10 Qualcomm Teleepoch

If you know Qualcomm at all, you’ll know them as manufacturers of not-much-fun-but-terribly-useful chipsets. So it’s especially odd then that this none-more-mad concept phone is the brainchild of this normally super-sober company.

Billed as “the world’s smallest buttonless phone”, the Qualcomm Telepoch is wholly controlled by tilting - except when you’re entering text when it’s all about voice control.

Sounds impractical? Mmm, yes and no. Sure, it takes some getting used to. But according to the chaps at Qualcomm, the lack of buttons and relative cheapness of accelerometers, makes it super economical to produce. And it also means that it's way less likely to develop glitches. We’re saying it’d make a very cool ‘second phone’ at the very least.

9 Palm Pre and Palm Pixi Plus editions

In case you missed this news, the Pre and Pixi are getting upgrades. And not just any upgrades. The new edition of the Pre is getting a better keypad, slider and 16GB of onboard storage space. Meanwhile, the Pixi is getting Wi-Fi connectivity and a memory boost from 4GB to 8GB.

But that’s not all. Both handsets’ operating systems are being overhauled to allow for better 3D graphics and make it easier for users to record, edit and share videos on social networking sites or via SMS and email.

Perhaps best of all, though, is the announcement of a new app that creates a mini wireless network, which can be shared by up to five users. Who needs a MiFi?

8 HTC Smart

Somewhat unusually for a new HTC phone, the Smart shuns Google’s Android operating system in favour of a brand new platform dubbed Brew. But despite its budget price, this natty mobile still packs in the Sense interface that helped the higher end Hero to garner all those Phone of the Year awards. And it’s also got a three megapixel camera, Bluetooth, a 3.5mm headphone jack and expandable memory via microSD.

7 Samsung Apps

Samsung might not have exercised its creative muscles/imagination unduly when it came to naming its new software market. But that’s probably because it wore out its little grey cells trying to come up with something to distinguish it from all the other software stores out there.

Happily, they’ve succeeded. Samsung Apps is a cross platform endeavour that offers downloads for mobile phones as well as net-enabled Samsung tellyboxes. Better yet, until it launches proper in the summer, all apps are free.

6 BlackBerry Presenter

Compared to other big hitters in the industry, BlackBerry manufacturer Research in Motion had a pretty quiet CES. But accessory manufacturers certainly livened things on their behalf. None more so than this ace gadget, which is sure to be a boon for owners of its business phones.

The Presenter connects to the QWERTY and trackball wonders to allow users to connect to a projector and run a PowerPoint presentation directly from their phone. Why carry a laptop around to your next meeting when you can just pack this up? Especially since it weighs just 140g.

The only downside is that at $199 (about £125), it’s certainly not cheap. But if you make your case convincingly enough there’s every chance your boss will cover the cost…

5 Parrot AR Drone for iPhones

The undoubted early winner of CES10 after scooping untold column inches in the tech press, the AR Drone is a model helicopter that can be controlled using an iPhone’s accelerometer. The onboard spy cameras for missions into enemy territory or snooping on your neighbours are cool enough. But it’s the scope for the chopper to be used in augmented reality games in future that’s got us in a tizzy.

4 Pong BlackBerry radiation-cutting case

Pong Research’s case reportedly cuts radiation emissions from BlackBerry phones by 60 per cent by diverting the harmful gamma rays away from your noggin and into the ether. Alas, it’s BlackBerry-only at the moment. But we don’t expect it to be for long.

The jury is still out as to whether the emission of said rays is actually harmful. But exposing yourself to gamma rays can't be a good idea. And it definitely isn't likely to give you superpowers - whatever your old Marvel comics tell you.

3 Motorola Backflip

The Backflip is an odd proposition. And actually it's all the better for it, thanks to its quirky, novel form factor whereby the QWERTY keyboard slides out the opposite way from all the other keyboard-packing phones out there.

The unique design allows users to stand the phone up on a table and frees up the back of the screen to be used as a trackpad. This means that instead of your fingers getting in the way, you can see the whole of the display while you’re navigating. ‘Genius’, is what we’re saying.

The Backflip also sports a five megapixel snapper and a large 3.1-inch screen. If the rest of Motorola’s 20 Android phones that are rumoured to be coming to market this year have a smidgeon of the imagination displayed on this outing, we’re in for a treat this year.

2 LG GW990

LG’s media-optimised handset, the GW990, packs a 4.8-inch display and can play back 720p HD video files. Still what prompted an indecent amount of salivating even from some of the more jaded team members at Top10 was the Intel Moorestown operating system.

Making its debut on the handset, the new OS promises to bring us multitasking of baby’s bottom smoothness. Meanwhile, the ultra widescreen aspect ratio also means that up to three apps to be open at any one time.

Other features include a touchscreen user interface, five megapixel camera, HD video recording, HSDPA and WiFi support and 16GB of storage.

1 Synaptics Fuse

Hitherto just a concept, the Synaptics Fuse’s BIG IDEA is touch-sensitive surfaces embedded in the edges of handsets that let you navigate menus and access functions by by squeezing, stroking and gripping it. It’s basically nothing less than a completely new way to interact with gadgets.

Yes, yes, but is it likely to ever make it beyond concept phone status, you say? That remains to be seen. But for us at least technology expos should be about dreaming of the future. And we sure hope it looks a bit like this.