Events
Smartphone — Generation NEXT
The second half of 20th century is a golden age of science fiction. Authors, competing with one other, created more and more extravagant ways to travel space, more and more powerful weapons and more and more grand personal transportation. However, not many of them paid much attention to means of communications. Science fiction books’ characters’ use wire phones and videophones in everyday life. Twenty years went by, and there are still cars on the streets that run on petrochemicals, but half the human population has a mobile phone in their pockets. Science fiction writers never dreamed of that. Now, we know that further civilization development goes hand in hand with the means of communication development.
The first 10 years of 21st century smartphones became “smarter”, got more powerful processors and operating systems. As a matter of fact, most modern communication devices can hardly be called phones as calling is just one of its many functions. In 2000, Ericsson names its devices smartphones, i.e. smart phones. In 2007, Apple launched its first iPhone, demonstrating how an ideal smartphone of the decade should look like. From that moment on, touch screen and easy to understand graphic interface became an integral part of smartphones.
Communication crystal
Time is passing by. Active users have gotten used to “sweet things” that samrtphones have to offer, their sensitive screens, its integration to social networks, etc. I started thinking about what is next? How will a communication device look in 5 years? Most likely, people won’t stop using cell phone in the form that they have gotten so used to, flat prism that easily fits in a jacket or pant pocket. At the same time, smartphones of the future (Smart Phone Future – SPF) will not look like the devices that we use now. New functions require new engineering solutions.
Developing of social networks, optimal increasing volume and weight of content will force the developers to make the screen bigger for the Smartphone of the future. However, it should, just like it does now, go comfortably into a human hand. Therefore, the optimal size for a screen is 4,2-4,5 inches or 10,7-11,4 cm, maximum 5 inches or 12,7 cm. Such a screen allows to view video clips comfortably, play games and talk on video. At that, the phone will not only have one screen. It will have two and you will be able to use it from both sides. Actually, what it is coming to is that the entire surface of the phone will be a multifunctional touch screen. iPhone 4S only has 1 button (“home”) on the front panel and 4 more , (“-“, “+”, sleep and tumbler to block sound) on its side panel, smartphone of the future will not have any buttons at all. SPF will be whole, no gaps or wholes, no covers or compartments.
Strictly speaking, in the near future we will stop using phones and start using communication crystals. In 2010, Blackberry launched a prototype of a smartphone called Empathy, which was done in the form of a crystal. Finish producer Nokia launched new phones – Lumia 800 and N9, – which were made with a whole piece of polycarbonate. It is impossible to take a battery out of this device. So, tendency is obvious, smartphones of the future will be whole. They will be made of solid, semitransparent crystal material.
If your BlackBerry or Nokia falls into a bath full of water, it will stop working. For devices of the future, it will not be a problem since they will not have any jacks for a charger or headset. The future is in contactless technologies. The device will be charged inductively from a special stand. Besides, in the process of everyday use of a smartphone, it will be charged from electromagnetic waves from “world broadcasting” and other waves. There are infrared, ultraviolet waves all around as well as waves from radio stations, retransmitters, transmitters, Wi-Fi equipment, etc. Why not “absorb” the “trash types” of waves by the surface and translate it into electricity.
At the blink of an eye
In the Smartphone of the future, in addition to the existing voice reading capabilities, there will be visual reading system, that will be called, for example, Vision Contact or ViCo. Because there are two stabilized cameras of high resolution symmetrically located on both sides of the device, high perfprmance processors will be able to pinpoint the position of the look from the pupil of an eye and time period that it is fixed on the virtual keyboard. In other worlds, the device will “feel” the look on a particular key of the virtual key board. All you would have to do is learn to fix your look for a certain time period, and you will be able to type a text message with your eyes.
Also, thanks to emerging technologies, it will be possible to control the future of the Smartphone with a virtual touch. When your finger is not touching the screen Smartphone will be able to manage it due to the reflected signal.
With peripheral devices - headset, printer, outer screen and so on, smartphone of the future will be able to interface using existing radio technologies such as Bluetooth, NFC and so on. However, it is possible
that in the near future, new technologies will be developed for interfacing between devices. It is to be expected that technologies for wireless data transmission will become uniform. There will be new technology developed, let’s call it Indigo for our purposes here. It will integrate all existing standards and speed at which data is transmitted will be considerably higher than that of existing high speed ways for mobile broadband data transmission.
Smartphone of the future will be able to reproduce stereo picture. 3-D technologies have reached commercial maturity in the last few years. Well, requirements on sound quality will become higher and higher in the near future. The devices of the future will be equipped with a stereo and quadro sound. It is possible that we will not even have to put a phone to an ear soon. New technologies will be developed that will allow to transmit focused sound right to the ears if there are no obstacles on the way of “sound wave”.
Electronic interpreter
And, of course, smartphones of the future will have highly developed artificial intelligent. For example, in 2011, a new personal assistant was launched under the name of Siri that was integrated into iPhone 4S system. Not only does it read voice commands, it is also able to adequately respond to its owner.
Artificial intelligence of the smartphone of the future will be considerably better developed. The device, analyzing accumulated experience will be able to divine owner’s wishes and offer to launch that particular set of applications that might ne necessary at the moment.
Smartphone of the future will become the main source of information; it will have all the world language knowledge integrated in it. This smart communicator will correct your spelling, grammar or even stylistic mistakes. This cloudy service will include all the information in all world languages, so thank to this device, an owner of such a smartphone of the future will have no more language problems when crossing borders. Even now, people are already using Google translator for live communication. However, revolution in voice recognition and processing and a powerful integrated processor will make this smatphone a communicator interpreter.
With the help of SFP, people of different languages will be able to communicate with each other without using a human interpreter, just talking through this wonder communicator. And more, possessing this wealth of knowledge about a wide range of literary styles, this phone will be able to rewrite your message to a loved one in Pushkin (ASP) style, Esenin style or even on farci Firdousi. In order to do that, all you will have to do is visually press the appropriate icon with the certain author’s style, for example ASP.
Owner — now owner
Thanks to its artificial intelligence, it will be impossible to steal a smartphone of the future as will decline to work in the hand of a new owner. The smartphone will be able to identify through a number of biometrical parameters, such as unique voice timbre or manner of speech. In addition, there can be other protection systems integrated in it. If you accidently loose the smartphone, it can tell the person that found it where to find you and what kind of reward you are willing to pay if it is returned. And, undoubtedly, the device of the future will encipher the communication channel, so no one will be able to eavesdrop on your conversations, well, almost no one.
And, of course, the smartphone of the future will have a feature that registers any changes in the environment and notifies the owner. For example, they will not only notify the owner on radiation levels, but with Do-Ra device, on earthquakes and so on. Along with gathering this information from all the possible sensors, it will transmit it to the integrated center. This full picture will make life a little more safe and predictable.
Smart fellow
Operation system (OS) of the smartphone of the future is an entire story on its own in my prediction. The new smartphone needs to be “cloudy”, i.e. all important data needs to be backed up in a cloud transparently for applications. In this sense, OS needs to be cloudy as well. This requires powerful and universal software that works on efficient multi kernel processor. Such a processor, as a heart of the smartphone of the future, will become a truly unique chip. Performance of this multi kernel processor needs to be infinitely high and its energy consumption, naturally, minimal. Paradox, but this is what all the future computer technology is striving for. Most likely, unique program engine – SPF mobile software platform will be developed especially for the smartphone of the future. It’s tasks will include actual control of the smartphone of the future creating a unique set of features. One of main tasks of the OS is to be able to facilitate functioning of any software that was developed for existing popular mobile platforms such as iOS, Android, BlackBerry and so on. Therefore, the best operation system (OS) will be an OS that will start to engage in a full intelligent dialogue, work through control commands from the smartphone owner’s speech in any active human language of this planet. No matter if it is newiOS, supper Android or OC from Russia!
P.S. Instead of an afterword: In the far, far 1988, long before we even knew what a touch pad was, students from Illinois fantasized about what a computer of the future will look like in 2000 and described iPad exactly. However, the missed the date a little;). I am not insisting that this is how it is going to be, but just thinking about the future of the smartphone. Maybe, just maybe, some day someone will write that in this article I saw the future of the smartphone.
