With a new 3G iPhone all forthcoming next month rival manufacturers will soon have something new to copy, but by then …

Philips has become the latest to jump aboard the iPhone imitation movement with his flight “Xenium 800 ‘camera: a large semi-touchscreen smartphone which is scheduled on the market in Q3.

Virtually no specifications have at this stage, but the screen looks like a typical 2.8 incher while the user interface is strongly influenced by the layout in the iPhone and in the style of the PS3 and PSP. WiFi and 3G are likely to be in this wannabe if the resolution is seen as WQVGA (480 x 272). Landscape and portrait modes are supported too it is difficult to determine whether the tech-day, an accelerometer, will be behind it.

Historically Philips tends to do much about anything, it runs the main - but has not yet been extended to mobile phones. That Xenium 800 has enough about this to cope with heavyweights such as the HTC Touch Diamond, LG Secret or 3G iPhone itself given its launch schedule is another thing, but Philips hoped to keep away from gravel …