At MIT’s Technology Review, Patti Maes, who researches human-computer interaction, answers questions about the future of smartphones. I think she’s a little aggressive in the timeline of her prediction, but she could be right and I could be wrong. An excerpt:

“What will smart phones be like five years from now?

Phones may know not just where you are but that you are in a conversation, and who you are talking to, and they may make certain information and documents available based on what conversation you’re having. Or they may silence themselves, knowing that you’re in an interview.

They may get some information from sensors and some from databases about your calendar, your habits, your preferences, and which people are important to you.

Once the phone is more aware of the user’s current situation, and the user’s context and preferences and all that, then it can do a lot more. It can change the way it operates based on the current context.

Ultimately, we may even have phones that constantly listen in on our conversations and are just always ready with information and data that might be relevant to whatever conversation we’re having.”