Whats next for cell phones?

[chawski]

I was having a conversation about this the other day with a friend...We already have the largest feasible screen to allow the phone to fit in a pocket, we already have pretty much the fastest processors a li ion battery will allow (without either making the phone an inch thick and 3lbs or turning your cell phone into a landline that can be unplugged for short amounts of time if necessary), we already have text and voice input...

My question is: Whats next?

 

[Bnice]

Dual core processor,higher resolution,battery improvement and with my EVO i think the camera/video can improve.

 

[happy0506]

bnice is probably right with processing power, better screens and battery life. also, based on the iOS and what samsung is doing, it looks like sharing apps and data between your cell phone, tablet, computer, and tv. the galaxy line has some sort of hub that seems to be going in that direction.

also, with the increased processing power, apps are going to get faster and more sophisticated.

 

[chawski]

Dual core processor,higher resolution,battery improvement and with my EVO i think the camera/video can improve.

dual core processor is gonna destroy a battery, as will higher resolution and larger screens. Battery improvement isnt going to happen unless someone revolutionizes the way we power portable electronic devices. if you think the complaints sprint/htc saw with battery life was bad when the evo came out, thats gonna be nothing compared to the complaints of trying to power a dual core processor. Unfortunately, the only real way to make a li ion battery last longer is to make it bigger/heavier.

Also, data sharing is already available, assuming youre talking about tethering?

 

[Harry2]

Yes, better batteries.
There is real hope for double charge with same size of the battery body
Amprius’s Silicon Nanowire Batteries Seek Faster Manufacturing Processes For Lower Price | Energy Storage

Harry

 

[lordofthereef]

dual core processor is gonna destroy a battery, as will higher resolution and larger screens. Battery improvement isnt going to happen unless someone revolutionizes the way we power portable electronic devices. if you think the complaints sprint/htc saw with battery life was bad when the evo came out, thats gonna be nothing compared to the complaints of trying to power a dual core processor. Unfortunately, the only real way to make a li ion battery last longer is to make it bigger/heavier.

Also, data sharing is already available, assuming youre talking about tethering?

Nothing about a higher resolution screen is going to innately destroy your battery. iPhone 4 has one of the ncest screen on the market (IMO), is higher resolution than any android phone (at least in the US that I know of) and doesn't use any more power than anything else. In many cases LED screens are more efficient than some of the screens we have on the market today.

Basically I think efficiency is what needs to improve in phones today moreso than anything else.

 

[alextop30]

The silicone based battery looks a bit too unrealistic to be able to be plausible soon. As the current products on the market stand there is almost no way to support a dual core in a phone. Maybe if there was some way to either make a self recharge battery or find a whole new way to store power.

 

[SoFLO]

Quad core phones powered by pixie dust

 

[IOWA]

dual core processor is gonna destroy a battery, as will higher resolution and larger screens. Battery improvement isnt going to happen unless someone revolutionizes the way we power portable electronic devices. if you think the complaints sprint/htc saw with battery life was bad when the evo came out, thats gonna be nothing compared to the complaints of trying to power a dual core processor. Unfortunately, the only real way to make a li ion battery last longer is to make it bigger/heavier.

Also, data sharing is already available, assuming youre talking about tethering?

Actually no, the hot off the printer dual core mobile processors actually use less power than today's snapdragons/cortex/omap processors.

Displays, such as SAMOLED, are using less and less power, while increasing resolution, size, and color saturation.

So in short, your wrong.

 

[dan330]

Skynet...

the jumbo connections between..
pc to internet
mainframes to internet
cell phones to internet
tablets to internet
more and more devices to internet

internet has more connections than the human brain..
each connection is to a powerful CPU..

it develops a self-awareness

 

[AndroidSPCS]

The phone will become a hub more than ever. It will be used to pay for things, provide secure access, act as a mobile ATM, automate more things at home and work, and be a lot more capable. We've only begun to scratch the surface.

 

[Thefoodman52]

What's next? Higher and higher efficiency, just like all technology.

Before you know it, we'll be buying phones running 2gb of ram, and multi core processors.

 

[chawski]

Actually no, the hot off the printer dual core mobile processors actually use less power than today's snapdragons/cortex/omap processors.

Displays, such as SAMOLED, are using less and less power, while increasing resolution, size, and color saturation.

So in short, your wrong.

when they come out, id love to be proven wrong. Until i see the proof, im gonna bet within the first week of a subforum for a dual core phone, there will be atleast 100 comments on poor battery life. its simple, phones are encouraging people to use them more and more, but manufacturers still think a 1500mah battery is sufficient.

Also about the iphone 4, I have a few close friends using them that cant make it to dinner on last nights charge...not saying that is purely due to the screen, bc its not, but i think it simply comes down to battery performance being the bottleneck to what a phone can do, or for how long it can do it

 

[IOWA]

when they come out, id love to be proven wrong. Until i see the proof, im gonna bet within the first week of a subforum for a dual core phone, there will be atleast 100 comments on poor battery life. its simple, phones are encouraging people to use them more and more, but manufacturers still think a 1500mah battery is sufficient.

Also about the iphone 4, I have a few close friends using them that cant make it to dinner on last nights charge...not saying that is purely due to the screen, bc its not, but i think it simply comes down to battery performance being the bottleneck to what a phone can do, or for how long it can do it

Here's the question that will define this thread.

How long do people really think a battery should last, given all the capabilities these phones have, and the amount of time they are using them? How can people expect so much out of so little?

Sure battery tech needs to improve. But that still doesn't mean newer processors (yes, dual core too) already developed, and in testing stages now (read: soon to be released) can't be more power efficient than today's already being used processors. And this is the case already.

 

[Thefoodman52]

How long do people really think a battery should last, given all the capabilities these phones have, and the amount of time they are using them?

How can people expect so much out of so little?

They think it should last a week and half like their old flip-phones used to.

They're american.

 

[dan330]

i am reasonable...

i want full day of hard use

 

[chawski]

I think a normal work day of regular use is reasonable to ask from a phone/pda

 

[IOWA]

I think a normal work day of regular use is reasonable to ask from a phone/pda

Regular use is subjective. For one person it's two phone calls and a text or five. For another, it's streaming youtube, playing games, checking your email, and surfing the web.

 

[JunBringer]

i am reasonable...

i want full day of hard use

I think for people who really use their phones hard/frequently this can be accomplished just be being smart about it. I'm sure people have seen all the battery saving tips threads for Evo etc. Android just gives you more control and comes out of the box with everything on all the time, so if you don't do your homework they die quickly. SMARTphone get it

Really though considering how popular these things are getting they should really set something up for new users so that this isn't the case. We'll see.

 

[chawski]

one thing id love to see is a phone with 2 separate batteries, allowing a hot swap. I dont imagine it would need anything more than a large watch battery as a secondary to hold it for a few seconds while you swap. either that or 2 slightly smaller than normal batteries that allow you to easily swap in a new one without powering down.

 

[AndroidSPCS]

Hot swapping battery is way low down on the list of priorities, imho. Shutting down the phone for a few seconds to swap batteries is no biggie.

What I dislike is how hard it can be to pry the battery cover off just to swap the battery sometimes. The Captivate's back cover comes off super easy and is put back on very securely. One of my favorite features about the hardware.

On the Evo / Epic it's inserting your finger nail into the back cover to pry the cover off. I don't like that much.

 

[olbriar]

Hot swapping battery is way low down on the list of priorities, imho. Shutting down the phone for a few seconds to swap batteries is no biggie.

What I dislike is how hard it can be to pry the battery cover off just to swap the battery sometimes. The Captivate's back cover comes off super easy and is put back on very securely. One of my favorite features about the hardware.

On the Evo / Epic it's inserting your finger nail into the back cover to pry the cover off. I don't like that much.

How about a battery access without removing the back? A push in to engage and another push in to release and exchange the replacement.

Or a trickle solar charger like some watches employee....

However, I think the acceptable mark for a battery should be 16 hours or so for the biggest power users. The rest of us might get two days use.. what the hey. If such a battery could be developed.. you could disregard the above mentioned work arounds.

 

[chawski]

im currently getting around 16 hours on my rooted hero, but i realize the specs are nothing compared to whats out on current phones and whats likely to be seen on future phones. I think that might even be asking too much, but i think a regular work day is more than reasonable to ask for.

Id define "regular use" as what you are likely to do in the business place. email, calls, texts, maybe a few news etc apps for down time.

 

[Aypse]

Next, cell phones will next single-handedly cure obesity and flat chested women.

A small bio-electrical generator will be implanted in a women's breast (men's testicle?) drawing nutrients out of an artery, converting it to electrical energy, and sending it to a battery in the other breast to be stored with a micro-usb port in the nipple. Cell phone battery is dead? Plug it in and BOOM! Completely charged.

There ya go, obesity prevented, dead cell phones a thing of the past, and women get breast enlargements. My next trick, a combo fix for flat tires and malaria...still working on the details.

 

[dan330]

^^^ ewww.... I dont want those fixed.. Breasts... perfect the way they are!