['Within seconds, everyone can see what I am eating.' -- Devin Jeyathura, on how quickly friends and colleagues can get updates on what he is doing on Twitter]
WHEN freelance writer Devin Jeyathurai heads to lunch, it is an experience he shares not only with his lunch buddies, but also close to 200 people 'following' him online on Twitter.
The Internet buff would take pictures of a particularly good - or bad - serving of noodles or rice and post them instantly online with his HTC S740 smartphone.
Without delay, friends and colleagues, who get updates on what he is doing on the Twitter micro-blogging service, see how much he loves or hates his meal - almost through his eyes.
'Within seconds, everyone can see what I am eating,' says the 37-year-old. It is not that he is particularly narcissistic.
Thousands of users are sharing their experiences with friends who either 'follow' them on Twitter or get status updates over Facebook.
It is all in the name of keeping in touch with friends, with a small element of voyeurism provided by the technology in today's smartphones.
While it has been almost a decade since cameras first appeared on cellphones, it has taken a combination of fast mobile broadband and easy-to-use online social networking services in the past two years to make all this possible.
Devin has been blogging on his PC for about nine years, ever since he went overseas to study. However, it was only in the past couple of years that he started blogging from his smartphone and posting pictures on the Flickr photo-sharing site.
Soon, all this will be made even easier and more instantaneous with social networking services such as Facebook and Twitter, which allow users to update their webpages with what they are doing at every moment.
Today, Devin tweets, or updates his Twitter page, 20 to 30 times a day from the phone. This is possible because of software tools readily available on the small screen, such as TwitPic, which enables a user to easily upload a picture taken by a phone.
'You just give me a phone - in 10 minutes, I will be up and typing away,' jokes Devin.
Like many others hooked on this new web of friends and colleagues, he keeps in touch not only for leisure, but also for work. Sometimes, he gets referrals for freelance work over these online networks and he is glad his phone keeps him constantly connected on such occasions.
Indeed, from making gizmos that are easy to make calls or send SMS on, manufacturers have been churning out smartphones that cater to users who regularly interact with online services while on the go.
Instead of becoming smaller, phones have actually grown in size.
This is often to accommodate a full Qwerty keyboard or a large screen, which makes it easier to see and interact with content from the Web. Devin's HTC phone, for example, features both a regular phone keypad and a slide-out full Qwerty keyboard.
He says: 'If I'm typing a short tweet, I use the regular keypad; when typing longer posts, I will use the bigger keyboard as it allows me to type faster.
' For another Windows Mobile user, banker Alex Chong, 35, his Samsung Omnia phone's big screen was the key to his purchase.
Having been a Facebook user for about two years, he was looking for a device that allowed him to scan through his friends' activities, as well as to keep in touch via instant messaging when he is on the go. The Omnia fitted the bill for him.
Would the lack of a physical keyboard on the touchscreen Omnia make it hard to type long messages or posts?
'It is a matter of getting used to it,' says Alex, who has had three Windows Mobile phones over the past five years.
Today, whenever he can find a free Wireless@SG hot spot, he will make use of the Wi-Fi service to get online. 'It is the cheapest way to keep in touch.'
