The 2020’s Will Take Us Beyond The SmartPhone
If you could name one technology that defined everything about this last decade, it would undoubtedly be the smartphone.
For many people, the smartphone is the central hub of their everyday life, and it is almost impossible to imagine navigating life without it.
The 2010's (decade of the smartphone) can be summarized as the consolidation of tools and features into one singular device. The following is an example of some of the many tools that have been replaced by the smartphone:
This makes sense. The more you can do with one singular device that fits in your pocket, the more efficient your life will be. It is rather amazing what is possible to do with your smartphone today, compared to just the start of the decade.
However, we are in the midst of a technological shift.
With the continued emergence of the coming internet of things and the acceleration to connect everything, the 2020s will not continue to be defined by smartphone feature consolidation, but rather a decoupling of the smartphone.
The reality is that while it is highly convenient to have everything accessible from your smartphone, it’s not typically the best user experience. Sure, you can watch a cinematic movie on your phone, but is that really a good way to watch a cinematic movie? Even the most widely used smartphone feature which is the camera… well, taking photos is great, viewing high rez beautiful photos? not so much.
The reason we use the smartphone for mostly everything is because of convenience and portability. But what happens when other objects around us become digitally convenient to use?
The Coming Decade of Connected Things
In some ways, we have already started to see this shift away from smartphones in the form of wearable technology. Examples such as fitness and activity tracking are now available on watches; We also have body-mounted sensors that monitor and transmit biological data and highly sophisticated hearing aids that adapt to environmental noises.
But this is just the tip of the iceberg.
It’s not just appliances that will process and manage data for you, such as grocery information scanned in refrigerators, but also objects you interact with, in your home as well as public spaces.
What we will see is an explosion of user interfaces that provide the proper information for you in a convenient fashion. Here are some:
- Your car will be able to access your GPS, music or contact list without the need for a connected smartphone.
- Headphones or hearing devices will be able to access your podcasts, audiobooks, music, etc… without the need for smartphones.
- Surface displays on chairs, tables, and mirrors will be personally accessible in public areas such as train schedules, traffic reports, weather forecasts, etc… without the need for smartphones.
- Holographic AR displays will become the norm for education, data overlays, and virtual meetings… without the need for smartphones.
- Virtual reality helmets or more likely wearable glasses will become the norm for immersive experiences… replacing the smartphone as the social media hub.
The smartphone that replaced everything in this past decade will soon be replaced by everything in the next decade.
We call it The internet of things — but the key to this shift will be interoperability, easy access to data, and most importantly — user convenience.
