
Ask HN: What Will Replace Smartphones? - anoopmunshi
I have been wondering, since over a year and trying to ponder what is next big tech which will replace smartphones? and yet I am unable to land on a single big idea which has the potential or a idea of mine which could.<p>So, what would it be?
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HereBeBeasties
Asking in 2020 what will replace the smartphone feels like asking in 1950 what
will replace the motor car.

Augmented Reality contact lenses are the modern equivalent of 1950s
predictions of nuclear-powered flying cars.

I don't think smartphones will really be replaced for forty years or more. It
sounds like a long time but it really isn't. We've not come _that_ far since
the original iPhone. And that itself wasn't _that_ much of a leap from various
form factors five to ten years earlier - just a lot slicker in terms of UI. So
phones will just get better. One can easily imagine the battery tech
improving, perhaps practical rollable or foldable screens, lighter weight,
etc. Fundamentally one wants something that easily fits in a pocket (current
modern flagship phones are too large), provides a good display for interactive
content and allows silent text and voice input.

I think cars, phones, tablets, laptops, desktop computers and TVs will all
converge more in terms of control interfaces. There's plenty of evidence of
this already with Android Auto in things like the new Polestar 2, the decline
of custom TV software in favour of Android/Amazon's FireTV OS, etc. That's
felt around the corner for years now, but feels like it might finally happen
soon.

Evolution not revolution, in other words.

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perilunar
> Fundamentally one wants something that easily fits in a pocket

I don't think we really do. Constantly pulling your phone out of a pocket is
unnecessary friction, and just as pocket watches gave way to wrist watches, I
think phones will become something you wear, not carry.

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alok99
I think it will remain pocket-bound for a while until battery technology
improves enough to make smaller or more flexible form factors viable. I think
a neural connection is the next _big_ jump, but we're not near that jump just
yet. So I agree something wearable or otherwise more attached is the next
step.

Having said that, I don't know what a wearable would look like. I don't think
smart watches are the future - just a stepping stone in the wearable
direction. It's too small to replace a smartphone, and doesn't have a flexible
user experience. For example, I lose one hand's worth of interactivity with a
smart watch, and I have to keep my arm bent to do so.

Where can you wear something that you can still easily interact with? I dunno.
Maybe a James Bond shoe phone.

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mgn01
A chip inside your brain if the transistor gets small enough.

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tabtab
I agree, at least as far as direct brain-to-device communication, blue-tooth-
like. You won't need a screen, you just "think" to the UI. I suspect this
trend will start in some poorly regulated country and when they show promising
results, research interest will spike and safer products will then come out.

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popeathlete
Well, I barely started the day and I'm disturbed. Jesus christ, what world did
I come to live in?

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gen3
I don’t think it’s one product, but the convergence of everything. The
difference between the average persons iPhone/iPad/Computer is shrinking by
the day. Soon all your data will be accessible everywhere, and seamless enough
the average person isn’t going to notice the bridge between devices.

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mpc75
Autonomous vehicles. It’s a lame answer but hear me out. When you look at many
of the major developments in human history many of them have been about
connecting things. Often times connecting people but sometimes goods, if you
look at containerization (not docker, real containers on ships). Autonomous
vehicles just open up a massive new wave of being able to connect people to
people, things to people, and things to things on a scale and speed that is
not possible today. It will likely change all infrastructure around us, and
therefore may be the thing that “replaces” the mobile phone. Not saying all
interactions will happen in person but communication will change to something
we might be able to imagine in this moment.

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pomatic
A personal device providing internet connectivity (currently a hotspot, but
further evolved) + multiple local devices using that connectivity. No need for
SIM and data subscription for tablet, laptop, voice comms, video comms etc.
Essentially, what was envisioned by the original bluetooth PAN concept (but
not necessarily implemented as BT). The aggregrated uplink is much more
scalable for cellular providers, low power budget for locally connected
devices means they last longer/are cheaper to make. You are one SIM (or eSIM)
- great for surveillance...

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akg_67
Smartphone may be replaced by a credit card size card containing SIM and other
important data. You slide your card in any internet connected device it
becomes your smartphone. Your headphone connects to the device through
Bluetooth. Your music streams from cloud storage, you can access your pictures
and data from cloud storage, your apps and game automatically show up on the
device you are at. You can chat, use message apps, make phone calls etc.

In the long term, I don’t see a need for a smartphone.

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rawgabbit
Smart watches. They will do everything that a smart phone can do today minus
the display and camera. When you need a display or keyboard, you will walk up
to a work station which is literally nothing more than a display and keyboard
that connects to your watch via Bluetooth. The watches CPU and storage is the
primary compute resource. The smart watch will also be used to authenticate
you. Three factor authentication will be the norm: watch, PIN, and thumbprint.

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ramsj
I have to respectfully disagree here. Smart watches are not really useful in
most on-the-go situations. E.g., on a subway and wanting to read the news or
play a game.

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rawgabbit
You may be right. I am envision your scenario will be fulfilled by tablets and
iPads.

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6DM
Honestly, I think the next step is people put the phone down. It'll be there
in the background like cars are today. However, many will try to just leave it
at home/work whenever they can.

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ramsj
AR glasses.

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HelloFellowDevs
At the risk sounding like a broken record for when we talk about new
platforms. What, could one imagine to be the 'Killer App' that drives most of
the worlds population to AR Glasses?

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pomatic
Hobbies. You are knitting - you see AR overlay of next stitch(es). You are
servicing you car - you see an overlay of the part you are dismantling. You
and your mate are doing yoga - you see an overlay of how they are supposed to
hold the pose. You are a watch collector, browsing potential purchases in a
physical shop - you see an overlay of history and recent sale prices for the
piece. You are into electronics - you can see the datasheet associated with
the device you are looking at, at a glance. Or the instrument reading without
looking away. And so on... Possibilities genuinely seem endless and relatively
mass market.

Pre Coronovirus, a killer app might have been translation. (menus, street
signs, etc). Hey ho.

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tawjob
I can not say it will be this or that but I do know for sure you will know
what it would be when Apple releases it.

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t0mmyb0y
My take is that it will be an evolution of the smart device. Wearable in many
ways, IOT to all your other stuff, etc.

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Fiveh2751
If we get a pathway of connecting to the brain, you'll need no smartphone.

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cloudking
AR contact lens

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ta17711771
+1, Sony has patent.

