So what do you want on your mobile phone?

16 mega-pixel camera.
Pocket-now have leaked a video which promotes a new HTC smartphone with a 16 mega-pixel camera and dual LED flash. 16 mega-pixel camera would be a new high in a mobile device and the dual flash would help in low light, but It is worth noting out the number of megapixels does not guarantee picture quality. So if you are a keen photographer who doesn't always want to carry your SLR or DSLR around with them maybe help is on the way.

Mobile gaming
The Xperia Play gaming phone keeps your fingers of the screen and according to some that improves the game. The Android phone is being launched with six games, including FIFA 10, Bruce Lee Dragon and Crash Bandicoot.

Media
Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Arc operates on Android Gingerbread 2.3., has a 4.22” screen, an eight megapixel camera that shoots video in 720p HD and through Sony's Bravia mobile engine can deliver HD video to televisions through the phone's HDMI outlet.

NFC (Near Field Communications)
NFC enables your mobile to read and write information from other devices/objects with NFC chips inside. The main purpose of NFC is to facilitate “wave and pay” mobile payments that in the future will lead to smartphones replacing credit/debit cards. According to Juniper Research, 20% of smartphones , or some 300 million handsets, will carry NFC technology in just three years time.

Dual Processor
Samsung is reportedly planning a high-performance smartphone based on a 2GHz dual core CPU.The 2GHz chip is understood to be under development by Samsung, who has licensing agreement with chip design giant ARM. If dual processors come to smartphones then we will certainly see a significant uplift in processing capability and the phones may well become ‘smart’. It would enhance multi activity and question further which device will dominate the next decade.

Can You Hear Me Major Tom?

Normally, space exploration creates new technologies, which in turn are adopted to create new terrestrial products. Now UK engineers are planning to test an Android mobile phone in space. The aim of using the phone will be used to lower the cost of spacecraft by using off the shelf electronics and it will initially control a 30cm-long satellite and take pictures of the Earth.

Last year, researchers at the NASA sent two HTC Nexus One phones into the atmosphere. One phone failed but the other captured more than two-and-a-half hours of video footage

The mobile model to be used by researchers at the University of Surrey and Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL), has not been specified, but it will be a standard, smartphone with a camera available in High Street stores. Critical to the whole endeavour is the phone's operating system. Android open source software is critical as it enables the engineers to adapt the phone's functions.

There will however be no Major Tom moment where the phone fails to contact ground control as the phone itself will not "call home" and all messages and pictures will come back via the satellite's radio link.

If the standard smartphone can work in space, it opens up space to many who usually can't afford it. It also demonstrates the power we all carry around with us today and often take for granted.

Anything Your Smart Phone Can Do, We can Do Smarter

We wrote only last week about Sony's Idou 12-megapixel camera but it appears that it will be soon joined by a competitor from LG has committed to releasing a smartphone with the same camera specification this year. A 12-megapixel camera phone is likely to generate 3MB files (100 percent quality, 24 bit per pixel) which would be fine for local storage but take time to transfer.

With the clear indication that smartphones will compete head to head with ordinary digital cameras and with no traditional camera entrants such as LG entering the market we could we now see even more sophisticated features such as optical zoom, ISO setting and smart features such as face detection.

The interesting aspect of all this convergence and aggressive mobile competition is understanding what the consumer will expect from the smartphone and what they will expect from a dedicate device or netbook/laptop? A smartphone can phone, text, VOIP, surf the internet, be alert fed, play and record videos, capture images and store a gallery, read and store books, store and play music, interface with the ‘office’ for mail, calendars, tasks, play games, be a calculator, tell the time and date and act as an alarm, provide interactive GPS and mapping etc etc. The list goes on. The longer the list grows the more we realize that it for any standalone device to succeed it will have to offer something special.