However 2006 is likely to be a year of continual evolution. You'll no doubt have read all about convergence, possibly the most overused term in mainstream journalism when writing about technology. But what does it really mean? do we really want to try and squeeze a digital camera, mp3 player and PDA all into our phones? Perhaps, but then again why has there been a recent resurgence in phones that are just phones?

Meanwhile the one area of real demand has been left largely alone in 2005, that of the internet on the move. Sure most mobile providers offer some GPRS package (possibly even 3G data) but its always handicapped by either the device you have to struggle with or the package that charges by the megabyte. It's reminiscent of the bad old days of dial up, something that stunted the growth of the internet for several years in the UK. ISP's carried on charging on the old dial up model long after Broadband was available, even keeping caps on broadband service downloads that made customers worry about how much they used the service.

2006 needs to be the year the internet finally became real for mobile users, this is a combination of pay once and use all you can (subject to a reasonable use policy) and release of handsets that are practical for internet browsing. Sadly display technology isn't quite up there yet as Philips recently showed with their flexible LCD technology, which is both limited by a rather small maximum size and by being greyscale only. For now it looks like smart middleware is the answer with scaleable screens which adapt to the resolution of content they are showing. Both Nokia and Sony Ericsson have some interesting new handsets due in 2006 that use these revised browsers and cunning ways of making the whole phone into a screen, getting the most out of the real estate available.

What else can we expect from the Gadgets of 2006? GPS has seen an unprecedented growth in 2005 with the aftermarket of GPS systems becoming widely accepted and names such as Navman and the Dutch company TomTom entering mainstream consumer electronics. Not bad for 2 companies who were really niche players only 18 months ago!

So where next for GPS? well its a bit early for Galileo (Europe's own GPS system) to have any effect, it won't be in service until 2008. But there are plans for GPS to make it into more devices perhaps mirroring the spread of Bluetooth within gadgets, so 2006 will see the first mass market mobile phones with inbuilt GPS receivers. Navman are already positioned for this and their intentions to become the GPS equivalent of "Intel inside" was signalled at the UK launch of their update navigation range back in the Autumn. 2006 should also see GPS making an appearance in other gadgets, the digital camera being an interesting one, the concept of a camera that records the exact location of every photo you take and then allows you to browse your album on a map has already been demonstrated at the CES show.

Not all gadgets in 2006 will be bits of glossy plastic, the 2 most promising technologies that are set to change our lives are already waiting in the wings. The first is VOIP the science of turning audio into 1's and 0's and compressing them over IP connections. In most respects this is just what Telco's already do and BT's 21st century network due for announcement in just a few weeks is all based on large IP routers, quite a change for the humble telephone exchange. But VOIP has your average Telco worried, charging by the minute may be history as we can all use our broadband connections to make calls, you can even get round using the mobile network by hooking up to a WiFi hotspot instead. IP and the internet knows no bounds making those expensive international calls a thing of the past, VOIP has the ability to remove the last barrier in global connectivity, the monopoly the Telco's have on our phone lines.

Our last prediction is the rise of IPTV, 2006 is set to be the year of Internet protocol Television. Both BT and Sky have plans for the UK this year enabling TV to be watched over ADSL / DSL connections opening the possibilities for you to watch more channels and more importantly watch what you want when you want.

IPTV uses the masses of capacity that exists into most homes in terms of IP and looks to deliver your TV experience via that cable rather than the TV aerial or dish. Then the 1 on 1 nature of the IP connection allows you to choose not only which stream you want to watch (BBC1 / ITV / Sky One) but to also surf through a massive library of content and choose to view on demand, perhaps even pay for only the programmes you watch.

It could be the start of the TV revolution, its going to be a slow burn but maybe in 20 years time you'll sit with your grandkids telling stories of how you used to have to sit and wait until the TV show was played at a set time and those who decided were called TV schedulers. Sounds improbable but our great grandparents used to wave a red flag in front of their cars!

All in all a promising year for gadgets in 2006 and we are committed to bringing you quality information, not just rehashed news stories but real reviews of Gadgets as they launch in the UK.

Published - 19/01/2006

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