America Discovers New Ways to Communicate - The Future Of Communications

Integration is likely to be the future of communications technology. As of 2004 many people were using BlackBerry devices that combine Internet and cellular

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technology. A BlackBerry is a wireless, handheld device that downloads e-mail on the Web by dialing into a cell-phone network and then connecting to the Internet. Black-Berry devices also have personal organizer capabilities, including an address book and planner. As of late 2004, many companies offered BlackBerry–cell phone hybrids with a cell phone built into the BlackBerry device, so that both e-mail and cell-phone calls could be received on the same device.

The third generation of wireless technology, commonly referred to as 3G, should allow for even more integration of Internet technologies into cell phones. As of 2004, 3G was being set up for commercial use in the United States. An advanced form of CDMA, 3G will allow more people to share a broader bandwidth of frequencies on the current cell-phone networks. The FCC is working to free up more of the radio frequency spectrum for this new network. The additional bandwidth should dramatically increase the amount of information that can flow between the phone and the cellular tower, making broadband Internet access and streaming video possible on cell phones. With the new system in place, Americans will likely be using their cell phones to download and play music and movie files, watch newscasts, and shop online. Continued development of smaller electronics and display screens should bring even higher quality cameras, video games systems, and Web cameras to cell phones.

The biggest technological issue facing cell-phone makers in the first decade of the twenty-first century is limited battery life. The more features phones have, the more energy they need to run. According to Steve Morgenstern in "Got Juice?" (Popular Science, October 2004), battery energy density since 1990 has tripled, whereas processor speeds, display screens, and memory have increased in complexity hundreds of times. The more complex an electronics device becomes, the more power it needs to run. Unless battery technology increases dramatically, batteries may soon set the limit for how many features can be packed into a cell phone.