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No single item of consumer electronics has demonstrated this trend more than the humble cellphone.

Once just a bulky device that enabled people to make and receive telephone calls, the cellphone has evolved into a rather amazing device that does just about everything but make coffee.

First we had the addition of TXTing, a function that enabled us to replace a single brief, and relatively cheap voice call with a string of clumsy typed messages that, although costing 1/3rd the price each, quickly add up to a significant amount -- often well in excess of the voice call they were meant to replace.

Of course Telecom saw a marketing opportunity there and decided to offer flat-rate TXTing, a move that appears to have bought them a significant share of the power-TXTers who'd otherwise be spending hundreds of dollars a month.

Call me cynical, but I wonder what Telecom will do once the rate of new sign-ups begins to dwindle? Will they reinstate a per-TXT charge, thus milking a relatively captive market?

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But TXTing is old-hat now, because we've got PXTing, games, WAP, internet browsing and, in the case of some phones, even MP3 playing.

That all these features can be crammed into a tiny plastic unit that fits in the palm of your hand is quite amazing.

That so many people keep upgrading to the "latest and greatest" model on a regular basis is even more amazing.

I have to admit that sometimes I feel positively old-fashioned when I pull out my no-WAP, no-PXT, no-browsing, no-colour, no-music cellphone and (gasp) actually start talking to someone rather than assaulting them with TXT, PXT, email or other forms of communications.

The latest addition to your cellphone's arsenal of clever tricks is the ability to scan pictures or documents as detailed in this article

Boy, I bet there are plenty of cold-war era spies who'd have killed to get a 21st-century cellphone. Imagine, a spy camera, a document copier, a global communications (back to HQ), and even a gun, all in a compact, hand-held device.

But where-to now for the humble cellphone?

What other fabulous piece of cleverware can they fit in these devices so as to ensure existing users are compelled to throw away their old model and upgrade to the very latest offering?

Well they can't make a cellphone much smaller without them being impractical to use so it's unlikely to be an even greater reduction in size.

Hopefully we'll see the "Push to Talk" technology that has been available in the USA for some time now and should be rolled out in Australia shortly.

I'm also betting that new generations of cellphones will include a TV receiver (some already have an FM radio tuner) and that a connector for something like this.

But what features would *you* like to see in your new cellphone?

What's more important to you: price, form, functionality, features or fashion?

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