The One Device Future

I’m tired of carrying multiple devices. Well, the PC/notebook market is dying so I’m not much concerned about the laptop. But carrying two devices is still cumbersome, especially when both of them running the same operating system (iOS or Android). In the future, I want to have only one device that has the following properties.

Has stretchable hardware

I’m mostly talking about the display here. Ideally, a 4.5” screen for the phone and a 9” screen for the tablet should be good. How we are going to make the internals stretchable, I have no clue.

Has no in-device storage

Cloud storage has become so cheap today. Google, Dropbox and a number of other folks are on an outrageous price war. I think, for this device, up to a terabyte of free cloud storage and paid per GB beyond that, would be great. Internal storage spaces take up a bit of space and can be done away with.

Undergoes metamorphosis

Based on the screen size, I want the device to be able to change it’s functionality, screen resolutions, etc. At 4.5”, the device should have the Phone, WhatsApp, and other phone-specific apps, and similarly tablet-apps at 9”. The apps that are compatible with both phones and tablets should use the viewport sizes to determine which screen they are serving and change resolutions, functionality, etc. accordingly.

Runs super-powerful internals

The gap between the technical specifications of a phone and a tablet is shrinking, and shrinking fast. There are phones and tablets that run high-end RAMs and multi-core processors. Based on the device and the apps being utilized, these should optimize themselves to ensure that no resources are wasted in idling.

Runs through the day, and beyond

Tablet batteries are generally longer lasting than phone ones. There should be a single battery that lasts really long if you’re using the device only as a phone, and a little lesser if you’re using it as a tablet (the bigger screen always laps up a lot of juice)

If you thought the above description was crazy, get this — I should be able to shrink it a bit, strap it on as a smart watch and go about my day.

Essentially, I want to be able to look at the time at one glance, take calls comfortably, edit documents effortlessly, watch hi-def movies on widescreen. All using a single device.

This sounds crazy now, but if the future isn’t heading this way, the future is heading the wrong way.

[Contributed by Gokul Sridhar, a 21-year old startup founder with a professed love for well-designed products and services. An Apple fanboy who occasionally dabbles with Python on Vim or pixels on Photoshop.]

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