Future phones - what can we expect 5 & 10 years from now ?

[driver8]

If we take the very best features from, say the iPhone and the N95, what else can we add to make things better ?

Have we pretty much reached the limit now of the features we can expect ? Without getting larger & heavier, how much more functionality can be squeezed in ? How many UMPC features do we need, and could a small phone ever have the games playability of the psp ? (I've heard of new battery technology, where the charge can be held by the casing, which will help to keep the size down.)

Anyone holding out for their ultimate phone or killer feature ? What can we expect in 5 or 10 years time ? These things are pretty much here already -

- 1 week battery life (solar/kinetic-powered ?)
- all phones to use the same charger & accessories
- small, light, tough, scratch-proof ('wearable' is a way off)
- multi-GB storage, for videos, music & photos
- flawless & instant wireless/bluetooth connectivity to keyboards, printers, etc
- foolproof GUI - how far does the iPhone fit the bill ?
- full speech recognition
- use phone to pay for shopping - online & instore
- better & instant web integration
- free calls !
- old phones to be fully recyclable, and easy for spares/repair

I've googled, but not found very much -
* a few design ideas - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/magazine_future_of_mobile/html/1.stm
* this looks quite good - like a clamshell iPhone - http://www.techdigest.tv/2006/05/the_mobile_phon.html
* Nokia research (including flexible/wearable phone) - http://www.nokia.com/A4126514
* business social networking - http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3897340.ece

[dunkrag]

Two words: Time Travel.

[hxbro]

I'd like to see higher resolution screens but keeping a small form factor, better battery life on phones will all the features turned on, touch screens that don't crack/break easily, faster processors.

[zantarous]

Virtual keyboards that you see in front of you (so you look mad to other people and are tapping away in mid air);

Better batteries are a given, my first mobile 1996 (an Amstrad IIRC) had to be charged daily and that was a bog standard phone, no colour screen or funky gizmos;

Using phones to pay for shopping and stuff already happens in other countries we are just a bit behind the times here.

Hopefully web nitration will get to a point where you can do what you do on a PC on your mobile.

And also remember what we see in the shops today would have been on the drawing boards and R&D for 4 or 5 years. So even the iPhone is old tech as the specs for it would have been locked down quite a while ago while some super secret team will be beavering away already to a true successor to it for release in a few years.

[stephen]

I'd like to see phone numbers replaced with a Skype type system, so you can just log into any phone anywhere and have one ID people can contact you with.

[Ricardodaforce]

The next major innovation will be the introduction of moving image projectors into the mobile phone. It's been worked on for a while now.

[mclovin]

I'd say its either going to be something like the 01phone (http://www.the01phone.com/) touted by T3 which comes with a cool IR keyboard, or a disposable mobile (http://news.idealo.co.uk/news/2298/disposable-mobiles-bic-brings-cheap-phones-to-europe.html) or the sci-fi wrist watch mobile (http://news.idealo.co.uk/news/864/general-mobile-gm500-mobile-phone-on-your-wrist.html).

[zantarous]

That 01, if real, looks ace. A bit of a google doesn't turn up much.

[kippa2k1]

It's fake.

http://www.thedvdforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=516882

[zantarous]

Oh well nice design anyway, would be nice to get a iPhone type on the market and add all the functionality that is missing to spur Apple into action.

The keyboard idea was right down my alley of thought, now just need to be able to project it in mid air in front of you and one that only you can see.