My first mobile phone was the Ericsson A1018s. I bought it at a gas station in 1999 when I was 11 years old. Some of its biggest features were changing the ringtone (12 options) and caller ID — impressive, I know. You could also customize the device by getting a keyboard plate with a different color.
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Technology has come a long way since. Today’s smartphones sport large touchscreen displays, impressive cameras, and high-tech features like 3D facial recognition. While phones were primarily used for making calls back in the day, we now use them for listening to music, browsing the web, playing games, and watching cat videos on YouTube.
If you told me back in 1999 what these devices would be capable of in around 20 years, I’d call you crazy — and I wouldn’t be alone. Back then, no one could have predicted the impact phones would have on our lives. It would have sounded like science fiction.
This got me thinking: what will smartphones of the future look like? What features will these devices have in 20, 30, or even 50 years that seem like science fiction today? Here’s what I’ve come up with.
Mind control
Back in the day, the main way of using a phone was a physical keypad. This was eventually replaced by the touchscreens we use today. With services like Google Assistant and Samsung Bixby, we can now interact with our devices by using our voices.
I think the next step in this evolution is mind control. The technology would allow you to perform every task via touch or voice with your mind. You could open an app of choice, play a specific video on some futuristic version of YouTube, and even edit images with your thoughts. You could also send a text, control the screen brightness, or create a movie from the videos you’ve captured — you get the picture.
Using smartphones would be a lot faster with mind control. You’d no longer have to search for an app to open it or stretch your finger all the way to the top of the screen to tap it. You could perform any task in a heartbeat.
We’re still far, far away from something like this becoming a reality, but scientists are making progress in this field. As we reported back in 2017, Facebook’s Building 8 division is developing technology to allow people to type with their minds. The typing speed targeted is 100 words per minute, which is about five times faster when compared to typing on our smartphones.
Even though the idea of using a smartphone with your thoughts seems crazy now, it just may become a thing decades down the line. Fingers crossed!
Over-the-air charging
Let’s face it: the battery life of the average smartphone sucks. Even if you have a high-end phone like the Mate 20 Pro with its massive 4,200mAh battery, you’re still only looking at around two days of average use. Once the device runs out of juice, you either have to plug it in for a couple of hours or place it on a wireless charging pad if your phone supports it.
Things could be quite different in the future. A company called Energous is developing technology to charge devices over the air. Place your phone within three feet of the WattUp Mid Field transmitter, and it will start charging right away. I love this idea, but let’s take it a step further.
Imagine a future where these transmitters are more powerful and can charge devices over the air at great distances. They could be placed across countries, just like cell phone towers today, and would constantly charge your smartphone from afar, ensuring it never runs out of juice. These charging transmitters would be so powerful; they’d keep your smartphone’s battery at 100 percent all the time. You’d never have to worry about battery life again and would get rid of all those pesky charging cables for good.
The technology wouldn’t be exclusive to smartphones either. It would constantly charge all your gadgets, from Chromebooks to Bluetooth headphones and smartwatches. It could even charge your electric car, which is what we’ll probably all be driving in the future.
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