It’s very obvious that cellphones will soon become even more intelligent. The capabilities of mobile phones of the mid-2000s paled in comparison to those of their contemporary successors. It appears that there will be no shortage of new smartphone features in the future to keep us further reliant on our little electronic devices, thanks to a number of recent technological developments. These are 12 that you should be aware of.
12. Displays of Photonic Crystals
Even though the majority of modern smartphone screens can display a vast array of highly saturated colors, most of them struggle to adjust to different lighting conditions. Photonic crystals are currently being considered by research and development as the solution to this constraint.
Unlike LCD or OLED displays, which emit bright light, photonic crystal displays have nanostructures that change and adapt to the quantity of ambient light in a particular setting. The photonic screen may be readily incorporated into the phone’s body, much like it is in e-readers like the Kindle Paperwhite, even if it needs an external light source to be visible.
The fact that Google and Apple have been investing heavily in photonics and that Samsung had already shown the idea of a foldable phone using a photonic crystal display in 2013 should give you an indication of how near-market this technology is. In the coming years, it’s likely that we’ll see these screens in smartphones.
11. Batteries using Nanotechnology
Israeli tech company StoreDot unveiled a customized Samsung Galaxy S5 with a battery that used nanotechnology to charge from 0 to 100 percent in less than a minute at the Mobile World Congress show in 2015.
Research into Alzheimer’s disease treatment led to the development of the technology. Scientists discovered via their research that the disease-causing peptide molecules have a very high capacitance, which makes them perfect little electrical storage devices. The StoreDot battery only lasts roughly two-thirds as long as a typical lithium-ion smartphone battery in its current state of development, which is the only drawback. The corporation should be able to upgrade the technology quickly, though. Samsung has already made significant investments in StoreDot, and the company is in talks with manufacturers about incorporating its battery into upcoming devices.
10. Buttons that are liquid
In the past, it was common for phones to have physical keyboards, and any mobile device without one was considered “out of touch.” However, this is no longer the case, and the majority of people believe that tactile keyboards are outdated. That is about to change once more, though, for Tactus Technology has created a keyboard that appears to have been created by a highly developed extraterrestrial culture.
Using unique microfluidics technology, the keyboard forces tiny volumes of liquid into imperceptible pockets that cover the smartphone’s typing surface. The pockets immediately fill with liquid as the user raises the touchscreen keyboard, giving the buttons a tangible lift. Although a new Phorm shell for the iPad Mini already uses the technology, it wouldn’t be shocking to see it integrated straight into upcoming tablets and smartphones.
9. Surround Sound Headphones
With a 7.1 mobile audio solution for smartphones that promises to accurately replicate the sound of particular listening environments using even the most basic pair of headphones, audio developer DTS is hoping to silence the critics of surround sound on headphones. The increased processing capacity of modern smartphones should be able to handle the progress in audio technology, even though there is still more work to be done before the system functions with all source material.
8. Authentication via Biometrics
Although both the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the iPhone 6 use capacitive technology to read the ridges of your finger tips, this technology may be deemed inadequate from a security standpoint because it uses insufficient data points, making it more vulnerable to hacking. Qualcomm, a telecommunications corporation, has improved the idea by creating a new kind of ultrasonic fingerprint scanner that uses a piezoelectric layer to produce ultrasound. The scanner not only maps your finger but also has far higher resolution, which is an added security feature.
7. The Virtual World
There hasn’t been much focus on VR technology on smartphones because soon-to-be-released headsets like Oculus Rift, Playstation VR, and HTC Vive are hogging all the virtual reality-related headlines. However, VR applications are best suited for the new 4K screens that will be available on new smartphones in 2016.
The phone itself will function as the VR headset’s display once it is placed into a head-mounted device, and 4K resolution will be crucial to delivering a pixel-free, immersive experience. Considering how many of us currently bury our faces in our phones and disregard the outside world, this may or may not be a good thing.
6. Graphene
Almost everyone in the electronics sector has hailed graphene as a “wonder material” since it was developed for practical use in 2004. It is more than 200 times stronger than steel and is thin, light, flexible, and transparent. It is perfect for use in electronic equipment because it is one of the best materials for conducting electricity.
Smartphone designs that use graphene could become incredibly thin, transparent, flexible, and nearly unbreakable. Manufacturers of phones have been experimenting with graphene and have recently made some achievements. Most importantly, graphene was created by Samsung’s Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) in a method that preserved its exceptional electrical properties, which had previously proven to be a significant challenge. Within the next several years, this advancement should make flexible, transparent smartphone screens economically feasible.
5. Absence of SIM cards
SIM cards still feel a lot like a holdover from the 1990s, despite efforts by manufacturers to make them smaller. Fortunately, Apple and Samsung are moving forward with replacing SIM cards with electronic versions, so eliminating their physical presence from the globe.
You will effectively be able to move between network providers at any time without needing to seek a new SIM card if your phone has a programmable SIM built in. which should be very helpful for anyone who wishes to set up a local number while traveling or residing overseas. According to reports, the technology might be included into future cellphones as early as the following year.
4. Screens Sensitive to Pressure
As seen by the Force Touch on the Apple Watch, manufacturers are already able to produce screens that can sense pressure. The gaming community will undoubtedly benefit from controls that can differentiate between a light tap and a forceful press, giving users even more options to control their phones.
A patent for something called “Touch Display Apparatus Sensing Force,” which obviously employs the same technology as Apple, has also been filed by Samsung. In July 2015, Chinese company ZTE unveiled the ZTE Axon Mini, which also boasts a pressure-sensitive touch screen.
3. Perfect Voice Communication
Virtual personal assistants and information navigators like Apple’s Siri have been developed as a result of gradual advancements in voice interaction over the years. However, that is only the beginning. Voice-assisted application techniques are developing at a dizzying rate. Given how rapidly technology is developing, it won’t be long until artificial intelligence (AI) gets so perceptive that it begins to provide you advice that appears to anticipate your exact ideas. In order to avoid being reliant on our smartphones in the future, let’s hope that the developers will remember to incorporate Asimov’s three rules of robotics into their creations.
2. Creative Health Apps
Athelas is a new software created by scientists that tracks malignant cells and malaria as they travel through a patient’s blood by using a lens attachment. In order to better understand the movement and spread of extremely contagious diseases like Ebola, scientists are now searching for other ways that smartphones could be used to track these infections.
Diseases should be identified in a matter of hours or even minutes using a cheap phone add-on called PCR, which can tag and track bacteria in the blood. After that, the collected data would be automatically uploaded from the phone to an online database for analysis by other scientists.
It’s simple to see how smartphones could soon revolutionize medical care when you combine this new technology with other programs that are already available and can track things like heart rate and blood pressure.
1. Intelligent cameras
Qualcomm demonstrated a camera in 2015 that demonstrated its ability to recognize the objects it was observing. The technology compares items in the actual world with a sizable reference database that is kept on the device. The program may be trained to comprehend ever-more things, which is the best part. Like a tiny baby A.I.
With the use of this technology, cameras may be able to do a wide range of practical and ingenious tasks related to the real world. With Google Photos, Google has also been working on a comparable kind of deep search identification software. This kind of feature will inevitably become commonplace on phones as camera hardware continues to get smaller and better.
Take note
This article’s content is intended solely for general educational and informational purposes. It examines new smartphone concepts, innovations, and developments based on publicly available research, industry trends, and technological forecasts. No manufacturer or technology provider should consider the information definitive, guaranteed, or formally confirmed, even if every effort has been made to ensure its accuracy.
The topics discussed in this article may be modified, postponed, or never made public due to the rapid advancement of technology. Regional considerations, manufacturer choices, regulatory restrictions, and upcoming research findings may all have an impact on the accessibility, usability, and use of these technologies.
No professional, technical, medical, or engineering advice is provided in this article. This material should not be used by readers in place of official announcements, product instructions, or expert advice. Any decisions the reader makes in light of this material are entirely their responsibility.