"...but we still don't seem to be using them smartly"

This was the response by @msaparna to my tweet about how India had surpassed Japan to become the world's third largest smartphone market.

The 10 words signify what we do (or rather not do) with our smartphones. The distinction between smartphones and feature phones has blurred. The tiny thing has the capacity to do much more than what we use them for. We forget that they almost have the capacity our home computers had five years ago. Though we buy expensive smartphones, we hardly make full use of them.

Except for a handful of friends, almost all those who I know use their smartphones only to make calls and send SMS. Some go a step ahead and send emails. A few use it for social media, including posting photos through photo apps such as Instagram or Streamzoo.

I once saw a woman with a high-end smartphone hunting around for a mobile recharge shop to charge her son's mobile. It was 9 p.m. and she had just received an SMS that he had just one rupee left in his mobile. He had gone on a school excursion. There were no shops open. She had a debit card, but she was not aware that she could use ATMs to recharge mobiles.

She said she was aware of apps that could recharge prepaid mobiles, but had not installed them as she was not confident of using anything that involved money in her mobile.

What is it that prevents us from making the most of our mobiles? Are people aware that they can do almost all banking transactions through their smartphones? Many are not aware, and even those who are aware are scared of using mobiles for banking.

If you are buying a gadget from Amazon.com, and you want to know the value of your currency, there are apps that give the exact value - almost to the minute. There are apps that allow you to trade in the stock market - you don't have to be in front of your computer to buy or sell stocks. You can do it even on the way to your office. But again, many don't do it as they are scared.

Almost anything that can be done on a computer can be done with the right mobile apps. My colleague had gone home by autorickshaw as his car had gone for service, when he discovered he had only Rs 1,000 notes. None in the department had change for Rs 1,000. All he needed was Rs 100. He 'borrowed' Rs 100 from me, and paid me back the next minute through an IMPS transfer. He had repaid the 'loan' even before he left my room with the money.

Right from the mundane email to complicated things like creating a Power Point presentation and sending it to your boss can be done with a smartphone. The only problem is that most of us are just scared.