Smartphone of the future will be in your brain

[From CNN, where the post includes additional infographics and related links]

Smartphone of the future will be in your brain

By Stewart Scott-Curran and Tim Lampe, Special to CNN
Mon October 8, 2012

Editor’s note: Stewart Scott-Curran is an art director and Tim Lampe is a graphic designer at CNN.com.

(CNN) — In the past 10 years we’ve seen cell phones transform into electronic Swiss army knives with a wild variety of functions and features. They are replacing the watch, the camera, the standalone GPS, the alarm clock, and many other tools.

But what will the smartphones of the future look like?

Here’s what we envision …

In five years, the Patent Wars are over and Apple emerges victorious. The company has trademarks of many design features, including many types of curves. As a result, competing smartphone manufacturers resort to triangular or angular forms.

Fast forward 15 years. With Google’s pioneering work, smartphones evolve into wearable devices with augmented reality. These smartglasses provide a constant stream of content and advertisement directly into the user’s field of vision.

After the fad of wearable phone glasses, companies go mad with miniaturization in 25 years. Technology allows for extreme miniaturization and phones become single use, disposable devices.

50 years later, wearable phones make a comeback in the form of wristbands. The wristphone, as it is commonly known, is customized to fit each user’s arm perfectly. It includes state-of-the-art voice-command features as well as holographic component that let you chat with your friends as though they are right next to you.

Technology takes a huge leap in 75 years. Microchip can be installed directly in the user’s brain. Apple, along with a handful of companies, makes these chips. Thoughts connect instantly when people dial to “call” each other. But there’s one downside: “Advertisements” can occasionally control the user’s behavior because of an impossible-to-resolve glitch. If a user encounters this glitch — a 1 in a billion probability — every piece of data that his brain delivers is uploaded to companies’ servers so that they may “serve customers better.”

In the year 2112, civilization crumbles because of climate change and dramatic loss of natural resources. Communication comes full circle as dialogue between humans revert to individuals throwing rocks at each other. But rest assured — people still laugh out loud.

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