The Future of Cell Phones

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BI: It's the same radio-frequency hardware, the same antenna, and the same baseband processing as Bluetooth. The only difference is, there are a few changes in the digital logic. So the cost of adding Wibree to a Bluetooth chip set is a few cents, and a person has both capabilities in their phone.

TR: Why would someone want Wibree on his or her phone?

BI: Wibree is designed for short-range communication, and it could enable a phone to act like a node in wireless-sensor networks. The phone would have more power and processing capabilities than the other sensors, so as well as collecting information about the environment, like pictures or location information, it could also aggregate data from nearby sensors, process it, and send information to other sensors and phones via Wibree and cellular or Wi-Fi networks.

TR: When do you think we'll start to see the fruits of this sensor-network research?

BI: There are a couple of companies that have come out of the early work, and there are other companies that are starting to spring up, so I think there are going to be real commercial applications very soon--within the next year.

TR: What do you see as something new in user designs in the next couple of years?

BI: Making the shapes that we're familiar with more adaptable. For instance, the buttons could go away and get replaced with other things so that the device adapts more to the application, instead of trying to funnel every function through a zero-through-nine keypad. It's really pretty intriguing. What a user sees when he or she looks at the face of a phone is going to change in two years. It won't look like it looks right now.

TR: What about the display? At TR, we've covered research on projection technology for phones (see "High-Definition TV from Your Cell Phone"). That could really change how people share information from phones.

BI: It hasn't escaped our notice. There are a couple technologies that exist today that could be used in large-format displays that you can carry around. Why is that important? Because most of the world's information is authored for a 1,024-by-768 screen, and we've got to deliver an equivalent experience if we want to make the claim that we've really brought the mobile Internet to life.

TR: How soon do you think projectors could be available in mobile devices?

BI: The technology is close; we're looking at it. Believe me, I'm number one in the queue to get mine. Just imagine, as a business traveler, being able to open up your phone in a hotel room and have real-time video conferencing with the image projected on the wall and stereo sound. We're not far.