Increased storage capacity lets you bring everything you need with you
The advent of high-capacity storage cards will make it possible for Robert to bring all the information he needs with him. This includes his e-mail, reference material, documents, presentations, high-resolution graphics, video files, additional applications, and more. Toshiba recently entered the Guinness Book of World Records by introducing the world's smallest hard disk drive-a 0.85 inch device with a 4 GB capacity! (Fig. 1) In five years, storage capacity will be even higher and the prices even lower. All this is set to change the storage paradigm on Pocket PCs and SmartPhones. We can expect hard disk drives to be built into future mobile devices.

Fig.1: Toshiba's 0.85 inch hard disk drive can store 4 GB of data.
Input innovations make data entry easier
We already have a variety of external keyboards and alternate input software available for Windows Mobile devices. In the near future we'll see more innovative solutions like the projection keyboards being developed by Canesta (Fig. 2). This solution combines a laser "pattern projector" to display a keyboard on a flat surface and "electronic perception technology" to recognize and translate finger movements into keystrokes
Fig 2. Laser projection keyboard by Canesta
In addition to laser keyboards, improved voice-to-text capability and advanced transcriber technology will make it possible for Robert to create or edit data easily while on the move. Robert's phone-enabled Pocket PC will be able to translate conversations with his engineers into text format and save them as document files for later reference, or to cut and paste portions of them into a presentation. In addition to the soft input panel, the applications will come equipped with voice recognition capabilities which will let Robert drive his applications with his voice.
Enhanced display technology
Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition already supports resolutions of 480x640, but few devices have VGA screens. In the future, VGA screens will be common and Pocket PCs will be able to support even larger monitors and duplicate monitors (i.e., displaying on two screens at the same time). You can also expect to see flexible screen technology similar to Universal Display Corporation's innovative "Flexible Organic Light Emitting Device" (Fig. 3). This lightweight, ultra-thin display can be rolled up, or laminated onto just about any surface. Flexible screen technology can potentially put larger, more durable screens in handheld devices without increasing the size or weight of the device.
Fig. 3: Flexible screen technology developed by Universal Display.
In the future, the Pocket PC will have resolution and orientation-aware applications that will support multiple external monitors. Pocket PC applications will detect the presence of attached external monitors and automatically change the image resolution, shape and contents to optimize and suit the available display. One new tool, IA Screen Mirror 2.0, lets you project multiple Pocket PC screens on to an external monitor. With all these enhancements, Robert will be able to display his presentation on a variety of screens without compromising the quality of the picture