On March 10, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell transmitted the world’s first telephone call. The first rotary phones were used in 1919. Touch tone phones were developed in 1961. The first cellular phone call was made in 1973. The first generation iPhone was released in 2007. And soon, you may find an entirely new type of phone – one which runs a computer! A CNet.com article describes a new approach to mobile computing. The computer is inside the phone.
Imagine this scenario: before going to bed, you place your mobile phone on the charger on your desk. This charger is hooked up to your computer monitor. A wireless keyboard provides input when you need to type, not touch and swipe. On your monitor, a desktop appears. You have access to a web browser, a word processor, and all the other standard applications and “apps” that you’re used to having. You fire off a few quick emails, watch a YouTube video, update a spreadsheet with some information, and then log off. The next morning, you pick up your phone off the dock and head to work. And that’s it – simple, easy, no thought required. No shutting down your computer, no logging off, no booting. Your smartphone still operates just like any other smartphone, but the moment you plug it into the dock connected to the monitor, your computer appears – wherever you are, whenever you need it!
Sounds pretty good, right? Well the technology isn’t quite ready yet, but as you can see from the article, people are already well on the way to inventing just this scenario. If you are interested in keeping up with the latest technology, the library is now hosting the Princeton Technology Meetup monthly in the Community Room. It’s free and open to the public, just make sure you register early because the last meeting had over 75 people in attendance! The next meeting takes place on Wednesday, May 16th at 7pm. See you there!
The first image comes from Ubuntu.com’s page for Ubuntu for Android. The second image comes from the CNet.com article, attributed to Canonical.