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We have all seen the impressive concept videos of “future smart phones” made of transparent, super thin, flexible touch screen displays and many believe that the technology has plenty of potential to make mobile phones even more convenient to access.

But as cool as having a wrist mounted device would be, nothing is more practical than the concept devices that sit safely in the pocket or a bag (as having a fragile electronic gadget on the wrist is not really conducive to commuting and any other activities).

Augmented reality will play a very important role in the future, as it allows users to instantly pick up relevant information about where they are and about the things around them. The functions can serve from simple visual instructions on where to go, what do to and what time things will happen. Take the Tube for example, bringing up a handset will give the user arrival and departure schedules as well as destinations, possible stops and even ticket prices. Some phones can do these now at a considerable length, future technology is aiming to make it instant.

HD is making a serious show on mobile phones these days as 720p video recording is fast becoming the new standard for high end smart phones. DivX encoding is also being supported more as well. Eventually, most media formats might be compatible with handsets as well (such as OGG, MKV and others).

While high definition video is making a solid mark on the mobile phone industry, the same cannot be said of the 3D technology. Considering that many people have only recently switched to HD, only a few are willing to invest in a 3D television. This is even more the case for smart phone users as handsets are not exactly good for 3D video –even with the glass-less parallax technology.

Newspapers have been around for many decades, in fact, it is one of the oldest forms of delivering news to people. With newer media such as television and the internet, printed news is slowly becoming a very stagnant and non-evolving medium –something that would inevitably be replaced.

Of course, the industry is not going out without a bang. Many publications have already taken some small measures in the effort of bringing print technology up to par with modern innovations. With print material limited strictly to static information and content, newspapers are now going in sync with augmented reality applications in smart phones to bring new content to users.

The premise is simple, if you see an image of the Secretary delivering a speech, you can point your phone at the picture and get to see a video of the actual presentation. Not only articles get additional content, so do advertisements and other features –such as weather forecasts, real time stock trends or even updates on current articles.

The practice has already begun in a small scale. Just take a look at an issue of Grazia from last week; use your iPhone on the publication and get to see a quick video of the performance in the headline article. Some companies are also looking into actually embedding video screens on publication –something that might see reality should the technology to mass produce thin and cheap screens become available.

Looking beyond what we currently have now, there are also innovations such as the Sixth Sense AR technology; this would actually allow users to see the media content associated with the printed material projected onto the paper itself as opposed to looking at things through a 3 inch screen.

Find out more about the new trends of print publishing with augmented reality at the Independent UK.