Information Technology

Can our smartphones get any smarter?

"We shall be able to witness and hear events: the inauguration of a president, the playing of a world series game, the havoc of an earthquake or the terror of a battle — just as though we were present," said Dr Tesla in 1926.

The device, Dr Tesla said, would be small enough to carry about in one's "vest pocket".

Vests aren't so common these days, but he's spot on with everything else. Smartphones — combining the traditional function of a phone with internet browsing, video and apps — have changed the way we relate to, and communicate with, the world.