As the battle for dominance roars ever onwards, both Nokia and Sony Ericsson badly want to be the biggest innovators in the mobile world. But what will the future bring? What glorious new stuff can we expect from these 2 heavyweights?

Nokia - Going Tubin'

Nokia have some considerable heavy-hitters lined up in 2008, as the gloves are coming off in a big way. First up is a device sure to be heralded as one of the best mobile phones ever, the stunning Nokia N96. Best thought of as a super-powered hyped-up Nokia N95 on steroids, it fits in all the features from its predecessor, things like 5 megapixel camera, GPS built in and a superb multimedia player, then whacks them all into a SUPER-shiny body not unlike the N81. Oh, and then Nokia have managed to squeeze in a stonkingly huge 16Gb of memory, which is a massive amount by anyone's standards! It's due out later in the year, and it's sure to sell like hotcakes.

However, I'm not so sure the same can be said of what will be Nokia's first touchscreen mobile phone, the 5800 Tube. Built to take on the iPhone, it features a 3.2 inch touchscreen, 3.2 megapixel camera, WiFi, GPS, and let's face it, Nokia have made it look VERY similar to the iPhone. Will it succeed in its mission? Well, based on what seems to be the buzz from people who've tried it, no. It feels a bit clunky, and common consensus is that Nokia may well have scored a bit of an own-goal with it...

Sony Ericsson - touchscreen grand masters

Of course, when it comes to touchscreen mobile phones, there's a company who've doing it for AGES, and that's Sony Ericsson. If anyone knows how to make an ace touchscreen mobile phone, it's them! And this year, they're bringing out LOADS (at last count, they have at least 5 on the cards). But the real big hitters form a triple header that will take on the world. First up is the Sony Ericsson X1 Xperia, their first ever Windows Mobile phone, featuring a massive touchscreen, full QWERTY keyboard, frighteningly fast internet access and a 3.2 megapixel camera, all wrapped in a predominantly metal body. Second up is a Walkman phone from Sony Ericsson that's so secret, it doesn't even have a name yet, although it used to go by the codename of Maria. No-one knows for sure, but it's widely believed to be their iPhone-Killer, with a similar design, a brand new version of UIQ for an operating system.

But the big one to watch out for is the Sony Ericsson Paris (again, a codename, but it's believed it will eventually be called the P5), again built on UIQ. This beauty is due to have a 2.8 inch, 16 million colour touchscreen (smaller than the Nokia, but hey), GPS, WiFi, HSDPA, a QWERTY keyboard 5 megapixel camera... well, the list of specs goes on, but if they're all true, this is seriously going to be one of the best mobile phones EVER made!