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Re:The end of smartphone innovation by coldtea on Saturday March 25, 2017 @01:42PM (#13956700)
>*I wouldn't rule it out, but no computing hardware platform has ever been dominant for 50 years before so there are reasons to believe we're not about to get started with that kind of cycle now.

"Mainframes, minicomputers, desktop personal computers, laptops, and now tablets and smartphones" -- yes, so we had like 5 generations of computing hardware platforms. And we began with so premature and begging for improvement technologies (when they started in the 50s) and so large form factors that we had Moore's law going on for decades until a few years past.

Now we've reaching physical limits in CPU shrinking, and we have components so small (e.g. Apple Watch) than if they were any smaller you couldn't handle their buttons, or fit a camera lens, or speakers, or a large enough screen in there.

My point is, just because something has been going on for 5 generations of form factors, it's nowhere near enough evidence to be meaningful statistically or otherwise to deduce it will go on forever.

A turkey is fed every day by the farmer for months on end. But after 300+ observations that make it think feeding is never ending and inevitable there comes thanksgiving.

Re:The end of smartphone innovation by mr_overalls on Saturday March 25, 2017 @03:01PM (#13957041)
> if they were any smaller you couldn't handle their buttons

Voice-interfaced intelligent agents like Siri/Alexa/etc will continue to evolve.

Given a sufficiently advanced AI, buttons won't be needed for most computing tasks - any more than stirrups and a bridle were needed to drive the first automobiles.

Re:The end of smartphone innovation by bigato on Monday March 27, 2017 @08:02AM (#13966943)
I don't like talking to my devices, specially because most of the time I'm around other people and I don't want to share what I'm doing with them.
Re:The end of smartphone innovation by Gargoyle on Saturday March 25, 2017 @02:15PM (#13956848)
The next form factor is pervasive computing, of which Alexa and Google Home are the first stumbling attempts.
Re:The end of smartphone innovation by foooker on Sunday March 26, 2017 @04:31AM (#13959794)
How do you use them in a public space, where others are trying to do the same thing ?
Re:The end of smartphone innovation by sickmartian on Sunday March 26, 2017 @09:16AM (#13960623)
You wear the controls to your own wearable computer/smartphone, which might or not be linked to a better one on the environment that can do a lot more for you.
Re:The end of smartphone innovation by Main_ on Sunday March 26, 2017 @08:40AM (#13960457)
Voice Biometrics?
Re:The end of smartphone innovation by coldtea on Sunday March 26, 2017 @08:50AM (#13960496)
And who said you'd like for others to hear what you use them for?
Re:The end of smartphone innovation by moe on Saturday March 25, 2017 @02:02PM (#13956782)
> if they were any smaller you couldn't handle their buttons,

They will connect to our brains.

> or fit a camera lens, or speakers, > or a large enough screen in there.

Not needed when they are connected to our brains.

Re:The end of smartphone innovation by thegp on Saturday March 25, 2017 @02:35PM (#13956929)
Trust me, they won't for a while and you don't want them to. Do some research into bio-compatibility. After that, do some research into electrolysis. You can do a fun experiment by connecting a battery to your tongue for a while. Just google it before please to know what is happening.

Meanwhile, non invasive BCI are getting AWESOME...if you are a quadriplegic with no other options.

Now imagine we solve those problems, and the first BCI is on the market. It's safe, it's a little bit faster than typing/reading (hey, first generation right). Who is going to be the first early adopter to undergo massive brainsurgery? Turns out upgarding cochlear implants is so hard they are made to last 100 years (they get surrounded by bones and scar tissue...) so upgrading will be really hard. And who wouldn't want to have their blackberry implanted into their head right now...even worse, if we have proprietary technology in the first ones and now your brainberry can only talk to other brainberries...or we go full internet of shit and it needs a cloud server to do anything:)

Re:The end of smartphone innovation by coldtea on Saturday March 25, 2017 @02:10PM (#13956820)
Yeah, don't hold your breath for those.

You'll be needing an oxygenated brain for when they arrive.

Re:The end of smartphone innovation by kakarot on Saturday March 25, 2017 @02:31PM (#13956916)
We will probably end up controlling our microdevices (hopefully optionally implanted beneath our skin) with interfaces like Google's Project Soli[0], voice commands, "Morse code" style tapping commands, etc and also through hub devices like screen membranes underneath our skin or a device similar to a phone.

[0] https://atap.google.com/soli/

Re:The end of smartphone innovation by cf on Saturday March 25, 2017 @04:56PM (#13957523)
My presumption is that we will interact with most computers through wireless devices. For example, the chromecast has no buttons on it, and I haven't felt limited by that.