What's Next For Smartphone Innovation

SternisheFan sends in an article about the new features and developments we can expect out of smartphones in the near future. The shortlist: more sensors for tracking the world outside the phone, more gesture-based (i.e. non-touch) input, and integration with wearable computers like smartwatches and Google Glass. From the article: "These under-appreciated components -- the gyroscope, accelerometer, magnetometer, and so forth -- are starting to get more friends in the neighborhood. Samsung, for instance, slipped pressure, temperature, and humidity sniffers into the Galaxy S4. They may not be the sexiest feature in your phone, but in the future, sensors like accelerometers will be able to collect and report much more detailed information. ... In addition to air quality, temperature and speed of movement are also biggies. [Also, a smartphone that can] track your pulse, or even double as an EKG, turning the everyday smartphone into a medical device. ... [For wearable computing,] your smartphone is still there, still essential for communicating with your environment, but it becomes only one device in a collection of other, even more personal or convenient gadgets, that solve some of the same sorts of problems in different or complementary ways." What do you think will be the next generation of killer features for smartphones?

Comments

Re:Innovation

[greenfruitsalad]

durability AND battery life. not OR. these 2 features are the only 2 i would happily pay extra for. i don't need the phone to glow blue when orcs are near, pluck my nose hair or keep my crotch cool in summer. I want it to be soft&bendy (TM) so I can sit on it (with keys/coins in the same pocket) and i don't want to have to carry a 5 year old nokia in my bag in case i actually need a phone for emergency, because there's 80% chance my main phone will be out of juice when i need it most.