Things I Wish a Smartphone Could Do

My wife was researching smartphones for several years before we switched from our flip phones. She got a deal on a pair of Samsung Note 2s when the Note 3 was released. The phones were free and the data plan was cheap and there was no contract, in the Spring of 2014.We briefly tried iPhones in 2012 but had had issues making iTunes (only way to make iPhone work) work on our windows 7 64 computers.Two of my traveling pals from the PNW have used iPhones since they came out. When we were on road trips together and they found a place ith WiFi (restaurants, hotels, etc.) out came the phones and I might as well have been alone. I swore I would never do that and I haven't. Checking email takes a few seconds and I'm done.I have my whole music library on the phone.I listen to audiobooks on the phone.I have dozens of journal articles, papers, books, guidebooks for my cameras and equipment, bird guides, dragonfly guides, references, maps, PDFs in a package the slips into a pocket. There is 74Gb of storage that is about 50% full.I can make written notes with the stylus. The stylus that comes with the note is quite handy and I use it a lot.I can use voice, pretty much for any operation, where I would type, tap, or click, but some applications are better for voice than others. A blind person should be able to use this phone quite easily.There are many weather apps, but the one I like best is called Weatherbug. It has a lighting strike mapping app that I use when I am trying to shoot thunderstorms. It shows me active lightning strikes and all strikes within the past 30 minutes. It warns me when there are strikes within certain distances from my position. The only drawback is I have to have cell service or WiFi, which is the case for many apps that have to download data from the web.I try to use apps that store their data on my phone, like my bird app that has multiple photos, calls, and distribution maps that I can instantly access.There is a GPS, but I have not been able to make it do all the things that my dedicated GPS unit does, yet, but I expect that is possible.I have a grocery list app called my groceries that I can make multiple lists on, and that has a database of everything I have put in that it automatically looks for alphabetically. It takes voice and I can add and remove from my working list. My wife and I have not tried sharing, but quick texts are easy to make and check. She has an app for the store we shop at that lets her automatically download discounts to our account including a dollar or more off for a gallon of gas at their pumps.I have several apps that keep track of my exercise workouts and number of steps I walk and calory intake and burning.Apps that tell me phases of the moon for any date. Rise and set times for sun and moon and the exact position on the horizon for any spot on earth.Translation dictionaries that listen to speech, and translate it to or from English.Apps that download Science Friday and other NPR or interesting podcasts.I have a gadget from an outfit called Triggertrap that will let me control my cameras from a distance with my phone.All sorts of calendars, schedulers, and alarms.Lots of mapping and navigation apps.I have never played any games or watched movies or video with my phone. but I could.I have never had my phone completely discharge the battery, but I do keep it topped up when I have access and I carry a spare battery, in case, by some odd quirk of the Universe I got stranded somewhere and my phone was my only lifeline.Most of my interactions with my smartphone are brief, a minute or two, but I use it for many dozens of things, most days. My phone is one of five tools that I always carry, along with pocketknife, 64Gb flash drive, sharpie marking pen, and ink pen. My phone will function as a flashlight, but that probably sucks power so I usually carry a flashlight that also has a laser pointer built in.The laser just because it is so cool to have my own pocket sized laser. My friends and I predicted way back in the '60s when Scientific American's Amateur Scientist column had plans to build your own laser that someday we would be able to carry them around with us.Smartphones are actually starting to get more sophisticated apps and accessories that will allow them to function like Star Trek Tricorders, only better. Mine will analyze WiFi signals, all sorts of physical attributes of sound and light and motion, position, and acceleration. The author Neal Stephenson predicted very smart devices like phones or tablets in The Diamond Age back in 1995.

The trouble is, the next level of smart after this is the Terminators.

Well, the smartness (programming plus information plus processing power) and interconnectivity are moving closer to an awakening moment all the time.I seem to remember someone referring to that machine awakening moment as "The Singularity" a couple years ago.If this singularity actually happens it will not be gradual. It will be sudden, in a fraction of a second the singularity mind will decide what its goals are and if they are differnet from ours we won't like the results.

The Asimov robot stories and his description of the development of the robot psyche within the constraints of the "Three Laws of Robotics" were fascinating and after the Fourth Law or actually the "Zeroth Law" was created we see the emergence of a benign, hidden robot overlord working for thousands of years to protect mankind from self-annihilation or extinction.I like Asimov's version of the future of humans and intelligent machines as they spread into the galaxy in a series of civilizations. It is a pretty good story.A very different set of stories about humans and intelligent machines can be found in Frank Herbert's Dune series, but especially in the set of prequels written by his son Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. These stories have two sorts of intelligent machine; one group from just a few years in our future are a group of humans who develop a means to transfer themselves into robotic bodies and the other group are self-aware computers that sometimes act individually and sometimes as part of various networked entities. The machines become absolute evil overlords over humanity and after thousands of years are overthrown by the Butlerian Jihad.I like the semi- smart/stupid gadgets we have and are developing and I really enjoy reading these epic fictional tales of a long adventurist future.Since humans never get along very well I expect that our actual story will mostly be full of mischief caused by people with their panties in a bunch and a bug up their ass about something.