The Tech That Will Change Your Life in 2015
Gadgets and Ideas With the Best Chance of Making an Impact … and What You Can Do to Prepare for Them
Apple Watch, Windows 10, biometric passwords and more—WSJ Personal Technology columnists Geoffrey A. Fowler and Joanna Stern take a look at the key tech trends of 2015.
This was a year of big technology promises—2015 is the year we find out how many live up to the hype.
We looked into our crystal ball for the gadgets, upgrades and ideas we think have the greatest chance to change—and hopefully improve—your life in the year ahead. Will this be the year you actually wear a smartwatch, drop cable TV and love Windows again?
The new year may not bring you a shatterproof phone or a truly smart home, but here is what’s coming and what you can do to be ready for it.
Windows Strikes Back
The international calamity that was Windows 8 will finally end in 2015 with the fall release of Windows 10. (No, you didn’t miss 9: Microsoft skipped right over that number.) The OS still has a traditional mouse-and-keyboard desktop plus a tablet touch interface, but it now aims to prioritize these better based on what device you’re using. That’s huge for people on laptops or desktop PCs. The beloved Start menu is resurrected and modernized, and multiple virtual desktops will improve multitasking.
How to get ready: Microsoft has yet to release Windows 10 launch details and system requirements. We’re betting there’ll be an easy upgrade path for many computers still running Windows 7. (Others may need extra memory or a faster processor.) On the other hand, you may want to wait for the great assortment of new Windows 10 PCs that will appear in late 2015.
Apple Watches APPLE
An Apple for Your Wrist
When the Apple Watch debuts in the coming months, you won’t be able to avoid the hype—Apple’s entering its first new product category since the death of Steve Jobs . While Apple has yet to establish why a wrist computer is as essential as a smartphone or tablet,the Apple Watch is clearly more than a Dick Tracy gadget. It will undoubtedly kick-start a new wave of ideas about how to stay connected with your friends, work and fitness through a device that’s literally always on you.
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How to get ready: Don’t buy one of the smartwatches already on the market. Most don’t look great and aren’t especially useful. Even if you favor Android, Apple’s entry will likely stimulate the competition to build better, sleeker wrist-tops.
Fitness Trackers That Actually Help You
Two big advances may, when they finally reach maturity, make us healthier humans. First, fitness bands and smartwatches—even connected workout clothing—are getting packed with sensors to track everything from heart rate to sun exposure. Second, instead of just saying you walked 4,382 steps today, cloud-connected apps are gaining increasing powers to interpret this data to provide meaningful workout and lifestyle feedback.
How to get ready: With Google, Apple, Microsoft and countless startups vying to win your heart (or at least your heart-rate data), the best thing you can do, ironically, is sit back and see which devices and platforms start living up to their lofty promises. If you’re wondering if a fitness tracker is something you’d want at all, try a cheap, dependable one like the $50 Jawbone UpMove.
Streaming Netflix from a tablet. NETFLIX
Stream More, Pay Less
It’s finally time to break up with your overpriced cable TV service, or at least seriously rethink the relationship. It’s easier, and often cheaper, to stream movies and TV shows from Internet services with vast libraries such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu. Some things you still can’t stream, like live sports and cable news, but even those walls are tumbling. This year, a lot more of the stuff you really want, including HBO, will be available online without a cable TV subscription.
How to get ready: Find a home broadband service that offers downloads of at least 5 megabits per second. (Yes, you might have to make a new deal with your cable provider.) Then buy a streaming box or stick for your TV. The best is the $100 Roku 3, which supports the widest array of movie and music sources and has universal search. If you live in an all-Apple home, check out the $100 Apple TV first, since it’s the only box that plays iTunes videos.
Virtual Assistants You Won’t Want to Fire
“You have an 8:30 a.m. meeting with your supervisor. Last time you met, your heart rate was high. Go to bed early tonight, don’t drink coffee before the meeting and leave home early—traffic will be heavy.”
That’s how much smarter predictive personal assistants like Google Now and Microsoft’s Cortana will begin to get, thanks to increased information coming from our bodies, cars, Web searches, calendars, GPS location and more. For some reason, Apple has yet to endow Siri with predictive powers. Perhaps that, too, will change in 2015.
How to get ready: In order for predictive intelligence to work, you have to buy into a specific platform or ecosystem. Google Now centers around Gmail and the calendar, and it’s coming to cars, via Android, in 2015. Cortana will be integrated into Windows 10. But because they get more intelligent (and useful) by finding out more about you, you’ll want to pick a system that you trust.
LG's 4K quantum-dot TV LG ELECTRONICS
It’s a 4K World
This year, 4K TVs will become standard at 65 inches or higher. These Ultra HD TVs pack four times the resolution of HD, so you can see every bead of sweat on the actors’ brows. The cost of making these TVs has fallen dramatically, and 4K video has arrived via streaming from Netflix, Amazon and others. Those extra pixels aren’t worthwhile on smaller TVs, but if you’re finally buying a big set, you’d be mistaken not to consider 4K.
How to get ready: By next fall, quality 4K TVs will be available for laughably low prices. (But since the tech is evolving fast, never ever buy last year’s model.) And for better color, keep an eye out for “quantum dot” technology.
Android and iOS Take the Wheel
This may be the first year you pick your car based on the type of phone you use—or vice versa. Apple has partnerships with over 20 car makers, such as Volvo and BMW, to extend iOS to the dashboard with CarPlay. Many of those same car makers, including Audi, Dodge and Ford, have teamed up with Google to roll out Android Auto, which similarly brings phone functions, messaging, music and navigation to the front seat.
How to get ready: Many auto makers will offer CarPlay and Android Auto on top of their own dashboard systems. In some cases, all of these options may be found in the same car. As the first models are introduced, there will be confusion, so ask your dealer a lot of questions, and don’t take “I’m not sure” for an answer.
A shopper for Instacart shops for a customer at Whole Foods in Denver. DENVER POST/GETTY IMAGES
People-Powered Apps
The app that most changed urban life in 2014 was Uber, the car service. Beyond making a night on the town easier, Uber has proved that smartphones are effective at connecting customers with nearby workers. Now that model is multiplying into a zillion services, like the “Uber” for grocery delivery (Instacart), chores (TaskRabbit), parking (Luxe Valet), laundry (Washio) ... even massages (Zeel).
How to get ready: Not every service treats workers or customers equally well, so ask around. The good news is you’ve got choices because these services are easily (and often) cloned.
Cheap Smartphones Worth Buying
The arrival of a lot of cheap, powerful smartphones from China could mean it’s the year we finally stand up to our cellular carriers. Instead of paying $200 upfront and agreeing to pay down the rest of a phone for two years with high monthly service and data fees, you could buy an unlocked Android phone from OnePlus, Xiaomi, Huawei and perhaps even the Lenovo-owned Motorola for that much sans contract. That could spell trouble for Samsung and HTC, which will be forced to lower prices (as Moto already has).
How to get ready: When your contract is next up, break the habit of running to your carrier’s website or store for a subsidized handset. Shop around for one of these new, ultra-affordable unlocked phones, and see how much your carrier will charge for talk and data off contract. It could be very liberating!
Apple Pay APPLE
Your Phone Replaces Your Wallet
It will become possible to step out of the house with nothing but your smartphone (and pants) this year. Apple Pay, the credit-card replacement that made its debut in the fall, has so far shown that using an iPhone to pay at a store can be simple and secure. Now your phone is out to conquer the rest of your overstuffed wallet—an app to replace your driver’s license is already on its way in Iowa. More and more apps are replacing door keys (like the August smart lock), loyalty cards and even proof of insurance.
How to get ready: You’ll need a recent phone with a technology called NFC to use Apple or Google mobile payment services. And since your phone contains even more sensitive information than ever, be sure to secure it with a screen lock and remote-wipe capabilities.
Not-So-Social Social Networking
This year marked the beginning of public social networking fatigue. Now, it’s about enhancing your more personal, private communications. Facebook broke off its Messenger app, and Twitter is strengthening its direct messaging with the ability to share and discuss tweets privately, among other tools. Meanwhile, anonymous communicationwithin smaller groups, using apps like Whisper, Secret and Yik Yak, will remain popular.
How to get ready: A messaging service is only as good as the people on it. Talk to your friends and family about what they are using for private, day-to-day communications. (You may use different apps for different social clusters.) And when it comes to anonymous apps, be safe and remember: None of the apps can fully guarantee anonymity.
EyeLock's Myris uses your eye to unlock passwords. EYELOCK
The Password Is You
When it comes to the annoyances of digital life, typing in a million different passwords all the time is second only to trying to remember them all. What if your body could be the password? Biometric readers have been around for some time, but now they’re found in devices we carry around. Fingerprint readers on high-end phones and tablets can unlock their home screens—and an increasingly wide range of apps. And your finger is just the beginning. The coming year will bring 007-style gadgets that scan your eye, listen to your voice or just recognize your heartbeat.
How to get ready: Start with a fingerprint scanner, available today on a number of phones including the Samsung Galaxy S5 and iPhone 6. Apps for iOS that already accept finger scans include American Express, Amazon and Mint; if you have a new Samsung phone, try PayPal and the password manager LastPass.
Write to Geoffrey A. Fowler at Geoffrey.Fowler@wsj.com or on Twitter @geoffreyfowlerand Joanna Stern at Joanna.Stern@wsj.com or on Twitter @joannstern
