Top trends of 2011 in technology
Sankalp Anand
Year of tablets
The tablet hangover of 2010 will rock 2011 as well. Tablets had a grand start at CES 2011 with Asus tablets, Motorola Xoom and the BlackBerry Playbook. Believe me, these were just a preview. Of course there is an Apple iPad 2 in the pipeline, but more surprises will come from Acer, Dell, Toshiba, MSI and HP. Google’s next generation tablet OS, Android Honeycomb, is also one to watch out for. Microsoft might reveal touch optimized Windows OS for tablets by mid 2011, but the most anticipated will be the Palm OS on HP PalmPads.
The tablet war will be fierce with these new tablets, which might bring steep price drops into the tablet PC segment. At the same time, there will be huge improvements in tablet screens; probably more OLED adoption. Intel might also launch its Oak Trail processor tailored for tablet PCs, and without doubt there will be improvements in processor speed, RAM, storage space and cameras.
3D going the low-cost way
James
Cameron’s Santrum, a 3D underwater action-thriller cost 15 million to
produce compared to the alleged USD 500 million of Avatar. 2011 could
start a new era for 3D, with devices and content product costs set to
drop. There will be more 3D titles, 3D games and 3D channels in 2011,
and this will perk up the sales of 3D televisions and 3D Blu-ray
players.
3D will also come straight into your hand in 2011 with 3D capable mobile devices. Nintendo 3DS, due for a June launch will offer 3D gaming without glasses on a 3.53-inch auto-stereoscopic screen. HTC, known for its innovation, might launch the first 3D smartphone, and even Apple is getting in a 3D mood as well with its patented auto-stereoscopic display that could deliver glasses-free 3D on devices such as iPods, iPhones and iPads. From media players and televisions, 3D will enter more devices in 2011.
The focus will shift; however, to 3D content. Sky became the first broadcaster in the UK to offer 3D viewing and a lot of other satellite services might follow the suit; ESPN and Discovery are all set to launch 3D channels in the US in 2011.
Broadband to speed up with 4G this year
All of us want a faster connection and 2011 will bring more bandwidth to our mobile world with 4G. It is believed to be 10 times faster than current 3G networks and provides the speed equivalent (or more) than a standard landline wired connection. The launch of 4G around the world will vary greatly as telcos seek to balance their 3G business with 4G, and as infrastructure is still being set up in many areas. Whether it’s 4G or not, mobile broadband will definitely speed up due to more manufacturers launching cheaper 3G devices and more people switching to 3G.
Motion control gaming
65%
of US households play video games and gaming will grow crazily in 2011,
irrespective of the devices—smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops and
gaming consoles. More mobile devices will come equipped with gravity
sensors and motion sensitive controls.
Nintendo’s Wii plus, Sony’s PlayStation Move and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Kinect will become more widespread in 2011. In 2011 gaming consoles will start tracking your movements through cameras and follow voice commands through microphones (examples include the Xbox Controller and PlayStation Motion Controller).
Social gaming was on the rise in 2010 and it will soon get more popular on mobile phones and tablets. Smartphones and tablet PCs will primarily connect your social life in 2011, but with better graphics, more power, and more proficient augmented reality apps.
Internet TVs everywhere
Connected TVs were all over CES. Almost everyone showcased how their devices can stream Internet videos. Whether it’s a PlayStation, Xbox, Wii, Blu-ray players, or media players, the television is getting a dose of the Internet. According to Forester Research, the US consumer is spending more time online rather than watching television and there could be a big switch to video on demand in 2011. Apple TV and Google TV might enrich the TV experience by offering streaming and/or downloaded TV and moves, apps, Internet and tons more to TV screens.
Google on the PC
Google entered our lives in 1998 and might revisit the PC again with Google Chrome OS in 2011. Chrome OS is currently in its public beta testing phase on 12-inch Cr-48 notebooks, but might enter into commercial netbooks in mid 2011. Acer, Samsung and many big players are planning to launch netbooks powered by a lighter and faster Chrome OS. The much secured Chrome netbooks will run on 3G connectivity and could bring netbook prices down to USD 100 or lesser. Watch out Microsoft, Windows has a lot to fear from Chrome OS in 2011. [Keep reading for more on Chrome OS in this article]
NFC revolution
Near
Field Communication or NFC technology will turn your phone into a
digital wallet. Although Google Nexus S became the first smartphone to
embrace NFC in 2010, NFC won’t be mainstream until later in 2011.
Google, Apple, LG and loads of other manufacturers have lined up to get
their gadgets packed with NFC, a high-frequency wireless communications
technology that enables exchange of data between devices at a distance
of 10cm or less. So you have to flash your NFC enabled smartphone at a
retail outlet instead of your credit card.
Nokia has plans to bring NFC to all its smartphones. Google Android 2.3 already supports NFC and LG will roll out different NFC enabled gadgets this year as well. Apple is taking NFC seriously as well since 57% of iPhone users have shown interest in NFC; and the iPhone 5 is rumored to feature it.
Apps, apps and apps
There are more than 400,000 mobile apps on different platforms currently and Gartner has predicted that revenues generated from mobile app stores might triple in 2011, reaching USD 15 billion compared to USD 5.2 billion in 2010. 2011 will be all about apps. App developers will think beyond the Apple App Store and there will more apps for Android, BlackBerry, Windows, Nokia and other smartphones in 2011.
Apps will invade different devices as well. The tablets app stores will mature due to the fast growth of tablet PCs in 2011. Intel first launched app store concept for Windows PCs in 2010 and this will only going to get bigger with Mac Apps Store, Chrome Web Store, Acer Live and many more notebook stores coming in 2011.
Location based networking and Augmented Reality
‘Where
are you?’ is going to be the highlight of 2011! Twitter, Facebook,
FourSquare, Gowalla, and Yelp, everyone wants to show your location and
publish recommendation for friends, followers and even strangers. Nokia
has inked a deal with China’ leading web portals Sina and Tencent to
enable Chinese social users to tag locations in their updates.
FourSquare currently has over 5 million users, 25000 new users daily and
2 million check-ins … analysts expect that to quadruple in 2011. So
it’s only going to get bigger.
Augmented Reality failed to take off in 2010, but might boom in 2011 with more augmented reality apps in the pipeline. According to Forrester research, the technology behind augmented reality apps is improving and it might advance in 2011 with Visual Search, NFC and barcodes.
Surprises …
Apple surprised everyone last year with the iPad. What will be making
us go wow in 2011?! The Sony PlayStation phone tops my list, but there
are other contenders like the BlackBerry Presenter phone for showing
PowerPoint presentations on projectors and monitors using Bluetooth
connectivity. The Sony Vaio 3D, which will have a button to switch to 3D
mode to play 3D games and watch 3D movies with glasses gets another
Sony product near the top of my must play with list. Then there’s the
MintPass dual screen dual boot tablet with Windows and Android, iPhone
5, PalmPads and Verizon LTE phones. HTC is experimenting with E-Ink
displays and so is Amazon; there might be radical e-readers in the
pipeline for 2011. Voice control will improve and more gadgets, from
gaming consoles to televisions, will start recognizing your voice.
Better Internet connection and improved FaceTime and Skype apps will
improve video calls in 2011.