This month saw the latest installment of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the biggest showcase for new consumer technology and gadgets. With mobile phones getting ever more sophisticated, there were plenty of novel smartphones on display. Here are some of the most eye-catching that are set to hit the US in the coming months and may well be on their way across the Atlantic soon after.
The TV camera phone
The handset manufacturer that used to be Ericsson is now Sony Ericsson, a partnership with the consumer electronic giant. Though that's previously led to Sony sharing its consumer marketing expertise, it's now led to a direct cross-over of technology. The new Xperia arc phone not only uses a special mobile edition of Bravia (the technology used to improve picture quality on Sony TV sets), but also the phone's camera borrows Exmore R, a sensor taken from Sony's digital cameras that allows for better image quality in low lighting.
The transformer phone
The Motorola Atrix 4G can transform itself into a home cinema or a laptop computer. It's not quite as impressive as the Autobot and Decepticons: rather than the whole thing folding down into a pocket-sized handset, it's achieved by adaptors for the phone.
The first is an HD multimedia dock. This allows the phone to connect to a power socket, as well as giving it three USB ports and an HDMI cable, meaning you can easily connect it to anything from a small computer monitor to a large TV. The phone's display isn't quite HD resolution, but isn't too far off.
The second dock is effectively a laptop computer shell without all the bits inside. Instead the phone slots into the back of the case and can immediately be controlled by the keyboard and trackpad, with the display shown on the laptop screen. There's a special interface to run the phone more like a traditional computer, but you can also use a special feature to remotely control a Windows computer.
The games console phone
Mobile industry analysts were surprised when Sony made no mention of its most talked-about handset at CES. But while there's no official announcement yet, the rumour-mill still has it that the company is planning a PlayStation phone. The handset would be a cross between a standard smartphone and the PSP Go, the smallest of the company's range of handheld consoles, complete with the familiar control buttons (but no joystick.)
How well such a device would fare is open to debate. There are natural comparisons to the winning move of Apple combining an iPod with a mobile phone, but critics note that the iPhone didn't really hit it big until users could install and run applications, suggesting they are more interested in the idea of a pocket-sized internet-enabled computer than simply getting two consumer devices in one.
