Five things to expect in 2015

What if you can just talk to your TV instead? We’re doing that with smartphones and smartwatches anyway (via Siri, Google Now and Cortana). Perhaps it’s time to talk to the TV as well.

2015 is going to be an exciting year for technology. New technologies and new devices will be introduced and trends in tech will be primarily focused on mobility due to massive growth in smartphone adoption.

Here are five interesting things that I think will happen in tech for 2015.

Smartwatches will become mainstream

While wearable devices have been around for a couple of years, current players like Samsung, Sony, LG and Motorola have not really carved a significant number of early adopters. There is traction but it seems to be moving at a very slow pace.

Apple is set to release the Apple Watch by around first or second quarter of 2015. Apple might be considered a little late in the game but we give it to them to put major effort in popularizing a new product category. Apple is looking at the Watch as their new hero product and will consider it as their new iPod.

Since the adoption of the Apple Watch will be heavily dependent on the popularity of the iPhone, I predict Apple is going to sell millions of these watches this year.

Expect bigger or longer battery life

As mobile computing power is increasing, the demand for more juice definitely comes into play. Come to think of it, because of greater demand for mobile connectivity, the need for longer battery life becomes one of the most important factors that consumers expect from their mobile devices.

We’ve seen manufacturers do their best in optimizing power consumption but the efforts do not seem to be that significant.

The logical move is to increase battery capacity while maintaining the same slim form factor of smartphones. Years ago, it was just in the range of 1,200mAh to 1,800mAh. Last year, we saw something in between 2,600mAh to 3,200mAh. This year, expect it to be somewhere between 3,600mAh to 4,800mAh. That should translate to at least an extra half day or a full day of moderate to heavy use.    

Bigger storage capacity

The magic number is 128GB. Apple is perhaps the first to introduce a smartphone with 128GB internal storage capacity. This year, that number is going to be the standard.

That means more photos, music and videos will be within arm’s reach. Some people will still use the cloud (Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud) but if we’re talking about large files, nothing beats direct access to internal storage.

On the other hand, expect external storage via miroSD cards to be more affordable. Perhaps 128GB microSD cards will be more common and we’ll see newer ones with 256GB or 512GB capacities.

Sub-P1,000 Android smartphones

This price range is currently monopolized by feature phones with price tags between P500 to P1,000. It could change this year when very affordable Android smartphones breach the P1,000 barrier.

Google has recently launched their Android One program, an effort to introduce more affordable smartphones in emerging countries. We’re hoping the Philippines will soon be included in this program. If not, there is still hope with local brands like Cherry Mobile or MyPhone to deliver.

Your TV will talk to you

Smart TVs have been around for years but the development of the platform to make them smart has been a bit sluggish until recently. Navigation is also a little tricky and several attempts include a clunky virtual keyboard, an air mouse and hand gestures.

What if you can just talk to your TV instead? We’re doing that with smartphones and smartwatches anyway (via Siri, Google Now and Cortana). Perhaps it’s time to talk to the TV as well.