Even though we don’t see them in most devices, AAA batteries can be pretty darn useful, aside from powering remote controls and toys. Philips thinks so too, that’s why the Philips Xenium 9@9j has a AAA battery slot at the base. This is very likely the first cellphone that supports a AAA battery. It supposedly gives it up to three hours of talk time. It still has the standard lithium ion rechargeable battery, but the AAA is a backup.

It does add some bulk, but what is a backup worth to you? The 9@9j should be around in April. The technology is from the Israeli firm Techtium, and they are calling it Backupower. If your main battery goes dead, the backup battery takes over.

Philips has a new headset announced at CES last week that promises to bring quality sound from your mobile music-playing handsets as well as clear calls through a wireless Bluetooth connection. The SHB9000 Bluetooth headset features 40mm neodymium speakers and native MP3 decoding which according to Philips makes the sound quality the “best-ever”.

Be that as it may, the headphones also have SwitchStream letting you switch between incoming calls and music seamlessly, and also offer a subtle “side-tone” that lets you hear your own voice while talking on the phone as you would normally without wearing headphones. If you’ve ever talked on the phone while wearing over-the-ear headphones like these you’ll appreciate this feature. They also will auto adjust the volume based on surrounding noise and filter out background noises and echoes.

Last week at CES 2008 Philips launched the new 7000 FlatTV series line of HDTV LCD’s, boasting a design look that promises to stand out from the sea of LCDs on the market today. The 7000 series comes in sized from 19 to 52 inches and offers some unique features such as rounded edges instead of the usual square corners, four HDMI 1.3a input ports and the absence of a front speaker grill in the bezel.

The 7000 FlatTV line has speakers on the back and pushes the sound through the acrylic frame around the TV to avoid having the speaker grill on the front. This Philips LCD also has the 120Hz ClearLCD technology with a 2ms response time and the HD Digital Motion which will actually estimate motion in some recorded movie content and insert its own “compensation frames” to keep the motion looking smoother. The sets of course also feature the LED Ambilight which produces a light behind the TV.

Philips and Swarovski were showing off at CES this week some new colors to their Active Crystals line up of consumer electronics accessories. You’ll find some headphones retailing for around $100 and some USB memory keys at about $180. These products are supposed to be out next month.

Philips and Swarovski have in the Active Crystals Color range the USB Heart Ware Crystal Vitrail Light memory keys, the vibrant Space Violet in-ear headphones, the USB Lock Out Jet Hematite memory keys and the Space Jet Hematite in-ear headphones. You can get details on all of these after the jump.

Just on the heals of the news that Warner is going Blu-ray exclusive and talks that Universal and Paramount might be moving to Blu-ray, Philips has announced the new, reasonably-priced BDP7200 Blu-ray disc player. The BDP7200 is the successor to the BDP9000 and features full HD 1080p output with the ability to upscale regular DVDs to 1080p at 24 frames per second. It also uses EasyLink HDMI Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) protocols to let you control other compatible devices, picture in picture and Deep Color giving more than a billion colors and removing on-screen color banding. Phillips is offering the BDP7200 Blu-ray player at a price point of $349 and is expecting to have it available in April of this year.

Philips has taken the wraps off of some new 20-inch 3D displays as the latest addition to their WOWvx line of products. The displays appear to be targeting more of commercial use as a medium to draw more attention and increase brand awareness from consumers at indoor shops or mall kiosks. The WOWvx displays provide a 3-dimensional looking picture that’s viewable with the naked eye without the need for any type of special 3D glasses and will likely draw more of your attention when you first see one than would a standard 2D display.

The 20-inch model has two versions, one as a frame-mount for the wall (20-3D2W01) and the other with a bezel and stand for a desktop (20-3D2W04). This type of 3D display technology is not necessarily new but Philips is one of the first to market the product …

If you’re in the market for a new universal remote control for your home theater and you also own an iPod you may want to take a look at the Philips SJM3151 “iPod friendly” remote. It comes with an iPod dock and can not only control the playback of songs on your iPod but it has a small built-in LCD screen that mimics the display on your iPod.

The SJM3151 acts as a universal remote with the ability to be programmed to run up to six devices in your home theater system such as your TV, stereo, cable box and DVD player all through infrared, but the iPod dock actually communicates via RF from up to 300 feet away. This allows you to browse songs and manage the playback rooms apart from your stereo.

According to Crave the Philips …

Philips is hoping to make some serious headway into the Digital Media Receiver (DMR) market with release of the WACS700/37 Digital Media Receiver. The new wireless music center allows you to stream music around your house wirelessly to remote stations that you connect to the system.

The WACS700 is the latest device in the family of Streamium products, and consists of a base unit called the Center and a remote Station which has its own speakers. The system allows you to easily connect up to five stations, enough for the average house. You can listen to your music wherever you are in your home or family members in five different rooms can access and listen to their own choice of music from the Wireless Audio Center at the same time.

Equipped with a 40GB hard drive, the system offers enough capacity for you to …