An entertaining, readable look at the major changes brought about by smartphones and social media which explains things so that you don't need to be a geek to follow. Even when extending further into AI, bitcoin and such like Cellan-Jones explains complex ideas and technology in a very easy way.
This book allows the reader the chance to think about their own use of smartphones and social media, the impact it's having on our lives (both good, bad and yet undecided) and also has a section about the role that it's played during the Covid pandemic.
Thoroughly recommend this as a starting point for further discussion about where we're going, the ethics of the companies involved and our data, and what will undoubtedly be seen as a period of huge technological and social history change in years to come.

An incredibly interesting look behind the scenes at the life of a longstanding BBC technology correspondent with a deep dive into the modern history of the smartphone era. While there is nothing new here for anyone who has been following technology news over the last two decades, this book is still a fascinating read through the stories of Rory Cellan-Jones' personal and professional experiences, such as meeting Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking for BBC interviews. It presents both sides of the technology-privacy argument that is becoming much more prominent with Amazon Alexa, Google and Apple invading our homes more than ever. A recommended read for anyone with at least a little curiosity in the evolution of smartphone technology to where we are today.

This is a deeply personal book. Not just for the author – as he details the way technology has affected his Parkinson’s prognosis – but also for me. At times it feels like Rory has mined my work history for an array of tech anecdotes!

I was in the smartphone industry when the iPhone was launched. Rory perfectly captures the bewilderment of the tech sector, the frenzied reaction, the “this’ll-change-everything” mentality. The world was upended and Rory talks us through the ripples it caused in and beyond the industry.

Similarly, the behind-the-scenes view of the development of the Raspberry Pi is fascinating. I never knew just how tangled a path it took to get launched. We get the scoop on the false-starts and setbacks which, almost inevitably lead to great success. The ride through the explosive rise of social networking is similarly exciting – and he’s honest about where his predictions of success and failure were wide of the mark.

And then, we get the scoop on how it all went wrong. The rise of the web leads to the rise of the scammer. He expertly skewers the con-artists, self-promoting hucksters, and hype-chasers. The chapter on the Spinvox scandal is revelatory. A real insider’s view of the way a story develops and its repercussions for all involved. Musk gets a similar treatment. What starts with a promise to change the world is quickly shown to be hollow words from up with a cruel, ego-driven man.

The inevitable discussion on whether too much screen time is bad for the youth of today (probably not) is well handled. And the bizarre conspiracy theories around 5G are treated with the appropriate sympathy.

There’s a whole chapter on the NHSX Covid tracing app. Obviously I was extremely close to that story, but it’s an extremely fair assessment of its development. It is bizarre to see one’s sleepless nights captured and retold in the media!

And, in a flash, it’s over. I’d happily have read a dozen more chapters.

Always On is a look at the technological history of the modern smartphone era, from Apple's unveiling of the first iPhone to contract tracing apps for COVID-19. Written by a technology journalist for the BBC, each chapter looks at a particular moment in this time, considering the breakthroughs and how much has changed.

Though Always On is positioned as a book about technology in the smartphone era, one of the most notable elements of it is the fact it is often about what it is like to be a journalist covering that technology during this time. There are hints of how difficult it can be to report tech news when people don't understand the impact or can't imagine that a new piece of tech will change the world, and also suggestions of the difficulty of doing tech stories when a lot of the leaders of the tech world can be elusive. Cellan-Jones at times has the tone of someone who has spent a lot of time trying to hype technology and why people should want to read or hear about it, occasionally to the point where you want a bit more critique.

The actual technology content varies from straightforward 'this is how something was announced and rolled out' to 'this is some of the controversy around it' (the latter is especially notable in the final section, on the current pandemic and the impacts of technology on health and conspiracy theories). The COVID-19 section is also good in terms of laying out the controversy and issues around contract tracing apps and the balance of privacy.

Unsurprisingly given that it's written by a journalist, the tone is mostly 'news site long read' for each chapter, meaning that if you're already interested in the area the chapter is about, it can seem a bit basic, though the elements of journalistic memoir woven in do add some variation. There's also some elements that felt like clear omissions—one striking example being that the environmental impact of cryptocurrencies is never mentioned in the section about them—which may have been because the overarching message of the book is one of positivity, and of the idea that we can make the smartphone future good.

As an introductory book to the technological change over the past fifteen years or so, Always On can be useful, but as a history of being a technology journalist over that time it is perhaps more interesting. If, like me, you're more used to tech books that are more critical of big tech companies and their figureheads (the Elon Musk-related chapter in Always On does read like an excited profile of him), then this one might be a little too positive at times, though there is some interesting analysis too.