Step by Step 3000 第3册 Unit12:The future of the phone

F. The future of the phone.
You're going to hear a report about the future of the phone, listen carefully, and then complete the following outline.
The mobile phone is set to become one of the central technologies of the 21st century.
Within a few years, the mobile phone will evolve into a multi-functional communicator capable of transmitting and receiving not only sound, but also video, still images, data and text.
A whole new era of personal communication is on the way.
Thanks in part to the growth of wireless networks, the telephone is converging with personal computer and the television.
Soon light-weight phones, outfitted with high-resolution screens will be connected to the satellites enabling people to talk, send and receive email, or take part in video conferences anytime anywhere.
These phones might also absorb many of the key functions of the desktop computer.
Mobile devices are expected to be ideal for some of the new personalized services that are becoming avaiable via the Internet, such as trading stocks, gambling, shopping and buying theater and airline tickets.
The telecommunications revolution is already taking shape around the globe.
In Europe, mobile phones are already being used for electronic commerce.
Most phones contains a Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) card to identify a user to the phone network.
But the card could also facilitate limited financial transactions.
Deutsche Bank and Nokia, for example, are working together to develop mobile banking services.
Some manufacturers plan to upgrade the SIM card to an all-in-one personal identification credit card.
Another approach is to add a slot to mobile phones for a second smart card designed for mobile e-commerce.
These cards could be used to make payment over the Internet, or to pay for things like public transportation, movie tickets or drinks at a bar.
It will soon be possible to receive almost all forms of electronic communication through a single device, most likely in a three-in-one phone, that serves as a cordless at home, a cellphone on the road and an intercom at work.
The mobile phone will become increasingly multi-functional, says Burghardt Schallenberger, vice president for technology and innovation, at Siemens Information and Consumer Products in Munich.
Fingerprint technology and advanced speech recognition will ensure that only one or two authorized users will be able to operate it.
Images will be just as important as sound to the future of mobile communications.
At British Telecom's research laboratories near Ipswich, England, engineers are evaluating how a tiny screen fitted to the side-frame of a pair of ordinary glass can be linked to the human eye.
The micro-PC is carried in a shoulder bag and connected to a tiny screen in the glass frame.
The PC accepts incoming data in standard TV format via an aerial and converts it into PC format images.
The image on the screen is reflected onto the human eye via a prism fitted onto the lens.
A person wearing such glasses could be on the move while staying tuned in to incoming TV images, websites, video-conferencing links or email messages.
Some even suggest that mobile video phones could overtake television as the major source of visual information, giving the phrase "something to phone home about" a whole new meaning.