Where will smartphones be in five years time?

[peacemf]

The iphone has been for about 5 years now.

back in 2007 it was pretty cool, the first proper touch screen phone with proper apps. yes yes i know there were touch screen phones prior, but not like this.

Its 2012 and everything is has a touch screen, 4g is coming the new standard, nfc is still a baby.

So what are you expecting your phone will do in 2017?

i expect windows mobile do be doing pretty well, android as well. RIM should be gone by then , apple should be somwhere in the middle or in third place is the next model isnt a major upgrade.

[Phouchg]

HTC YZX, Galaxy S VII and iPhone 9, all suffering from chronic sequelitis, will have 16-core processors, 8 GB RAM, 4K screens, but somehow still unable to match any decent full desktop OS equipment unless Haswell from Intel and 14XM from Globalfoundries indeed succeed in making x86 efficient on the go.

[Sebastian Swann]

I think Jelly Bean will have around 10% of Android devices till then.

[123456789A]

The iPhone 9 will have 7 rows of icons and satellite imagery with skeuomorphic clouds blocking your view. Millions will buy it for this feature.

Android will have a wireless interface with Google Glasses, which sends Google Government a copy of everything you see in real time.

Nokia will be the only remaining Windows Phone manufacturer with the Lumia 999.

[Rippleman]

I think Jelly Bean will have around 10% of Android devices till then.

while Google will be making their 5th new "tasty treat" by then :)

Aside from joking, you will see it in glasses i feel. the Google/Apple/Samsung/Microsoft glasses battle is about to begin in the next 2 years... (even though Microsoft typically makes software, i think they will go forward in manufacturing these just like the surface)

[Growled Member]

I think we've hit a plateau in phones and will see very little difference 5 years from now.

[Crisp]

Nano technology, a microchip inserted in your skin behind your ear, all commands from voice with a hud display connected wireless by the users glasses.

Nah, in 5 years can't see much progress to be honest.

[nub]

I think we've hit a plateau in phones and will see very little difference 5 years from now.

I'd have to agree. I see the iPhone becoming less relevant.

[UKDarkJedi]

I agree about the plateau, I can't even really see how the next gen can improve, let alone in two or three gens time. I think we're a VERY long way off embedded devices (under skin, etc), looking at way over 10 years unless something radical happens with battery technology soon.

I can see glasses tech in maybe 5 years, but again, power is the problem here. There's no issues with having a proper phone like we have today sending extra information to an external device as these already exist in many forms.

I think though we will see a divergence in what phones become used for. We've already seen them used less for standard phone operations (calling & texting) and more for social communication, tweeting, book of the face, youtube, etc etc and this will be less reliant on the tech and more on the software to link everything together in some way not realised yet.

[The King of GnG]

The morons that updates their phones every ****ing 6 months (as if there was some CRITICAL reason to waste their money on 1.1 or 2.0 or 5.0 mobile toys) will be bankrupt, hopefully, so I will be back to my computer business without being forced to read/think/write huge amounts of smoking poop about the mobile crap every damn day of my life....

[Hardcore Til I Die]

Similar hardware but better software.

Cloud services will be a lot more popular, hardly anything will be stored on the device.

[Royalty]

or maybe even this

[Detection]

"Where will smartphones be in five years time?"

2017

[.Neo]

i expect windows mobile do be doing pretty well

You expect Windows Mobile to do "pretty well by 2017"? I think you just pushed wishful thinking and clinging on to the past to a whole new level.

[threetonesun]

To be honest, I think this is where Windows 8 has the right idea. 5 years from now I'd like to be able to plug my phone into a dock and have it be a pretty useable computer. This would be huge for the business world.

[grayscale]

in my pocket, unless it's a Note or an iPhone. Imagine the sizes of those two phones by that time :p

[Detection]

To be honest, I think this is where Windows 8 has the right idea. 5 years from now I'd like to be able to plug my phone into a dock and have it be a pretty useable computer. This would be huge for the business world.

I agree with this, having a portable fully featured PC is the way to go, mobile phones will fade away, it will be a Computer that can make calls, not a phone that can access the net

[Linkinfamous]

They're going to be replacing computers for most users. Dumb terminals with NFC docking pads will be taking over their role.

Then, gaming consoles.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

I agree with this, having a portable fully featured PC is the way to go, mobile phones will fade away, it will be a Computer that can make calls, not a phone that can access the net

wasn't Ubuntu working on something like this? the phone would be running android, but when you put the phone on a dock connected to a monitor you'd get fully featured Ubuntu on the screen, and you'd still be able to use all your android apps in windows like normal programs, including texting app and call app

[Detection]

wasn't Ubuntu working on something like this? the phone would be running android, but when you put the phone on a dock connected to a monitor you'd get fully featured Ubuntu on the screen, and you'd still be able to use all your android apps in windows like normal programs, including texting app and call app

Yea, I've not heard anything else about it, I was looking forward to that

http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/android

[basques]

We'll still have a reasonable sized device in our hands that we can use as a normal mobile device, highly integrated with cloud services. Heck, everything will be coming from cloud at that time. Everything will be wireless and mobile device will be the hub. When you sit at your desk, you'll put your mobile on a wireless charging deck which will also automatically connect to your monitors, keyboard and mouse on your desk. You'll be able to use a familiar desktop environment and it will be your mobile driving it (awesome for casual computer needs).

When you go to your couch, to have some light reading experience, you won't be turning on your slate/tablet. Instead you'll wake up your extremely thin multi touch screen, which won't have any internals other then a wireless hdmi connection to your mobile phone and the sole purpose will be to provide you with a larger screen while still using your phone for all processing/connectivity. (you'll be able to keep all your data in one location + cloud).

Not sure we can get there, but this is where I want it to be. At least I want slate displa accessories for mobiles.

[+Majesticmerc MVC]

Going out on a limb with some of these, others are more realistic:

• Design wise, I don't think much will have changed. Candybar form factor is the (forseeable) future.
  
• Advances in e-ink might have an effect on screen designs, although within 5 years I doubt it.
  
• Introduction of screens with 3D buttons.
  
• Adoption, and then abandonment of gesture interfaces as a gimmick (meanwhile, gesture interfaces on tablets/laptops, desktops and, in particular, TVs are very popular).
  
• LG out of the smartphone market. Nokia on top with Windows Phone devices OR languishing, being propped up by dumbphone sales, depending on market reaction to Lumias.
  
• Increase in Windows Phone adoption, still third place around the 15-20% mark, still climbing slowly.
  
• Android steady, but falling. Mainly losing out to Windows Phone and Firefox OS.
  
• iOS recovers from slump after iPhone 5, 5S fail to impress.
  
• Firefox OS has good introduction, survives as OS for cheap phones, replacing some of Android's market share. Little impact on WP or iOS sales.
  
• High focus on desktop integration in WP, iOS and Android. WP with Windows, iOS with OSX, Android as both a mobile OS and low-end desktop OS, replacing ChromeOS entirely.
  

I don't see a big trend towards integrated phone/laptops. I can't imagine anything that would **** me off more than losing access to my desktop every time I answer the phone. Although, advancements in NFC-related technologies may make it feasible, so I could be wrong.

[ATLien_0]

Well it seems to come and go in waves as far as UI/Software vs Hardware refinement. I think over the past few months we have really seen a push for better software UIs, now with Nokia and HTC were are finally seeing some shifts on the Hardware side of things. Most won't agree with me on this, but the candybar touch screen idea is actually not the best design idea. Its not tactile enough like older phones, and makes it harder for people with disabilities. Over the next few years I think we will see a great shift towards a more tactile touch system.

[123456789A]

What ever happened to all that talk about bendable phones from Nokia? I bet they'll have a phone that can morph into various shapes.

[Hum]

I think we'd be better off tossing the phones away. :p