Opinion | Chinese university students develop 'pick a good watermelon' Smartphone app

It's summer. And nothing is worse than hauling home some 20-pound watermelons - only to find that they are mealy and tasteless.

It has happened to me before. But it seems it’s time to end the misery - a new smartphone app named “pick a good watermelon”, developed by a group of Chinese university students, now tries to solve the ancient task of choosing a perfect watermelon, according to Chinese media reports.

The instructions are simple. Open the App and place your phone next to the melon. Now tap on the watermelon as you might have seen many people do.

Traditional wisdom says if you hear a hollow thumping sound, the melon will turn out ripe and crispy. A solid thumping sound, instead, means the melon is not ready.  

But now let’s leave all that work to the smart device.

The App, now working as your ear and brain, will pick up the sound, analyse it, and decide if the watermelon is ripe enough.