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Speculating On the Far Future of Cellphones
Trio writes "What will cellphones look like in in future? silicon.com explores five future characteristics that could shape tomorrow's phones — from a wearable prototype such as MIT's SixthSense device which projects mobile data into the user's world, to a mobile that mixes the real and the virtual by using holographic telepresence. So far, so futuristic, but one question remains: will there be enough spectrum to support all this wireless communication?"
In the U.S., we have the slow, bureaucratic and oligarchic FCC that limits technology from acquiring near limitless spectrum/bandwidth.
We're moving to a truly digital age, but still we have the FCC regulating that we should keep analog/digital spectrum separate for various "needs" such as TV, radio, ham, cordless phones, FRS, etc. It's ridiculous.
We have technology TODAY that allows for frequency hopping, for signal strength negotiation, for handling multiple devices on the same frequencies/channels, etc. Private industries can blossom to utilize the right frequency, the right transceiving power, the right tower hopping mechanisms, etc. But they can't get there because the FCC overregulates and strangulates the future.
On my 3G phone (I'm on AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint, shared via my lovely Cradlepoint router on-the-go even), I can watch TV on-demand. I can listen to music, on-demand. I can read my websites, send my emails, talk via Google voice/Gizmo5 VoIP, send SMS via Google Voice, etc. But there's a limited run of bandwidth.
I don't have a TV at home, so the TV spectrum is useless. I don't listen to radio in the car, so radio spectrum is useless. So much that we do today would be better suited to a HUGE amount of spectrum divvied up and utilized by every device that could hop frequencies as needed to find a clean channel, that could raise power needs when a tower is far but drop them significantly when towers are near.
The future is nearly endless bandwidth for endless users, but we're throttled because our lovely State decides it wants only the powerful to play ball, with the weak kept out of the game.
But what would happen if the FCC went away, and all of a sudden the power players who control TV, radio and other spectra would need to compete with the YouTube amateurs of the world? The powerful would fall. And the State can't let that happen.
IMO speculation about the future of technology is a waste of time. It always turns out very different from what was predicted, because some technologies that seem easy turn out to be (extreme) difficult, like flat TVs and nuclear fusion, and others turn out to much easier than expected. Besides the technical issues there are often changes in society that make the predictions about the future futile. Look at all the past predictions about the future back then, and what do you see? An extrapolation of the technology and mindset that was available at the time. So, predictions are fun, but please don't put any sort of value in them.
-- Cheers!
I'd like future phones to do two things: 1) Not let people mess with their phone at a movie theater. 2) Not let people use the phone while driving.
Really, it is hard for me to imagine that we won't eventually have direct neural interfaces. Why limit ourselves to the sensors and actuators evolution gave us?
What do I want from a phone from the far future?
Well, what I really want is a "phone" that's also a computer and links seamlessly with whatever networks I want to use. So keep that in mind while I describe my perfect "phone":
1) I don't have to think about charging it. This can mean that it is charged wirelessly/beamed power, or it can mean that it runs on something that is essentially endless/minimal maintenance.
2) I don't want to be able to lose it or misplace it. This probably means it would need to be implanted or somehow integrated into clothing.
3) It must give me "augmented reality" overlays - hook into my glasses or smart contact lenses (or into a chip implanted in my eyes) and give me data that way. I *really* want something that can display various information on demand (time, temp, whatever), but also that will enhance my extant senses - maybe a chemical detector built in so I can analyze the air around me, or maybe enhanced audio reception that might recognize certain sounds around me and alert me to them/give me a visual reading of where they're coming from, or maybe facial recognition software that'll tell me who I'm looking at and whatever info they share with me etc. Maps and the like would be nice, too. While we're at it, improve my vision to the infrared and ultra violet as well.
4) Subvocalization capability. I don't want to have to speak aloud to use it - just subvocalize and it'll pick up what I'm saying. Essentially telepathy.
5) Connectivity roughly similar to what I can get with a regular connection to the internet now - none of this edge shit. Even if it was only as good as my current wifi connection at home, that would be a LOT better than my current phone's capability.
6) Agent software that would be capable of handling trivial incoming calls automatically and summarizing them for me via text ("Your mom called, she wants to know your flight details, so I gave her the info; she'll pick you up at the airport." "Your boss had the following notes on your project..." "A telemarketer called, so I played them the 'brown note' and had you placed on the Do Not Call list..."). It should be context aware - it should know that I'm in a movie theater (why should I have to turn it off manually? Just have the theater beam a signal letting smart phones know that they need to not make any noise at all...) and if it's an absolute emergency, I should get a flashing red light in my eye or something like that rather than a ring or vibrate. It should have different screening functions for different levels of people - if I'm working on something important and a guy I went out with once or twice but don't particularly like calls, it should say "She's working, leave a message" and *absolutely* not bother me with it until I want to deal with that. If it's an emergency, again, it should know that I'll want to take the call.
7) It should be capable of - if I want - recording absolutely everything around me, in multiple spectra.
Actually, I don't even want to have to think about it, really - it should just be something that's more or less omnipresent but in the background, unobtrusive unless I want to notice it. Just like my voice, I don't really think about my capability to speak unless I'm actively speaking to someone - the phone is just a way of projecting speech, right? With the augmented reality stuff, it should be entirely customizable - on, off, anything in between, set it up how I want it. With connectivity I should be able to turn it on, turn it off (even force it to stay off for awhile so I can enjoy being "natural").
I don't think any of this is too much to ask for - certainly we'll have the capability to do all that (at least) in the next 50 years or so.
Since I can't tell them apart, I treat all ACs as the same person.