The future of digital communications

By Becky Sharpe

Do you remember the days before mobile phones? It's hard to imagine a time when train journeys were not filled with the sound of people shouting "I'm on the train" into little plastic slabs. Mobile phones have moved from housebrick-sized boxes used by yuppies to feather-light slithers used by everyone, while at the same time, we've graduated from calls and texts to photos and surfing. But what does the future hold for our favourite gadgets?

Get ready to hand your life over to your mobile as it becomes more than just a device for communications and entertainment. In future you won't use your phone as an organiser, the phone will organise you.

Some developments are arriving faster than we imagined. Already Porsche has released a phone which has a fingerprint-detection keypad so that only the owner can use it. Perfect for anyone who has text messages to hide from their spouse! And of course the number of places where we are unable to use our mobiles is decreasing.

By next year, Londoners will be using their phones on the tube. London mayor Ken Livingstone

has announced plans to install transmitters that will also allow access to wireless internet and digital radio. But some people feel this is unnecessary, given the risk it will bring from terrorists who could use a mobile to detonate a bomb on the tube by calling the mobile-cum-detonator from overground.

Some London cabs are already fitted with special pockets which have chargers for every type of mobile plus iPods and laptops for use on your journey. How long will it be before these appear everywhere from shops to cafes?

If your book has turned boring and you fancy reading a new one then you won't need to wait for a bookshop. A couple of clicks on your big-screen mobile and entire novels can be delivered to your phone to read at your convenience.

Pretty soon you will be able to make and receive calls on your mobile when you are 35,000 feet high in a plane. (Bet you can't wait to be surrounded by fellow passengers shouting "I'm on the plane"). Australia has already issued a licence to operate in-flight mobile services, though the earliest that services could be available from UK registered airlines is 2008, subject to approval by the aviation authorities. Of course it's up to individual airlines to choose whether they permit use of the system but it's hard to imagine any of them missing such a commercial opportunity. So you can expect to either pay a premium to be seated in a 'mobile-ready' area or pay even more to be seated in a 'quiet zone'. You have to be careful what you wish for.

However, the noise annoyance factor could be a thing of the past within five years as experts in Japan are working on a new mobile that can lip read. The phones recognise words through electrical signals sent by mouth muscles. These signals are then turned into speech, text messages or even emails. Like computers which attempted voice recognition before them, phones are still making little mistakes and haven't quite got the hang of it yet.

As the number of places where we can use our mobiles increases, the phones themselves are set to evolve from communication tools to all-purpose devices, media terminals, credit cards, and remote controls. In the future we will use them to make payments, buy products, check in, enter, and travel, just by waving the phone in front of sensors. We won't just carry them in our bags and pockets, either. Instead there will be tiny wrist-phones and digital jewels, displaying images on a charm. After all, wearing your phone will make it harder to lose or steal.

But the most popular wish for mobiles of the future is a very simple one: two days of battery life during active use. A study by research firm TNS shows that this came top of phone-users requirements and may help explain why they are not making even more use of existing features such as games, music and the internet. Longer-lasting, more powerful battery life will surely give way to more video-making. Then we can hold all meetings by vodcast or video-conferencing and not have to go into the office at all. Only once this happens will eBay be filled with 'nostalgic' ringtones of commuters shouting "I'm on the train".