Powered physical displays on mobile devices

A system comprising:

• a portable housing;
• a biometric identification system configured to determine an identification of a user of the system;
• a powered physical display configured to output physical energy perceivable by the user;
• a touchscreen display configured to display information and for receiving input from the user via contact with the display;
• an audio output configured to supply human perceivable sound;
• at least one microphone configured to receive audio input and convert it into an electrical representation thereof;
• at least one wireless transceiver providing at least a connection to the Internet and configured to provide at least one voice communication channel;
• a global positioning system (GPS);
• at least two cameras;
• a memory;
• processing circuitry, the processing circuitry being responsive to software in the memory;
• the processing circuitry being coupled to the biometric identification system, the powered physical display, the touchscreen display, the audio output, the microphone, the at least one wireless transceiver, the GPS, the at least two cameras, and the memory;
• wherein the system is configured to provide to the user, under control of the processing circuitry and responsive to the memory, all of the following services:
• (i) telephone based service, including at least voice communication service with an external voice-communication-capable device, (ii) texting service with an external device, (iii) playing of video stored at least in part in a memory, (iv) playback of audio stored at least in part in the memory, (v) Internet based service, including (a) transmitting data to, and (b) storing data received from, the Internet, (vi) an identification service, (vii) an alerting service, and (vii) a location service;
• wherein in addition to being provided under control of the processing circuitry and memory:
• the telephone based service makes use of at least the audio output, the at least one microphone, and the at least one wireless transceiver;
• the texting service makes use of at least the touchscreen display and the at least one wireless transceiver;
• the playback of video service makes use of at least the touchscreen display;
• the playback of audio service makes use of at least the audio output and the touchscreen display;
• the Internet based service makes use of the at least one wireless transceiver;
• the identification service makes use of the biometric identification system;
• the alerting service makes use of at least one of the audio output and the powered physical display;
• and
• the location service makes use of the GPS;
• wherein the biometric identification system, the powered physical display, the touchscreen display, the audio output, the microphone, the at least one wireless transceiver, the GPS, the at least two cameras, the memory, and the processing circuitry are all contained by the portable housing.