I/O Headset Interface for Smartphones

Some very bright people have been saying for a while now that smartphones will replace personal computers. I've finally come to the conclusion that they are right. But, there is one last big problem that needs fixing - the smartphone user interface is lousy! The screen is way too small. Positioning the equivalent of a mouse pointer is like pushing a pea around on a 2" x 5" plate using a hockey stick.The keyboards are also way too small, and they are keyed using the most fat fingers on your hands.

There is a fix to this and it will be out in about 18 months. And it will re-landscape the electronics industry.  Google will be the one to bring it to us. And this could well lead to Google becoming the biggest giant in computers, in communications, in computer gaming, in information... basically in everything that we access via the internet and everything we use to access the internet with.

The fix will be an input/output headset that will interface to smartphones.
 

The I/O headset will incorporate:

1. a "virtual display" that will be projected directly into the eye of the user. The virtual display will not block the user's view of the real world, it will overlay it - it will be a heads-up display. What the user will experience will be the equivalent of seeing a 10ft HD full color screen 10 feet away.
2. a high quality audio output (no tinny PC speaker)
3. stereo microphones for continuous high quality audio input.  These will enable directional perception.
4. a pair of cameras for continuous high definition visual input. The camera pair will enable distance perception.

The name of the I/O headset is  Google Glass.  The first units are scheduled to be provided to software developers in early 2013. Units for the general public are scheduled to be on the market in 2014. Article on Google Glass from Pogue's Post of NY Times.

Here's a video presenting Google's vision of their device in the near future: Project Glass: One Day.

Here are my thoughts on the kind of  "any time, any place" user I/O capabilities that this device will enable:

When a user puts his hands out into his field of view with his fingers extended as if reaching for the keys of a keyboard, a window will appear in his virtual display showing an animated cartoon of his hands positioned above a keyboard. As he moves his fingers the cartoon fingers will move identically. When a cartoon finger hits a key there will be an audible click.

When the user points with and moves an extended index finger, a mouse pointer arrow that follows his finger movement will appear on his virtual screen. When he bends his finger there will be an audible mouse right click. when he touches his thumb to his finger there will be an audible left mouse click.

A user with the I/O headset+smartphone will see and hear everything around him in the real world.  At the same time the user will have mobile web access and he will be gathering high quality visual and audio of his surroundings. The user interfaces will be as good as the best a conventional computer station could offer. But the I/O headset+smartphone will have the added benefit of being mobile.

Google is not leaving the smartphone to chance. The have bought Motorola Mobility and they are using this asset to optimize smartphone pairing with the headset.

Google has not left the operating system to chance. They have developed Android, and they already supply this to many smartphone manufacturers. They are advancing and refining Android to seamlessly incorporate the I/O headset.

Google has the vision, the people, the technology and the money to pull this off.

Will this lead to Google becoming the biggest giant in computers, in communications, in computer gaming, in information... basically in everything that we access via the internet and everything we use to access the internet with? I think yes, absolutely.

And think about it - the impact on the world will be gigantic. Music, books, newspapers, magazines, movies and television are all clearly already on the path to being delivered primarily through the internet.  All of this will be accessible via the I/O interface+smartphone combo - accessible anytime, anywhere, while you are on the move and in high fidelity.  (For an excellent sf portrayal  of  the future that might come with this, read the stories of Manfred Macx in Accelerando.)

The device will replace TVs, computers, telephones, stereos, computer displays, cameras, movie recorders, sound recorders...

And eventually the device will be very cheap, so nearly everyone will be able to afford one.  Because all of the components of the device can be miniaturized greatly (no screen display, no keyboard, no mouse, no touchpad), its mass production cost can go below that of any current computer system.