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We’ve seen the mobile future! It’s waterproof, gesture controlled, app powered and, most importantly, runs on Android.

Earlier this week in a dingy London conference room, we discovered a wealth of next gen smartphone technology. All of it made by British companies heading to next month’s Mobile World Congress 2012. For a sneak peek of the best innovations to appear on the Android handset’s of tomorrow, click onwards.

Waterproof smartphones – P2i

If we told you military grade technology was coming to your Android handset, you’d probably think someone had invented a portable smartphone gun turret. In the case of P2i liquid repellent technology however, this waterproof nano-coating was developed to protect soldiers from chemical and mustard gas attack.

It works by forming an invisible film around all components of your mobile so no water can come into contact with them. Naturally, numerous manufacturers are vying to include the invention in their smartphones.

“First of all their reaction is ‘wow!’” explained Natasha Verniquet , Communications Executive for P2i. “Then they want to know ‘How can I get it done?’”

After watching a tissue coated with the technology be submerged in water and come out bone dry we can understand why.

Augmented Reality adverts – Blippar

Blippar’s beta app is already available from the Android Market but compatibility issues have seen the download struggle before its full release next week. Having already featured in advertisement campaigns from Tesco, Heinz, Cadbury and Marmite, it seems everyone is bound to be ‘Blipping’ in 2012 anyway. Certainly when this app’s image recognition technology works, it does so amazingly well with recipe books, voting tools and trailers all included in the demonstration we saw.

Gesture controlled handsets – Pyreos

“First mobiles had huge buttons, touchscreen controls were the next stage and now we’re moving forward to touchless 3D,” states Karolina Kolodziejczak, Sales and Finance representative for Pyreos. Scoff as you might, this fighting talk is backed up by some impressive technology.

Whereas traditional gesture control technology has relied on a battery draining camera-based methodology, the Pyreos Gesture Sensor is a miniature infra-red sensor array that works via the heat from a user’s hand. Swipe your hand left in front of your smartphone and the chip will track the heat trail and interpret the gesture as intended.

We tested the sensor ourselves and found it to work on every attempt, providing we kept our hands at a suitable distance away from the technology. While we’ve got a few reservations about what the Pyreos Gesture Sensor could be used for, other than Powerpoint presentations, we’re sure some bright soul will unlock its potential.

Save the planet – Carbon Diem

Carbon Diem is an enterprise app for Android and Blackberry smartphones aimed at tracking your travel emissions. “We’re trying to save the world without making it too obvious,” states Andreas Zachariah, CEO of Carbon Diem.

All data is collected automatically and autonomously meaning companies can’t trace where you’ve been but they can record emissions as voluntarily requested by the UK government and mandated under the Australian government’s carbon tax. It’s a simple solution to a very modern problem.

Hail a cab in two taps – Hailo

There are plenty of taxi apps available for Android but few of them as slick as Hailo, a free download which allows you to literally hail a cab in two taps of your smartphone.

Just set your smartphone’s location via GPS and order the cab. It really is that easy, all you have to do is sit back wait for text confirmation and pay by cash or credit card.

In Summary

As you can see there’s plenty of innovations to come in the world of Android and we’ll be reporting them as they drop throughout the year, as well as at Mobile World Congress 2012. In the meantime, let us know your ideal smartphone apps and technological improvements in the comments box below? You never know they might become a reality by the time 2013 rolls around.