What’s around the bend in 2019?
Foldable phones, a 5G network and a leap forward for AI... we predict the tech trends that will shape the next 12 months
SCREAMING-FAST 5G
WE already know what the biggest tech story of 2019 will be – the launch of the 5G mobile network.
Screaming-fast speeds, greater reliability, and more devices being connected at the same time, will be the big plus points for the new service… eventually.
The fastest 4G networks at the moment allow for data downloads at an average of 45 megabits per second, whereas the first 5G connectivity could be 10 to 20 times faster than that.
Even those speeds will be dwarfed by future 5G technology as it develops – true 5G (as opposed to the 5G we’ll get next year, which is more an add-on to the 4G network so the two can run side-by side) will use a much higher frequency of radio waves, allowing for gigabit-plus speeds.
As was the case with 4G, the roll out of the service will be slow and full of technological challenges. And cost – expect to pay a premium for 5G phones.
The first 5G phones could come around spring – Samsung’s Galaxy S10 is rumoured to offer support.
But the faster speeds and greater number of connections available will not just have an impact on mobile phones, they’ll make all sorts of new technology possible – driverless cars, for example, will require fast always-on connections.
EE will begin rolling out 5G in six cities across the UK in the summer (London, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Belfast, Birmingham and Manchester), while 10 more cities should be online by the end of the year (Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool,
Leeds, Hull, Sheffield, Nottingham, Leicester, Coventry and Bristol).
All the other major networks are in the midst of testing and upgrading hardware, too - although security concerns about just how much technology made in China is being used in the upgrade, and a desire to limit that, might just slow things down a bit.
AI POWERS ON
MOST of us are now carrying an artificially intelligent assistant around with us in our pockets, and a lot of us have them in our homes.
2019 will see them become better and brighter and a lot more useful. We’re not getting to the stage where you can have a conversation with them just yet, but Siri, Alexa, Bixby, Cortana and the Google Assistant are all benefitting from more powerful devices and intense research to improve on all levels.
And AI is being used in other areas of our lives, too – computational photography, for example, has seen the dramatic increase in mobile phone power help us beat the laws of physics and do things with images that would once only be possible using a big camera.
That trend will continue in 2019 – cameras will get smaller, but somehow more powerful, and smarter. Features like Google’s Top Shot – which captures a second or so of footage and selects the best image to be the photo (it knows when people have their eyes closed, and tries to avoid things like that) – and Apple’s Portrait mode – which applies a beautiful blurred background to portrait images – will be joined by other clever ideas to help us all capture better images more easily.
The big frustration with AI remains the fact that all the most formidable engineers in the field are working in competition with each other. And while that might produce some competitive edge between Apple, Google and the rest, it’s hard not to lament what we’re all missing as a result of them not working together to move things forwards faster.
FOLDING PHONES
WITH one wild-card producer no one had ever heard of revealing a not-very-good folding smartphone last year (the Royole Corporation’s FlexPai phone was, by all accounts, best described as a “concept”), get set for the real deal arriving.
Royole’s announcement was followed by Samsung’s reveal of its plans to set a smartphone with a foldable display loose some time in 2019.
We got a brief look at it at a Samsung developer event back in November, but we didn’t see much. Detail on release date and pricing was not forthcoming.
We don’t even know the device’s name – will it be the Galaxy F, or the Galaxy X? Who knows? We expect to learn more in the spring, though. And there’s no doubt that Samsung will not be the only ones heading down this road.
Most of the major manufacturers – including Apple, which filed a second patent for a foldable phone display in October – will be working on their own version of a phone that can fold, hopefully offering the best of both worlds (a big tablet-style display when you need it, in a device that’ll still fit in your pocket).
Apple’s effort is not thought to be nearing release, though. Activity from its rivals could spur the iPhone maker into
bringing forward its plans, but don’t hold your breath.
Apple is much more likely to bide its time, let the others make all the important mistakes, and then move in on the market with a killer device when it knows it can do it really well…
A NEW REALITY FOR AR AND VR
WE have, of course, been waiting a number of years for virtual and augmented reality to hit the mainstream. With AR capabilities now built into most smartphones, and the price of VR units dropping, you could argue that year was 2018.
But I’m expecting 2019 to be an even bigger year for these technologies – with the hardware in place, they should find a real niche in education and training.
Virtual reality is great for games, but it’s still quite cumbersome and tiring to use for any length of time.
That’s why, instead of investing in their own gear, anybody interested in VR gaming is more than likely tipping up at one of the ubiquitous VR arcades springing up in shopping centres and cinema complexes all over the country.
But for schools, colleges and universities, VR and AR offer unique opportunities to show students things they could never see in real life, and to work with items they could never work with in real life.
Imagine a history student being able to walk through the Roman Forum thanks to VR, or an engineering student being able to dismantle a virtual jet engine using AR. The applications for these two technologies are endless, and will continue to show their real worth over the next 12 months.
STREAMING FOR SUCCESS
WE’RE now living in a world in which a film director of the stature of Alfonso Cuarón chooses Netflix as the primary distribution channel for his latest film.
Roma was released last month, and by all accounts has done very well for itself, as well as generating a not insignificant Oscar buzz.
I can’t be the only one wondering if it’s truly time to say goodbye to broadcast TV and rely on streaming services like Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime, and NowTV for everything.
If the rumours are anything to go by, there could be an even bigger reason to cut those cords in 2019 as Apple reportedly gears up to launch its own TV streaming service. Obviously, no details are available, but we do know Apple has invested heavily in some original programming of its own, involving the likes of Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey.
The service may well be delivered initially as part of the Apple Music offering, for which millions are already forking out a tenner a month. With Apple in the game, that ups the ante – and Netflix and Amazon will surely have to stay on their game.
That can only mean a good 2019 for TV and film lovers.