But before phones can really compete with your desktop computer or laptop, they'll have to get beyond at least one barrier: their tiny screens. One solution to those cramped displays is under development by Redmond, Wash.-based Microvision(nasdaq: MVIS - news - people ). The small firm builds projectors into phones, effectively allowing users to splash their display onto the nearest white wall or desktop surface.
"Customers are frustrated with small screens," says Microvision's spokesperson Matt Nichols. "We think that the real growth in the phone market will come when users can experience viewing from their phone on the level of their laptop or home television set."
Microvision plans to begin integrating its projectors into cellphones in mid-2009. Bigger companies jumping into so-called "pico projectors" include Texas Instruments (nyse: TXN - news - people ) and 3M (nyse: MMM - news - people ), which has announced that it will integrate projectors into Samsung devices--possibly including cellphones--sometime this year.
Another sci-fi-like feature long desired in phones is video conferencing--face-to- face chatting via cellphone. But two-way video still strains the capabilities of current cellular networks. Japan's NTT DoCoMo (nyse:DCM - news - people ) is one of the few mobile operators that allow subscribers to make such calls. AT&T (nyse: T - news - people ) has a similar service, Video Share, which supports real-time chatting one way at a time.
In a few years, true video chat may come to the U.S. courtesy ofClearwire (nasdaq: CLWR - news - people ), a fourth-generation (4G) wireless network that Sprint (nyse: S - news - people ), Intel (nasdaq:INTC - news - people ) and a passel of other technology companies are building. The new technology, called WiMax, will have the bandwidth to support video conferencing, says a spokesman.
Capabilities like these make 4G connectivity an important feature in any future phone. U.S. carriers say they will upgrade their networks to this faster technology within the next three years. Sprint is banking on WiMax, while AT&T, Verizon Wireless (nyse: VZ - news - people ) and T-Mobile have said they will support a technology called LTE.
The 4G technology will offer connection speeds three to five times faster than current networks, support more users on the same spectrum and stabilize service (fewer dropped calls). That translates into new services and existing services for a cheaper price, says Scott Wickware, vice president of business development at Nortel. Expect to see networks by 2010 or 2011.
Flicking through photos and Web sites on your phone already seems like second nature, thanks to the iPhone. But what if your phone understood such commands without a touch? That's the idea behind GestureTek's touch-free, motion-sensing technology. Phones equipped with this software will soon be able to capture movement with their cameras and react accordingly. (The technology works by organizing space into imaginary grids and detecting change within them.) Other phones need to be physically moved and require hardware, such as accelerometers or gyros, to achieve the same effect. The technology is a natural for gaming, but also handy for navigating maps and Web sites. To scroll, a user simply sweeps her hand or fingers in the air over the phone's screen.
Cisco (nasdaq: CSCO - news - people ) is working on an application that would transfer files between devices using a similar sweeping motion (see: "The iphone: Apple's Magic Wand"). The technology, which enables users to import files by aiming their phones at, say, a computer, turns phones into devices capable of connecting all the other devices we use in our everyday lives.
The usefulness of even the most feature-packed phone is limited by its battery life. That has manufacturers racing to build better, greener cellphone batteries. That could include fuel cells, kinetic energy or solar energy. An Apple patent application for solar-powered touch screens recently inspired chatter about solar-powered iPhones and iPods.
Motorola (nyse: MOT - news - people ) has been looking at solar for years, says energy system technologies manager Jerry Hallmark. The challenge is attracting enough power, given the small size and limited sunlight exposure of most cellphones. Motorola's research team is working to make solar cells more efficient and thinner and lighter.
Two of Nokia's (nyse: NOK - news - people ) most recent concept phones also incorporate solar power. The Morph uses nanotechnology that would harvest energy from the sun, while the Eco Sensor derives power from a sun-catching wrist sensor. Both ideas could be adopted in future Nokia phones.
Solar power, where handset makers are still fighting to bring a first working device to market, is just one area that shows the wide-open future of the mobile industry, says Nokia CTO Bob Ianucci. "It's like 1982 in the PC market," he says. "As an industry, we're only starting to explore the possibilities of what phones can do."