they lose the feature of keeping a physical SIM card. The space left by the removal of the SIM card slot should accommodate a larger battery and a better sensor.

But customers get only plastic stuffing in place of SIM tray. In line with the iPhone's ambitious leadership in the direction of supporting SIM, the iPhone 14 has come in the US as an option only.

This is also a necessary step towards making the mobile industry sector adopt Esim. In this case, even though the US is the first market to switch to ESM, this alone does not create an environment where all iPhone models will support ESM only.

Also, the iPhone 14 series is not the first for the SIM-only concept, thanks to the Motorola Razr foldable phone. For better or worse, however, the iPhone has generally been driving the trends in the smartphone industry.

Which we have already seen in the case of the headphone jack. Apple's popularity in the North American market will surely put pressure on mobile service providers there to provide SIM facilities.

Talking about Android, Google has improved SIM support with Android 13. The feature of supporting two SIMs is a big topic in Android devices.

In fact, the Esim hardware module has to be added to the mobile and it has to be configured. In Android 13, Google has introduced MEP i.e. multiple embedded profile support.

Which will allow one esim model for two or more esim lines. Which will save the price of the phone and the space inside it and this feature will also support existing devices.

It will also enable two active SIM configurations. However, this feature is not yet active on any device based on Android 13. This feature is expected to be available in the Pixel 7 series.

After that, other Pixel phones will also get it. The door has been opened for all mobile manufacturers to speed up SIM cards, removing the existing significant bottlenecks for SIMs.

Five years since the introduction of eSIM embedded devices, most of the technical challenges surrounding it have been resolved. Now what is left is consumer education and smartphone manufacturers and mobile service providers should be given proper benefits and pushed towards Esim.

While premium smartwatches and phones like the Moto Razr have already demonstrated the utility of eSIM through things like compact devices, future-proof large batteries and camera sensors.

In the absence of direct benefit to most of the customers, there is a need to show the utility from the hardware itself for conversion to Esim. Finally now Esim is ready to go mainstream.

But for this, smartphone manufacturers will have to convince their users that it is worth their while.

Do you run a Mac? Know these shortcuts that will save you time

Whether you're working or watching your favorite TV show, you use modifier keys like Command and Option. These keys are very important for your keyboard, because they can work faster than any single key.

The most effective example of this is (Command-C) for copy and (Command-V) for paste. This is a common shortcut that everyone uses. There are many such shortcuts, which make your work very easy.

For example, if you need to close any app accidentally, the shortcut 'Option-Command-ESC' is effective.

If you are a Mac user, you might be using the above mentioned shortcuts regularly. However, here we are informing you about 6 such shortcut keys, which are not commonly used.

To have access to all apps open in Windows

The most convenient way to access applications open in a Mac window is the 'Command-Tab' key. Generally, the mouse is used to access the applications that are opened in the window. The mouse cursor is forced to select one after the other.

However, with the help of this shortcut, you can directly access the opened apps. Among those apps, if you are clicking on the command to reach the desired app, the apps will be highlighted one after the other. Whichever app you need, release the command key while the app is highlighted and the app will open.

To close an open window on the desktop

To minimize any window open on the desktop, we click the 'minus' button in the left-hand corner of the window. Instead of minimizing the window by moving the cursor to the minus button, if you click the shortcut 'Command-H', the window opened directly on your desktop will be minimized.

If you want to minimize all your open windows at once, you can click 'Option-Command-H'.

Spotlight for file and app search

Spotlight Search is an important feature of Mac. Through the search bar, you can search for files and apps on Mac. So much so that you can even search emails, text messages, notes through this. For this you have to go to the menu bar and open it.

However, if you click 'Command-Spacebar' once, it will open directly into a window.

To highlight the URL in the web browser

Generally, if you want to share the URL of any web browser with someone, you have to double click the link and select it and copy it. However, there is an easy way for this.

If you use the 'Command-L' shortcut, it will highlight anything in the address bar, including Safari, Chrome, etc.

The highlighted topic can be copied and pasted as needed by clicking 'Command-C'.

To reopen any closed tabs in the Safari web browser

You must have used the 'Command-T' shortcut a lot in Safari. In Safari, 'Command-C' opens a new tab. However, what to do if the tab you open suddenly closes? A shortcut key is available on Mac for that too.

If you click 'Command-Shift-T', the closed tab will reopen. If you had multiple tabs open and want to open them again, pressing 'Command-Shift-T' will open the tabs one after the other.

Open something new from one of Apple's own apps

We have not used the 'Command-N' key that much. It is used to open a new window in most popular applications.

However, on Mac, ``Command-N'' works to open a new email in the mail, open a new message in iMessage, open a new window in Safari, open new notes placed in notes, etc.