(CNET) LAS VEGAS - I'm slightly underwhelmed with the mobile phone showing at CES this year. Given, it is hard to make waves with a smartphone these days. They all look the same: touchscreen, camera, media player. Some have a slide-out keyboard, some don't. Some run Google's Android operating system, some don't. Still, I have to admit, so many of them feel the same. They're either the iPhone or they are iPhone-like. I hate to admit that, but in seeing phone after phone at CES and other trade shows, I have to wonder, what is "it" that we are looking for to make the next big thing in mobile phones?

Here's what is not the next big thing is mobile phones: projectors. LG showed off a phone that has an attachable projector that can project anything from the phone on to a flat screen surface. Nice, but not a huge deal. And I can see that going all wrong with those photos that are NSFW, youknowwhatimean!?

Motorola announced the Backflip this week. It flips backwards, making the screen a media player, ideal for watching video or listening to music. It runs Google's Android operating system. It's a nice phone, but it is getting slightly drowned out in the hysteria about Google's Nexus One phone, announced on Tuesday.

The Nexus One is a nice phone, although it is no "Jesus phone," which is what tech geeks call the iPhone, implying that it can do no wrong. (It can. I'm an iPhone user.) The Nexus One is just the next step up in Google's Android operating system. Google is calling it a "superphone." I don't think I'll ever use that nomenclature. The distinguishing factor is that Google does not want to lock consumers into a carrier or plan so it will sell the phone itself on google.com/phone and allow consumers to choose a plan to their liking.

And then there is the smartbook, which is a cross between a netbook and a smartphone. It looks like a laptop but it is always on, always connected. Some people will find some use for it in their lives, although I suspect the netbook will just get "smarter" and stay connected. It isn't where phones are going. It is where computers are going. So if you're waiting to buy the next jaw-dropping new phone, you most likely will be getting a flavor of the same brand. Unless you buy into the projector idea. In which case, use with caution.

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