I left Nokia last week after six fun-filled years to pursue new challenges, and am currently exploring a range of these - will post updates when there's more to report. However, one of the advantages is that I can now (with a clear conscience) use non-Nokia phones. Now for a mobile guy, the choice of one's first (for a while) self-purchased and paid for primary mobile device is not a trivial issue - and after much to-ing and fro-ing, the shortlist was the iPhone or Google's Nexus One. Blackberry seemed too corporate and while I've heard good things about the new Palm OS, I wasn't convinced there'd be enough of an application base to try out the cool new augmented reality apps etc.

The uppers

I went for the Nexus One due to the novelty factor, a better camera with a decent flash, and tight integration with Google's services, without which I can hardly get out of bed. At first it didn't disappoint - when you set it up it's blazingly fast - just enter your Google username and password and the thing magically works and is synced with your emails and pictures. The value of the phone is now pretty much in the cloud - apart from the replacement cost and delay, losing this phone wouldn't bother me, as I know I can get my data from anywhere. The usability, speed and intuitiveness of the OS puts Symbian to shame - things work how you expect them to work, and I can't think of a prompt coming up when it shouldn't (such as Do You REALLY Want To Go Online, just after you've asked it to, or Packet Data Active beeping up on every call). Other plus points are the fit and finish - it's robust, sleek and smooth.

The downers

But, boy is it smooth. This is the biggest downside - the thing slips out of your hand. Ok, I've got bigger and maybe even sweatier hands than normal, but I've already dropped it three times as I move it from ear to hand and back. The iPhone fits better in the hand, and this starts to matter. Also the screen while great inside, is completely invisible in sunlight. My gripes aren't limited to the hardware though, lest Google feel they can relax. The messaging and call handling is clearly done by a newbie to mobile phones. I may be asking for trouble because I use Google Voice which makes things a bit complicated, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to find sent messages, or take a specific message and forward it on, or cut and paste. Call handling via Google Voice is also at times a farce - the call comes in from a number I know well (e.g. my wife's) and yet it still screens it, and forces me to find the screen (impossible in the sunlight as noted above), switch over to Dialpad, enter in 1 to accept then put it back to my ear, without dropping it. Many people have just hung off by the time I get that done. And for numbers in my contacts book, why does it even bother to ask me to approve - let them all dial direct, please Mr Google.

So while I think Google and HTC have done an excellent job in creating a mobile computing device, Nokia still makes a better phone. If they could just merge the form factor for the E72 with the Android OS, I'd be happy. As for iPhone, when the next version comes out with a >5MP camera and decent Flash, I'll have another hard decision to make.

There are no shortage of predictions about what this year will bring for mobile, so at the risk of piling on a bolted bandwagon here are a few more. Not exhaustive by any means, more of a selection of some of my favorites.

1. Celebrities figure out how to monetize social media, even if social media doesn't.

If Kim Kardashian can get $10k for a single Twit, how much could someone with a broader following and even greater respect coin? Lots of outrage and fuss predicted (can you trust anyone?), but the market will reward credible endorsements, and affiliate technology will enable both transparency and revenue.

Location-based posts and pics/ videos submitted via mobile will be a big part of this, as the mundanities of daily life are manna from heaven to the celebrity obsessed.

2. Developers expand focus from the device to the hardware ecosystem

A big challenge until now has been making it easy and reliable for phones to make calls, send texts, browse the web and download apps. Thankfully this is more or less a solved problem, so I suspect part of the battle will shift to the hardware ecosystem. People will start to integrate mobility into their physical environment - TVs, thermometers, speed cameras and sensors will become part of the extended operating system. Creative developers for Apple are already straining at the leash; first flashlights, spirit levels and compasses, and now blowers and handwarmers take us beyond the digital to the physical environment.

Look for big growth in the m2m market and intriguing modular hardware initiatives like Nokia's NOTA, Aduino and BugLabs and a fun new concept out of Portland, Green Goose (thanks Rob!).

In addition, companies like Nokia and RIM/Blackberry who are overdue for an operating system upgrade could take this opportunity to leapfrog even even Palm's fabulously slick WebOS and ensure their next OS is integrated more tightly into the physical environment.

3. Mobile augmented reality as a new search interface

Continuing the theme of moving beyond the phone, here we'll see the the overlay of digital intelligence with the real world. Google Goggles is an important validation - and gives them the advantage of having an alternative search trigger (their location algorithms deliver the search term, rather than the keyboard). This is a new enabler for many services that can overlay digital with physical, and there are some intriguing proof of concepts popping up like mushrooms, subway finders, interior design and ski slopes.

Bruce Sterling's speech at Layar's launch provides a good summary of the state of play and potential here.

Video: Bruce Sterling's Keynote - At the Dawn of the Augmented Reality Industry from Maarten Lens-FitzGerald on Vimeo.

4. Health goes online and mobile at the same time

Healthcare eats up massive amounts of consumers' attention,' powerpoint ink and investment dollars (the second quarter of 09 saw more VC investment in healthcare than in IT). Professional-grade startups such as AmericanWell are quickly dismantling barriers to online health such as onerous insurance liability, online doctor-patient relationships and restrictions on cross-border medicine. At the same time Congress is on the verge of throwing another 30m uninsured Americans into the system who will need cheap yet effective treatment, and the shortage of primary care physicians is set to increase. I predict mobile as platform of choice here - more secure and personal than a computer and able to take, send and store pictures, sounds and videos of questionable body parts, and deliver location-based services that will help patients find services easier.

Every year for the past few years has been billed as the year that mobile will break through. As AdMob and Quattro proved late last year - 2009 was actually the year for mobile, but it came and went. Mobile is no longer another place, it is all around us, like the Internet now is. I think 2010 will be the year that mobile starts to integrate with the physical world to deliver genuine user benefits (such as saving lives) as well as more trivial ones (such as Kim K painting her nails). Either way, a busy time for innovation ahead.