The real pleasure of visiting an personal electronics show like CTIA, the wireless conference which ends today in Las Vegas, is not just playing with the high-design devices that’ll be out in a couple of months (i.e. Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot C902, a phone with a 5 mp, face-detection camera, straight-to-blog uploading and a Xenon flash ) but hearing the most creative minds in manufacturing dream about what technology could make happen in the next couple of years. Imagine:
-Having a camcorder that would allow you to send a video stream directly to a website, so your party or a kid’s play could be seen “broadcast live!” This could happen as cameras, camcorders and video-shooting phones are embedded with WiMAX chips (high-speed wireless internet access). As Samsung’s Paul Thurneysen predicts, “You’re not just going to be visiting a social networking site to see someone’s posts, you’ll be seeing a live feed.”
-Emergency text messaging systems which could alert an entire college campus or entire neighborhood to a dangerous situation. That’s just one of many “location-based services” U.S. carriers are considering.
-Using your cellphone to check your latest bank transactions and account balances. This is already happening in the South and parts of Colorado via a company called Firethorn.
-Watching three different video streams at the same time on your ultra-mobile PC, all without lags. (Another WiMAX promise.)
-Having a cellphone that works out with you, measuring your heart rate, the distance you’ve run and even telling you to “get the lead out!” in a voice-of-your-choice. The micoach, a Sony-Ericsson handset available in Europe, is already motivating Europeans.
-Gaming with your friends (or complete strangers, your choice) with sparkling high-res video in real-time, anywhere. A company called AirPlay is one of many which are developing live collective experiences. Currently, they’re turning TV game shows and sporting events into interactive occasions. “Don’t just watch TV, Play TV” is their pitch.
-Do-it-all digital devices (The Nokia 95 and 96 are precursors) which automatically hop to the best reception at any given point, whether it’s Wifi or WiMAX, provide video/images as good as any point-and-shoot or camcorder, upload 100 different sorts of file types directly to the internet, and deliver GPS coordinates about the whereabouts of your teenage son or daughter.
-Paying one subscription fee of around $80/month that would get you uninterrupted, mobile high-speed internet access, voice-service (perhaps through mobile VOIP), and unlimited video/music entertainment….wait, if we’re really dreaming, can’t we get it down to $50?
How do you like these new products? Talk about it in the Dealerscope forums.
