Smartphones are fast becoming an important tool for both businesspeople and the common Joe. We can thank the iPhone for much of the improved sales of smartphones as other makers rushed out tons of devices to compete with Apple’s gem.

At CTIA 2008 Motorola announced the Moto Q 9c smartphone and Verizon Wireless announced today that the phone is now available for purchase. The device runs Windows Mobile 6 Standard and has access to POP3 and IMAP4 email accounts.

The first “official” photos and specs for the HTC Diamond have now been leaked and it looks pretty sexy. It sports a 2.8-inch 640 x 480 pixel screen (that’s twice the lines of the iPhone in a smaller surface,) Windows Mobile 6.1 and 3G connectivity. Could this be the most important product of the year for HTC? Maybe so.

It seems like a pretty sweet cellphone, judging from the specs: Large 2.8 inch VGA display (640×480 pixel resolution), Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, Quadband GSM/GPRS/Edge and UMTS/HSDPA, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0, 3.2megapixel camera with autofocus, Extra VGA camera in the front for video telephony, QWERTY keyboard, Qualcomm 528 Mhz CPU, 4 GB of internal memory plus a MicroSD slot, FM Radio, An accelerometer sensor like the iPhone has.

Radiation and electromagnetic fields from cellphones can be dangerous. Plus, electromagnetic fields usually mean there’s a ghost around too, so it’s good to know when there might be one around you. Some say EMF is safe, others say it’s really dangerous. Why take the chance, when you can conduct your own research with this handheld EMF detector.

It will measure radio frequency radiation and extremely low-frequency magnetic fields and should be able to tell you which electronics in your home are the worst offenders. And if you get a reading where there are no electronics, then you probably have a ghost, in which case you’ll want to make like Scooby and Shaggy and get the hell out as quick as you can.

Samsung’s P960 is a super nice looking cell phone that is also a mobile entertainment center, with a cute retro antenna. It’s touted as being the first slider handset with mobile TV support for Europe. Up to this point, supported Euro mobile TV standards are DVB-CBMS and OMA-BCAST.

Unfortunately, those of us living in North America probably won’t be getting toys like this one anytime soon as we lag far behind other countries where mobile TV is concerned.

It’s a good idea to get the seniors in your life a phone that’s easy for them to use. Emporia’s Life Plus is the latest of elderly friendly phones that cater to those over 50 years old. It weighs 138 grams, with 250 hours of standby time, has a “super loud” handsfree speaker, oversized display and buttons, an integrated flash light, even a Hearing Aid compatible earpiece.

Another interesting feature is the single press ICE (’In Case of Emergency’) number dial/emergency SMS. For those, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up moments. They just need to work on meeting a senior’s budget, because at £144.67, it’s a bit expensive.

Vertu is a British-based company that produces luxury mobile phones and they’re celebrating their 10th anniversary with a special event. The company is launching another luxury series, called the Constellation Rococo Collection. The stylish devices are inspired by eighteenth century French art, fashion and the interior design movement by the same name.

The series will go on sale this summer and will be available in noir, scarlet, ivory and an exclusive sapphire edition. The sapphire edition has a cabochon sapphire for a center button, cabochon sapphire screws, and of course Rococo patterns engraved onto the bezel. No pricing available yet, but my guess is it will not be cheap.

There are rumors that LG is making the Prada II. Unlike it’s predecessor, the Prada II is apparently a slider and even comes with QWERTY keyboard. According to the leaked press release, LG seems to be focusing more on design and user experience while the Prada team will be making the custom themes, touch UI, built-in ringtones and cellphone accessories. The LG Prada II should be launched sometime in Q4 of 2008.

Some specs: Quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900). WCDMA 900/2100, 7.2 Mbps HSDPA connectivity, 3″ WQVGA 400×240 px TFT touchscreen, 5.0-megapixel camera, front camera for video calls, Wi-Fi b/g connectivity, USB 2.0, Bluetooth, Full HTML browsing, FM-Radio, TV-out, microSDHC memory card slot (up to 8GB) and the slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

If the Buddha Phone inspired you, you might want to try your luck with M1’s Lillian Too Lucky Dragon phones. Lillian is a well-known follower of the ancient Chinese practice of feng shui and believes the phone will be lucky for those who carry it with them.

The phone is beautiful, with a prominent dragon on back. It’s also encrusted with 288 zirconia gems, with big red gems for eyes and a pearl near the mouth. The phone comes with the number 8 trinket which signifies wealth in Chinese. It’s only available in red because the “fire element ensures financial success.” If that’s not enough, the phone also includes 12 Chinese Zodiac wallpapers, 6MB of built-in user memory expandable via a microSD card slot, 2-MP cam, and 176 x 220 resolution screen.

Nokia has announced the 5220 XpressMusic phone with built-in lanyard making it an easy-to-carry device. This music phone will give you 24 hours of playback time and comes with the usual XpressMusic keys at the side and a 3.5mm audio jack.

The Nokia 5220 XpressMusic will start shipping by the third quarter of 2008 with an estimated retail price of €160. Some specs include: 2.0 inch QVGA display(240 x 320 pixels) with up to 256,000 colors, 30 MB internal memory, support for up to 2GB microSD memory card, 2 megapixels camera, video recording in QCIF quality, Up to 5 hours talk time.

Sat phones used to be exclusively for rich Indiana Jones types. Elektrobit is hoping to change that with their new PDA-style satellite phone concept. It’s not only sleek, but they promise it will also be cost competitive with regular cell phones. Elektrobit didn’t skimp on functionality. It’s got Windows Mobile 6.1 professional, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, VoIP, touch screen, voice control, 3MP camera and both HSDPA and satellite connectivity.

You might notice the lack of an antenna on this one too. If this does come to market as planned in 2009, it’s sure to be a hit. It’s designed to be compatible with the Terrestar satellite network, which has not been launched yet. If the satellite network launches as planned they should do well with this one.

This shiny and pretty gold phone is a modified Nokia N95 that’s been decked out in a Buddhist theme. It looks both enlightened and at peace with the universe. This is Buddha bling if I’ve ever seen it. (I don’t believe I have.) It’s got a Buddha on the back, and fancy imagery all over. It’s onboard custom wallpapers and ringtones complete the theme.

It’s pretty awesome looking and if you’re Buddhist, even more awesome I would think. Unfortunately, it’s only in China and not currently available to westerners. Pretty neat. It just goes to show you that cell phones don’t have to be boring and void of personality.

Is it a toy or a cell phone? In fact, it’s a cellphone. The dialing pad can be found underneath the car where the axle should be. I like the idea, but I would feel weird talking on this thing. I would feel like I was talking on a cell phone that looks like a Ferrari. That would mean that I am probably trying to live out a second childhood or maybe having a mid-life crisis by talking on said phone.

It will cost you 96 British pounds and maybe some laughter from those with iPhones. Some specs: 2.2” 260K color display, Music player, Video player, 1.3 Megapixel camera, Memory slot, USB connector.

The N-Gage mobile games service from Nokia goes live today and here’s hoping it doesn’t suck as badly as the original N-Gage. At least this time around Nokia is making more than one compatible N-Gage device rather than one odd looking phone like we got with the original service.

Nokia says that players on the N-Gage service will be able to connect to other players to play games via the N-Gage Arena community. Nokia also says that the N-Gage platform has exclusive titles that will only be available on the N-Gage platform.

Anyone who watches Lost knows that the SAT phone used by the freighter people, looks like no other phone in existence. But new sat-phone company, MSV (Mobile Satellite Ventures) now has a prototype phone that looks a lot like the touch-screen SAT phone Naomi used to call for help when she landed on the island with the Oceanic 815 survivors. In fact it looks prettier.

The L-Series satellite phone will be available in 2010, complete with a new hybrid satellite/cellular system based on two satellites that MSV is launching in 2009. It go between cellular coverage when in range and satellite coverage when no cell service is available. The company plans to strike a deal with a US-based cellular carrier to sell satellite/cellular service under the carrier’s brand.

Unless you own an iPhone one of the biggest problems with mobile Internet access isn’t always the speed at which you can connect. The problem for many handsets is that the websites you can view on the phones are seriously lacking and many may simply not display at all.

A new service from Mippin launched today called Mippin Maker. The completely free service allows a website owner to take a normal website viewed form a PC and turn it into a site that is viewable on a mobile phone in four steps.