T-Mobile‘s got a new report out today about where it sees smartphones headed in the future, so naturally we seized the chance to grill some of the network’s execs about what they see the future phone of 2015 being like. In short? Not as a phone as we know them now.
The report, “Smart Future: How smartphones are changing the way we live, think and feel”, charts the trends of how people use smartphones, not which ones, and while it throws in some unfortunate buzzwords (“Smartsumerism” and “digivores” – we’re not going to even try and explain) it throws up some interesting conclusions. For one, the survey of 1,000 people found that 10 percent used augmented reality apps already, which impose information on a camera or map view of the location around you.
The report also found that smartphones were helping people feel safer (courtesy of GPS) and smarter as shoppers (instant price comparison). But what got our attention was what T-Mobile said this meant for the smartphone of the future.
Richard Warmsley, T-Mobile’s head of new proposition development, told us that wireless payment technology would play a big part, though wouldn’t say whether NFC Oyster Card payment tech or mobile billing would be used (“we’re a little way off knowing”), and that it would act as a “hub” or “master link” for all the devices you carry on you or have in your home, suggesting that your TV would be able to recognise it when you walked in the door.
Nokia teases 2015 twin screen phone
Warmsley also suggested that augmented reality would move to the next level, perhaps by way of projection. “I hesitate to talk about the world of glasses and 3D but…maybe we’ll get to the point where you can see things in front of you without it being in front of you.” We’ve got projectors on some phones already, but the idea of being able to do the same with realtime data and without a white wall is one that’s still to be tackled.
Most of interesting of all though was Warmsley’s suggestion that smartphones five years from now simply won’t look like phones anymore. “It won’t necessarily look like a smartphone does now,” he told us before hinting at a larger screen size. “We’re expecting a screen to do an awful lot that conventionally fits in your pocket. It will be a lot more integrated than today…The jury’s out on whether we’re all walking around with pads, or e-paper will take off.”
Warmsley wouldn’t be drawn on whether that meant T-Mobile planned to stock smaller versions of the ICD Android Vega tablet it launched at CES last month, but at the very least, it’s clear the operator is looking for phone makers who can take convergence to the next level. Nokia‘s got some interesting ideas for 2015 too – perhaps you guys should talk?
Out TBC | £TBC | T-Mobile
