The Even Smarter Phone

from the actual-smarts? dept

To some extent the concept of the "smart phone" is a bit of a misnomer, since it's just a phone with a more advanced operating system and features. It's not really that "smart." However, some researchers are trying to work on ways to make your phone much smarter. Since the phone is always with you, and so involved in much of your daily activities, they figure, why not let the phone monitor your activities and try to help out, by predicting certain activities or providing intelligent reminders? It's a nice idea -- if it works. However, most attempts to do this even on desktop machines, with much more powerful processors, haven't worked particularly well. Of course, there will also be those who worry about the privacy implications of your phone "knowing too much" about you, especially when it will be possible for others to get that info out of your phone. Still, expect plenty of work to be done (along with plenty of hype) in this area, as the previously overhyped idea of the "personal intelligent agent" returns from its brief hiatus. This time, though, it won't be stuck in a desktop machine, but always at your side in a mobile device.