What's Next For SmartPhones?

In 1992 the first Smartphone was introduced to the world as a Concept product at the COMDEX computer industry trade show in Las Vegas., NV. The mobile phone was called “Simon” and its feature set included a touch screen, stylus, calendar, World Clock, address book, calculator, eMail, Fax, games and a note pad.

Smartphones have come a long way in just 17 years. Although many of the original features still exist, (Facsimiles? Really? Well, I guess it was still cool in 1992…) they’ve added things like Global Positioning Systems, Digital Cameras, Accelerometers, contact management, QWERTY keyboards, Media Software (for your .mp3’s and videos) and are seen operating across a range of platforms from “Windows Mobile” to Google’s Linux-based “Android” and the Mac OS X based “iPhone OS.”

According to Sacha Wunsch-Vincent of the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) these Smartphones are just “One Evolution in an Evolution …the deal here is to make the device as invisible as possible, between you, and what you want to do”

The obvious Question, then, is “What’s Next?”

Solar Panel LCD Screens

A little over a year ago, Apple filed a patent detailing how they can incorporate solar cells into mobile devices placing them behind the LCD screens. For those of us who don’t keep sunshine in our pocket, Idaho-based M2E has been developing a Kinetic Gadget Charger. Couple these green energy ideas with the recently released “Wireless iPhone Chargers” from Wildcharge and “Palm’s Touchstone Wireless” chargers for the Palm PRE and what have you got? Well, wireless energy for one. You won’t have the excuse that you forgot to charge your phone anymore, for another. Outdoor Enthusiasts or sailors would be able to use their Smartphones as a map and compass on week-long hikes and boat-trips, and with solar or kinetic energy, the Smartphone could very easily act as a fail-safe emergency beacon if anything unfortunate were to happen.

Ad Supported Wireless Service

Well now that we it can nearly charge itself, what else will our Smartphone do for us? How about pay for its own way?

If Hotmail was any indicator that users are willing to endure the occasional ad-banner, and the success of Google’s Adsense program is the continued trend, then an argument could be made for the use of ad-sponsored Smartphones. It’s as simple as it sounds: The user purchases their new or gently loved iPhone or Blackberry. They then subscribe to a monthly service provided by their preferred carrier which, in lieu of charging them a monthly fee, provides them with advertisements for useful products. Now while most people may not be fans of the idea, imagine having all the benefits of a Smartphone at no cost. If the carrier were really bright, they’d incorporate the sponsorships and advertisements in a way as unobtrusive (and effective) as possible, best serving the interests of their advertising clients as well as their service users.

Brain-Machine Interface

So the future of Smartphones is a bunch of gimmicks? Our iPhone and Palm PRE are doomed to a future of commercial sales-points that any chuckle-head with a marketing degree could imagine? It’s not likely. Think back to what Wunsch-Vincent of the OECD had to say. “…make the device as invisible as possible between you and what you want to do.”

Companies and institutes all over the world have been researching BMI (Brain-Machine Interface) for years now. Honda has a video floating around with their friendly little “Asimo.” A BMI controlled humanoid robot who Honda claims “responded correctly to human thoughts in more than 90% of all cases.”

The Fraunhoffer Institute in Berlin has spent over two years developing what they call a “Human brain-computer interface,” which, still in its infancy, can allow you to move a cursor around a screen or type a sentence in five to ten minutes. While many of us measure our ability to type in words per minute, ten minutes to compose a sentence isn’t long for a severely disabled person who hasn’t been able to communicate in years.

Augmented Reality

Last but not least there’s MIT Media Lab’s “Sixth Sense,” an Augmented Reality device which allows users to project digital data onto surfaces in the world around them, and interact with that data using natural hand gestures. Comprised of a projector, a camera and a mirror, and attached to a mobile computing device which could fit in a pocket, the “Sixth Sense” has potential to trump Apples ‘Dual Touch’ and Microsoft’s Surface Computers in size and potential.

Why are we suddenly talking about computers, though? Because it’s folly to look into the near future when asking a question like “What is the future of Smartphones.” With technology already in existence like I-Tech’s Virtual Laser Keyboard, the future of computers is the future of Smartphones.

The Sixth Sense is intended to make the internet a tactile, real-world phenomenon. A possibility exists where you can research the dietary nutrition of a product as you’re standing in the aisle of your grocery, purchase it immediately with the scan of a laser and walk out with your pockets full.

The future where a BMI-Smartphone can gauge the level of a users’ intoxication, disable their vehicle, call them a cab and then direct the cab driver by GPS sounds Orwellian, but might not be that far off.

Augmented Reality (that yellow “First Down” line in NFL football broadcasts) would only take a set of glasses, and your “NavMan” is painting the route in your line of sight, so you really can’t miss that blind driveway.

The only thing missing is an implant physically connecting us with our Smartphones. Considering how common Bluetooth headsets are, and the precedent set by the Software Designer who recently replaced his missing ring finger with a USB Drive, the Science Fiction of implanted Smartphones is rapidly becoming reality.