10 ms·

Do you think phones are a "done" thing? I mean what we are seeing these days is more of an evolution than revolution. With iPhone X I think we know what the pho

Do you think phones are a "done" thing? I mean what we are seeing these days is more of an evolution than revolution. With iPhone X I think we know what the phone industry will move towards for next 4 years. All these features are cool and somewhat exciting but nothing groundbreaking that will change computing/communications forever. VR was supposed to be the game changer but it appears that it will also take around 4-5 years at least to be mainstream. What do you think will bring the next revolution in personal computing and communications?

TekMol 9y ago
Glasses that make you see the interface as good as a monitor would be a huge step forward. It's awesome that now we have a supercomputer in our pocket that is stuffed with sensors, needs no cables and is always connected to the internet. But looking at it is still cumbersome.
hfourm 9y ago
I really wish a phone company would just make a "macbook pro" of the phone world. Something where the hardware and battery can keep up with the OS for the next 4 years. Something where every new OS release isn't destroying my performance, and maybe even MAKING my performance better. We are getting all this new tech in the phone space, faster processors, more ram, etc. But prices keep going up for "premium" experiences. Seems backwards to me
- hellofunk 9y ago
  > Something where the hardware and battery can keep up with the OS for the next 4 years. I'm still using a 6 year old iPhone on the current OS without problems. And battery is working fine too.
  - saagarjha 9y ago
    > 6 year old iPhone on the current OS You might be stretching it a bit there, but otherwise this point stands.
    - unexpected 9y ago
      I am using an iphone 5s, 64 gb version - it's been my daily phone for since it was released. I've had no issues, other than finally replacing the battery this last year for $30. Admittedly, I'm upgrading this cycle, but I'm super impressed by how long this phone has lasted. I bought a Nexus 4 (9 months older phone), and it's been complete shit for the past 1.5 years.
      - saagarjha 9y ago
        iPhone 5S came out in 2013.
        unexpected 9y ago
        I know! September 20, 2013!
      - walterstucco 9y ago
        My Xiaomi Mi5 costed 200 dollars , shipping included, it's much better than iPhone 5s and battery last 36 hours Only real problem is the glass A 5 dollar protection fixed the problem fixed typo: 120 dollars was really 200.
        unexpected 9y ago
        That's great - but the Mi5 came out in February 2016. I'm not sure why you can compare it to a phone that was release in October 2013. I would hope that the Mi5 would be better than the 5s!
        walterstucco 9y ago
        The Mi4 was still better than an iPhone 5s Apple ecosystem has no escape routes, either you take it all or you don't. Anyway when the iPhone 5s came out it costed 800 euros in Europe and still costs around 250 euros on Amazon. The iPhone's price makes no f*ing sense I can understand rich people wanting it, I don't get why regular folks spend so much money for so little real value.
- Helmet 9y ago
  You just described iphone....seriously, my iphone 5 still works great, as does my 2012 macbook pro (admittedly, i swapped in a ssd + ram)
  - walterstucco 9y ago
    But not my MacBook Pro retina from 2014, ram is soldered onto the motherboard so I cannot upgrade That's why many feels Apple is going backwards And that's why many like me are not buying their new products They're simply not a good value for money anymore My next laptop is a Dell XPS My phone's are Xiaomis as well as all my "smart home" gadgets At least if they break I have better guarantees from a company that's not trying to sell me support as a religion that you have to go to the temple and/or they are much cheaper Faceid is not worth a thousand dollars It's a joke for rich spoiled people
- snom380 9y ago
  My iPhone 6 is from 2014, next year it'll still run a supported OS that seems to be about as snappy as the previous version. Assuming a yearly iOS release that's 4 years next year (assuming they stop supporting iPhone 6 in iOS 12). I think prices have stayed pretty much the same or become lower over the years. You can get a 64GB iPhone 8 this year for $699, vs $749 for the iPhone 6 in 2014. I think the iPhone 8 is still a pretty "premium" experience, even if Apple now has a more fancy and more expensive model.
  - photojosh 9y ago
    I think they'll be supporting older devices with iOS updates even longer going forward. The 32 vs 64-bit CPU was the line in the sand this year. And the iPhone SE has the same CPU as the 6 but is still considered a current model.
    - sjwright 9y ago
      > the iPhone SE has the same CPU as the 6 The SE uses Apple A9 CPU from the 6S.
      - photojosh 9y ago
        It does too. My bad.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
Osmium 9y ago
> Do you think phones are a "done" thing? I mean what we are seeing these days is more of an evolution than revolution. It's always been an evolution. What we're seeing now is a trend towards cellular everywhere, and device-agnostic services (same phone number on your Apple Watch as your iPhone). The next shift seems like it will be greater situational awareness in your devices -- your device can understand its surroundings (ARKit), and what you look like (Face ID). So phones as a category may lose their uniqueness, in that other devices can fill the same roll, but I think we'll always see an evolution of a phone -- that is, a pocketable connected computing device.
- aeleos 9y ago
  It wasn't always an evolution. Despite all the apple "oh we changed everything look at us" they really did. And for the first few years after that everything was changing so fast it was a revolution. But it has since slowly died out and I guess new technologies with faster innovation will become the new iphone revolution
  - Osmium 9y ago
    True, but capacitive multi-touch hasn't been the only innovation in the iPhone over the years. We forget just how limited the original iPhone was (no 3G, slow CPU -- it took ages to render a webpage, even though it was a huge step up over its contemporaries, it was still barely fit for purpose, no App Store either). I think the slides in the keynote were actually on-point for this, there've been multiple innovations (multi-touch, high-DPI screens, Touch ID, their shift to in-house processors, computational photography), and it's really the aggregate that's lead to a great device. But break it down and it is an iterative, evolutionary process. That's why so many people often seem disappointed after every keynote! That said, maybe the original iPhone really was a bit special :-)
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
    - jmknoll 9y ago
      I'm not sure if it neccesarily that the first iPhone was special in an of itself, but that the shift to mobile was special, and was largely enabled by the iPhone. Subsequent models aren't tied to a once-in-a-generation shift in technology, and so they feel more like iterative improvements.
DigitalJack 9y ago
What we call a phone will evolve. Some great communication device or method will come about. Pocket computers are pretty handy though. Maybe it will evolve into wrist computers or necklaces or something. The smart watches are coming along, but they all have the problem of screen real estate. To be fair, phones have it too, but with the various zoom features and "readability" modes, they work around it. I think we'll have something akin to the smartphones (whether or not they include a phone feature) until we have portable, practical, hands-free displays. It will probably be a fashion accessory that rasters directly on the retina.
programbreeding 9y ago
I don't have much to add, only to say that I generally agree. I first started creating custom roms for the Sprint HTC Hero when it came out in 2009. It was my first Android phone and I was in love with everything about it. I was obsessed with getting the next new phone with new features every time a new one came out. I made pretty good money and saved most of it; buying new phones was the one thing I would splurge on. Now it's 2017 and I have had the same phone for just under 2 years. Previously I wouldn't go 6 months without buying a new phone, so having the same one for 2 years seems like a lifetime. But I just don't feel like I have a reason to get a new one. It feels like the same thing over and over again.
- problems 9y ago
  I've felt the same way. I went from crappy low-end Android devices when I had no money in school to a Nexus 4 and I haven't seen reason to upgrade since. The only reasons I've done so have been because I cracked a screen and because I wanted to hand down a device to someone else. Been sitting on my OnePlus One for a few years - looking at the market now and not seeing any reason to upgrade still. Worse, I get worried about some newer devices which may make me less free - the Pixel has a very locked down boot process and the Magisk developer has been struggling to support it. I currently use Android Pay on my rooted device and I'm definitely not willing to pay to lose that freedom.
  - programbreeding 9y ago
    The N4 was the first phone I sat on for longer than a few months; it was such an amazing phone. The N5 was the next phone I bought and I kept that until my Xperia Z5 because I was not a fan of the N6. I was completely sold on the Nexus line until then. I completely agree with you on newer devices being worse in some aspects, especially when it comes to rooting.
- Kratisto 9y ago
  I always feel like around the 2 year mark my phone feels very different compared to when I bought it. Battery feels worse, everything feels slower, and crashes start to accumulate. Are you not running into this?
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
yeukhon 9y ago
Do you mean AR? I am not sure how VR is going to change the phone/mobile industry. You need to wear some kind of glasses to actually experience VR. I think you are referring to augmented reality, but correct me if I am wrong. When it comes to AR, I am not interested in those "look at the pokemon on the street" kind of AR. I'd like projection on the street from the device. I want the Apple Watch to show me a hologram like in Star War. That's the kind of real AR I want to see. I will enjoy driving if map can be projected like hologram on the car windshield so I don't have to check the app on the side. I think the next breakthrough is just happening now: all cashless transactions. This is already happening in China, India, and some country in Europe (I forgot which one, but over there even newspaper street vendors accept credit cards). US is way behind. Also, chip in human will eventually take off. So just wait for more human-wearable integrations (and this is depressing and dangerous, see my comment below). I bet in no more than 10 years.
- omg_ketchup 9y ago
  Pokemon on the street was a great way to introduce the public to the concept of AR, but you're right- that's not how it's going to work. As long as our phones are the "lens" into the augmented reality, it will stay out of the mainstream. We need Google Glass, Spectacles, or some equivalent AR device. All of that stuff you're talking about- projecting onto the street, onto the windshield, etc... that's setting the bar very low. We'll be able to do all of that on a per-user basis once we have AR glasses. And those are hard problems to solve- projecting holograms into daylight without a surface? Good luck outshining the sun without overheating your tiny pocket projector. They all require unique solutions tailored to the problem and the environment they'll be used in. Why bother with that, when you can either work on AR glasses, or wait until AR glasses are readily available, which is pretty much an inevitability.
  - yeukhon 9y ago
    I wear glasses, so I am used to wearing glasses at all time, but sometimes I can't (running or swimming or tired), let alone we have people that do not wear glasses at all. Perhaps eventually all humans are going to wear glasses (or have contacts) BECAUSE they HAVE to in order to "enjoy" life (which sounds depressing just think about what that means to human free wills and uniqueness). This is what I was referring in another comment: human wearable integration is going to be a huge thing in the upcoming years. No doubt. Otherwise, there is no way for AR to really take off as a general use. It would be nice to watch your baseball game from a AR+VR (watching from the "eyes" of the players) views.
cymbalrush 9y ago
I want one computing device, or an iPhone that can run OSX (or some future OS thats a blended version of IOS and OSX). Like a Switch that I can take me, or plug in at home and get more power/features.
- david-cako 9y ago
  Been saying this forever -- this is the next HUGE leap that I see. Steve Jobs wanted the iPad to be a small Mac rather than a big iPhone. For someone like me, there are still critical things missing from the iPhone for it to be my primary computing device.
  - cymbalrush 9y ago
    Yes for example IOS is terrible for photo editing or any kind of media production. It can work in a pinch but not useful for daily workflows.
    - david-cako 9y ago
      It would literally have to break out into a jailed macOS session when docked for it to be at all practical for me, honestly. The average user could no doubt make due with a minimal multi-window iOS interface. I have no idea how people work with an iPad in any serious capacity when you are restricted to a full screen interface.
- pritambarhate 9y ago
  yes, That will be great. There are some Android players trying to do it. I think Samsung also tried it but it was premature. And no big player is really pushing it. If Apple pulls it off with their eco-system of apps and quality hardware, it can be a big shift in personal computing.
- zaroth 9y ago
  Placing my phone next to my 30" monitor and bluetooth keyboard/mouse should make the macOS VM running on my iPhone X resume from hibernate and just start running. The more interesting thing is how tightly connected the macOS VM could be with the iOS VM (I use the term VM here loosly, they could easily be containers living side-by-side and not within a literal hypervisor). For example, are there two processes running 'Mail' and two copies of every message so that iOS and macOS Mail apps are both working? Do I have to configure them both separately to connect to my accounts? That would be quite silly. If you can get the two OSs sharing resources but still effectively providing desktop sized vs phone sized user interfaces that could be something quite powerful.
mschaef 9y ago
> Do you think phones are a "done" thing? The basic pattern of mobile phone design was more or less settled in the 80's with the DynaTac, and the phones leading up to (but not including) the original iPhone were all refinements of that same original pattern. The same thing happened with smart phones: the original iPhone set the pattern and then there've been a number of refinements ever since. I'm not saying the refinements aren't huge improvements (particularly when viewed collectively over a period of 10 years), but just that the basic pattern is relatively fixed most of the time. > All these features are cool and somewhat exciting but nothing groundbreaking that will change computing/communications forever. Personally, I'm not that excited about a world where there are are continual 'groundbreaking changes that will change computing/communications forever'. There's a lot to be said for consolidating the gains made in these periodic steps up in functionality, and taking the time to understand the new capabilities offered by each.
- fenwick67 9y ago
  The iPhone was not a total revolution in phones the way you describe. They did not invent the touchscreen phone nor the smartphone. They improved them.
  - seanmcdirmid 9y ago
    There were many not a few touchscreen phones before the iPhone, no multi-touch ones, and many crappy resistive screen phones that needed a sharp pointy thing to be kind of responsive. Smartphones were just a niche before 2007 made them mainstream. The iPhone did to smartphones what the iPod did to digital music players, turning niche into norm.
    - fenwick67 9y ago
      Many phones at the time had web browsers, games, bluetooth support, played MP3s, et cetera. Look at the Motorola Razr as an example. They were smartphones.
      - 9y ago
PeppermintGrade 9y ago
I think in the future, we'll see the iPhone A. A solid, feature-less block of aluminum.
- stcredzero 9y ago
  With chamfered edges!
- mschaef 9y ago
  The past as the future: http://pretotyping.blogspot.com/2010/08/one-of-my-favorite-pretotype-stories.html http://pretotyping.blogspot.com/2010/08/one-of-my-favorite-p...
baby 9y ago
the HTC Vive.
rodolphoarruda 9y ago
I believe we are already living it. It is happening right now after the introduction of services like Whatsapp and WeChat. And all due to their simplicity and user friendliness. They just work for 99% of most modern world daily tasks, and solve a whole bunch of problems one way or the other. So maybe the real challenge for personal computing is connecting these wonder tools to everything else in world that is still complicated or hard to use, making them easy to use or accessible.
snom380 9y ago
That you don't have a revolution like the first iPhone doesn't mean it's ever "done". When you sum up all the boring, evolutionary changes over the last 10 years you end up with something pretty outstanding. Especially if you compare it to the previous 10 years before that (back when operators more or less decided the feature set of the phones they would sell). I doubt there will be another big revolution in personal computing until you have direct brain communication (implants or sensors/transmitters that look unobtrusive). A cell phone iWatch could change its usecase quite substantially, but whether it'll find new uses remains to be seen.
agumonkey 9y ago
These aren't phones anymore anyway. More portable data with communication.
- theshrike79 9y ago
  More and more people don't own computers any more. They just use their phone for everything.
  - agumonkey 9y ago
    Yes, I meant these aren't designed as phones, so the question is a bit blurry. I say that because I consider them completely different from late 90s cellphones. Design, interaction etc.
coldtea 9y ago
>Do you think phones are a "done" thing? I mean what we are seeing these days is more of an evolution than revolution. Evolution is how we got from primitive sea creatures to man. >What do you think will bring the next revolution in personal computing and communications? I think that there have not been many revolutions in personal computing and communications. It's all incremental evolution. The only actual big revolution was the invention of the digital computer and of networking. Beyond that, well: There were computers at homes before everybody got one. There were mobile phones, even touch phones, before the iPhone and mp3 players before the iPod. There were tablets before the iPad. There was "internet" and "www" (ARPAnet, minitel etc) before the internet and the world wide web. There were social networks before Facebook. Heck, there were actually newspaper columns chronicling a person's opinions and everyday life before blogs.
twblalock 9y ago
I think phones are "done" in the same way laptops are "done" -- the form factor is established, and now it's about incremental improvements like better screens, better cameras, faster processors, AR, etc. Unless someone invents a phone screen that can roll up like a piece of paper, I think phones are going to look the same for a long time.
- tannhaeuser 9y ago
  Yet Apple has, for the first time in years IMHO, just delivered something worth discussing and mildly tempting.
  - pas 9y ago
    What do you consider new, novel or innovative? Face ID has been done, no home button has been done, big screen to the edges has been done. That notch thing is new, but ... doesn't seem interesting (it just obscures part of the screen).
    - tannhaeuser 9y ago
      It's certainly a leap for the iPhone for having amoled alone (having it on my old Samsung for years now but still). The notch thingy is important as a design element, showing us Apple's main product's full redesign with their new signature solution to the design trade-offs for an all-screen phone with front-facing camera, finger/bio scanner, etc. > I sense something. A presence I've not felt since...
21 9y ago
Phones are far from being done. See for example this foldable paper computer concept: https://youtu.be/F3i7KBPAx4A?t=66 https://youtu.be/F3i7KBPAx4A?t=66
DamnInteresting 9y ago
I love the idea of docking a phone to use the data/apps thereon, but with a larger display, ethernet, mouse, etc. I wrote an article about the concept back in 2005, and yet still, I wait.

TekMol 9y ago

Glasses that make you see the interface as good as a monitor would be a huge step forward. It's awesome that now we have a supercomputer in our pocket that is stuffed with sensors, needs no cables and is always connected to the internet. But looking at it is still cumbersome.

hfourm 9y ago

I really wish a phone company would just make a "macbook pro" of the phone world. Something where the hardware and battery can keep up with the OS for the next 4 years. Something where every new OS release isn't destroying my performance, and maybe even MAKING my performance better. We are getting all this new tech in the phone space, faster processors, more ram, etc. But prices keep going up for "premium" experiences. Seems backwards to me

hellofunk 9y ago
> Something where the hardware and battery can keep up with the OS for the next 4 years. I'm still using a 6 year old iPhone on the current OS without problems. And battery is working fine too.
- saagarjha 9y ago
  > 6 year old iPhone on the current OS You might be stretching it a bit there, but otherwise this point stands.
  - unexpected 9y ago
    I am using an iphone 5s, 64 gb version - it's been my daily phone for since it was released. I've had no issues, other than finally replacing the battery this last year for $30. Admittedly, I'm upgrading this cycle, but I'm super impressed by how long this phone has lasted. I bought a Nexus 4 (9 months older phone), and it's been complete shit for the past 1.5 years.
    - saagarjha 9y ago
      iPhone 5S came out in 2013.
      - unexpected 9y ago
        I know! September 20, 2013!
    - walterstucco 9y ago
      My Xiaomi Mi5 costed 200 dollars , shipping included, it's much better than iPhone 5s and battery last 36 hours Only real problem is the glass A 5 dollar protection fixed the problem fixed typo: 120 dollars was really 200.
      - unexpected 9y ago
        That's great - but the Mi5 came out in February 2016. I'm not sure why you can compare it to a phone that was release in October 2013. I would hope that the Mi5 would be better than the 5s!
        walterstucco 9y ago
        The Mi4 was still better than an iPhone 5s Apple ecosystem has no escape routes, either you take it all or you don't. Anyway when the iPhone 5s came out it costed 800 euros in Europe and still costs around 250 euros on Amazon. The iPhone's price makes no f*ing sense I can understand rich people wanting it, I don't get why regular folks spend so much money for so little real value.
Helmet 9y ago
You just described iphone....seriously, my iphone 5 still works great, as does my 2012 macbook pro (admittedly, i swapped in a ssd + ram)
- walterstucco 9y ago
  But not my MacBook Pro retina from 2014, ram is soldered onto the motherboard so I cannot upgrade That's why many feels Apple is going backwards And that's why many like me are not buying their new products They're simply not a good value for money anymore My next laptop is a Dell XPS My phone's are Xiaomis as well as all my "smart home" gadgets At least if they break I have better guarantees from a company that's not trying to sell me support as a religion that you have to go to the temple and/or they are much cheaper Faceid is not worth a thousand dollars It's a joke for rich spoiled people
snom380 9y ago
My iPhone 6 is from 2014, next year it'll still run a supported OS that seems to be about as snappy as the previous version. Assuming a yearly iOS release that's 4 years next year (assuming they stop supporting iPhone 6 in iOS 12). I think prices have stayed pretty much the same or become lower over the years. You can get a 64GB iPhone 8 this year for $699, vs $749 for the iPhone 6 in 2014. I think the iPhone 8 is still a pretty "premium" experience, even if Apple now has a more fancy and more expensive model.
- photojosh 9y ago
  I think they'll be supporting older devices with iOS updates even longer going forward. The 32 vs 64-bit CPU was the line in the sand this year. And the iPhone SE has the same CPU as the 6 but is still considered a current model.
  - sjwright 9y ago
    > the iPhone SE has the same CPU as the 6 The SE uses Apple A9 CPU from the 6S.
    - photojosh 9y ago
      It does too. My bad.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]

Osmium 9y ago

> Do you think phones are a "done" thing? I mean what we are seeing these days is more of an evolution than revolution. It's always been an evolution. What we're seeing now is a trend towards cellular everywhere, and device-agnostic services (same phone number on your Apple Watch as your iPhone). The next shift seems like it will be greater situational awareness in your devices -- your device can understand its surroundings (ARKit), and what you look like (Face ID). So phones as a category may lose their uniqueness, in that other devices can fill the same roll, but I think we'll always see an evolution of a phone -- that is, a pocketable connected computing device.

aeleos 9y ago
It wasn't always an evolution. Despite all the apple "oh we changed everything look at us" they really did. And for the first few years after that everything was changing so fast it was a revolution. But it has since slowly died out and I guess new technologies with faster innovation will become the new iphone revolution
- Osmium 9y ago
  True, but capacitive multi-touch hasn't been the only innovation in the iPhone over the years. We forget just how limited the original iPhone was (no 3G, slow CPU -- it took ages to render a webpage, even though it was a huge step up over its contemporaries, it was still barely fit for purpose, no App Store either). I think the slides in the keynote were actually on-point for this, there've been multiple innovations (multi-touch, high-DPI screens, Touch ID, their shift to in-house processors, computational photography), and it's really the aggregate that's lead to a great device. But break it down and it is an iterative, evolutionary process. That's why so many people often seem disappointed after every keynote! That said, maybe the original iPhone really was a bit special :-)
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - jmknoll 9y ago
    I'm not sure if it neccesarily that the first iPhone was special in an of itself, but that the shift to mobile was special, and was largely enabled by the iPhone. Subsequent models aren't tied to a once-in-a-generation shift in technology, and so they feel more like iterative improvements.

DigitalJack 9y ago

What we call a phone will evolve. Some great communication device or method will come about. Pocket computers are pretty handy though. Maybe it will evolve into wrist computers or necklaces or something. The smart watches are coming along, but they all have the problem of screen real estate. To be fair, phones have it too, but with the various zoom features and "readability" modes, they work around it. I think we'll have something akin to the smartphones (whether or not they include a phone feature) until we have portable, practical, hands-free displays. It will probably be a fashion accessory that rasters directly on the retina.

programbreeding 9y ago

I don't have much to add, only to say that I generally agree. I first started creating custom roms for the Sprint HTC Hero when it came out in 2009. It was my first Android phone and I was in love with everything about it. I was obsessed with getting the next new phone with new features every time a new one came out. I made pretty good money and saved most of it; buying new phones was the one thing I would splurge on. Now it's 2017 and I have had the same phone for just under 2 years. Previously I wouldn't go 6 months without buying a new phone, so having the same one for 2 years seems like a lifetime. But I just don't feel like I have a reason to get a new one. It feels like the same thing over and over again.

problems 9y ago
I've felt the same way. I went from crappy low-end Android devices when I had no money in school to a Nexus 4 and I haven't seen reason to upgrade since. The only reasons I've done so have been because I cracked a screen and because I wanted to hand down a device to someone else. Been sitting on my OnePlus One for a few years - looking at the market now and not seeing any reason to upgrade still. Worse, I get worried about some newer devices which may make me less free - the Pixel has a very locked down boot process and the Magisk developer has been struggling to support it. I currently use Android Pay on my rooted device and I'm definitely not willing to pay to lose that freedom.
- programbreeding 9y ago
  The N4 was the first phone I sat on for longer than a few months; it was such an amazing phone. The N5 was the next phone I bought and I kept that until my Xperia Z5 because I was not a fan of the N6. I was completely sold on the Nexus line until then. I completely agree with you on newer devices being worse in some aspects, especially when it comes to rooting.
Kratisto 9y ago
I always feel like around the 2 year mark my phone feels very different compared to when I bought it. Battery feels worse, everything feels slower, and crashes start to accumulate. Are you not running into this?

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

yeukhon 9y ago

Do you mean AR? I am not sure how VR is going to change the phone/mobile industry. You need to wear some kind of glasses to actually experience VR. I think you are referring to augmented reality, but correct me if I am wrong. When it comes to AR, I am not interested in those "look at the pokemon on the street" kind of AR. I'd like projection on the street from the device. I want the Apple Watch to show me a hologram like in Star War. That's the kind of real AR I want to see. I will enjoy driving if map can be projected like hologram on the car windshield so I don't have to check the app on the side. I think the next breakthrough is just happening now: all cashless transactions. This is already happening in China, India, and some country in Europe (I forgot which one, but over there even newspaper street vendors accept credit cards). US is way behind. Also, chip in human will eventually take off. So just wait for more human-wearable integrations (and this is depressing and dangerous, see my comment below). I bet in no more than 10 years.

omg_ketchup 9y ago
Pokemon on the street was a great way to introduce the public to the concept of AR, but you're right- that's not how it's going to work. As long as our phones are the "lens" into the augmented reality, it will stay out of the mainstream. We need Google Glass, Spectacles, or some equivalent AR device. All of that stuff you're talking about- projecting onto the street, onto the windshield, etc... that's setting the bar very low. We'll be able to do all of that on a per-user basis once we have AR glasses. And those are hard problems to solve- projecting holograms into daylight without a surface? Good luck outshining the sun without overheating your tiny pocket projector. They all require unique solutions tailored to the problem and the environment they'll be used in. Why bother with that, when you can either work on AR glasses, or wait until AR glasses are readily available, which is pretty much an inevitability.
- yeukhon 9y ago
  I wear glasses, so I am used to wearing glasses at all time, but sometimes I can't (running or swimming or tired), let alone we have people that do not wear glasses at all. Perhaps eventually all humans are going to wear glasses (or have contacts) BECAUSE they HAVE to in order to "enjoy" life (which sounds depressing just think about what that means to human free wills and uniqueness). This is what I was referring in another comment: human wearable integration is going to be a huge thing in the upcoming years. No doubt. Otherwise, there is no way for AR to really take off as a general use. It would be nice to watch your baseball game from a AR+VR (watching from the "eyes" of the players) views.

cymbalrush 9y ago

I want one computing device, or an iPhone that can run OSX (or some future OS thats a blended version of IOS and OSX). Like a Switch that I can take me, or plug in at home and get more power/features.

david-cako 9y ago
Been saying this forever -- this is the next HUGE leap that I see. Steve Jobs wanted the iPad to be a small Mac rather than a big iPhone. For someone like me, there are still critical things missing from the iPhone for it to be my primary computing device.
- cymbalrush 9y ago
  Yes for example IOS is terrible for photo editing or any kind of media production. It can work in a pinch but not useful for daily workflows.
  - david-cako 9y ago
    It would literally have to break out into a jailed macOS session when docked for it to be at all practical for me, honestly. The average user could no doubt make due with a minimal multi-window iOS interface. I have no idea how people work with an iPad in any serious capacity when you are restricted to a full screen interface.
pritambarhate 9y ago
yes, That will be great. There are some Android players trying to do it. I think Samsung also tried it but it was premature. And no big player is really pushing it. If Apple pulls it off with their eco-system of apps and quality hardware, it can be a big shift in personal computing.
zaroth 9y ago
Placing my phone next to my 30" monitor and bluetooth keyboard/mouse should make the macOS VM running on my iPhone X resume from hibernate and just start running. The more interesting thing is how tightly connected the macOS VM could be with the iOS VM (I use the term VM here loosly, they could easily be containers living side-by-side and not within a literal hypervisor). For example, are there two processes running 'Mail' and two copies of every message so that iOS and macOS Mail apps are both working? Do I have to configure them both separately to connect to my accounts? That would be quite silly. If you can get the two OSs sharing resources but still effectively providing desktop sized vs phone sized user interfaces that could be something quite powerful.

mschaef 9y ago

> Do you think phones are a "done" thing? The basic pattern of mobile phone design was more or less settled in the 80's with the DynaTac, and the phones leading up to (but not including) the original iPhone were all refinements of that same original pattern. The same thing happened with smart phones: the original iPhone set the pattern and then there've been a number of refinements ever since. I'm not saying the refinements aren't huge improvements (particularly when viewed collectively over a period of 10 years), but just that the basic pattern is relatively fixed most of the time. > All these features are cool and somewhat exciting but nothing groundbreaking that will change computing/communications forever. Personally, I'm not that excited about a world where there are are continual 'groundbreaking changes that will change computing/communications forever'. There's a lot to be said for consolidating the gains made in these periodic steps up in functionality, and taking the time to understand the new capabilities offered by each.

fenwick67 9y ago
The iPhone was not a total revolution in phones the way you describe. They did not invent the touchscreen phone nor the smartphone. They improved them.
- seanmcdirmid 9y ago
  There were many not a few touchscreen phones before the iPhone, no multi-touch ones, and many crappy resistive screen phones that needed a sharp pointy thing to be kind of responsive. Smartphones were just a niche before 2007 made them mainstream. The iPhone did to smartphones what the iPod did to digital music players, turning niche into norm.
  - fenwick67 9y ago
    Many phones at the time had web browsers, games, bluetooth support, played MP3s, et cetera. Look at the Motorola Razr as an example. They were smartphones.
    - 9y ago

PeppermintGrade 9y ago

I think in the future, we'll see the iPhone A. A solid, feature-less block of aluminum.

stcredzero 9y ago
With chamfered edges!
mschaef 9y ago
The past as the future: http://pretotyping.blogspot.com/2010/08/one-of-my-favorite-pretotype-stories.html http://pretotyping.blogspot.com/2010/08/one-of-my-favorite-p...

baby 9y ago

the HTC Vive.

rodolphoarruda 9y ago

I believe we are already living it. It is happening right now after the introduction of services like Whatsapp and WeChat. And all due to their simplicity and user friendliness. They just work for 99% of most modern world daily tasks, and solve a whole bunch of problems one way or the other. So maybe the real challenge for personal computing is connecting these wonder tools to everything else in world that is still complicated or hard to use, making them easy to use or accessible.

snom380 9y ago

That you don't have a revolution like the first iPhone doesn't mean it's ever "done". When you sum up all the boring, evolutionary changes over the last 10 years you end up with something pretty outstanding. Especially if you compare it to the previous 10 years before that (back when operators more or less decided the feature set of the phones they would sell). I doubt there will be another big revolution in personal computing until you have direct brain communication (implants or sensors/transmitters that look unobtrusive). A cell phone iWatch could change its usecase quite substantially, but whether it'll find new uses remains to be seen.

agumonkey 9y ago

These aren't phones anymore anyway. More portable data with communication.

theshrike79 9y ago
More and more people don't own computers any more. They just use their phone for everything.
- agumonkey 9y ago
  Yes, I meant these aren't designed as phones, so the question is a bit blurry. I say that because I consider them completely different from late 90s cellphones. Design, interaction etc.

coldtea 9y ago

>Do you think phones are a "done" thing? I mean what we are seeing these days is more of an evolution than revolution. Evolution is how we got from primitive sea creatures to man. >What do you think will bring the next revolution in personal computing and communications? I think that there have not been many revolutions in personal computing and communications. It's all incremental evolution. The only actual big revolution was the invention of the digital computer and of networking. Beyond that, well: There were computers at homes before everybody got one. There were mobile phones, even touch phones, before the iPhone and mp3 players before the iPod. There were tablets before the iPad. There was "internet" and "www" (ARPAnet, minitel etc) before the internet and the world wide web. There were social networks before Facebook. Heck, there were actually newspaper columns chronicling a person's opinions and everyday life before blogs.

twblalock 9y ago

I think phones are "done" in the same way laptops are "done" -- the form factor is established, and now it's about incremental improvements like better screens, better cameras, faster processors, AR, etc. Unless someone invents a phone screen that can roll up like a piece of paper, I think phones are going to look the same for a long time.

tannhaeuser 9y ago
Yet Apple has, for the first time in years IMHO, just delivered something worth discussing and mildly tempting.
- pas 9y ago
  What do you consider new, novel or innovative? Face ID has been done, no home button has been done, big screen to the edges has been done. That notch thing is new, but ... doesn't seem interesting (it just obscures part of the screen).
  - tannhaeuser 9y ago
    It's certainly a leap for the iPhone for having amoled alone (having it on my old Samsung for years now but still). The notch thingy is important as a design element, showing us Apple's main product's full redesign with their new signature solution to the design trade-offs for an all-screen phone with front-facing camera, finger/bio scanner, etc. > I sense something. A presence I've not felt since...

21 9y ago

Phones are far from being done. See for example this foldable paper computer concept: https://youtu.be/F3i7KBPAx4A?t=66 https://youtu.be/F3i7KBPAx4A?t=66

DamnInteresting 9y ago

I love the idea of docking a phone to use the data/apps thereon, but with a larger display, ethernet, mouse, etc. I wrote an article about the concept back in 2005, and yet still, I wait.