MotoTalks Podcast - Episode 5: 2022 Tech Predictions

In the fifth episode of MotoTalks, Motorola co-hosts Doug Michau and Jeff Snow are joined by Senior Editor for CNET, Patrick Holland, to discuss their tech predictions for the year ahead. Focusing on the mobile industry specifically, both Patrick and the co-hosts share their top 4 predictions for 2022 - from hybrid workplaces and the proliferation of form factors to partnerships and the adoption of 5G.

• 0:00 -2:21: Introduction & Moto Minute
• 2:21 – 16:33: Motorola Top 4 Tech Predictions
• 16:59 – 32:03: Patrick Holland Top 4 Tech Predictions

Transcript

Doug Michau 0:04

Hello everyone and welcome back to moto talks! I'm Doug Michau, and today I have a special co host...I'm joined by my colleague Jeff Snow!

Jeff Snow 0:12

Hey everyone! I'm Jeff Snow. I'm the Product General Manager at Motorola. Happy to be here!

Doug Michau 0:17

As 2021 comes to a close, it's time to reflect on all the advances made in mobile technology this year, and then look ahead at which innovations we predict will take center stage in 2022. For today's Tech predictions episode, we'll be joined by our special guest, CNET Senior Editor, Patrick Holland, who will help us discuss what we can expect from mobile tech over the next year.

Jeff Snow 0:39

Before we dive into our predictions. It's time for the Moto Minute, where we quickly recap everything that Motorola has been up to recently.

Doug Michau 0:48

Thanks, Jeff. Yeah, last month, we officially announced Motorola's 312 Labs, a new internal innovation group focused on creating first of its kind product development. This group is completely unconstrained, and will work to find new technologies that can become standalone commercial products, or to create new features and experiences that can enhance our core portfolio. While we're excited to formalize the 312 Labs Development Center, the team has actually been innovating this space for quite a few years. A few notable products that this team created include the shatterproof screen, the Moto Mods platform, the first 5G device in 2019, and of course, the foldable razr smartphone. [ 312 Labs] is a really exciting development for Motorola, and we'll be sure to share updates on the new innovations that come out of the 312 Labs.

Doug Michau 1:37

Now, we've also introduced quite a few products to the Moto G family recently. First is the moto g200 5G. This product launched in Europe offers flagship level performance in amazing speed with a smooth 108 megapixel camera system and ultra wide and ultra smooth display, great battery life and ready for capabilities. And we also introduced the moto g71 5G, the moto g51 5G and the moto g31. They all provide users with large OLED displays, impressive battery life and powerful camera systems. Another very exciting device to come to North America is the newest moto g power, which has an enormous battery, a powerful 50 megapixel camera system, an ultra wide display, and so much more.

Doug Michau 2:25

Today we have a special guest, my esteemed colleague, the Senior Editor of CNET Patrick Holland. Patrick, can you tell our listeners a bit about your background?

Patrick Holland 2:35

Yeah, I'm a senior editor at CNET. I'm one of the lead mobile reviewers. I review Motorola phones among others. I also host a podcast called "I'm So Obsessed" where we interview actors and artists about their films. And none of this has to do with phones, and what their current obsession is. I grew up in South Carolina and New Orleans family from New York, started in theater and ended up in tech journalism. There you go!

Doug Michau 3:00

So Patrick, as we mentioned previously, today, we're going to be discussing our top mobile tech trends for 2022. Jeff and I have a few themes in mind that we'd love your input on. And then we're eager to see which tech developments you foresee turning in 2022.

Doug Michau 3:15

So our first prediction, we want to discuss the hybrid workspace. Everyone has been talking a lot about this topic due to the pandemic. And we think 2022 will kick start the evolution from work to home to work from anywhere. We've seen a lot of companies become even more flexible, letting people work remotely from anywhere. We've already heard from tech companies such as Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, just to name a few, allowing their employees to stay home longer, or perhaps even permanently, giving advantages to remote work. Now, we know that remote work also has some challenges. So to successfully do this, tech will be designed with collaboration in mind. And with various screens and an ecosystem working together, such as smartphones, PCs, and tablets. We know internally offices will see changes in the IT infrastructure, the AR virtual workspace, AI advances in regards to voice and sound capabilities, and more within these devices. We also know that in 2021 prototypes from that era will also come to fruition with remote work at the center of design, including AR VR solutions like Facebook's horizon, worlds and horizon work rooms. Patrick, love to get your feedback on that.

Patrick Holland 4:25

I think the most exciting part for me as someone who is a tech reviewer is seeing what technology comes out of this because I think you alluded to a lot of the response to the pandemic. We're still not quite seeing the market in terms of features and solutions of software.

Jeff Snow 4:39

I couldn't agree more with that opinion. You know, I think the pandemic took everybody by surprise as well as companies that develop tech. And last year we saw people making do and setting up their configurations, you know, based on how they needed to work wherever they were, and I think next year you'll start to see technology that works better for people, right? And in this new sort of era of how people are going to be working from various places.

Patrick Holland 5:08

Yeah, absolutely. And I also think it's good. I mean, we're talking about IT departments, you talk about equipment and software, but even to something as mundane as, like, Do you have a chair to sit in, or, or what happens when you can't connect? Because that's the other part of this to where all this stuff really depends on the internet, and being able to connect to the internet reliably, without having it drop, without capping off data speeds if you're using a phone or something. And so those are all things, I don't think we'll get resolved. But I think we have to see our infrastructure expand to support that. And I'm not just talking about like, the government's definition of infrastructure, but also the infrastructure of our homes, our offices, as well as what that looks like. If someone sends me a new laptop, that's my work laptop. I hope it has a better webcam, because the current one I have doesn't have one, and I use that webcam all the time for meetings.

Jeff Snow 5:58

Right. Okay, so, of course, we can't forget about form factors when we're talking about predictions for the future. So in 2021, we predicted it would be the year of foldable smartphones. And, you know, I think, over the last year, we've seen smartphones come in, there's been a couple generations. Motorola has made a couple generations of our own razr. But we think there's a lot more that could be done with the core components that make a small foldable smartphone, like the flexible display. So I think, over the next year, we'll start to see not just foldable phones, but new form factors, creating new devices for different needs. In the past, we've seen people largely relying on a single, connected smartphone for all their needs; it's kind of been their Swiss Army knife. But I think, in the future, we'll start to see a bit more of a diversified market where people will be able to comfortably use more than one device for what they need. And that device will be able to bring their content and connectivity seamlessly across devices. So it's not such a big hurdle to adopt. And I think we'll also start to see other types of devices come in that we've already started to see like smart glasses, where people will not have to rely on just their display on their phone for everything, and viewing other content, but they'll be able to rely on smart glasses that will be able to render content and augmented reality in their 3d space that will give new experiences.

Patrick Holland 7:46

Jeff, I do have to agree with all the things you're saying. I think that is definitely true. Especially when you think about what you’re saying, that tech companies got pushed back. But 2020, it seems like a lot of things get pushed back in the sense of development or release cycles got thrown off a bit. So what that hardware is, and that's kind of the most exciting part as a writer who covers not only phones, but watches and other things like that is the form factors. You know, it's exciting to see a new form factor. But hopefully, going back to a little bit of what we were talking about the first topic, that hybrid work. I think that also affects the form factor because now like, what does that form factor work look like? Does it look like a device or glasses? Or is it something else? Is it something else that we haven't seen in a while? Is it harkening back to something? You know, I think that’s one of the reasons the razr phone was so exciting. And that kind of form factor is a form factor people are familiar with, and the fact that you guys have figured out a way to adapt it to 2020, or 2021 is very exciting. I'm wondering if there are other form factors that may have been around 10 years ago, 12 years ago that could be repurposed to, you know, accommodate what our modern life is going to look like.

Doug Michau 9:03

I couldn't agree more, Patrick, one thing I have concerns about, as you see some of this new technology coming to market, is that if we're going to be wearing or interacting with this technology for a couple hours at end, during our hybrid workspace as well, we know that comfort also has to be a factor that, you know, it can't be too obtrusive. And some of these form factors definitely, such as the foldable will actually, you know result from that when you're carrying out a device, but think the same with AR VR. What are your thoughts on form factors?

Patrick Holland 9:33

Oh, man, I have some thoughts on AR VR. Well, I mean, I think the thought is there’s still a – whether it's intentional or not – there's still people that have a mental block between what those headsets look like, what they do, and actually putting one on. I think once you get a headset, even if it's like a right down the middle of the line kind of VR headset, I think a lot of people realize, “Oh wow, there's a different experience you can have.” But it's getting people to put that thing over their eyes. I think what I like about AR, and, Jeff, you were talking about glasses in particular, I think that's the form factor we see that's a little more of that in between, where you still have visual access to the real world in the sense through the glasses, but you also have access to information. And I think it goes back to a little bit of what will be a theme I talk about a lot is going to be that software, what what does that look like?

And how does that interact with the real world? One company we saw release a pair of glasses is ray-ban. And they're working with Facebook. Now, these are AR glasses, in a sense of I'm going to have a heads up display. But it's interesting to see that we see a traditional glassmaker now adopt technology, because I think a lot of times, we're looking at phone makers and wearable makers, and people make computers to design what those glasses are. And there's also some companies like Magic Leap, Nreal who are trying to pioneer what that next reality looks like and what that next hardware is. And some of that comes down to engineering. And some of that comes down to physics and what you can get to, and then some of that comes down to what problem are we solving, it kind of goes back to the foldable thing like what problems are solved by folding a screen in half, what problems arise by having a thing that folds in half.

Jeff Snow 11:23

Like Motorola's Ready For a platform or even Samsung Dex, we believe that tech companies will start to concentrate more on developing software experiences. In life, Motorola’s Ready For extends the capabilities of the smartphone, like the gaming capabilities onto more purpose built displays, like bigger, more immersive displays, and seamlessly bringing those devices together. So we see an expansion of, you know, extending the capability of the phone connecting to other screens, or even other devices around the home. And, you know, now that matter is really starting to pick up. And recently, Google Smart Home Developer Summit, they've really embraced Matter, and they're going to really adopt that into, you know, all the new Android releases that will be coming in the future, I think that, you know, we'll really start to see a shift in, you know, really enabling consumers to not have to worry about setting up devices in their home or interoperability, things will just start to seamlessly work. And consumers will ultimately have more choice, they'll believe they'll be better off because they can pick the device that they like, or the voice assistant that they like, and they can use that in their home more easily than they have in the past. What are your thoughts about that? Patrick?

Patrick Holland 12:41

Oh, I have deep thoughts about this, and then kind of go back to, remember that movie Minority Report?

Jeff Snow 12:46

Yes, I do.

Patrick Holland 12:47

Yeah, I remember. Like, you know, there's so many things in that movie that they get right. But a lot of them are still off in the distance for us now. But one of them is the idea of displays and being able to just draw up on a piece of glass or a display that's maybe not your own display and interact with it with your information. And I don't know, the imagination side of me thinks like, Oh, my God, how, what if we had a phone or a chip in our head or something. And when we went up, just display, I could be interacting with that display. So it's not about me carrying necessarily a piece of hardware with me and stuff. I realize I'm talking a little bit fantastical, but I bought a new TV for the first time in about seven years, and I really liked the screen on that. So being able to take a phone call on that, or to watch a movie on that is much more preferred than even using my work laptop or my phone. Sometimes, obviously, depending on where I'm at. That's not always the case. But I like that idea that it's improvement in experience over necessarily trying to have one thing do everything for you.

Doug Michau 13:56

Patrick, I couldn't agree more, I do a lot of travel. And when you carry around your laptop, you know, the 13 inch screen that I have on my laptop just to make it very portable. It's not always sufficient. So sometimes I would love to see, especially you know, with even in hotel rooms, they have 65 inch TVs and it's like, okay, why can't I use that technology to, you know, read and respond to an email, for example. It's just so much more convenient.

Patrick Holland 14:18

Absolutely. And the solutions you can use for something like that involve getting like an adapter and buying like a converter and all these things that you had to carry with you. Whereas I think something that’s interesting that you guys are doing, and Samsung with Dex and Motorola with Ready For is it works as advertised. You hold that phone up and it picks up the TV if you can. But I also think, you know, there's going to be more of that whether because we also talked about other form factors and stuff. I think of something like a wearable, like even just being able to access some of that on a bigger screen that's not your phone would be pretty exciting.

Jeff Snow 14:51

From the whole industry!

Patrick Holland 14:54

Can I ask you a question about Ready For? So a lot of the processing is still happening on the phone, correct?

Jeff Snow 15:00

Yes, that's right.

Patrick Holland 15:01

So I think what's fascinating about that is, I tried playing a video game using the phone as the controller and the screen. And then of course, naturally you go back to the phone. But then I remember I paired, I think it was like an Xbox controller with the phone. So now I had an actual gaming controller that I could play on this TV, but it's all being powered going through the phone. And I just thought that was really neat, because we've seen ideas like that before, but the execution of it was very simple. And it worked, which are the two parts I think we sometimes see these technologies rollout and they're not necessarily ready for everyone, whereas that one seems like it is ready for. Look at me branding you guys, for you. But I do think that it's best to start pulling that thread to think where something like that could go. And I know this was originally about displays, but I mean, we tie right back into software, right?

Jeff Snow 15:54

Yes, I agree with you and building on top of the enablers and the platforms, and really trying to provide more value to the end user and, you know, making the experience more easy to adopt by consumers. Like you mentioned, we've seen solutions like Ready For in the past, but it just wasn't quite ready. I agree with you. The challenge for companies like Motorola and others is to, you know, really harness these technologies and bring them to consumers so that it's really easy for them to use. And that's, that's really a lot of the workers in the software space. You're right.

Doug Michau 16:32

Well, thanks, Patrick, so much for providing your insights on some of the tech predictions that Jeff and I had going into 2022. We want to turn the tables now and give you the opportunity. And let's hear from you and your top predictions going into 2022. And Jeff and I would love to respond from our backgrounds and how, you know, we believe some of that technology is going. So I'll hand it over to you.

Patrick Holland 16:58

Absolutely. And just to preface this, this is not like Back to the Future. Don't bet on these games and make money like Biff did. But that's a horrible introduction. But I think the first one I want to talk about is something we were starting to talk about with the last topic. And my prediction is software. Software is going to become even more important, and whether that's an operating system, whether that's security and privacy updates, but also, we're talking about something like Ready For and that's largely a software driven feature that allows for this interesting use case. And I think we're gonna see a lot more of that, not only with mobile phones, but also wearables, like watches. What do you guys think?

Doug Michau 17:37

I think, in the last couple years, we've started to see the power of AI, as it's related to imaging and how it is improving the computation of photography, I think we've seen the power of AI and helping with battery life. It's one constraint we're always looking at, as well as that, as far as your physical components and a device, you know, battery sizes, when you go above 5000, maybe it gets a little bit too thick on a device. So you really are relying on knowing the usage patterns and figuring out how you can best optimize that to extend battery life. And so we know software is playing a huge role in that. I also feel in form factors. What's going to make or break form factors, as you said is whether you have wearables, foldables or any other form factor, it's going to be that unique software approach that I feel really is going to connect the user to the device and make it that, you know, that there's a personal relationship, we each have, for example, our smartphone, we carry it around with us every single day. And so you've got to have this interface, it's very conducive to providing the information just when you want to have the power to last for the day. Some of the components are, at this point, I would say, you know, we can't go for example, larger capacity batteries, because that just makes devices too large, for example.

Jeff Snow 18:49

When I think about where software is going to make a lot of, you know, big, big progress over the next year, I really think about the AR space, just because it's so new. And, you know, the capability is there, the glass technology and hardware around wearing glasses and making it comfortable to use can be there over, you know, the next year, making, you know, AR glasses wireless is, is also on the near horizon. So, you know, the key thing to really getting adoption is, you know, having that content available, having the developers build in making those applications accessible to consumers. And I think we'll start to see a lot of progress on that side of things as far as software progress goes over the next year.

Patrick Holland 19:45

Alright, let's talk about my next one. And this is on the nose, one from Motorola. And I'm going to call this 5G reality. So it's like, it's been around for a while. And then 2020, the beginning of the pandemic, we started seeing a flood of 5G devices coming out with different companies. But depending on where you were, it's still largely based on the service you had. So when I was in Chicago, and I was in a certain part of Wicker Park, I got 5G millimeter wave on AT&T, and I have lightning fast speeds. But then, I'm in South Carolina visiting family. And I have T Mobile, and I have more of a mid band, which is nice. It's probably as fast as LTE. But I'm not seeing a lot of that 5G promise right now. So my prediction is, we're going to see a little bit more of that 5G reality in 2022. What do you guys think? Jeff, I’ll have you start first.

Jeff Snow 20:42

Okay. I think, in 2022, as far as 5G reality, I think we will start to see reality. And when I say reality, I mean, a real distinction in what people can do with the phone on 5G versus not. And I think part of that comes with, obviously, more advanced spectrum, like the C band. It'll be coming out and all the carriers around the US will start to take advantage that offering, you know, better connectivity, better bandwidth. But I also think that, you know, for 5G to be reality to the average consumer, it’s got to be coupled with some new experience they can already do. It can't just be faster access to Facebook. And that's gonna require some innovation from, you know, companies that can come up with the next Facebook, something that better utilizes 5G for its benefit. But I think, what, what we're really starting to see is in the B2B space, companies have real needs for 5G and using 5G for things like deploying AR glasses, right, that require really low latency for render. I think that we'll start to see companies stepping up and showing the rest of the world what 5G can do, right, and then maybe that will start to motivate some entrepreneurs out there to build, you know, similar experiences, perhaps for the consumer space. Doug, what are your thoughts?

Doug Michau 22:14

Thanks, Jeff, and yeah, you know, Patrick, there's a bunch of different deployments. And I see what you mean about consumers not sometimes experiencing the real power of 5G, a couple trends that I see which will, I think, continue in 2022 is better coverage of 5G at faster speeds. And what I mean by that is that we saw, for example, the T-Mobile and Sprint merger, really, that gave T-Mobile access to that 2.5 gigahertz. So you get some faster speeds and have definitely got more bandwidth there. And then also, obviously, it has a larger coverage area than for example, the millimeter wave does. So definitely consumers will benefit from that. And, of course, the competition has purchased a lot of the spectrum and that C band that the FCC auctioned off. And that speed at that 3.7 gigahertz, there's a lot of bandwidth there, too. And so you're gonna see, I think, a proliferation of that as it rolls out across the nation, and then more consumers will get access, again, to that 5G technology, which does have that better bandwidth and lower speed, that will be kind of the catalyst for all those software and experiences that are still in development right now. But because we don't have this ubiquitous rollout of 5G across the nation, I think some people are scaling back into it is prevalent. So definitely, I think rolling out more of that mid band spectrum and being available to more consumers is definitely a positive trend. And if you look at having 5G in the 600 megahertz section, as well, you know, that definitely will have a very widespread coverage, and then get some of the rural areas that typically, you know, wouldn't have access to that 5G technology. So I do think that the carriers are looking in and offering the 5G, you know, faster speeds, etc. And the next year as they continue to roll out, you know, greater bandwidth in that mid range. I think that's the key, so that everyone experiences that and, you know, you mentioned the millimeter wave as well, we all know that the cell densification required for that. It's very conducive, then to highly populous areas, such as a sporting stadium, or something like that. But outside of those venues where you have a lot of people gathering, you know, definitely I think it's going to be the C band that's really going to enrich the 5G experience for everyone.

Patrick Holland 24:30

I'm so glad we get to talk bands and numbers and C band. I think that that's, you know, you don't always get to do that as CNET because we really want to be consumer friendly, but it is fun, because it just comes down to those numbers. And I got to really agree with Jeff on the fact that I mean, it's like a little chicken and the egg thing, like what is that service that really sells it? And if you think about the early days of 4G, especially when before it kind of LTE kicked in, you got to think what were those services that really took off and think of something like Uber right and it's so literally ubiquitous that we can dial up a phone and have food or have a ride pick us up now, but a lot of that was because of LTE. So I'm excited to see what that future is. And I don't want to say some silly thing like robot surgery on 5G. Hopefully that will be and I gotta agree that I think it is, a lot of it's going to be businesses first, and then coming to the consumer. But it is interesting that all the things we're talking about with the software carrier stuff, it's amazing how Motorola is, kind of has to find that balance in relationships and partnerships with all these different companies in order to get your products to thrive. And beyond those things as well. This is my, my little poor man's observation here. And then I have to ask the guys from Motorola on the, on the same call. I mean, what do you guys think about that?

Jeff Snow 25:55

I agree, I think, you know, no matter what topic you talk about, as far as where smartphones are headed, and where technology's headed, partnerships are important. Making sure that you're building end to end solutions that, you know, go beyond what you are able to offer. So in our case with Motorola and Lenovo, thankfully, we have a broader array of solutions, components to offer, right, so we've got a range of devices from PCs to phones. And then we've got, you know, a new services organization that is really thinking about how do I stitch these things together to offer the right end to end services. But I think, you know, inevitably, you're, even with the breadth of a company, a corporation, like Lenovo, you have to partner with some of the some of the new companies out there. I keep coming back to AR, maybe it's just because I went to a web conference recently. But there's so much knowledge and experience out there that's really adjacent to where Motorola plays today that in order to really be a meaningful player in that space and deliver the right end to end solutions, partnerships have to be part of the equation.

Patrick Holland 27:14

Excellent. All right, here's my last one, it's gonna sound a little silly at first when I say it, but I named it this on purpose. So my last prediction is artisanal phones. And what I mean by this is, we talked a little bit earlier about something like a gaming phone, where it's for more of a niche audience, it's not trying to appeal to a broader market. I also think it's something like what Sony has been doing with they're really these, these phones that cost like $150- $1800, over $2,000 that are aimed at like 5G broadcasting for NFL games, and they could plug a camera into the phone, it has an HDMI port, but I see that we're gonna be seeing more devices, whether it's a phone, or wearables, that are going to be a little more targeted to a niche audience, and their success won't be on selling millions and millions of them, but just being really good at what they do. What do you think about that?

Doug Michau 28:06

Yeah, I think to some extent, Motorola, obviously, you know, we knew it wouldn't sell millions and millions, but we still wanted to, you know, release the razr device, because it goes after that niche market, that consumers that really want to see, you know, very pocketable technology. But, I also think there's different ways to accomplish that as well. I mean, we know for example, just one quick example of that we invest a lot in different colors, materials and finishes of device, but yet, at the end of the day, everyone puts a case on their smartphone anyways, so it covers up that beautiful, you know, rear cover, for example that you might have on a device. But I think there's also potentially ways that we can, and this goes back to our software, I think you could somehow, you know, you've got all the capabilities, for example, on your flagship phones, like whether you’ve got a Qualcomm 800 processor in there. But if you can morph it to that gaming and cater to that audience and kind of set up the phone to serve that content in the right way and provide the right experiences. I think you could still capture them without being too niche, because then I think you can also, perhaps you've got someone using a foam that's all about productivity. And perhaps you can morph that whole user experience that interface, I think, into something that can cater then to someone who might be using AR VR, for workplace productivity, you know, in the hybrid workforce. And so I think there's ways perhaps or software that we can, we could take a mainstream piece of hardware and serve I think each of these niche markets.

Jeff Snow 29:34

So Patrick, your point about, you know, artisanal phones being phones that caters more specific to somebody's needs. I think in the future, we're gonna start to see a division of this market of smartphones, such that it was just going to be more, I don't want to call it specialized, but you know, more devices that can cater to people's needs, whether that's new form factors or different functional needs. Like having an HDMI port. Um, and whether or not somebody wants to have one phone or multiple phones is another question, right? Maybe, maybe they find it where, you know, that phone with the HDMI port is is useful for work, but they want to have a personal phone that's like a folding smartphone or something like that. I think it would be really fascinating to see how. I think it's probably also, you know, it goes back to how innovative the space is. If we can provide phones to cater to more needs, then you know that then I think it's a win win for the companies that are making the technology and the consumers that are adopting them.

Patrick Holland 30:44

Jeff, I have to agree. I was battling ... the way I ended up on artisanal was I didn’t want to say specialized. But at the same time, I do think that whether it's software or hardware, I think we're seeing more of that. And I think that's also where some of the you know, the experimentation and the big successes, and sometimes the big misses happen. And usually from those things, we see better products coming out of those companies. But yeah, I have to say it. All this being said, I start thinking about all these topics together. And I see so much potential and so much excitement in the space, even though there's also a very safe feeling with kind of that same rectangle slab that we all have in our pocket.

Jeff Snow 31:25

But thank you for providing those predictions. It was a very engaging conversation today. So thank you very much.

Doug Michau 31:31

Okay, Patrick got to say I really enjoyed this. As always, it's so great to talk with you and get a little bit of, you know, your knowledge and your predictions as well. I also want to thank all of our audience for listening as well. So stay tuned and into 2022. We'll see which of these predictions come true. Until next time. Thank you for joining!