 This is Think Tech Hawaii, the Trinity Matters here. Seven, hike. We're back, Think Tech, and Think Tech Tech Talks. Here we are on the two o'clock block on a given Wednesday, okay? And we're talking about tech today. I love tech. I'm Jay Fidel. And this is Kalvina Saudia, and she is the solutions architect, a solutions architect of Verizon Wireless right here in Hawaii, Neh. Welcome to the show, Kalvina. Thank you for having me. Yeah. It's Kalvina. Kalvina, thank you. So, you know, Verizon, first Verizon, let me get this straight. Wait a minute. Alexa, what is Verizon? Alexa, what is Verizon? Verizon Communications, otherwise known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones industrial average. That's big. That's very big. Yeah. How does it feel to work for a big company like that? It feels great. I've been with them 21 years. Wow, wow. Yeah, I started when I was two. And yeah. That's my line. Right, so I love it. It's a great company. So how did you get into the solutions architect job? Right. So, part of Verizon, a lot of people know Verizon as a phone business, right? You think phones, tablets, you think Verizon. You know, our product really is the network. We're all about the network. And so there's a lot of things you can do on our network. There's a lot of devices and solutions that work off our network. So I'm kind of the solution matchmaker, if you will. So you tell me what your needs are, and I'll help to find a solution that works on our network. Well, I have to tell you, full disclosure, I love Verizon. I've been around the horn on most of them, and I came out for Verizon a long time ago. Never change. And Verizon's fast, and it doesn't drop calls, and it does everything I want. So I like Verizon. I like you. We appreciate your business. Yeah. Thank you very much. Yes, yes. So I'm a Samsung rather than an iPhone guy. But the big news is not Samsung these days. It's iPhone right now. Can you give us the big news on iPhone? Right, so Apple actually recently announced the new iPhone 8, which is available now. And then the 10 that's coming out. So a lot of new things. Apple now, they don't just do one. They're going to do one, and I don't know what happened to nine. Yeah, it happened to nine. Yeah, eight, nine, 10. Unlucky number, I think, isn't it? But eight, we know it's a lucky number for the Chinese. But it strikes me that you have the eight. You have the eight plus. You have the 10 all at the same time, all dropping into the market simultaneously. Isn't that confused the public? You know, people who love Apple, they're always wanting the latest and greatest. And that's what Apple is so great at. They're really great at tweaking what they have to really allow the customer to have a just even a better customer experience. So they are number one in terms of sales. So the question is, what's the difference? I'm going to ask you these compare, contrast questions. What's the difference between the eight and the eight plus? OK, so it's size, mostly size, for the eight and the plus. The functionality is the same? Right. Operating system is the same? Right, it's just a matter of the size. And they both have that stainless steel, what I call a surgical steel case? Right, well, and it's actually, the eight, it's glass. The front and the back are glass. It's the most durable glass ever made on a smartphone. And then the band is that aluminum band that goes around it. Yeah, so it makes it durable because when you think glass, you don't think durability. And of course, we have cases. So we always recommend doing the screen protector, doing the case, putting your accessories. I mean, it's an investment. Yeah, and I drop it and all that. Right, so you want to make sure to protect your investment. Yeah, but if I have the insurance and I always get the insurance, why do I care about the case and the glass? Well, your people like to customize it for them because you see all these pinks, pink's my favorite color. So if the phone is not all pink, then I will make it pink with my accessories. All right, so that's... You know, you see a bunch of iPhones lying around. You're like, which one's mine? That's true. This could be a real problem, too. It could be, right? Yeah. So what else do they have in terms of functionality, the eight and the eight plus? Right, well, a difference from the seven to the eight, you can kind of compare it that way, the camera. I mean, it's a still a 12 megapixel camera, but the display, you know, it's an HD display and the colors are more vibrant. It just makes for, you know, when you take pictures, right, it's all about the quality of the picture and it's about capturing that moment. Did you know that at Apple, at Apple in terms of design, there are 800 people who work on the camera all the time. I did not know that. Wow. Serious. Right, well, that's why they announce a new phone, right? Because those 800 people, we need to justify what they're doing. Well, you know, from a digital media point of view, I mean, you can get pretty much the same kind of picture from an iPhone or Samsung is also very good. You know, as you can from a lot of cameras and the iPhone just put in your pocket. You know, I find it's very interesting. I just came back on a trip through San Francisco and you know, in the past, you took a camera into a museum, they would stop you, right? But everybody was taking their iPhones into museums and taking pictures. So, you know, I noticed that in the Museum of Modern Art there and in the other museum I went to, they don't care anymore. So you want to take a picture, it's okay, don't use flash, but people are taking pictures and pictures on the walls in these museums like left and right. It's really great to do that. Right, it is, you know, I was in Europe and, you know, we're at the Louvre and we're at these museums and of course you're trying to capture it. The only thing they told us is no selfie sticks because it gets in the way of everyone else's pictures. It does. Yeah, so it has an effect on the experience of that part of the world. Right, but now these cameras, you don't need the flash because the camera is so good, it has low lighting. I mean, it does everything. And so that's why, you know, I'm assuming that's why they allowed it in museums now because you don't need the flash to capture a nice quality picture. Right, and, you know, I think another element here is that people do it anyway because it's so easy, surreptitiously, to take a picture with your iPhone. Right, right. You hold it like that. Click. You just need long arms to get you and the subject matter in there. I have some great pictures from the Museum of Modern Art and San Francisco. Right, very nice, nice. I don't have to buy that, you know, $200 book or anything. Right, exactly, exactly. Or sometimes you just take a picture of the book but you don't have to buy the book. Thank you. Okay, so the eight and the eight plus are going to be similar in terms of functionality. Right. It's just a question of size. It depends on how big a screen you want to have. Right, right. And so what is the functionality? How is it different than the functionality, say, in the seven that would make me want to, you know, take the step? Because the seven wasn't that long ago. Right. I need to be convinced. Right. So, well, besides the camera and the processor is faster. So that's important, you know. Is it effect email speed? I'm sorry? Is it effect email speed? It does, well, email is a couple of things, though. It's not just the processor, it's the network. Right, so, I mean, you can have a fast processor but if it's on a slow network, you're not going to be able to do everything that you want to do. Hence, you need to get it on Verizon. Yeah, of course, that's why I do that. But you know, I mean, I've been going to these conferences, you know, tech conferences and there's something called, what do you call it, five? What do you call it, five? The speed five. Oh, five G? Five G. Okay, okay. And five G is supposed to be significantly faster than four G, right? Right, right. And so, do you have any idea? Can you share with us, Kelvina? Well, what I can share with, Verizon's already started building out their five G. So, G just stands for generation. So, it's the fifth generation of network technology. And so, with our fourth generation, that's going to be around for a very, very long time. And that actually is what most mobile customers have. Five G is more of a, how should I say it? So, nowadays, stay in a home or in a business, right? And your cabling only can go, fiber can only go up to maybe the street. So, then now what do you do to take it from the street into the building? That costs a lot of money to run that. So, that's where five G would come in. It's more end to end point. It's a range question. Correct. So, it's fast, but it's really only designed for that last mile, if you will, or last segment. So, it's not the typical mobile user. They'll still be using four G. But what five G allows, that's gonna allow for in building. So, stay in hospitals. And you wanna track where something is going from room to room to room. Five G will allow you to do that. Okay. And so, these phones, you know, set up for five G, in other words, when five G comes to my neighborhood, so to speak, then will they take the five G? No, so these phones are not five G. These phones are four G phones. Is it a convertible thing, or I have to wait till the next day or a minute of time? Correct, correct. The phone has to be built to have that five G technology in it. But like I said, you won't really, a typical user won't really need the five G. Sorry, I'm perfectly happy with four G. Yes, yes. Except if you gave me an option of having faster, I would always take faster. Right, right. But even, you know, within four G, it's like for Verizon, when we built our four G, we're the first to build our four G LT technology, we're a couple of years ahead of the competitors. And we had a certain spectrum. It's basically, think of it like a freeway. Okay, so we built so many lanes. Well, everybody wants to get on those lanes, right? I mean, when you get, like the zipper lane, right? If everybody could get in the zipper lane. Dang it's crowded. Right, they'd rather get on the zipper lane. So that was, everybody was getting on four G. And so what Verizon did is then we bought more lanes. We bought a different spectrum, different frequency. But the phones, you had to choose either one. So then Verizon said, well, why not make, you know, have our equipment be able to run on all the lanes? Because now you have a wider pipe, if you will. So that allows everybody to go fast. I want that, yeah. So not all iPhones, the Verizon iPhone will let you go on all of our LTE frequencies, if you will. But the carriers, not everyone's like that. So speed will be affected by, you know, what network you choose to go on. We're taking a break in a minute, you know. But Kevin, I want to cover one other point with you before we take the break. And that's this, you know, people are giving up landlines by the carload. Everybody's giving them up. I mean, in my house, I'm removing all the, I'm removing all the landlines. I want the boxes there and what, nothing. Because I know that we're not gonna go backward to that. You know, we're moving, we're all moving that way. And that means that this phone that you carry around, this one right here, whatever it is, you know, Samsung iPhone, it's gonna be your main mode of transportation. I mean, communication wherever you are. This is really interesting because, you know, we need the functionality now because it's gonna do so many things for us. It's a little scary how dependent we are. But here's the thing, you know, I visited your Switch. Have you visited your Switch? Yes, many times. We take a lot of customers on tours of our Switch. We open it up for customers, by the way, to come visit us at our Switch, so. An undisclosed location. Yes, yes. It is a hurricane. If there's a hurricane, I'm at the Switch. Let's just put it down with it. We're gonna have a hurricane one of these days, right? And everybody, they will have given up their landlines and they're gonna have, you know, their cell phones, big functionality. So how do you prepare your, I love this question. How do you prepare, you know, for the storm? How do you prepare for the aftermath in the storm? Well, I know you guys have rooms full of batteries at your Switch, so your, you know, system, at least at the Switch, is gonna keep on functioning even if there's no power in the community. Absolutely, generators. We have generators. We have batteries. We have agreements, you know, contracts to make sure that we're always getting that fuel in there as well. And then we have what we call it a farm. Coats and rats, and it's basically cell on a light truck. That's a coat, you know, a repeater on a truck. Yeah, so that's a rat, you know. So we have different, we call it farm animals for our acronyms, but we're able to roll out generators. We're able to roll out cell sites. Not just when a hurricane comes, but if there's something going on at the stadium, for example, something going on at the convention center. Right, well, we know we're anticipating a high volume of traffic. We're not gonna just say, okay, well, what you get is what you get. We'll make sure that our network can handle the traffic so that customers have a great customer experience. So that's why we're best in Hawaii. Yeah, well. Grated by it for the third year to go. Really important, really important, especially in times of, you know, in times of trouble when, you know, there's no power. Of course, the other side of that coin is you have to have batteries so you can, you know, the phone won't go dead. Your phone needs to have, you know, be recharged. Right, right. And you know what happens if you don't recharge it? Yeah, watch this. This is Stink Tech, Hawaii, raising public awareness. A show dedicated to transportation issues and traffic. We identify those areas where we do have problems in the state, but also the show is dedicated to trying to find solutions, not just detail our problems. So join me every other Tuesday on Moving Hawaii Forward. I'm Tim Apacheva. Thank you. I just walked by and I said, what's happening, guys? Okay, Calvena. Yes. I pronounce it right. You got it, right. Saudi Arabia. South here, close. South here. Solution's architect of Verizon, wireless, one of my favorite companies. So, okay. So we talk about the 10 now. Okay. That is, what do you call it? iPhone 10. Right. Preservedly better than the eight and the eight plus. Right. Why do you say that? Right. Well, a couple of different things with the 10. There's not going to be a home button. So that's very different for Apple. How am I going to get used to that? So it's going to be a gestures. There's a facial recognition and gestures. So I'm just making it up, but you can wink and it'll send you a picture. No. But don't wink too hard, you just paid a bill. But so they'll have facial gestures and the no home button. So that's some of the really cool things coming out. So how do I do home? Just wash my hand over it. And does that touch it or just nearby? So nearby, yeah. So it's going to be very fun. I saw a demo of the facial recognition saying that's really something. And it's not just a, you must know more, it's not just a photo of my face. It actually sends out points of light at critical places and they bounce off my face. And that's how it tells it's me. And this makes it harder to cheat on that because that's the identification methodology. So you have to have it sophisticated like that. Does it work? I personally haven't been able to get my hands on one yet. They're, you know, for us employees, we allow the customers to get their phones first. So you get it before I get it. But we do, you know, we'll have them in the stores, of course. When are they coming out exactly? So it's coming out on the third. I'm going to double check it. It's on the third of November. And all three of these phones are coming out on that day? Well, the eight is out already. Already, okay. So we can already, yeah. You can already get your hands on it. And we'll get your hands on it right now. Correct. So the 10 is going to be on the third and we can pre-order it the week prior to that. Okay. So you can start pre-ordering. On the web? Yeah. You can order it. Right. Or you can go into the store. They can help you pre-order it. Or you can talk to one of our business reps. They can help you pre-order it there. So, yeah. I'm really interested in the thing about facial recognition because I think that, you know, it's really a pain, honestly, with my Samsung to go and, you know, make a pattern or enter a password and all that, or worse, not have a pattern or a password and let it stay on all the time. Because you lose it, you know, you lose, gosh, you lose everything. So you need security, but you also need it to be easy. Right. And this facial thing sounds like a really good idea. Right, right. So it's a way to protect it without touching it. Yeah, right. It's more expensive though. It's $999 and before I walk out to store with a few accessories, I'm talking about real money. Right, right. So there is a cost. However, we do have a trade-in program. So you can trade in any phone. It doesn't even have to be a Verizon phone. It can come from another carrier. We welcome those. How about a junk phone? Really junk phone. The value might not be as much for your trade-in value, but you know, we've seen trade-in values, $390 and up. So you bring in your old phone, the phone you want to trade in, and then Verizon, as long as it's on, it works. And the glasses, it cracked. So that's important. And then we'll go ahead and give you a gift card from Verizon that you can use to apply to purchase the new phone, or you can use it for your bills. So a lot of customers are training it in, and then we can split your payment up. Or make it like an installment contract. Right, right. Can you talk about the differences and the special features that make this? I presume that the pricing on the eight and the eight plus are sort of similar to the pricing on the seven and all that. It's way less than $999. Right, well it's about a $200 difference. So it's about a $200 difference from the eight to the 10. Okay, so it's 800 bucks. Correct. Yes, the eight plus. Right. Yeah, maybe a little less for the eight. Right, right, so, and then versus to the 10. So you're looking at about a $200 difference. Of course there's different sizes in terms of memory. So that's gonna affect your price. But, you know, again, a lot of people are training in their devices. It doesn't have to be an Apple device for an Apple. You can train in a Samsung for an Apple if you want to. You can bring over something else from another carrier. You can, you know, if you have a drawer of phones, you can use that. Why do I want to get the 10 instead of the eight? Why do I want to get a 10 instead of the seven? Why do I want to get the 10 instead of the Samsung eight, which I have now? Right. What's so special about that? Right, right, well, so with the 10, so there's that augmented reality feature too with the camera. So I can take a picture of you and I can put different, just kind of how we're doing here, right, in the studio. I can put different things behind you and, right, kind of augment. Normally when you take a picture, it's just the picture and you have to have a little bit more sophisticated software to be able to change the environment that you're in, change the lighting and all of that. So this will allow you to have that, they call it augmented reality. Yeah, yeah, so you can put a background behind me. It'll identify my image and then change things behind me in any which way, that's pretty good. Correct, yeah. Boy, it's like a great camera you can do. And you can do this on video too, not just the, you know, photograph? Pictures, yeah, so video. I actually, I'm not sure about the video piece of it. I would imagine that so because the technology did this thing. Okay, what else is, what else, you know, impels me, compels me to get the thing. Well, with Apple it's, remember, it's always the camera, it's always about the camera. It's always about that piece of it, you know, what it looks like on the device and the clarity of the picture, just more vibrant, the colors on it. Of course, the home button is big. The facial gestures is really the number one key thing that customers are looking for. How about that? Because without the phone, you actually, the 10 is actually smaller with a bigger screen because you're eliminating the home button. Yeah. Okay, yeah. Now where's the steel? I saw this in the notes here. There's a steel thing, where is it steel? Steel, oh here, surgical grade stainless steel? Right, so just for that durability, right? I mean, you're gonna invest $1,000 into a phone, you want that durability. And so, and just anything else, right, when you buy a nice camera, right, you want it to last and you wanna take care of it, right? And so, because people take it everywhere now. It's like, people don't even carry their car keys all over the place, but they carry a phone all over the place. And if you lose it, your life is over. Right, you lose your car keys, someone has a spare somewhere, right? Someone has all your family jewels on it. Right, right. Well, but now we can back a lot of things up to the cloud. So, you know, that makes, you know, not just with Apple, I'm talking about, you know, that's one of the other solutions we have for Ryzen. We have a third party that allows you to, you know, become truly wireless and back things up to the cloud. I had this experience a couple of months ago. I must have pushed the wrong button and I wound up resetting my phone, resetting my phone. It's all gone, everything, you know? I was in a state, I'll tell you. I found that most of it was on the cloud and I could pull it down again. That was really saved my bacon. Right, right. So, is the operating system on the 10 the same as the eight? Right, so it'll be, right, so right now, with the operating system though, in terms of the chip, yes, but the operating system is always advancing with Apple, right, so that's a, you know, they're gonna push out different softwares. So, by the time the 10 comes out, hey, you never know, maybe they might come out with a newer software, but we're just really excited. Apple always has fun products, but Samsung has great products, Motorola has great products, Google has great products. I think the eight is probably as far as Samsung is gone right now, I know what else is in the pipeline of them. I was looking at a Pixel, a Google Pixel, and I think their first version, Google One, but then called, what's just called the Google Pixel, was breakable, somebody I know dropped one, and whoa, it was the end of the phone, but now it's, I think it's stronger, maybe it's that glass you're talking about in the case. Right, so the two's out, even Motorola, you know, they have, my husband actually has a Motorola, and the reason he got it is because there's mods that you can put on there, and we have the projector mod, so we just slap it on the back, and now, you know, he's watching a movie, and instead of me trying to go over there and watch it with him, we just project it onto the wall, and we just watch a movie on the wall. It's huge. Which phone is this now? The Motorola, so the mods on sale, right, that projector mod? But you can't get that for the iPhone? No, you can't get that for the iPhone. I bet it's coming, I bet it's coming, it's a little good an idea, you know. Right, so, I mean, you have to use a different device, but this one, you know, Motorola, they just, you just put on different backings on there, and so that's one that we really love using, at home, we're on the go, right, so you're not trying to look at, I mean, you can have a nice phone, but the screen only goes so big, right, and so this allows you to do that, and wireless charging, that's the other thing that's big with Apple as well, so this is the eight. All of these Apple phones are big, you've got a wireless, and the 10 as well. Right, so the charger, Apple's wireless charger hasn't come out yet, but Verizon has a wireless charger, so you plug in that charging pad, and then, boom, you just put that phone right on top, so, different carrier, Samsung has a wireless pad, so, again, we have all the accessories you could want, and I mean, the key really is, you know, like, I'm a solutions architect, I'm the matchmaker, you go into our stores, you talk to our business reps, you tell them what you're looking for, and they'll put you in the right device. So what is the thing that people are most looking for? I'm gonna answer this question for myself. Okay. What would you say that people are looking for more than anything else in these smartphones? In the smartphones? What do you think they're looking for? Okay, so I work a lot with our business customers, and with business customers, it's really about going paperless. That's what I find with business customers. You know, all those check boxes, and the checklist they have, and invoices they have, and all of that, you know, they're giving their employees papers to hand around, they're like, can I see things real-time? I wanna be able to track real-time. I wanna know if a delivery was made. I wanna know if something went wrong. Absolutely, and a lot of customers, they don't want to put devices in people's hands, or employees' hands, if you're a business, because they're afraid, oh, they're gonna go on Netflix all day. So we even have programs where we can take that off. Your phone completely. Oh, yeah, security, yeah. So security. Limit the functionality, yeah. Right, really to allow for productivity, getting, it's more becoming a tool now. Yeah, and the company gives it, and controls it, and owns it probably, and so that will, it's a company phone. Right. And that's great, and as a company guy, I wouldn't mind giving that to my staff, and having them use it, and the only app on it is, the only apps on it are the one. But here, I'll tell you what I care about most. Okay, what do you care about? Are you sitting down? Okay. Okay, she's sitting down. Battery life. Battery life. So tell me about the battery life on the 80, and the eight plus and the 10. That's really important to me. Right, so great battery, great battery, but guess what? We also have battery bags in here, or we have accessories to elongate your battery, because it really depends on, battery life is important, but the apps do different, depending on what you do on the phone, some people, they say, hey, my battery's great, but other people might go, I need more battery, because it's really up to the customer on what they're doing. They've got a different taste about this. You wanna know what the number one use of data is? No. Instagram. Instagram. Yeah, yeah. That's a little scary. Of course, it would've been more scary if you said Facebook, yeah. Oh yeah. Nowadays, the younger generations talk about the Snapchat, and whatever else now is coming up. Snapchat is even getting old, but it's the social media. Social media is really what a lot of users do on mobile devices, and so because people are using it for advertisement. It's not just, it's keeping in touch with family, friends, and I mean, that's how I find out about what's going on in the world. It's through social media, right? So people are using their phones for that. You realize that all of this started as recently as 2008, which is eight years ago, and our world has changed, our lives have changed, our way of communicating and living and keeping data. The whole enchilada has changed in eight years, and you're part of it. Wow, I want your job. It's great. You know, when I started with the company, I'm gonna age myself here, but when I started with the company, they installed a car phone into my car. We weren't even digital back then, and they're like, we need you to get a car phone. And I was like, wow, but that was the cool thing, right? When you had an antenna in your car. And now the devices are just so sleek that you really can carry around one device and have everything at your fingertips. And with that in mind, there's a case to be made for getting the latest and greatest every time it comes out. I am into that. Right, well, it helps me keep my job. I want you to keep your job. I want you to come back and talk to me some more. I want you to know more about these phones. That's Kalvina, Saudi Arabia. You're very good. Solution's architect of Verizon Wireless. Thank you so much, Kalvina. Thank you so much for having me, Joe. I appreciate it. Yeah.