Saturday 7th January marks the start of the mobile phone and electronics trade fair events, with the opening of CES 2007 in glorious Las Vegas. Last year, Sony Ericsson announced new Walkman phones, Samsung showed off no less than 25 new mobile phones, and everyone seemed to be releasing mobile TV phones for what was predicted to be the hot new mobile service of 2006.

Of course, mobile TV didn't exactly set the world on fire throughout 2006, largely because the network operators still haven't upgraded their networks to support it yet. However, with most of them on track to do so throughout 2007, and with higher speed HSDPA networks coupled with flat tariff charging, there should be no technical or cost hurdles to prevent its widespread adoption in 2007.

Of course, that doesn't mean that it will be widely adopted - people may simply choose not to use it. But at least we should get to see in 2007 whether or not the world switches to mobile TV and changes the way we view our telly, as has been so widely predicted.

Most blogged phone manufacturers of 2006

Despite a poor product showing compared with its rivals, Motorola was the most blogged mobile phone company of CES 2006, with Nokia, Samsung, LG and Sony Ericsson following suit. However, with Nokia set to show off its stunning new Nokia N95 SatNav phone, it'll be interesting to see if Motorola can pull off the same trick this year. Last year, the buzz was all about Motorola's iTunes phones, but with the imminent announcement of Apple's own iPhone, and no Motorola-Apple tie-up on the cards, much of the Motorola hype would appear to have been well and truly extinguished. My bet is on Nokia capturing the bloggers' imaginations this year.

What to expect for CES 2007

So what can we expect for CES 2007? Well, according to CNET, more of the same. Cameraphones with more megapixels, thinner slim phones and better Bluetooth support, with stereo Bluetooth streaming becoming more prevalent on many new phones.

But there's always room for a few surprises, and we'll have it all covered at MobileMentalism. So if the post New Year blues are kicking in, tune in on Saturday for the first reports of what 2007's phones will look like.