Nokia and Sony Ericsson take centre stage as the iPhone takes a sidestep out of the limelight

Before we even start the Pocket Picks round-up, we're going to relieve you in advance by telling you that the iPhone has not dominated this week's news. That is not to say there wasn't a decent helping of Apple related stories, but let's not start with them for a change.

In all the hooha surrounding the release of the new Batman film, The Dark Knight, it was apt that the week began with word of a small cameo in the film for the still unannounced Nokia Tube handset. This was followed swiftly by leaked pic of what may very well be an actual shot of the Tube's (or if you want to use the Latin, Nokia 5800 XpressMedia) touchscreen user interface.

Later in the week, we got to go hands-on with a less mysterious Nokia handset, the E71, and enjoyed the experience very much indeed. Nokia also announced the forthcoming launch of its new Nokia Pilots scheme, where members of Joe and Jane public will get the opportunity to test drive hardware and services ahead of their release.

Last of the Nokia news was a spec leak about the much rumoured video-focused N85 (or in other words, the spiritual successor to the N93), which sadly left us less than inspired.

Sony Ericsson was also making waves this week releasing three new handsets, the W902, the W302 and the W595. All of them are from the Walkman school of Sony Ericsson phones and are being launched alongside a pretty nifty looking pair of noise cancelling headphones.

The most exciting handset reveal of the week however has to go to Samsung for its shiny new INNOV8 (see what they did there) handset, complete with eight-megapixel camera and a choice of 8 or 16GB of internal memory. Not too shabby at all, though the price will likely reflect its impressive specs.

And so it is that we come to the inevitable, the iPhone. As usual, Apple was in the news early this week, this time for the sake of a very intriguing Apple/Disney branded handset that may or may not be a fake Chinese knock off.

Another new Apple handset also surfaced, though it's still unconfirmed and it is little more exciting than a 3G iPhone with a new red back. Still, if it does happen (touching down this Christmas apparently), it will all be for a good cause as the handsets are supposedly in aid of the charitable Red campaign.

We of course took the opportunity to get some hands-on time with a range of iPhone applications including Facebook, Wordpress and Netter's Musculoskeletal Flash Cards - all of which we can officially give a hearty recommendation.

Any iPhone owners fed up with O2 were also treated this week, first with a clever new way of unlocking the 3G handsets without Jailbreaking them. Then, at the end of the week, speculation was rife that Orange may be about to gain the right to sell the iPhone 3G in the UK.

Still, if all of this is just too much, and the very existence of the iPhone is causing you more stress than it's worth, you could always have done with it and pop it in a blender. Actually, don't do that, it's dangerous, just watch this guy doing it instead.

That's it for this week folks. Remember to click 'Track It!' to be sure not to miss next week's Pocket Picks round-up.