Department of Paranoia

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/nation...a4dd_story.html

The National Security Agency has secretly broken into the main communications links that connect Yahoo and Google data centers around the world, according to documents obtained from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and interviews with knowledgeable officials.

By tapping those links, the agency has positioned itself to collect at will from hundreds of millions of user accounts, many of them belonging to Americans. The NSA does not keep everything it collects, but it keeps a lot.......

I have a question, which I personally wonder quite often, maybe some creative minds may supply some plausible answers.

What's really next for mobile computing devices?

We have flexible displays coming.
We have 500ppi+ screens coming.
64bit CPUs will come, and probably 4Gb+ RAM

I understand the bit about the CPUs and RAM. What I can't really see of immediate use is the flexible screen and the 500ppi display.

Probably the same thing will play out as what happened when Intel invented the 4004 in the 70's, and didn't know what to do with it until Japanese companies bought them by the shiploads to make electronic calculators...

Flexible screens = Curved displays. Why? Inherent anti-glare advantages.

500++ ppi displays = 4k screens. Why? Just because. Personally I've yet to see any immediate need to go beyond 720 for smartphones. FHD is already overkill in my books, but hell, more is better right?

4GB RAM and 64bit Procs? Only a matter of time before this happened. Moore's Law if nothing else. I mean my N2 already has more cores and RAM compared to my 7 year old Dell M1210, and it even plays Doom 3 better.

So, with all that in the horizon, what is next? At the rate we're going, it's all gonna be bigger, faster, more feature bloat UNTIL we start packing supercomputers win our pockets. Which is kinda sad really, considering it marks the end of "the age of innovation". The smartphone has started going the way of the computers, a dead end evolution going forward in one straight line.

The only "real" innovation left in the mobile space seems to be what phoneblox and Motorola is promising: modular phones. Which is might not happen simply because it will render the big corporation's main marketing strategy impotent: the yearly phone upgrade cycle.

I'm thinking that this is why the big corps will do everything Iin their power to stop that from happening.

Oh and Google Glass. Which seems to be a more plausible evolutionary step up for the humble smartphone. Google "Dennou Coil" for what the future may hold if we do end up going that way.

Oh, and talking about innovation, Sammy should really start thinking of shrinking the Notes. A Note 3 Mini will slaughter the opposition, even with N2 specs. A phablet is good and all but it's still really bloody huge.

This post has been edited by Eiraku: Nov 7 2013, 01:52 AM

waveweaver ..... Echoe V4 based on MJ7 is uploading now

I would like to see a mobile phone have a "desktop mobile". Can run Linux or even Windows when in a dock or mode

dual boot Android I know Motorola Atrix done it but it looks like half baked, very weak performance

I don't even get why use WQHD and UHD in future on such small screen

Em I think that's what the S series are for, no?

This post has been edited by plateau: Nov 7 2013, 01:56 AM

Uh, we can already Chroot fine into Linux what? Sure we need a VNC client to access the GUI, but everything works fine, if not a tad on the slow side.

Plus Windows (up to 98) runs a-ok under DosboxTurbo, even with sound and stuff enabled. Granted it's not a "real" desktop per se but...

Seriously guys, Dennou Coil. Wearables and seamless AR = the future.

@plateau: S series no s-pen. I know I'm being greedy but a S4 sized device with a wacom digitizer...

That said Sammy should just make the S-Pen standard with ALL their devices. It's a killer feature on its own.

This post has been edited by Eiraku: Nov 7 2013, 02:01 AM

I want a proper one and done by manufacture, as TS said what else we can demand from manufacture. Well polish is what I'm trying to say.

I know it's possible now through some DIY but I wish for a proper one instead of root/flashing or whatever.

True that. Dual booting a full Linux distro "natively" on a smartphone is great fun, as I've learned back in the glorious N900 days. Not that the N900 wasn't already running "proper" Linux to begin with.

That said, somebody should just stuff Windows 8.1 into a phone already, and Acer seems to be well on it's way with the W3 and W4. It just needs to get smaller lol.

What we're seeing now is a quite ironic really. Phones are trying to become computers, and computers are trying to become phones.



Confusing times, this is.

This post has been edited by Eiraku: Nov 7 2013, 02:10 AM

I'll be happy if they start with Linux, low power OS. Windows 8.1 seems like need lot of power to power it. Unless you're talking about Windows 8.1 RT.

Sounds confusing but what to do. Manufacture trying to cover all area from tv box to AIO PC. As Tim Cook said in iPad conference, all other brand is "lost". Tablet trying to be PC, phone trying to be tablet.

My request is simple. Phone is powerful enough but one thing still far behind - the battery.

Any manufacturer that release another revolution in battery will be the king. Let make a fast charging - 1 hour or less and last longer battery - SOT 24 hours + standby 4 days.

Battery is the most important things that need to change, no others else.

This post has been edited by Andrewtst: Nov 7 2013, 03:57 AM

Eekkk..quota dried edi..right in the middle of downloading stock MJ7

Need to wait three more days before I can renew my data plan.This time gonna take the 20GB plan...Oo

The Play Store in Echoe looks cool with all black and transparent. ..but the rom not stable.

Hope the latest version can give stability..


Attached thumbnail(s)

eiraku nice conjecture. Identical to mine. Just going to go the same route as notebooks. Battery is the only thing that hasn't really changed a lot.

Anyone can recommend a good glass SP dealer?

With Samsung's rumor plan of releasing foldable screen in 2015, my hope is they could improve the battery life. Our device is very capable in terms of raw power, stability is what we need in the future. Also I wish we can have the option of dual boot OS. Foldable screen could be very practical if it is designed nicely, imagine you can run multiple apps side by side on a larger screen without compromising the visual size. A smaller screen for normal usage while larger one can be used for entertainment and office editing mode.

Well then you get the whiners about slim phones....folding all that real estate will mean a thick phone.

Already people think 9mm is ugly. ...wtf... I blame Motorola and fruit for this.

Honestly, maybe I'm a weird guy, but I don't really prefer a phone to be too slim. In those days, I really like the HTC Titan and Titan II with the slide out hardware full keyboard. I know devices nowadays are getting slimmer, but if it is slightly thicker than our Note 3 and you have the foldable screen, for me I won't complain about it.

But still, battery and stability should be the main focus. Hardware is getting better and better but many apps are not optimized or taking the advantage of the new processor architecture. Next year will be the year of 64bit processor but I wonder, how many years it would take for the app developers to switch to that platform