Phone or More than Just a Phone?

Does Google know what the future of computing looks like or are they just ensuring we move in some forward direction? The announcement of the Google phone's release, while receiving lackluster responses in some regards, shows a glimpse of some plan. Computing has long been the domain of the home, but as technology advances and we become more mobile, it is likely to be the case that we no longer require Microsoft and the old way of doing things. This raises some ethical questions as to how much we want to put ourselves into the hands of Google, but also what exactly we will be doing with our newfound computing.

The Google G1 phone, in combination with Android, offers versatility in function. The Open Source movement, which is powerful enough in its own right (i.e. Open Office) to destabilize entrenched giants (i.e. Microsoft) is theoretically at the core of Android. Developers will have license to play, and this means the Google phone is going to go forth and multiply. Conceptually, the Google phone doesn't seem to offer as much as the Mac phone, or at least it's not blowing the other smart phones out of the water. However, Android is where the Google phone is getting its real meat from and needless to say developers are going to flesh out programs for the smart phone that Google may not have even considered.

With our technology more on the go, we will move more in the direction of actually being more like a computer. If we begin to use our smart phones more and more as our main computer, our lives will become somewhat intertwined with, and reliant on, this little device in our pockets. Google is trying to free up the internet some, with staunch defense of rights for wireless networks and freedom from ISP's. Part of this could be their stated "Do no Evil" mantra, and part of it could be sound business practice. After all, if everyone has equal access to the internet, then everyone is a potential customer.

This first generation of Google phones is likely to expand upon a possible vision for what Google wants to do with computers and information. By putting the information literally into our hands the dynamic nature of computing takes its next logical step. Laptops, while portable, are still clunky and require lugging around. They are also largely reliant on connectivity, the same as the now outdated PDA, and thus exist solely in the realm of the home PC. It is my suspicion that within a generation computing will no longer even be recognizable, perhaps moving on to an even more bizarre form more akin to speculative fiction than what we are familiar with now.