2006 in review, part 9

Photography conference in Berlin unleashes Christmas camera lineup

30 December 2006 9:00 GMT / By Amber Maitland

As the runup to Christmas really hotted up, unique mobile phones and new cameras to tempt the shopping crowds cropped up every other day.

Nokia added to its range of style phones with the L'Amour collection and a new Sirocco slider phone, as well as the N95 and N75 multimedia computer, while RIM went consumer with its BlackBerry Pearl, which got rave reviews on Pocket-lint. For the businessman, Palm announced its latest smartphone, the Treo 680.

Apple kept consumers guessing by upgrading its iMac to Core 2 Duo and unveiling a 24-inch model; a few weeks later it put the same chips into its MacBook Pro range. Bono finally convinced the company that it should give back to his charity, and unveiled the red iPod nano for Project RED.

The photography world gathered at its biggest event of the year, Photokina, which hosted a number of new models, including new Ixus models from Canon, as well as the G7 prosumer. Samsung launched its second DSLR in the shape of the GX-10. Perhaps the model that created the most buzz was the Leica M8, the company's first M-series edition in a number of years, and its first digital rangefinder.

It was more bad news for Sony, who had to admit that it hadn't managed to start production of the PS3 on time, and announced it would push back the European release date until March 2007. The company was also subject to constant bad press through the ongoing battery recall, to which more and more laptop manufacturers added their names.