As announcements of newer versions of Apple and Android smart phones roll in, you have to wonder what would the next big evolution of smart phones look like. Larger screens, niftier cameras, diverse set of applications and games have already ensured that the current set of phones are the most powerful portable devices a regular user has ever known. Yet, this may just be the tip of the proverbial 'iceberg'.
When we step out of the house to go to work on a regular day, there are a few items we must carry with us. A cell phone aka smart phone is only one of them. We need a wallet with debit/credit cards, car keys and driver's license(if you drive to work), home keys, possibly an identity/access card to enter our place of work. Many of the cards and forms of identity are pieces of plastic with a magnetic tape with some data on it.
The next generation of phones ought to have the ability to merge all these items into one device. They should have face recognition software(rumored to be in the yet to be unveiled nexus prime) as well as a finger print reader. If a device can reliably read these two key biometric attributes of a person, verification of identity becomes reasonably secure.
Biometric authentication of identity should enable payment for all our purchases using the device.Google wallet already does this. But what if we completely eliminate the need for having separate credit and debit cards? Your phone is your card.
The Driver's license would be a digital document on the phone. A signal from the phone will allow you to open and start your car(this is already out there). Use biometric identification and commands from the phone to open doors to our homes and offices.
Obviously, all data would be stored remotely so that if a phone is lost, the data would not be. And if the phone is stolen, the device is unusable without biometric(fingerprint and face recognition) authentication. Yes, there would be privacy and security issues. They definitely do not sound unsolvable.
I did not mention voice recognition, because it has been around for a while. The iphone 4S seems to have taken it a step further. Not sure it is advanced enough to recognize my name, especially my full south Indian name, which is so long, i am too lazy to type.
It is realistic to expect a smart phone to have all of these features and more in the near future. I look forward to the day when i just have to carry a phone around and nothing else. May be we should call it the 'superphone', for it would be much more than a smartphone.
When we step out of the house to go to work on a regular day, there are a few items we must carry with us. A cell phone aka smart phone is only one of them. We need a wallet with debit/credit cards, car keys and driver's license(if you drive to work), home keys, possibly an identity/access card to enter our place of work. Many of the cards and forms of identity are pieces of plastic with a magnetic tape with some data on it.
The next generation of phones ought to have the ability to merge all these items into one device. They should have face recognition software(rumored to be in the yet to be unveiled nexus prime) as well as a finger print reader. If a device can reliably read these two key biometric attributes of a person, verification of identity becomes reasonably secure.
Biometric authentication of identity should enable payment for all our purchases using the device.Google wallet already does this. But what if we completely eliminate the need for having separate credit and debit cards? Your phone is your card.
The Driver's license would be a digital document on the phone. A signal from the phone will allow you to open and start your car(this is already out there). Use biometric identification and commands from the phone to open doors to our homes and offices.
Obviously, all data would be stored remotely so that if a phone is lost, the data would not be. And if the phone is stolen, the device is unusable without biometric(fingerprint and face recognition) authentication. Yes, there would be privacy and security issues. They definitely do not sound unsolvable.
I did not mention voice recognition, because it has been around for a while. The iphone 4S seems to have taken it a step further. Not sure it is advanced enough to recognize my name, especially my full south Indian name, which is so long, i am too lazy to type.
It is realistic to expect a smart phone to have all of these features and more in the near future. I look forward to the day when i just have to carry a phone around and nothing else. May be we should call it the 'superphone', for it would be much more than a smartphone.
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