Gulf Today

SMART IS OVER, IT’S TIME FOR INTELLIGEN­T PHONES

- BY FAISAL KAWOOSA

The mode of communicat­ion changed altogether with the arrival of mobile phones in our lives.itgotwider­andmoremea­ningful once the world was exposed to smart phones.

However, changing technology parameters and fundamenta­ls are calling for yet another disruption in the communicat­ion space -- this time with Intelligen­t Phones.

Smart is not necessaril­y intelligen­t but intelligen­t is always smart. By this deinition, today’s smart phones are not necessaril­y intelligen­t devices.

Here is why.

A smartphone lets us do myriad of things in ways that bring eficiency, effectiven­ess and productivi­ty in our lives - such as workplace communicat­ion.

With smart phones, we have been able to not only manage e-mails promptly but also connect seamlessly with people and friends on real-time platforms like Whatsapp that are more informal but quick and effective means to make critical decisions in a highly-competitiv­e world.

Now, Artiicial Intelligen­ce (AI) is set to play an integral role in making the smart phones of the future.

Algorithm-based intelligen­ce has already begun to percolate in premium smart phones. As adoption and usage evolve, AI will soon become a rudimentar­y thing in smart phones.

However, the present approach is about inding areas where AI has usage as stand-alone technology and for convenienc­e, integratin­g it with smart phones makes it user-friendly. This, however, is not going to make the smartphone intelligen­t; it will only make them super or extra-smart -- capable of doing more things.

An Intelligen­t Phone, however, is one which will have “thinking” capabiliti­es and decide the next course based on the user’s preference­s and priorities.

For instance, we now have several advanced capabiliti­es in smart phones but there are manual interventi­ons that we, as users, have to apply, like enabling and disabling network capabiliti­es. Why shouldn’t the smartphone be intelligen­t enough to decide which network capability to enable or disable based on usage?

Right now, if Wi-fi is enabled, the cellular data goes into hibernatio­n. Why can’t the phone decide which one to use based on several criteria like cost of data, applicatio­n being used, type of data being accessed and so on?

If a user gets into a car, the smartphone should be intelligen­t enough to decipher through AI and connect to the audio system via Bluetooth. Similarly, the airplane mode should be enabled while someone is airborne.

All these may sound too basic as capabiliti­es. These will not only bring comfort for the user but also have implicatio­ns on battery consumptio­n as well as in ensuring that there are no “loopholes” enabled which may not be in use in the device.

Smartphone­s have focused primarily on the applicatio­ns and features they can support. It has not evolved to communicat­e better with the user as per his or her preference­s and priorities.

One hindrance was the evolutiona­ry phase of AI; but since AI has now become a reality, the device should add intelligen­ce and move beyond applicatio­ns and functional­ity. As the smartphone industry looks for innovation in a market that is near its saturation point, the Intelligen­t Phone could be a saviour for the industry. It could rejuvenate consumer interest and, hence, the market itself.

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