GET READY for a new era of mobile phone envy. A new crop of phones from Apple, palm and nokia is redefining the concept of the phone, and putting the power of a laptop in your pocket.

The iphone 3G S, palm pre and nokia n97 are such an advance on what the industry has for years dubbed smartphones, that they have prompted some commentaators to call them  ”superphones”.

With always-on connectivity whether through Wi-Fi or 3G they are driving mobile usage of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, and making it easy to share and view relatively high quality photos and videos on the move.