Next-generation (Next-G) wireless terminals need to sense their ambient and adapt to the diverse deployment scenario requirements on the fly while leveraging technology scaling. Several key circuit and system innovations are required to make the realization of this vision possible. We discuss how compressed sampling can be exploited to design a rapid, GHz-wide and energy-efficient interferer detector using a quadrature analog-to-information converter. A family of field-programmable receiver front ends demonstrating two linearity enhancement techniques including interferer-reflecting loops and hybrid Class-AB-C low noise transconductors is discussed. The technology scalable and out-of-band blocker robust switched-capacitor RF front end is then presented.