The Future of Cellular Phones

What we can expect from the future of cellular phones? It's almost a misnomer to call them cellular phones anymore, especially when you consider how much more these mobile devices can do beyond simple phone calls.

Given the rapid pace of mobile phone development, it can be pretty difficult to predict the future of cellular phones. The best we can do is look at the past, take a look at the present, and use the relationship between these cell phone trends to take a shot at the future.

In general, there are three prevailing trends that are quickly gaining in popularity and it seems that nearly every major cell phone manufacturer, from Motorola to Samsung, is starting to cash in on our current interests.

While the Apple iPhone was not the first touchscreen phone on the market, it is certainly credited with popularizing the format, especially among non-business users. Up until then, most touchscreen phones were of the corporate-minded smartphone variety, like the Palm Treo line and some Windows Mobile smartphones from HTC.

After the iPhone was released, it seemed that many competitors and alternatives followed suit. You had devices like the LG Vu, Samsung Armani, and the HTC Touch. More recently, we've been introduced to highly fashionable touchscreen phones like the HTC Touch Diamond and Samsung Instinct, as well as touchsreen QWERTY phones like the Palm Centro and LG Voyager.

The biggest advantage that touchscreens have over non-touchscreens is the ability to provide for a near infinite number of virtual buttons. The display can adjust and alter based on the needs of the moment, offering music controls when you're listening to MP3s and showing a dial pad when you want to make a call, for instance.

Mobile phones aren't just phones anymore. That's why when you look to the future of cellular phones, you should fully expect even greater functionality. We've already been introduced to cell phones that can play music and take pictures, but with devices like the iPhone, you can also get GPS navigation, mobile web surfing, and so much more. Even cell phone games have come a long way, far surpassing our early experiences with Snake on Nokia's phones.

What sort of additional functions should we be expecting from cell phones? A growing proliferation of mobile television is likely, because people want to be entertained on the go. We're not just talking about downloaded video clips either. Instead, getting live television on your phone may soon become a way of life. This is already the case in Korea. Many invented cellular phones in the future may boast this functionality as well.

From the BlackBerry Bold to the HTC Touch Pro, people have become hooked to wireless data and having a true online experience on their mobile phones. No longer are they satisfied with simple WAP mobile web, because they want the same HTML and Java experience that they have on their desktop computers. Watching YouTube clips, checking e-mail, posting on Facebook, and so on, these tasks are all perfectly capable on many cell phones. Aside from the smaller screen, the user experience on the iPhonemay not be that different from a full computer.

Our society is one that is quickly moving toward hyper-connectivity. BlackBerry devices, for example, enjoy what is called push email. This means that emails are sent to the phone in real time and not at regular intervals. It's like having your home or office computer right there in your pocket. Faster data in the form of 3G mobile phone technology makes this possible.

There is a definite push toward being able to do more, do it faster, and do it more efficiently, but not everyone wants a virtual Swiss Army knife in the future of cellular phones. Some people just want a phone that works, so it would not at all be surprising if certain mobile phone makers started to produce incredibly bare bones phones for exactly this purpose. There are already simple phones catering to children and seniors, after all.

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