While the iPhone was certainly not the best spec'd mobile of 2007, it did have that touch of Apple magic that made it the most lusted-after device of the year. And it's the phone to beat for the rest of the world's mobile handset manufacturers.
One year after Apple chief executive Steve Jobs announced the iPhone at MacWorld, Wired picks out a few rivals that have had a year to size up the best way of competing - Samsung's F700 and the LG Voyager - and there are plenty more new models being unveiled at CES. Here's a few:
Nokia
Nokia has previewed an 8GB version of the much-anticipated N95 for North America; this has ditched the radio included in the European version and has a slightly larger screen (2.8" compared to 2.6" - but who's counting?). Engadget points out that the memory card slot was sacrificed for the 8GB hard drive. RRP in the US is $749, so that's a fair chunk under the £499 RRP in the UK. But then we expect that.
There's also a red N95, if you are so inclined.
Nokia's N95 8GB for North America. Photo: Engadget
Sony Ericsson
Ah - shiny things! Sony Ericsson was demonstrating the new Z555 (pronounced "sheesh", possibly) in silver and black, which has an OLED, 1.3 megapixel camera; the ultra-thin W350 walkman phone (just 0.3" thick but with 512MB storage, 1.3 megapixel camera and FM radio); and the W760 - HSDPA web connection, GPS, 3 megapixel camera and video capability.
Sony Ericsson's Z555. Photo: Engadget
Motorola
On the Motorola stand, there's the Z10 banana slider - designed, as Engadget says, "to satisfy our insatiable banana phone needs".
The ROKR E8 has no 3G data capability but has tried to do something fancy with a 270-degree navigation wheel and was launched officially as Motorola's killer musicphone.
LG
This LG handset might raise a chuckle; it's a handset that wants to inspire people to watch TV on their mobiles. It's DVB-H based but only compatible with the ATSC broadcast standard in the US. That means it can pick up existing TV signals without modification (oops - was that a tunnel?) but also that this handset won't work in the UK.
As Ian Morris on CNet points out, it's not inconceivable that someone will try launching a mobile TV service in the UK using that old analogue spectrum. But hopefully with some slightly more elegant handsets.
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