What's the next product that will disrupt the smartphone industry?

A little bit of a side story about something that really opened my eyes last week.<p>I ordered a package that was shipping through UPS and when I called I was dismayed that there wasn't a way to enter my tracking number (It was 15ish alpha-numeric characters) besides speaking. So I thought "Okay, AAyyy--Fiivvee--Geeee..." I was about half way through slowly saying the tracking number when I was interrupted "Package not found, try again?"... Okay. "I must have to rattle this off pretty quick" I thought, so I blew threw it. It immediately found my package, told me where it was and when it was expected to arrive.<p>It was amazing. Voice recognition was good enough that UPS deems it fail-safe enough to have it be the only way to find a package by phone. That was the first time I really thought there might actually be a chance for an almost fully speech operated phone without a traditional UI.

I imagine a future, where cafés has screens in the coffee tables your phone will dock up to the larger display and take advantage of that. When you are near a TV at a friends house you will be able to directly display pictures on their TV or a hotel without hassle.<p>Airplanes will have USB chargers in the seat or near to the infotainment screen. This will provide you with a fresh device charge so that you arrive to your destination with full battery.<p>You will be able to be social with your phone and share things with your friends. This will be much simpler than today.<p>When sitting at home the voice recognition in the phone will be able to pick up places you talk about and show information relative to that, such as maps. If you are discussing a trip the phone will be able to search for flight and hotel information by listening to the conversations speech.<p>Augmented reality will help you remember faces, navigate through the city. Show the best places where to go when in a foreign city.<p>Eventually there will be world global flat rate mobile internet. There will be more high density mobile transmitters there is definitely the possibility to integrate mobile transmitters in street light posts. So that the lamp posts have standardized module connectors where mobile operators get power and fiber connection to the Wi-Fi and mobile base stations.<p>Cell phones will be able to transmit your location to nearby cars to avoid collisions.

The thing about disruptive technologies that I've noticed is that they rarely come from the originator of the technology. Instead it takes a company like Apple to sit down and finally work out how to present the technology in a way that the average person not only can use it but enjoys using it. The next thing to disrupt the smartphone industry won't be some crazy new technology noobdy has ever heard about but instead be a well assembled collection of existing technologies made ultra intuitive and easy to use.

With scanning electron microscopes so cheap, materials science is moving very quickly lately, e.g. Nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC). I think that makes it that much harder to predict disruptive products, which not uncommonly include a convergence of new(ish) technologies. (<a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21528786.100-why-wood-pulp-is-worlds-new-wonder-material.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21528786.100-why-wood-...</a> )<p>But that said, form factor seems to be the most unresolved issue.<p>Each newly popular size (Samsung Tab, iPad mini, etc.) between the original iPhone and iPad sizes is hailed in some corners as changing the way users look at their devices ("I've stopped using my ___ because this new form factor does everything I want"-style comments).<p>It seems to me that "highly portable" and "can use with a keyboard" are two camps that seem will never converge...but IF they could, it would very disruptive to other form factors.<p>A folding tablet with available keyboard could be one possibility to converge those two form factors (which I posted about on HN quite awhile back at <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3422295" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3422295</a>).<p>But since the next disruption may rely on convergence between technologies that aren't yet with us, who knows? And even things that look great (video phones and flying cars famously having been around for a loooong time) who knows if it will be something like Google Glasses or not? Hard to predict what will be adopted, and what it will be competing with to get users to adopt it.

Diverting a bit from the subject. Here is what author of the blog says about himself: "Programming since I was 7 and built a lot of what you're using now." Wish I had such confidence in promoting my self.

Isn't this basically Google Glass in a different form factor? I guess the advantage of a band is that it doesn't encumber one's appearance, while the disadvantage is that you require some sort of external display device to read your output.<p>(the inter-device connectivity/authentication seems like something that would happen naturally via bluetooth to Google Glass)

I fully share this view. There are already a few offers, but it still needs some more work regarding thickness and autonomy.<p>The benefit is that the phone can stay in the pocket while we check for new messages or new events or do some quick and simple actions. This would be much less intrusive than a phone.<p>Puhing this idea further we can imagine sensors attached to the body and connected to the phone. Same for cars and room we would frequently be in.<p>Bluetouth communication is underused.<p>What about using nfc and phones to control hiddden or smart locks ?

A number of folks have speculated on the connector 'rock' (something like a wallet you carry around which connects you to the net) and then a variety of peripherals which are service portals too it. I could imagine just pairing my BT headset with an iPad and making phone calls on it. I don't really need to hold the transmitter up to my head.<p>But the smartphone/tablets are in the process of disrupting the PC industry, so I'm not sure they are ready for being themselves disrupted yet.

This reminds me of the Personal Area Network (PAN), which was supposed to be the Next Big Thing in mobile technology 5 or 6 years ago. The idea was you'd have a device that connects you to the cell tower and it would create a bubble of BlueTooth or ZigBee connectivity that would allow you to get texts on your wristwatch, connect your laptop to the internet, interact with other nearby personal networks, etc.

Better hope you don't lose your device. Or worse, better hope bad guys don't kidnap you. Instant access to everything your band authenticates you to.<p>Maybe just your family photos, maybe access to your company's source code, maybe unlocks the door to your house!<p>I think it's a great idea to be honest, but there are troublesome issues.

Maybe the next big thing will be a shift to truly useful smartphones, something that enables you to be productive instead of only being able to consume apps and services.<p>Ubuntu for Android looks like a move in the right direction. <a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/android" rel="nofollow">http://www.ubuntu.com/devices/android</a>

Here's hoping it's a robotic bird or lizard perched on your shoulder, talking into your ear.

Here's a crazy one...what if it's "nothing?" No devices, no chips, nada. Instead, everything around you will be smart enough to know you are there and present you relevant information. Android does have facial recognition baked in.

- I think intelligent personal assistants. Something like Siri but better and more useable.

one of the reasons you carry it around is because you're in control of it. delegating temporary access to your personal data on a shared input device is an unsolved problem, just ask facebook.

Merge between health monitoring devices and mobile phones.

3d printing.