So, CES has drawn to a close, and the UK tech contingent is heading home. Or at least we would be, if something that looks suspiciously like The Day After Tomorrow hadn’t been happening in our absence…

CES this year has been… fine. It’s been slightly more interesting, in terms of launches, than last year, but not as good as when Philips launched all those diamond encrusted USB sticks. I’d rate it a 6.5 out of ten.

You might have been wading through the liveblogs, the analysis and the constant updates, but more likely, you were sledging. So, for you sledgers, here’s a round-up of what you missed:

Nexus One
Woo hoo! It is the Google phone! Except it’s not really – it’s an HTC phone. And there have already been loads of HTC Android phones. But wait! Google are revolutionising the phone market by offering it SIM free! Which is only new and exciting if you’re American, and are used to buying phones with SIMs locked inside. So, it’s a new Android phone. But at least it’s a good looking one. It’s running Android 2.1, has a 5-megapixel camera, snapdragon AKA superfast processor, 4GB MicroSD card which can be expanded to 32GB. I’m sold.

Panasonic 3D TV
Like it or not (I don’t) the age of 3D is upon us. Naysayers have been hushed as manufacturers have launched actual available to the common man 3D TVs this year, and the best of the bunch seem to be coming from Panasonic. They’re so into the third dimension, they’ve even launched a 3D camcorder. Just imagine the nightmarish scenes your younger brother could produce armed with a teenage imagination and a 3D camcorder.

Lenovo U1 (above)
This is mental – it’s half laptop, half tablet but it’s 100% brills. Whilst the screen resides in the case, it works as your average notebook, but you can unclip it from the casing, at which point it becomes a tablet. When it’s a notebook, it runs Windows 7, when it’s a tablet it uses Lenovo’s Skylight OS and has 16GB of flash memory. There’s also wifi, 3G, speakers and a webcam in the tablet, so unless you’re after a keyboard, it’ll be tempting to dump the casing all together. Although for $999, that’s some expensive discarding.

Polaroid PIC1000
Polaroid are back, and this time, with added Gaga! Yes, Lady Gaga is apparently now a creative director of the company, complete with her own business cards. No word on whether she’s the driving force behind this latest launch, which takes Polaroid back to its roots with a new instant photo camera. It’s totally retro-tastic in its design, and at £60, might make a cool alternative to your bells and whistles digital camera. [Photo via Pocket Lint]

The Nokia Booklet 3G is Nokia’s first mini-laptop, and another string to add to their mobile communications bow.

As the name would suggest the Booklet comes equipped with 3G and Wi-Fi, and has up to 12 hours of battery time, so you can grab it for a day’s work without dashing home for the charger at lunchtime.

Announced in August,  we’ve managed to get our greedy mitts on a copy before they hit the shops in the UK.

Nokia has definitely taken some influence from the sleek professional look of their mobile phone in building the Booklet 3G.

The Booklet runs on Windows 7, so it starts up quickly and I’m on the internet within a couple of minutes of hitting the power button.

Gains points for

• High quality large screen: Brighter and clearer than a lot of the others I’ve tested.
• Battery meter: Shows you how much you have left in quantity and time. Particularly useful to know how much time you’ve got before you get cut off.
• Inclusive 3G and Wifi. Great for surfing on the go.
• It’s lightweight and the keyboard is wonderful to use.

Loses points for

• Size. It’s bigger than my Dell netbook, although it compensates with the excellent screen.
• Price: It’s £599!
• They highlight the OVI connection as one of its top features, but my PC already does this so it’s nothing new.

Conclusion

On first impressions, this mini-laptop/netbook is a lovely bit of tech-candy with speedy internet and plenty of charge.

If it was priced under £300, I’d be urging you all to bung it on your wish list. But £599 is far too much for a products that’s not quite a netbook and not quite a laptop. Add a DVD and CD drive, and some other laptop style features, and I might be impressed. As it is, I’m a little disappointed that Nokia haven’t bought anything new to the netbook market, despite being so late in entering it.

Perhaps that’s why they don’t want to commit to being labelled as a netbook or a laptop.

Nokia Booklet 3G available for pre-order from the Nokia Shop.

I started out my gadget career reviewing laptops for What Laptop magazine and while the specs may have changed beyond all recognition, knowing how to pick a good one is the same as it ever was.

Here are five simple rules to follow when choosing yourself a new notebook.

1. Look beyond the specs
Check out the latest top end processor, graphics cards and maximum RAM and memory. Bear those in mind when purchasing, but don’t be ruled by them. There’s a lot more to a laptop than its specs and going for the biggest “bang for buck” doesn’t necessarily make for a good purchase.

2. Read reviews
Laptops change regularly and if you want to be sure of getting a good one, you need to read the reviews. PC Pro and What Laptop take machines into their labs and run some serious benchmarking tests. Again, benchmarks aren’t the be-all and end-all, but they can be helpful if you’re stuck on your decision.

Consumer reviews are helpful too because they tend to pick up on things that techies may have missed. Plus, they are often based on long-term usage while professional reviews are done to a tight deadline.

3. Give it a good grope
If possible, you need to get your hands on a machine before you buy it. Here’s how you give it a good going over.

• Open the lid and check the hinges – do they feel secure and well-made?

• Press the middle of the lid and see how much the screen distorts and buckles. Ultraportables tend to be a bit more flimsy than desktop replacements, but if your chosen machine is allowing the screen to bend under slight pressure, imagine how it’s going to cope with being carried around.

• Press the keys on the keyboard firmly. Do all the keys around it move along with the key you’ve pressed? If so, it’s not a very good keyboard and won’t be much fun to to type on in the long term. You want keys that feel springy, but solid.

• Check the keyboard layout. It’s not enough just to tap the keys, you need to make sure that the return key, space bar and shift keys are all where you want it to be. If you use the Control key a lot, make sure you’re not constantly hitting the Function key.Little things like this are important. You’ll get used to certain changes in keyboard layout, but sometimes having a tiny backspace key that’s in the wrong place can seriously grate

• Check the ports. It’s not like the old days any more, when people wanted parallel ports, Type II serial bus connectors, 50 other ports: now all we’re really after is a plentiful supply of USB ports and a card reader. But you need to check a machine has what you need. Check the location too: common complaints include USB ports that are all on the wrong side for a mouse, or ports that are so close together you can’t use them.

4. Don’t buy for the name
I think there’s something to be said for brand loyality. If you find a company you trust, why shouldn’t you buy their products? But don’t buy something just because it’s made by your favourite brand. Not all machines are created equal, and don’t just assume that because it’s made by a big name, it’s going to be good.

5. Buy on looks
Possibly contentious, but if you’re paying a lot of money for something, why on earth shouldn’t you expect it to be be beautiful?

If you want a pretty laptop, buy yourself a pretty laptop! Yes, you could probably get a super-power, high spec, processing beast for the same price, but if it looks like something still hankering for the good old days of the Cold War, why would you want it in your life?

[Pic: Dell Mini 10 netbook]