Mobile technologies are constantly evolving – every year, if not more often, something completely new appears.
The main direction of cellular improvement can be defined by one concept: technology convergence. Mobile phones have combined almost everything that can be reasonably combined under the body of one device.
Looking at today’s mobile phone, at some extremely functional and fashionable model, you might think that this is the limit of perfection, but remember how you looked, for example, at a “brick” from Ericsson in 1999 and thought the same most. Probably, looking at the phone in 2010 or 2016, we will recall the “perfect” devices of 2006 with a smile.
Main directions of evolution
The main tasks of the phone of the past were to make and receive calls, write SMS. Today, these tasks have been supplemented by working with Internet resources, listening to music, taking pictures, using games and applications. The mobile of the future will most likely add to the list of main tasks watching TV programs, operating various equipment, monitoring the health of its owner, and positioning functions.
Some of these features already exist in modern phones, but for now they are exotic, and progress in the field of mobile phones is likely to transfer the most needed of them into the realm of mundane. By the way, the devices of the future may have such opportunities that we do not even suspect today.
Phone technology will change in the future. Technology changes can be so dramatic that when you see a 2016 cell phone, you don’t immediately know what it is. Moreover, the special charm of waiting for changes lies in the fact that, thanks to scientific and technological revolutions, such devices can appear that now not only seem impossible, but simply are not considered by us, being “beyond the horizon” of our imagination.
Below we will look at absolutely fantastic forecasts for the development of mobile phones, but first we will assume that the development of technology will take its course, and based on existing technical achievements, we will try to look at the mobile phones that we will use in 3-5 years. Let’s start with displays.
Display
The screen is the face of any modern phone. The direction of development in this area is to improve the quality of the image by increasing the color of the display, increasing the resolution, brightness and contrast. But other characteristics of the screens also change. For example, the head of development and research at Samsung believes that in a few years we will be using phones with flexible or holographic displays. In addition, the screens of the phones of the future are likely to be touch-sensitive, and the use of flexible displays, apparently, will lead to the creation of flexible phones.
Flexible display
Further evolution of displays can lead to unexpected results. For example, microprojectors, which can project an image directly into a person’s eye, may become very popular. Such devices still exist today, but they are quite expensive and cannot be considered as a mass product. Also, phones are likely to be equipped with projectors (as Nokia believes), which will allow you to view photos and videos on any suitable surface.
By the way, in order to get high-quality photos that will look good on a big screen, you need good cameras.
Cameras
Mobile phone cameras are evolving in the direction of reducing the size of the optics and increasing the resolution of photographs. In particular, Nokia experts believe that by 2010 devices will acquire 10-megapixel cameras and will be able to shoot high-quality HDTV video.
Multi-megapixel cameras still exist today, but they have not received wide distribution – most often they are produced in the form of concept models that are not intended for general sale.
Perhaps in a few years there will be cameras for capturing three-dimensional space, the results of which can then be shown on holographic displays. It is difficult to imagine how this will be implemented in a mobile format, but I am sure that technological progress will do its job. By the way, about technological progress. It is making and no doubt will make a big difference in everything related to mobile phones. In particular, this concerns the ability of phones to reproduce sounds.
Sound playback
A modern phone plays sounds using a miniature speaker. It seems that the devices of the future will also use some kind of sound-emitting devices, but what kind is a big question.
For example, Matsushita Electric Industrial’s Sound Window technology makes it possible to create transparent flexible speakers that can be placed on the screen of a mobile phone. The sound of such a “music screen” promises to be very high quality.
Control devices
Already today there are conceptual models of phones that do not have a keyboard and are able to change their appearance depending on the user’s desires. These are such devices as Black Box from BenQ or Aeon from Nokia. The entire front surface of the device is occupied by a touch screen display that displays different images depending on the operating mode of the device. For example, when dialing a number, buttons with numbers will be shown, when typing texts – text buttons, when listening to music – music player control buttons.
Voice control is not new, it is present in many devices, however, this control is rarely used. Perhaps the improved convenience of the voice interface will allow it to become an important part of the phone of the future.
Another feature that could become popular is the use of motion sensors (a similar option already exists in modern devices), which allow you to “draw” characters in the air and delete unwanted SMS by shaking your phone. For example, there are developments that allow you to control the device using a virtual keyboard that is projected onto any suitable surface.
It is quite possible that control will be based on reading signals generated by human mental activity. In other words, in order to make a call, it will be enough just to think about it. By the way, this idea of control suggests a phone that does not need speakers and displays.
Fantastic forecast
Rumors have been circulating for a long time that a cell phone has been created that is built into the human body. I’m not sure if such a device really exists, but the idea of a phone “integrated” with a person seems quite possible, although it resembles science fiction films about cyborgs. Such a device, taking into account the concerns of scientists about the harmfulness of cell radiation, will irradiate its owner excessively, moreover, the question of the ethics of phone implantation operations, their compliance with the norms of religion, morality, and law adopted in a particular country remains open.
Let’s not talk too much about “human phones”, let’s better continue our conversation about the near future of mobile communications – consider the evolution of the design of devices.
Design
You can talk endlessly about the design of modern devices. Therefore, we will not focus on this. I would just like to note that the main modern trends in telephone fashion are thin phones. If we talk about form factors, then now at the peak of popularity are various sliders and clamshells, a lot of monoblock phones. There are devices that stand out from the general range, for example, pen phones. The future seems to be exactly the same, except that there will be some completely new form factors. In particular, Samsung has a development that resembles a hybrid of a slider and a clamshell. It is also quite possible that in the future we will witness periodic “fluctuations” of the main design line.
In addition to the form factor, many cell phone owners are concerned about the life of their phones from a single charge and the ability to charge a mobile friend in field conditions.
Batteries
Fuel cells based on liquid substances have already been created to power mobile devices. It is possible that such elements will soon reach the mass market of phones. It is also possible that solar panels will be used as one of the phone’s power sources. It is possible (if we continue the gloomy topic of embedding a cell in the human body) that our cell phones will receive energy from ourselves. It is possible that micromotors that convert the energy of fuel combustion into electricity will become widespread.
If there are no special changes in the field of batteries for cellular phones, then in a few years our devices will be powered by the same lithium-based batteries. However, nutrition is far from everything that excites us in our pocket friends. It’s time to talk about the computing power of cellular phones and the size of the data storage they have.
Computing, memory, communication
Even today cell phones (however, such devices are more reminiscent of PDAs or laptops, in particular, the Samsung SPH-P9000 device) are equipped with gigahertz processors. This allows such “machines” to run Windows XP. In the future, apparently, what will be called a “cell phone” will be able to accommodate some kind of multi-core mobile processor with a frequency of several gigahertz. The same can be said about mobile chips for cellular graphics processing – they will improve, their use will expand.
As for memory, no special revolutions are expected here – all the same memory cards, all the same hard drives. Volumes, apparently, will increase to hundreds of gigabytes, but this is no longer important, especially considering that the phone of the future, in order to be called a phone, simply must support many advanced communication technologies. And if the connection is fast (and, hopefully, cheap) – why carry gigabytes of information with you?
Communication technology is the foundation that makes all other cellular features attractive and, for the most part, in demand. Today we can see a gradual transition to third-generation cellular communications (theoretically, these are already megabit speeds), in particular, this segment of the cellular market is also developing here in Russia. It is also likely that in the future there will be phones that will allow you to “transparently” move from one type of network to another. For example, on the streets of the city and outside the city it will be UMTS, in offices – Wi-Fi, in the car – Bluetooth.
Conclusions
Phone manufacturers are constantly looking for reasons for users to change their mobile devices. This is one of the engines of progress in the mobile industry. Perhaps, it is thanks to this fact that the devices give us fundamentally new opportunities, become more convenient – why not change the model once again to a new one? What will happen next is always interesting, so I wish everyone an exciting mobile future.
