Computers, smart phones, and tablets. What do you see happening in the next few years?

[tonyz2897]

As mobile devices become more powerful, I wonder if they will eventually replace the traditional desktop pc? I'm thinking of a scenerio where the desktop pc tower is replaced by a dock for a smart phone or other mobile device which is connected to a monitor and the standard list of pariphrials and serves as a person's main computer.
What possibilities do you predict or what would you like to see happen?

[Finless]

I absolutely can see what your saying being the case and in a VERY short time! Possibly 5 years!

I also see Star Trek capabilities with computers soon too. No keyboard, full voice command, and a simple data entry interface.

Imagine telling your PC to go to the internet and flash a Finless ROM on it's own

Believe it or not the possibilities could be endless. Like it reading your thoughts for commands!

If you look how far computers have come since just 1980 when I started messing with them, think another 30 years and imagine they capabilities!

Bob

[Spotopolis]

I think it will happen to an extent, but there is a huge demand for custom built performance PCs so I think that market will be like it is, fragmented, but still evolve to that level. The amount of options you have in a PC vs a phone/tab are unmatched let alone computing power. I think we still have a quite of a way to go before they can become one. A lot has to happen, but I dont deny that it will... eventually.

[tonyz2897]

I've been fooling with an old HP d530 Pentium 4 box that was given to me and I swear my galaxy note 2 is a more capable device. The note can handle HD video while the P4 drops frames until it looks like a slide show. And forget running another task in the background even streaming audio stutters if you try to load a webpage in the browser. It seems wild to me that a hand held, battery powered device delivers a better user experience than a power hungry desktop pc from not all that long ago. For that matter, I've had a UG008 connected to my monitor and have been using it for most of what I'd normally do on a PC (I'm typing this post on it now). I can count the times on one hand I've needed to fire up a PC in the past couple weeks to do something the UG008 couldn't. I agree that the traditional PC will be around for a long time to come, but I see its role shifting to that of a special purpose device for high end gaming, video editing, and other resource hungry tasks.

I also like Bob's ideas of voice and thought controlled computing. I've fooled around with speach recognition in the past and always felt a little strange talking to an inanimate object. I expect that's something I'll have to get over soon.

With all the things that will likely happen in the next few years, I can't help but wonder what will happen in the next hundred? Transfer of human conciousness to machine? Sentient AIs? It seems like what was once science fiction is becoming normal in daily life at a remarkable pace and I can't wait to see what happens next!

[pr0xZen]

I've been fooling with an old HP d530 Pentium 4 box that was given to me and I swear my galaxy note 2 is a more capable device. The note can handle HD video while the P4 drops frames until it looks like a slide show. And forget running another task in the background even streaming audio stutters if you try to load a webpage in the browser. It seems wild to me that a hand held, battery powered device delivers a better user experience than a power hungry desktop pc from not all that long ago. For that matter, I've had a UG008 connected to my monitor and have been using it for most of what I'd normally do on a PC (I'm typing this post on it now). I can count the times on one hand I've needed to fire up a PC in the past couple weeks to do something the UG008 couldn't. I agree that the traditional PC will be around for a long time to come, but I see its role shifting to that of a special purpose device for high end gaming, video editing, and other resource hungry tasks.

I also like Bob's ideas of voice and thought controlled computing. I've fooled around with speach recognition in the past and always felt a little strange talking to an inanimate object. I expect that's something I'll have to get over soon.

With all the things that will likely happen in the next few years, I can't help but wonder what will happen in the next hundred? Transfer of human conciousness to machine? Sentient AIs? It seems like what was once science fiction is becoming normal in daily life at a remarkable pace and I can't wait to see what happens next!

Just take a look at this; and remember in terms of science and development, its old news:

http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/science-scope/video-mind-reading-tech-reconstructs-moving-images-others-see/10507

It has a long way to go, but it actually works ^^^

Voice activation work has come a long way - and I'm interested when looking at how far we've gotten with visual navigation (tracking eye movements, focus, reactions etc).

One of the current limitations for the small & portable platform, is the power source. Power cell development is a whole nother ballfield. But a US university has developed a technology that could give Lithium batteries up to 30 times the capacity for the same size - and theoretically, almost 1000 times as rapid charging. While wrist-thick charging cables, the equivalent outlets - or commercial end-user superconductors are unlikely to see anytime soon - the tech is growing. http://www.extremetech.com/computing...0-times-faster

One thing is for sure - it is, and it will continue to be - quite exciting

[isaganiesteron]

I would love to see what kind of user interfaces there would be in the future. Apple already has that devices that recognizes and uses hand movement gestures like the one in the minority report movie. With 3D projector displays you can then interact with 3D models and such, like tony Starks computer. This will be great for modeling and simulation of 3D objects and imagine the kind of gaming experience with something like this. Although when doing simple tasks like browsing the web or checking emails I think it would be quite unnecessary.

[shaunmt]

The form factor of computing is definitely changing... I'm not sure personal devices are going to be the clear winner though... cloud computing seems to be where things are heading. Eventually both processing and data will both be offloaded to hosted services. I think personal devices and smart tvs will be just be I/O devices for accessing cloud resources. I also think we'll finally see consumer holographic displays in the near future. Has anyone seen what Japan and South Korea are doing with holographic tech? South Korea has k-pop stars that are selling out tickets to see holograms perform. Japan has pop stars that aren't even real at all... they only exist as holograms.

ShaunMT