What do you think will be the next functions added to smartphones?

More spying, tracking and surveillance under the hood.

I hope something as simple as a build in answering machine.

Maybe two things, first, controlling anything at home, IoT devices and other or older devices per adapters etc., and second, but it’s in a certain sense part of the first, something like an automatic ordering system, means product code scanning, automatic or user acknowledged reordering of daily goods, shopping lists or regular services, as well as storage management, not only the refrigerator contents, also other things like toilet paper, battery replacement information, recycling calendar, but of course that means also checking all dates, if anything is getting due for reordering, consumption or warnings that a product shouldn’t be used anymore because it’s over a certain date and so on. Just like a real PIM, that has all data, reminds you of everything and does the more easier things automatically in background, even unsupervised mailings , mail answering and birthday greetings are within sight, but that’s already a bit too much, isn’t it. lol

more spying apps.

more attack on human iq.

Ask the NSA, CIA, FBI, DHS

They know for sure

If governments are going to turn off everything but 5G soon, a TRX or transverter would be useful. Just clip one on and your 2G, 3G or 4G phone can utilise a 5G network. A green alternative to getting rid of loads of phones. Like pocket WiFi but much smaller.

A built-in feature phone on a chip (or similar functionality) so you could switch to it, saving power.

Greater use of distributed comms in apps, so you could network/game/communicate user-to-user, locally, without a net connection or when a quake takes it down. Everything necessary is built-in (hardware and Android code) but it isn't widely used.

1Seg doesn't appear to be as common on JP smartphones as it was on feature phones, although it has been included on some. It is the most robust and (because it is visual) foreigner-friendly option for disseminating information after a quake. I'm surprised it is not more common.

Live pet/human language translation.

I wonder how cheaply a geophys scanner could be built utilising a smartphone for live processing of archaeological data.

A personal assistant, like Alexa, based on Father Jack Hackett.

Removeable batteries. No. Silly me. That would be tougher than time travel.

The above would be good, but little good happens nowadays. What I expect is 24/7 govt. spyware built into the OS. Every step you take, every move you make, they'll be watching you.

I second those commenters about more spyware being installed. But on a positive note, I'm guessing they would add the following features: an accelerometer to know if the owner has been in an accident, an emergency SOS function that does not need mobile network service, a self-charging battery using built in solar panels?

Portability.

I'm loving my 13 mini.

Less is more.

Prostate imaging.

Solar panels to charge the battery would be nice.

I do also see our smartphones becoming a universal controller for all our household appliances and gadgets etc.

What would be cool is to have some kind of projector function so we can watch movies/shows etc cinema style.

What would be cool is to have some kind of projector function so we can watch movies/shows etc cinema style.

I remember Japan (Sony maybe?) made a smart phone like that a while ago.

Correction: a bunch of phones had/have the projector function. But I remember the Japanese one being really cool, unfortunately I don't remember the detail.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Projector_phone

Flatulence aroma evaluator

Gender evaluator to tell you if its a he, she or whatever the others want to be called.

Definitely more spyware.

phones will be able to read your emails and SMS messages out loud to you like a secretary.

Siri, Cortana, and other AI software functions and abilities will be expanded

Solar panels to charge the battery would be nice.

That's a great idea!

A solar-powered Tenga?

Self destruction button

Nah, we all know that phones will sell better if we removed more features like the headphone jack. Perhaps we will get rid of charging ports?

For the consumer, probably just more gimmicks aimed to make people even more addicted to the gadget. Under the hood, more function to keep people connected to Big Tech at all times and record their information.

Fwiw, I am probably the last person in Tokyo who does not own on of these. I have the cheapest "pocket wifi" that I could find and an old iPod. That connects me when I need internet. But I see the pressure to get smartphoned and hate it.

Depth scanners. Standard issue. Three years.