That said, there's still plenty to be done, now that network capabilities and new handset technologies are merging with perfect symmetry. So I make this journey once again, still in search of enlightenment (as any good pilgrim does), but with a few theories of my own.

Picture this
The ideas began to percolate at this year's CES when Audiovox unveiled a 1.3-megapixel camera phone. CES isn't the venue to show new handsets--that's CTIA's mission--but it got me contemplating a new breed of phone, something I'm calling full-featured mobiles. The recent announcements from Motorola and Sony Ericsson are perfect examples. These handsets aren't smart phones, per se, but they pack interesting extras such as MP3 functionality, video capture and playback, Bluetooth, 3D gaming, and built-in cameras. And while it's true that many smart phones have similar features, their primary tasks are more business oriented--e-mail, as well as syncing with calendars and desktop PIMs--and they support a specific operating system, such as Palm, RIM, Microsoft, or Symbian. The full-featured mobiles are more about entertainment than productivity, so they don't need a dedicated OS or built-in QWERTY keyboards.

I'm betting we'll see additional variations on the full-featured phone at the show, starting with more manufacturers announcing handsets with integrated 1.3-megapixel cameras. After speaking with Manish Singh, senior director of handheld product management for Nvidia (pioneers in the graphics chip business), however, I wonder how long the 1.3-megapixel camera phone will reign. The company has since entered the handset market and plans to sell its GeForce 3000 chip to appropriate processor manufacturers. This nifty imaging chip can support 2-megapixel resolutions with 8X zoom and process images to either Secure Digital (SD) cards or even SanDisk's latest storage venture: T-Flash, a miniature SD card capable of holding 128MB of data. Singh claims that the chip can do all of this using up to 95 percent less power than equivalent software-based solutions--a boon to cell phones since battery life is already at a premium.

Heavy load
There's another trend: storage. I expect we'll see mobiles with more internal shared memory, and we'll have to, especially when you consider the types of applications these devices will need to accommodate. Images and MP3 files are no small players in the size game. Motorola's MPx200 already has an SD slot, and one of the company's most recent introductions, the E398, supports the aforementioned T-Flash. Even if there aren't enough storage options on the actual handsets, I'm not too worried that they'll limit the flight of full-featured mobiles. We can still turn to the carriers to to help launch a new phone category.

Just in case anyone has forgotten, in the sprawling United States, the carriers are king. They're in the business of selling service, which brings up another announcement I suspect we'll hear more of: the expansion of next-generation networks. With speeds comparable to DSL rates, the next-generation growth will be the high-speed data version of Manifest Destiny, I suspect. We've already seen a few handsets with EDGE available, though the networks aren't up in full force, and Verizon's 1xEVDO announcement at CES has me sitting with bated breath for the networks to roll out in San Francisco (I'm hoping we'll get a more detailed launch plan at this show). The company already has network cards that support the new service, so phones can't be too far off. There's no limit to the types of new services we can expect to learn about at the show, and one undoubtedly will be the expansion of online storage sites to help accommodate the larger image files. How much the carriers will charge a customer for that feature is another story, but consumers probably won't pay more than a couple of bucks a month.

All that glitters

All that sparkles: We'll see a crystal-embedded Treo 600

If that's not enough to entertain me on my journey, I can always take in the inevitable fashion show where the Treo 600, a CNET favorite, will make its debut decked out in Swarovski crystal--oh yeah, you read correctly. Of course, there will be a slew of Bluetooth products. Only this time, I suspect all those lonely headsets announced at CES will finally find their matches among Bluetooth phones. A few more headsets will join the ranks as well, such as the lightweight Plantronics M2500 ($89.95), which offers 5 hours of talk time and 120 hours of standby time.

These are just my theories. All I know for certain is that besides checking the results of our annual March madness cell phone tournament, I'll be using my camera phone to send pictures from the show floor, as well as carrying a large bottle of peppermint foot lotion. The Georgia World Congress Center is big, and there's a lot of ground to cover to see all the cool new phones. Enlightenment awaits.

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Section Editor Joni Blecher, a.k.a. the Cell Phone Diva, wants to answer all your questions about cell phones, service plans, and wireless connectivity.