There's no doubt that mobile phones are amongst the top gadgets people want. But why do we have this love affair with mobile phones? When you get right down to it, what makes mobile phones so special?

From little acorns, big trees grow - The history of mobile phones

So, where did it all begin? Where did the rich variety of mobile phones we see in the world today actually come from? Well, the idea for a cellular-based system (the keystone of all modern mobile phones) was first proposed in December 1947, as a possible way of setting up wireless communications. It would go undeveloped, though, until the 60's and 70's. On top of that, the very first mobile phones are very definitely stone age compared to the modern breed. Before it all went digital, analogue phones were the standard (ones like the Motorola 'Del-Boy' phone), and they were unreliable, power-intensive, and weighed as much as a small town. But still, the potential was there, and when mobile phones went digital, they crossed the divide from yuppies' toys into communication devices for everyone. We went from calls, to calls and text messages, to calls, text messages and the internet, to... well, who knows where we'll go in future!

One word can sum up the state of mobile phones, though, and this is probably why, more than anything else, they've taken off so massively in the last few years: convergence. In other words, mobile phones do more than just phoning people, pulling in technology as disparate as music players and cameras. They do more, and therefore, you can do more with them. Let's take a look a two of the biggest extra features that've made their way onto mobile phones, features that really have changed the game: music and cameras.

Music on your mobile phone - Into the 25th Century with the Nokia 5800

Without a doubt, music has been a massive success story in the world of mobile phones. The possibility of taking your music collection round with you, whilst NOT having to carry around a separate mp3 player, has meant that mobile phones have taken a huge foothold in this market. if you want an example of where they're at now, look no further than the upcoming Nokia 5800, a touchscreen mobile phone that combines the best worlds of music, a neat 3 megapixel camera, built-in GPS and super-fast internet access. Basically, the Nokia 5800 really is a portable multimedia player in your hand, and given the amount of people interested in it, it's fair to assume it shows that music is a big thing for mobile phones, especially since the Nokia 5800 is soon due to be available with Nokia's Comes With Music service, specifically designed to blur the lines between mobile phones and music player further.

Make no mistake, putting music on mobile phones is big business, as the Nokia 5800 so eminently demonstrates!

Crash, bang, wallop, what a picture - the Sony Ericsson C905 shows the way for camera-equipped mobile phones

If the Nokia 5800 is blazing a trail in the world of music mobile phones, then one phone in particular is setting the camera phone world alight: the Sony Ericsson C905. There's a very good reason why this is so: the Sony Ericsson C905 is one of the first mobile phones in the world to have an 8 megapixel camera, meaning that the mobile phone is now becoming a serious possibility for replacing your standalone camera. The simple reason people have taken to camera-equipped mobile phones in a big way is because they're so much easier to carry about and grab snaps on the spur of the moment. The Sony Ericsson C905 takes that to new levels, meaning that spur of the moment photos from mobile phones are now rapidly reaching proper digital camera territory. Of course, the Sony Ericsson C905 also features GPS (the next big thing in mobile phones) and super-fast HSDPA internet (the other next big thing in mobile phones), but it's the camera, like in so many mobile phones, that's made it so popular.