This morning, courtesy of Nokia, I am flying to Stuttgart for this week's 2-day Nokia extravaganza, known as Nokia World.

There's a lot to be excited about this week. New handsets are bound to be announced. We'll get more details about that gorgeous looking Maemo N900 handset. We'll have some updates, no doubt, about Ovi Store and the Ovi Services platform. And I'm sure there will be a few surprises along the way.

I have the video camera and the super-crazy-powerful MacBook Pro with me to edit video (along with the Mac Air for liveblogging if appropriate). So look for some interesting content.

Nokia have scheduled about 8 meetings with senior, senior top executives (I saw Nik Savander, Director of Services, on the list). If you've any burning issues you'd like me to put to anyone, drop me a note.

For the avoidance of doubt, here is my current opinion of Nokia: Brilliantly engineered top-end handsets running an OS that's difficult to develop for (complexity and cost being the biggest issues). Historically Nokia Services haven't evolved fast enough for me (witness Nokia Maps - great at satnav but rubbish if you're an end consumer trying to find Starbucks - try Google Maps instead). The company has -- on the face of it -- completely lost it's way in the consumer mobile business, when you look at the sheer app innovation on iPhone and Android. But Nokia is oft described, accurately, as a supertanker. Turning that in a different direction takes time. Can Nokia withstand the pummeling that the now super-super-fast moving mobile marketplace is throwing, at least at the top end? This year's Nokia World will be a good indication. Right now, I think they've got game.

Stuttgart, home of this year's conference, beckons.

I was in London's Soho tonight for a meal with my book publisher (more on that soon) and at the end of the night, I headed over to Leicester Square tube.

I was just about to cross one of the characteristically small Soho roads when an 'air ambulance' car came screaaaaaaaming round the corner, with sirens shreaking and lights blaring. I took a step back and avoided crossing the road, letting them pass.

They came to a halt as they passed and I glanced in at the passenger seat. I was really surprised to see the chap -- the ambulance driver's wingman -- pouring over a London A-to-Z streetmap, finger tracing streets.

I glanced across the dashboard. I saw a small dispatch computer (like you'd find in many licensed taxis) and ... Nothing else. No TomTom. No customised live GPS-enabled street map routing guidance system. Nothing.

Shouldn't these chaps have the best tools in the business for saving lives?

Or perhaps the reality is a physical A-to-Z map is still simply more reliable?

I need my hair cut. Again. It grows like no tomorrow, it really does. So last time I was getting it cut, I raised many shaped eyebrows when I asked for my next appointment in three weeks.

And three weeks is almost here. My appointment is on Saturday morning. I just got this prompt from them:

Hi, Headmasters Chiswick confirming your appt on Sat 29 Aug 09:00. Reply YES to confirm, or NO to cancel, or phone 020 8742 7555.

Genius. I really like the two-way connectedness on display here. Normally I usually only see one-way reminders. But this is really cool. I assume it plugs straight into their booking/diary system.

Simple, efficient, everybody's a winner.

On the tube this evening I look down and see a chap - looks like a student (you know, intellectualish, smelly, manicured nails) and noticed his rubbish Sony Ericsson. So old is this device they will soon be giving them away free at Petrol/Gas Stations and in Christmas Crackers.

That said, I was astonished to see the chap bring up the device's web browser, navigate to Google and do a search. Yes it's an excruciating thought for you or I on that kind of device. But the reality is, millions are accessing the internet primarily via their (currently rubbish) devices. Which is why the likes of Flirtomatic -- aimed squarely at the feature-phone masses -- is being so successful with its mobile web strategy.

In two years time though, I hope to see similar folks brandishing their cheapo Android devices.

Or maybe the ever-elusive $49 iPhone Nano? ;)

I'm boarding the tube this afternoon when, looking through the window as I walk up to the carriage, I spot a 30-something mother with her toddler child sat holding an iPhone 3G together. I look closer and I see the screen is displaying a noughts and crosses board. I watch as the mother presses on the top right-hand corner and a nought appears. The toddler eagerly presses down on the opposite square and a cross appears.

This is mobile technology. I find it absolutely fascinating to behold. The level of engagement and the seamless, frictionless experience offered by the platform meant these 'users' were entertained on their train journey.

What's even more fascinating is that with Nokia's finest current devices this experience is simple impossible to replicate.

We've come a long way in the past two years when, I'm sure, the mother in question was waltzing around London with a piece-of-shit Razr or similar.

If you're coming this evening, go straight through the main bar on the ground floor and take the stairs up to this place. We've got the bit inside that door reserved. That is conveniently exactly where the top floor bar is located. Nice.

This is what the venue for MIR Mixer London looks like (we're upstairs).

I am sitting in the quintessential English pub in Angel. Believe it or not I'm tangling with a particularly annoying SQL query for Wordpress on behalf of a client. And I'm doing so, using my MacBook Air and MiFi unit. You see the Air doesn't have a built in sim card (like my tiny Dell) so you are dependent on wifi. Whilst the pub does have BTOpenzone, where the fun in that? I'm using my MiFi to give me my brilliantly wicked mobile hotspot! Total genius.

I'm sorry it's such a blurred shot - I only managed to get hands-on with it for seconds. But I can confirm the new handset coming from Onyx is dual-sim Android. And you know what? Android looks like it handles dual-sim functionality brilliantly. I mean simply brilliantly. In the photo you can see the two signals from each network. When you want to make a call or send a text, just select the sim first.

Absolutely ideal as your 'MaxRoam' handset for when you're abroad, for example.

I understand Onyx will be bringing this to market shortly and should have a solid timeframe soon. And I will get some better shots of it soon, too.

Way back in February, we saw the MiFi sample units at the Novatel Wireless stand and were thoroughly impressed. The MiFi 2352 sports HSPA mobile broadband and will share internet with up to five Wi-Fi enabled devices via 802.11b/g. It's got a rechargable battery (rated for 4 hours use), is slightly larger than a credit card and weighs 81 grams. Plus it's got an integrated microSDHC slot for wirelessly sharing your data cards (up to 16gb capacity). It works on HSPA, UMTS, EDGE and GPRS in virtually any country

And it's GPS enabled.

I will take two, please.

I'm going to bring this to the upcoming MIR Mobile Mixer event in London next week if you'd like to see it in action. This looks to me like a tool that every mobile geek should be packing.