Next... Communication Generation (written in 2014)

Fifth Generation coming soon

Gordon Gekko with mobile phone
Gordon Gekko, 1G mobile pioneer
In an effort to provide science without the science, we will keep this short and simple.
In May 2013, Samsung announced they were on a 5G breakthrough. This will happen at some stage in the near future and the seeds attained will allegedly see movies downloaded in a second and connectivity speeds unimaginable just a few short years ago.
The Samsung Electronics Official Global Blog, revealed that the company had, “successfully developed the world’s first adaptive array transceiver technology operating in the millimetre-wave Ka bands for cellular communications. The new technology sits at the core of 5G mobile communications system and will provide data transmission up to several hundred times faster than current 4G networks.”
Most tellingly, it adds, “Samsung’s latest innovation is expected to invigorate research into 5G cellular communications across the world; the company believes it will trigger the creation of international alliances and the timely commercialization of related mobile broadband services.”
The electronic giants may have uncovered the area of 5G relating to antennas, but there is much more to it than that - for example, data crunching needs to be as big a priority as speed, so early headlines and newspaper articles are less revealing than the phrase, “International alliances”. If Samsung are looking for global collaboration, they are likely to get it – this can only possibly bring the introduction of the next stage closer.

Number Generation

1G – The first analogue mobile systems, introduced in the 1980s - 1G analogue networks were used just for the transferral of data via voice calls and simple text messages.

2G – The second generation saw the introduction of digital modulation and digital networks. This turned the voice into digital code and then into analogue signals that flew through the air! The sound quality improved, the security improved and the capacity increased dramatically, even enough for pictures.

3G – A huge leap forward came with the next generation. It wasn’t just voice and simple data messages, but video calls, mobile television, mobile Internet and even gaming.

4G – The current generation is a bit of a misnomer; everything is just much faster with better capacity. There are no dancing reindeers here, just better than third generation with more bandwidth and more money for communications companies.

iPad Fuss Over Nothing

Apple have been at the forefront of technological breakthroughs for a couple of decades now, but when the iPad 4 was released to much fanfare, many users could not help but be rather underwhelmed.
the kit was undoubtedly an improvement, but the question was how much of an improvement was it?
Put simply - not enough to justify upgrading. And that's what it's all about for these tech companies. They need us to spend our money on their products so they all need to stay ahead of the game.
Collaborative research will undoubtedly be the next step if 5G doesn't come along son enough for profits to remain unaffected.
Technology races along at a rate never seen before and 3G connectivity via your 3G Kindle is explained more fully here:
LINK
There's a bit more of an explanation about what Wi-Fi and 3G are all about in Amazon's world.
LINK

Major beneficiaries of Amazon's generosity are cruise ship passengers, to which I can attest. On a 2013 cruise aboard the Celebrity Reflection, I enjoyed unlimited access to both email and, although rudimentary, access to the internet whenever the ship was in any number of European ports. 
A lot of time and effort could have been saved if these operational instructions were followed.
LINK

Amazon - Giving Something Back?

Amazon have been under fire in the United Kingdom for their clever tax avoidance schemes. Schemes that benefit their shareholders, but highlight a moral gap between small companies that pay corporation tax and large companies that pay little or nothing.
However, altruistically intended or not, Amazon have given something back to Internet users worldwide.
This is what it said on the Amazon website about the 3G Kindle.

Global 3G Coverage: Travel the globe and still get books in under 60 seconds. Kindle uses GSM technology—the most popular mobile wireless standard - with wireless coverage in over 100 countries and territories, such as Australia, Hong Kong, Germany, Japan, Norway, Spain, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and many others. Stay in touch with news from home by having your newspaper and magazine subscriptions delivered wirelessly while you travel.

Summer 2013

Admittedly, this page is a bit of an homage to the communication revolution that we are lucky to be living through. 
It seems like just yesterday that people were using these.
When First Generation telephony was introduced it really was a revolution. It is not an understatement to say the people that opened the boxes to the first mobile phones felt that they had won the Lottery.
At that time (1980s) no-one would have predicted that camera film would not only soon be a thing of the past, but telephones would become every bit as good as the compact cameras they would compete with.
Annual photo competitions are now held for mobile taken pictures only. 

As each Generation races on to the next, it seems somewhat remarkable that people are already sceptical about the long awaited arrival of the iPhone 5.
The public now demand major breakthroughs with every new 

So, What's Next?

Maybe not 6G, but probably around 9G we fully expect complete interactivity with all devices, brain implants and perhaps even telepathy.
LINK