Phone home - the future of the mobile is here

The world of the mobile phone is here. The snazzy futuristic technologies that used to be 'some unspecified time not too far from now', is now years, or even months, away.

Vodafone and Orange both have multimedia services you can access through your WAP (wireless application protocol) phone. They include the Nokia 7110 as seen in the hands of Neo and Trinity in the film The Matrix, and the Siemens S25. Many more models are set to flood the market.

The sexy Mitsubishi Aria Cosmo is due out this month, with a WAP-enabled version expected later next year. Nokia and Ericsson have 'concept' video mobile phones on their websites, ready for the time when network speeds catch up with the Net and you can download more than seven frames per minute.

Eventually in the UK we'll probably get the Samsung SPH-WP10 wristwatch-sized phone, a 67 x 58 x 20mm digital watch containing a wireless phone. It's made up of a miniature duplexer, a tiny baseband analogue processor chip and an eensy-weensy fixed antenna, and weighs 39g. It is currently not GSM, so it's incompatible with UK mobile telecoms.

Music to your ears
Music fans will love Ericsson's MP3 player that hooks to its T28 Worldphone. The phone will set you back $299, the MP3 player will hit the streets this summer. Ericsson has yet to reveal the price tag.

As more and more devices hit the market, the mobile phone will continue to evolve, predicts Ericsson. "Your mobile phone will be the first thing you grab for in the morning, and like your wallet and keys, you won't leave the house without it," said a spokesperson.

The phones themselves are all sexy, beautiful pieces of kit, but the really exciting thing is what you'll be able to do with them. And no, I'm not talking about VIP - the Vibrating Internal Pager, being launched on Valentine's Day next year.

Lifestyle links
All the providers will offer news, weather, restaurant and cinema information and traffic reports, or some combination thereof. Virgin, for example, plans to sell the things it already sells offline, online, wedding dresses notwithstanding. Eventually you'll download your horoscope, you'll get your traffic update from a GPS satellite that knows where your car is, and you'll do all your banking and, indeed, shopping via your phone.

Vodafone, for example, foresees a time when, if you're out late and you know your dog is waiting to be let in, you will just ring your home security system from your mobile, disarm the alarm, open the door to admit the beastie and reset the alarm. You'll be able to switch lights on and off remotely. Your voice recognition software will read your emails aloud to you in the car.

More than meets the eye
Orange has gone a step further: in conjunction with Cambridge Consultants it has developed - admittedly the world's ugliest object - a combination mobile videophone, digicam (stills and video) and PDA. It will be launched at the end of this year and you should be able to browse the Web on it - watching a film trailer, then booking your tickets for it online.

Already in Finland you can use your WAP or GSM mobile phone to buy soft drinks from a vending machine, and to operate jukeboxes and even car washes. Israeli firm TeleVend has released VAST - Vending Automation System Technologies: this not only lets you buy your Tango or IrnBru using your mobile or your palmtop organiser and charges it straight to your phone bill, but it simultaneously shows you your favourite film trailers or the latest sporting results.

TeleVend is expanding VAST's applications, so eventually a parking meter will be able to ring you if you're running over time, and let you add more money to it.

Controlling influence
Your home, too, will go on getting more networked, until there'll be nothing, apart from your housemates, you can't control via your mobile and a smart interface. Electrolux is already manufacturing the ScreenFridge: you scan the barcode of an empty ice-cream tub and it automatically orders you another online.

Eventually you might have a piece of household software that keeps track of what's in the fridge. You can plan menus for dinner parties and the software will log itself onto the Net to order home delivery of whatever you need. It may sound farfetched, but it's very nearly here.