E-Ink
If Amazon doesn't sell an enormous number of e-ink devices this Christmas, we'll eat Kindle- but the iPod of books isn't the only place you'll see electronic ink in 2011. HTC is experimenting with a whole mix of display technologies including E-ink for its devices.
Combine colour e-ink with Sony's touch colour e readers and you've got something very exciting indeed.
Apps, not applications
By the end of 2011, it'll feel like the only firm who doesn't have an app store is Dyno-Rod. In addition to the various mobile device app stores, Apple is preparing a Mac one: if it takes off, which we think it will.
Stunning Tablet screens
We've been promised OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) screens in tablets all year, but they've remained mobile-only for one simple reason: huge demand for mobile phone-sized OLEDs. Bigger screens should turn up in 2011's tablets, offering more vibrant displays, better battery life and thinner form factors. Apple, meanwhile, is widely expected to bring its Retina display to the iPad.
Mobile capacity problems
In 2011, all our smartphones, streaming apps and 3G-toting Tablets will connect effortlessly to mobile networks that deliver super-fast, super-smooth, high-speed internet access.
Only kidding! It's going to suck!
It looks like we'll have a choice between costly access or congested access. As John Levett of Jupiter Research explains: "2010 was the year in which the surge in mobile data traffic, driven by the consumer smartphone boom, began to place the 3G networks under severe strain. A number of network operators have responded by introducing tiered data pricing - a trend which will undoubtedly increase - but as smartphone adoption continues apace, network capacity will be sorely tested in 2011."
Cloud storage and streaming
We'll find out whether Google's cloud-based Chrome OS is a credible Windows or Mac alternative when it ships early next year, but even if it's a dud the cloud will become an increasingly important part of our everyday activities.
That's partly because we're doing more of our computing on the move, and partly because even at home we're jumping from device to device: smartphone to tablet to console to desktop to laptop… you get the idea. Phones and tablets don't have the storage capacity for all our stuff, so it makes sense for them to access cloud-based storage instead.
