Upcoming trends and technologies

2003 saw a lot of milestones in consumer electronics, digital devices and technologies. The mainstream acceptance of Wi-Fi hot spots and the emergence of a new breed of wireless notebooks and PDAs (personal digital assistants) made Internet access without wires more than a passing fad.

The release of colored cellular phones, PDA-integrated smartphones and camera phones pushed the boundaries of portable functionality while improving the experience offered by MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) features launched a year ago.

In computing, 2003 saw the rollout of the first 64-Bit desktop processors from IBM and AMD, boasting staggering performance gains and higher system bandwidth as well as RAM memory limits for desktop PCs.

Intel’s Centrino processor and its global "Unwire" campaign bolstered awareness on true mobile wireless computing, while PalmOne and HP-Compaq led the market with affordable, multi-functional and powerful new PDAs.

In tech entertainment, 2003 was the year of the MP3 as evidenced by the success of online pay-per-download services and the success of Apple’s iPod and similar MP3 players.

Video games were big news with the arrival of Nintendo’s GameBoy Advanced SP and Nokia’s N-Gage deck as well as a flurry of top-shelf releases for PC, Playstation2 and Xbox consoles.

The availability of Java and Mophun games for mobile phones offers a window of opportunity in portable gaming that is expected to continue in the coming year.

Let’s now take a look at some of the possible trends and technologies for 2004.

Mobile Gaming Gains

Nintendo’s Gameboy Advanced SP has had a tremendous run but this portable gaming veteran is expected to be the target of a number of devices in the coming year.

The most direct competitor is the much-hyped Playstation Portable (PSP) which will not only play games but will also serve as an all-around MP3 device, personal video player and multimedia device (early reports say the diminutive device will have 5.1 surround sound capabilities).

Nokia’s N-Gage game-phone, which offers players the chance to play over Bluetooth or GPRS, is expected to be the start of a wave of portable cellphone-consoles although the games for the Nokia device are ridiculously expensive. Other handsets have also incorporated the ability to download small and affordable Java and Mophun games, and this trend is expected to remain.

PDA Perfection

Lower-priced, high-end PDAs are another trend in personal computing expected to improve in the coming year. From lowly digital organizers to bona fide handheld computers, the ability to surf the Internet, integrate with Microsoft Office applications and handle audio, images and video are becoming standard features, as high-resolution color screens do. The difference between price and performance between PocketPC-powered and Palm-powered devices is nearly non-existent as both platforms have matured and offer similar processing power and specs. Palm though still has the edge in simplicity and its huge library of applications. For 2004, we can expect cheaper PDAs to be the norm.

MP3 Player Revolution

The wide acceptance of the MP3 format, the success of players from Apple, Dell, Nomad and others plus the wide availability of songs (legally or otherwise) have made MP3 a mainstream success. Music e-tailers managed to push a pay-per-download scheme in 2003, and this is expected to get better in 2004 as the hardware becomes more affordable.

Now Showing: PVPs

If 2003 was the year of the MP3 player, then 2004 might become the year of the PVPs (personal video players). PVPs are essentially high-capacity hard drives with built-in TFT screens that allow playback of hundreds of hours of video.

Spearheaded by such visionary companies as Archos (which has released a number of models), the personal video player revolution makes use of the MP4 codec for highly compressed video (VCD quality and CD sound). The benefit is portability and function (aside from video, you can store music, images and regular files). What remains to be seen is if video will be successfully distributed online through legal means just like what is being done now to MP3 audio.

64-Bit Desktop Processing

Ushered in by Apple’s G5 supercomputer running IBM’s 64-bit processor and followed up by AMD’s desktop and notebook processors, the 64-bit revolution has certainly arrived.

These processors offer a speedy architecture, robust usage of RAM (up to a whopping 8 gigabytes of capacity) and unprecedented performance gains, especially for video and 3D-intensive applications.

2004 should see the arrival of applications and programs developed to take advantage of 64-bit processors, and this is certainly something to look forward to.

Smartphones Evolving

Despite their sky-high prices, there’s no questioning the intelligence of smartphones. These one-device wonders have brought advanced cellular phone features, PDA capabilities, audio, video and even handheld computing applications into a single gadget.

Sony Ericsson’s P800 and P900, Nokia’s 7650, PalmOne’s Treo 270 and 600 as well as devices from O2 and Sendo integrate the best of all worlds.

For 2004, 10 new models running on Windows Smartphone 2004 OS are expected to be launched within the first few months. Symbian OS- and Palm OS-powered models are certain to see daylight as well.

Home Theater On Rebate

The leaps and bounds experienced by technologies in the AV (audio-visual) market have not been as well-documented as those in other consumer electronic lines.

This doesn’t mean, however, that the progress has been insignificant. Smaller, more powerful components have been hitting the market and selling at low prices.

Even high-end audio brands are offering affordable speaker systems that can be used to create diminutive but powerful home theater systems. The same goes for DVD players, which are expected to become cheaper and readily available in 2004.

WiMax On The Horizon

Intel’s WiMax broadband wireless initiative, which is currently under development, will offer Wi-Fi access over hundreds of kilometers, making standalone Wi-Fi hot spots a transitional solution.

Wireless broadband and access-anywhere technology is where broadband and wireless technologies are really headed to. 2004 should see some dramatic hardware and infrastructure breakthroughs toward this end.

Friendster Forever

The peer-to-peer, Web-based community known as Friendster (www.friendster.com) is still a beta release but has already seen enormous success during the second half of 2003.

The idea of Friendster is simple: you sign up and look for your friends, which you collect like Pokemons. Each person’s library becomes accessible to his or her friends, which means an endless possibility of finding friends and acquaintances. With the copycat nature of the Web, it is almost certain that many more services of this type will be big news in 2004.

Notable Notebooks

The biggest story for 2003 may be the falling prices of notebook computers such as those offered by ECS and Prestigio, plunging from the P70,000 low-end price of years past.

New notebooks offer, among others, the latest Intel Centrino processors, built-in Wi-Fi capabilities, CDRW-DVD combo drives and high-capacity video cards for games. Notebooks are outselling desktops globally and this should become more apparent in 2004.