I will go ahead and admit that, on the subject of phones, the current technology is far superior to what Captain Jame T. Kirk had, so at least there we did well.
But I personally hate my SMRT phone except for the camera.
It’s the human race. Human nature doesn’t change. What futurists get tied up with is essentially the set dressing. The sets change. The play is always the same. And when it comes to human nature the futurists almost always get it wrong because human nature is far less malleable than technology.
CC
I don't think the Star Trek communicators were reliant on cell towers or a satellite network scattered across the galaxy. They may not have been able to download apps like Angry Birds, or capable of taking selfies, but I think they may have still had an edge on our smart phones.