Assembling the Phone of the Future

Unlike fashion which is a randomly cyclical discipline, technology rarely repackages its newly-fangled features from fossilized ones. It’s an unceasing upward pursuit; not a series of expected recurrences. Once an electronic device has come and gone, it is forever extinct. That means you will never have to use a 3 1/2 floppy disk to save your files and the jumpsuits and bohemian skirts you loathed last year will return to torment you and your vague fashion sense that never seems to get the best from the elliptical movements of the haute couture world.

As we hitch onto the automobiles of Technological Mecca, this is one way to smash the rearview mirror and look through the wind shield: Let’s pull the future into the present and see how the ‘Phone of the Future’ will look and how different it will be among the ‘smartphones’ of today (I perceive it erroneous to use the word ‘smartphone’ as it may turn out to be a retronym two to three years down the road. Who knows?).

Presaging the future isn’t so hard nowadays as gizmos of the era already border on scientific-fiction to mild surrealism. Our smartphone manufacturers keep on raising the bar as each unit proves to be a viable option for one or more niche markets and users. For once, let’s put on the cloak of ‘industry experts’ and set the minimum standards for the ‘phones of the future’. This feels so Nostradamus-like; only that I don’t portend scary and apocalyptic stuff!

Disclaimer: For the smartphone makers, the ideas expressed here don’t have any implication whatsoever on how you should conduct your next mobile phone release. This is not a de rigueur article that must be taken seriously (Glean the hint of irony in the preceding sentences! *chuckles*).

APPS OF THE PHONE OF THE FUTURE

• Rise and Shine! Blaring alarms with increasing intensity is so mainstream. I wish there would be an app that would be integrated with your bank accounts. Snoozing it for an X number of minutes will automatically connect via Wi-Fi to your online bank account and donate a certain amount of your real money to an organization of your choice. Unless you don’t want to be unfairly robbed off your moolah, you better avoid any snooze incidents. Example: Snuznluz!
• Get to Your Destination- In Style! So you don’t know where the nearest hotel is, and you already feel the need to hit the sack? Prop up your smartphone and it will project a hologram of the vicinity a la GPS and it will show you where your intended location is. Be careful not to be too engrossed in the projected image or you will be an unfortunate part of the vehicular accidents statistics.
• Digital Wallet! (Why am I overusing the exclamation marks?!) Gone are the days when one has to bring a stuffed up wallet that contains crisp paper bills and credit cards: Soon, your favorite club will have to require premium membership by NFC tickets. Then you have to treat your pals to a round of booze and wave your phone for payment. I wonder if we can already do this in LIV Nightclub. Miami Beach, I am sailing for you!
• Mutant Photo Captures! You scrimped and saved for that Jonas Brothers concert only to secure a seat on the balcony. While many of you can savor the performance because of the stentorian sounds coming from the speakers, your phone’s 60MP camera can compensate for the relative distance between the balcony seats and the stage: You can zoom it and capture the perfect shooting angle of your subject- whether it’s a mind-shattering head bang or the sweat trickling down the face of your favorite artist. Or his fly wide open.
• A Hard-Shelled Device! Being an eternal klutz no longer needs a Band-Aid or overly dogged solution: So what if your smartphone accidentally falls from your uncoordinated hand? Fear not the possibility of permanent welts and scratches. With the liquid-repellent, nano-coating technology, you can wipe your phone clean of mud and dirt, and still gaze back on its miraculously pristine state. Something to ponder about the state of durability of today’s mobile handsets.
• Warm thy House! Hate the chills of the early December winter breeze? How about the frost building up on your car’s glass windows? With a thermostat app that remotely controls the temperature of your home, you can enjoy a warm and cozy feeling once you go past the front door. You can also regulate the temperatures in the different parts of the house.
• Stream with Ease- Anytime, Anywhere! Superfluity recognized, I always say that I am the type of traveler who doesn’t leave the house without any books inside my backpack. Only when the hefty bulk of books I used to carry had put a strain on my shoulders and my back did I resolve to try another mode of leisure and entertainment: Movie-streaming! And the choice isn’t as demanding as simply perusing a book of average thickness while taking the train to California. With a movie app that lets me stream my fave flicks like The Avengers, and Star Wars, travel time will no longer be a nuisance to me. What is more awesome is that I can lay my eyes on an unfettered 1080p, 5-inch display screen. With a spunky 4G technology, I don’t have to brood on what ‘great viewing experience’ is: It’s just in front of my eyes!

Isn’t that fun? To think that what we have only discussed are some cool apps that the ‘phone of the future’ must have under its belt!

You can also pitch in your own idea and profile of the ‘Phone of the Future’. Who knows what kind of ideas your creative minds may spawn. For the meantime, let’s rest on what we most likely expect of our future phones and leave the crumbling pressure to our smartphone makers.

Till the first FUTURE PHONE materializes…!!!