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Home→Technical→The computer of the future will be your mobile phone – revisited

The computer of the future will be your mobile phone – revisited

Computer Aid Posted on by

Back in January 2006, I wrote an article on my vision on the future of computers.

For a recap, take a look at:

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Computer-of-the-Future-Will-be-Your-Mobile-Phone&id=135735

In 3 years, I can say a lot of progress has happened.

Smartphones based on the windows mobile platform, Googles android platform, and of course the iphone platform have improved “computing” usability.

You can now buy a smartphone that can read/synchronise your emails & calendar, GPS can help you navigate, you can play music and videos, use them as a usb drive, surf the internet, use a messenger client, etc

Smart phones have become more powerful, with CPU speeds up to 1000Mhz (!), and some now have integrated graphics accelerators (!!). Dual-core processors are just aroung the corner.

pdakeyboard

But my original idea of having a bluetooth-like connection to a wireless keyboard and mouse, is already here. But wireless bluetooth-like connection to a monitor hasn’t happened yet.

The closest I’ve seen are:

  • USB to dvi adaptors – OK, its not wireless, but an interesting way to plug multiple monitors into a laptop. How long before we have a wireless version might depend on an enterprising individual who sees a potential market.
  • Displaylink – This is really exciting technology. As long as you have a Displaylink-capable monitor, you can plug it into an existing PC or Mac (no support for linux and smartphones 🙁 ), and you can have an extra display without getting a fancy video card… You can have up to 6 monitors connected to one PC. If only this technology can be adapted to use bluetooth, and support added for smartphones…

You might be thinking: why bother? The resolution is going to be low.

Firstly, some modern smartphones have resolutions of 800 X 480, ie: reasonable.

Secondly, there is no reason why smartphones can’t run displays like laptops, where the resolution of the built-in LCD can be lower than the resolution of an external monitor.

So, is it theoretically possible to use existing technology to utilise a smartphone as a “PC”?

Yes, as long as someone develops a Displaylink driver for smartphones.

But can a monitor be used wirelessly?

Well, USB 2.0 is now capable of displaying onto a monitor, and the data transfer rates are 480 Mbits/s

Bluetooth 1.2 is only capable of transferring data at 721 kbit/s (ie not fast enough)

Bluetooth 2.0 tops out at 2Mbits/s … still not fast enough

Bluetooth 3.0 has just been released (April 2009), and uses wifi to reach speeds of 24Mbits/s … also not fast enough. To get a true “laptop in your pocket” effect, you will need speeds about 20 times faster than Bluetooth 3.0.

Wifi running 802.11n is promising: about 100Mbps to 200Mbps

So, it looks like good wireless monitors will take a while yet.

Comments

The computer of the future will be your mobile phone – revisited — 4 Comments

  1. I don’t think you’re really looking ahead enough.

    The computer of the future will be a brain implant. The display will be projected onto your retina, or interpreted directly by your brain, as will sound.

    The interface will be thought.

    This will essentially realize the dream of ‘telepathy’ as we’ll be able to ‘chat’ with other people via these implants, as well as call up information from the cloud by thinking instructions.

    All this is just a matter of a bit of time. Brain interfaces are starting to be developed, and several simple implants have already been done.

    That said, the phone as a PC you carry around and use as a base unit idea is practially here if you use a bit of imagination.

    For the screen, again, you’re missing the obvious solution. That is *projected* screens. These are already here, and an improved version is on the way with laser projection. A better version will be a holographic projection. A bit further down the line that one.

    The keyboard will take a bit more time, but again, what you need to have is a projected image of a keyboard. When you ‘hit a key’ the PCPhone will detect the area you’ve ‘pressed’ and perform the relevant action.

    With the mouse pad working in the same fashion, you don’t need any cumbersome hardware such as monitors and so forth. It’s all there.

    Until the brain implants. 🙂

  2. Interesting. You could have patent your idea. With current Patent System, there’s a chance that your patent will be granted. 🙂

    @Chinaren:
    I have a different idea. The future of computing will be crystal based. Sounds familiar? 🙂

  3. Hi Chinaren,

    Maybe I should have qualified the title: the computer of the near future.

    I meant to indicate what will happen with just a few minor improvements on todays technology, without major leaps forward, and decades of waiting.

    I Remember seeing the first “greyscale” LCD laptop screens back in the early 1990’s, and the first colour LCD screen around 1994… It took 10 years before the prices dropped low enough that LCD screens started becoming common.

    Projection technology will need SERIOUS battery power: it aint gonna happen for a long while.

    Yes, I like the idea of brain implants (as do most tech addicts), but I can see most of the “privacy doomsayers” objecting to this technology.

    Its very “big brother” in that a government (or someone with the right access) can track you, just like they can now track your mobile phone.

    If you don’t want to be contacted, at least you can leave you mobile behind. You can’t do that with a brain implant!!!

    A brain / mobile phone hybrid can work: The brain implant is just an interface to an external “processor”… so you can unplug the processor if you want to disconnect from the borg collective, umm, I mean the, ummm, internet! yes, thats it, the internet! … you will use twitter … resistance is futile. 🙂

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