52 T3 MARCH 2020
T3 talk
WHAT PERSONAL TECH DO YOU
RELY ON THE MOST WHEN
TRAVELLING THE WORLD?
“I need my phone. I can never go anywhere
without it. It’s naturally the single most
important thing I have. It connects me, it
keeps me going... within my business, but
also connecting me with my friends and
family, which is really difficult otherwise,
particularly as I travel as much as I do.
“My headphones. I travel with my Bose
[Noise Cancelling Headphones] 700
everywhere I go. Honestly, I listen to music
every single day. I don’t know if I could live
without that.”
WHAT OTHER TYPES OF TECH DO
YOU TRAVEL WITH?
“Otherwise, I travel with a game case. I’ll
have a games console – I travel with my
PlayStation everywhere – so that when I get
back to my hotel, if I’ve got time, I’ll play
Call of Duty online with my friends. One of
my friends is in LA, and one’s in Toronto,
and one’s [in London] as well. So we just
always link up on that.”
CLEARLY YOU LIKE GAMING. DO
YOU THINK 5G WILL ACTUALLY
IMPROVE THE QUALITY
OF MOBILE GAMING?
“Massively. I was playing last
night and my home internet
went down. So I ended up using
my phone. When a phone has
4G, it just has a bit of lag,
especially when I’m connected
to my friend’s server in
California. So I get killed more.
They’re so much quicker than
some of the people they end up
playing with. My friend tells me
it’s because of the lag. So that’s
always been a big issue with us.
“I remember playing with my
brother. We’d play racing cars.
We used to always play online
racing games, and there was so
much lag. We always wanted the
fastest internet we could get. To
hear this is coming out is going
to be a game-changer in terms of how
smoothly that runs.”
ARE THERE OTHER ADVANTAGES
OF 5G THAT YOU’RE LOOKING
FORWARD TO?
“Gaming is definitely the biggest one for me,
given that I travel as much as I do. But also,
as I’m travelling all the time, the phone is
really where it’s at. I’d love to be able to
stream movies off my phone... When you’re
in the airport and you’re having to wait as
long as you do, or if you’re in a hotel – you
know, I’d say 92% of hotels usually have crap
movies. Or don’t even have movie services.
And I love watching movies. So I think
gaming and a higher download speed.
“I remember being on – I know it keeps
going back to flying – but I’ve been on a
flight trying to download a movie to my
iPad just as it’s taking off, and it’s stopped
with 10MB to go or something like that.
Then I’m on a 12-hour flight without a
movie, which is frustrating. So I guess it’s
the connectivity, and everything being
faster. I think people don’t appreciate just
how much happier [5G] is going to make
them. It’s going to become the norm.”IF YOU WERE GOING TO DO A
WILL.I.AM AND CREATE YOUR
OWN TECH COMPANY, WHAT KIND
OF THING WOULD YOU MAKE?
“A technology company? Everything’s
already been pretty much created. The easy
thing for me would be to build a car, or
design a car. I know everything there is for
that. But how do you make a car that’s
sustainable? How can you make it reliable?
And also, a different kind of battery tech.
“So battery technology is probably key
right now. I think whoever gets that right is
going to be the king. Battery technology is
something they’re continuously working on,and it’s quite damaging, the process of
making these batteries still.
“If I had the money, and I had the
backing, and if I found the most intelligent
people, I think it’d be that. On the one hand,
what I’m most interested in is naturally
making a car that looks cool and is, you
know, the most efficient car around.”SPEAKING OF LOOKING COOL,
WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE
WATCHES AT THE MOMENT?
“So I actually partnered with [Swiss
watchmaker] IWC, and I have a watch that’s
just about to come out. It’s taken a long timeto develop. I’m massively into watches. My
first watch was like a Mickey Mouse watch
from, I think, Disneyland. And then I had
calculator watches when I was at school.
“What’s kind of crazy is that timing is
what I’m chasing in my job. I’m chasing
time, so it’s quite a cool synergy. I think it’s
the ultimate accessory for an athlete, you
know? That’s why I have a few watches.”HOW INVOLVED WERE YOU IN THE
OVERALL DESIGN PROCESS FOR
THAT WATCH?
“Basically, to design a watch from scratch
takes a long time. There’s up to 500 pieces
in there, for these watches. So they weren’t
open to me completely starting from scratch.
I had to take one of [the existing designs]
that I liked – it’s called the Big Pilot’s Watch- and then I got into the detail of changing
the overall look of the watch, and changed
the colour of the face. I wasn’t able to change
the movement, but in some of the backing I
was able to alter the weighting for the
charging and that kind of stuff.
“Generally, when I’m getting involved in
projects, I like to get as heavily involved as I
can, so I can learn. It’s super-easy to come in
and they just say, ‘Here it is. Smile with it.’
But I really enjoy the whole collaboration.
Working with a watch engineer is different
to working with a race engineer. And that’s
been quite an interesting experience. It’s
beautiful. I look forward to you seeing it.”
YOU OBVIOUSLY LOVE FASHION,
AND EVEN HAVE YOUR OWN LINE
WITH TOMMY HILFIGER. WHAT
ARE YOUR FAVOURITE SNEAKERS
RIGHT NOW?
“I grew up on Timberlands, but sneaker-
wise, as a kid, it was Jordans, which I have a
collection of. I’m still a fan of Michael in
general, as an athlete. He was just a legend.
When I’m training, I only ever train with my
Pumas, particularly for running.
“Otherwise, the ones I wear most of the
time, I really focus quite a lot on the ones I
made with Tommy. They’re sustainable,
which I really love. It’s something that’s
quite a priority for me right now – really
focusing on how I can help that.
“So with my whole collection, I’m
pushing towards being 100% sustainable.
So, no leather. I’m not using any fur, for
example. It’s all recycled down, and no
plastic. The trainer that came out in the last
collection is probably the most comfortable
trainer I currently have. And it’s got a little
extra height in it as well, which is always
good when you’re running around.”YOU’RE BIG INTO SUSTAINABILITY.
WITH CARS, THIS IS BECOMING
EVER MORE RELEVANT. DO YOU
OWN AN ELECTRIC CAR? AND IF SO,“I THINK THAT
WHOEVER
GETS BATTERY
TECHNOLOGY
RIGHT IS GOING
TO BE KING”