2018 is long gone and we’ve seen a whole lot of upgrades in technology. With lots of massive stories made and Huawei getting tossed out of the US market while Apple got the same in China, it’s a matter of time before we experience some really dramatic shifts or changes in the tech culture globally.

While technologies like the 5G might not entirely go mainstream all over the globe considering places like some African countries where data networks aren’t superbly great, one can still reliably say that 2019 will be a time when things would change for the best as far as the global tech community is concerned.

But below, I’ve brainstormed some 10 things i think will most likely happen or go mainstream in 2019. Comment and share with friends.

1. The 5G Network

This is said to be the mother of all networks. With so much anticipations about the next big thing, The 5G network will connect the world in a way that we’ve never seen before. With your home talking to your car and your smart security system talking to your devices, we can assuredly call this the future.

As of 2018, there are smartphones in development that are expected to support this technology. The 5G network is the fifth generation of the Cellular Mobile Communication making it the successor of the 4G network system. This advanced technology is targeted at high data performance while reducing latency, but save energy, reduce cost while improving system capabilities while offering massive device connectivity.

While the first phase of the 5G specs in Release-15 is expected to be fully completed by March 2019 and then there will be a commercial deployment. The second Phase in Release-16 is expected to be completed by March 2020.

The 5G network’s speed is expected to be 50% higher than those we’ve seen on the 4G LTE networks. This makes it more superior and better for a future poised society. Qualcomm made a simulation during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) where the network’s speed is expected to reach a maximum 490 MB/S for 3.5 GHz 5G Massive MIMO and 1.4 GB/s median speed for 28 GHz mmWave.

The low latency in the communication between 5G powered devices (time it takes to send and receive information) is another big thing that makes the 5G a great IoT network that will enhance a speedy communication between smart devices and the cloud. So you can be rest assured that your self driving car will operate way better and faster under such network.

2. AMAZON GO STORE

While the Amazon Go Store is still a concept, the innovation is a really intelligent one. Although Elon Musk had predicted a bad future with AI controlling and taking our jobs, the Amazon Go might just be one of such. The Store works in a way by which a customer can walk into any of such store, pick up and item and then walk out. It doesn’t require a cashier or a security official harassing you while you come and planning to go out.

The Amazon Go concept though isn’t in full operation in all states within the United States, but if it’s something that has a big potential of reaching a wider audience if well implemented in 2019 for example.

The Amazon Go store works by utilizing several cameras mounted at every angles of the store constantly reading what you have taken. This time around, you’re not stealing. Whatever you take will be deducted from your account straight up.

Despite being a really futuristic innovation, it’s acceptance in 2019 might still be questioned by some. Based on a promotional video published by Amazon itself, the store concept uses several tech concepts such as computer vision, deep learning algorithms and sensor fusion to automate much of the purchases made through the platform.

Although there is a bit of a delay in public roll out in Seattle, the concept is expected to be in full realization by 2019 (my prediction). Although there is a need to download the Amazon Go application for either iOS or Android which then links up to the Amazon website. Using this application, you can then add up your Amazon account so anyone within a family can be charged to the same bill.

The ceiling of the store has multiple cameras and store shelves have weight sensors, to detect which item(s) a customer took. If a customer takes an item off the shelf, it will be added to the person’s virtual cart. If a customer places an item back on the shelf, it is “taken out” of the virtual cart.

3. AI, MACHINE LEARNING AND DEEP LEARNING

There will definitely be an increase in AI and Machine Learning in 2019. From Smartphone cameras to Smart Home devices, AI are becoming more prominent in whatever we do these days. And there will be more to that in coming years.

With computers been able to identify troubles and anomalies and solving those by themselves without the help of anyone, it would be a really great thing that will yield to more productivity on the human populace. And again, Elon Musk had claimed that AI will kill us all.

Computer Science defines this researches as a study of “Intelligent Agent” which perceives it’s environment and takes full actions that maximize it’s chance of successfully achieving it’s goals.

While this technology is able to identify your regular usage of a particular service or product, it is also able to identify your environment and help serve you better in variety of ways. AIs are very important for people who wants to enjoy the fullness of technology.

With so much technology products heading towards us in 2019, we assume that there will be more of AI powered gadgets that will enhance how we interact with our environment.

4. SEX BOTS

In 2018, Sex Bots isn’t a new thing. We all saw it and red it in the news about how this is changing people’s relationship life. This humanoids are taking over for females in some people who have awkward social relationships. Sex Bots aid in masturbation and this devices cost some huge bills.

While there have been protests by feminists against the publicity of sex bots into the general global market, companies continue to push for more sex bots creating these objects to satisfy the needs for those who wants more than they get.

In 2019, we expect to see more of this in the market at relatively cheaper price which will in fact be the enhancer of it going more global and the campaign against it might get public ones again. Whatever the case may be, these AI powered devices makes people hard and they’re willing to pay for it.

5. HUMANOIDS

We’ve seen Sofia and a loads of other Humanoids. Even Google’s own secret Boston Dynamics creates some really amazing robots that acts like real life humans. They’re able to pick objects up from the ground, stand back on their feet when they’re pushed down.

Just as we’ve seen in iRobot (movie), this humanoids will definitely become our aids in many aspects. Even hospitals have started using humanoid hands to perform more delicate surgeries considering the accuracy and consistencies of Robotic arms.

In 2019, there would be more of such and the technology would be more improved. And considering the advancement of the 5G network which is blazing fast, there would definitely be a difference in how we interact with our environment in the coming year.

6. PUNCH-HOLES COULD REPLACE NOTCHES ON ANDROID PHONES

Samsung, Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, Asus and a whole lots of other big Android smartphone brands are already making good looking smartphones and walking away from the notched display. Although some entry level smartphone makers are just joining the notch but that doesn’t end the fact that majority of Android community doesn’t really like the top notch for that matter.

With the Samsung Galaxy S10 rumored to be a full curved screen with nothing but a punch-hole for the camera and Huawei doing the same with it’s Nova 4 and Honor View 20, we expect to see something entirely different from the trend Apple had created.

One amazing thing about Android smartphone makers is how they borrow ideas and then innovate on such. While the Notch was mainstreamed by the Apple’s iPhone X, other smartphone makers such as Huawei and co all jumped ship leaving out only HTC and Samsung which never designed a notched display. This is probably the time for Samsung’s own design to go mainstream while Apple’s notch might remain with Apple or we could see an entirely full screen iPhone XI.

7. AUTONOMOUS AND MORE ELECTRIC CARS

With companies like Uber restarting their autonomous car testing, this would mean another new reopening and beginning for the autonomous industry at large.

While smart technologies are now able to communicate seamlessly with one another, it’s then easier to say that the future of self driving car is coming nearer.

Rivian is another important news. An electric car company making beautiful electric off-road and on road SUV. Although this company is pretty new in every sense. Considering how far Tesla had gone and the amount that have been invested on the company’s electric car researches and even sales of their cars, Rivian might really have a big battle ahead of them.

But Tesla can’t be the monopoly player anyway. The need for more electric car manufacturers in the world will even out and make Green cars more generalized in our world and therefore enhancing our society and everything we think of in general.

8. DRONES AND OPERATION CENTERS

While this is being under big scrutiny by the law based on the fact that it could potentially be an invasive machine, year 2019 would be a better year for the advancement of this. With loads of companies from China now making drones at affordable prices, nearly anyone can now afford one.

Mounting your camera on one and then being able to shoot a large terrain from the aerial view is a really great thing to experience and this dynamics will shape photographic and how photographers operates.

Also, drones will now be used to deliver packages by e-commerce platforms such as Amazon to customers or even food. Some health organizations are buying into the idea of investing more on making drones to deliver vita organs from donors to recipients in the cases of emergencies.

All these will quicken how great our society will operate in the coming years and 2019 is definitely going to be a really significant part of those and we look way forward to it.

9. 8K SMART TELEVISIONS

What else would we expect to see placed on the walls of our smart home in 2019 than a giant 8k resolution TV set. The Samsung Q9 OLED TV for example will feature one of such and it’s going to be really amazing to deal with.

A lot has happened in recent times as far as Televisions are concerned and this is part of high resolution’s revolutionary advancement in the technology sphere. The 8K as far as it’s concerned has twice as many horizontal and twice as many vertical pixels as the 4K resolution and that gives it even four more times the linear resolutions of the 1080P (FHD) and a 6 times the linear resolution of 720P.

8K Resolutions as a matter of fact aren’t going to be the entirely new trend in 2019 despite the fact that TV makers have made the 4K resolution a standard since 2017.

While not so many cameras have the capacity of recording in 8K resolution, broadcasting in such resolution might not be entirely mainstreamed in coming year unless companies have to upgrade their camera kits to match the trend and that would make 8K TV and other gadgets to record 8K videos quite expensive.

Although Red Digital Cinema Camera Company had delivered three 8K cameras both a full frame sensor and sper 35 sensor in 2018, the general consumer display of this resolution could take about 5 years before it becomes extensively popular. Despite this, filmmakers are pushing demand for 8K cameras due to their ability to capture better 4K footage.

10. MARK ZUCKERBERG COULD BE REPLACED AS FACEBOOK CHAIRMAN

While there were rumors recently about the resignation slash replacement of the Facebook founder and CEO by one Kenneth Chenault, Zuckerberg had made it known that he would fix the company with it’s horrors.

In 2018, there was nearly any news that Facebook didn’t heading concerning the issues with the company’s business malpractices to user data management and harvesting by companies like Cambridge Analytica even going way back to the 2016 US Presidential election and the purported meddling of the Russian government in spreading fake news all over the platform to distort people’s judgement during the election.

While Facebook had admitted to some of the horror allegations brought up against it, it had promised to work in accordance and meet with legal requirements to strengthen it’s users’ privacy and protect those data from data miners and harvesters in the future.

………………….

While 2019 will be another long year filled with loads of adventures and technological ventures, we hope to see more and more tech improvements which will  better our lives as individuals and as group of people. With many companies constantly researching to bring out powerful and new technology and tools that will help make lives more easier for us as humans, it’s worth noting that these researches are expensive and it usually take long before they’re mainstreamed mainly because of the number of those that can afford them.

Drone and smartphones for example aren’t as expensive anymore. Even though there are still some high end smartphones with virtually the same specifications as mid range smartphones but the price differences are always the obvious thing.

While the issues with government and legal enforcement might not be a thing to deal with as a matter of consideration when deciding on owning majority of these tech gadgets, we can be rest assured that t would get to the point when we might really be 90% dependent entirely on technology all our lives.