Stories by Ginny Mies

The Android Developer Sandbox is the place to be if you want to see the hottest Android-based projects. Here's what we liked.

The future of webOS has been hazy since HP announced in August that it will discontinue its webOS line of devices. The HP Veer 4G faded into oblivion, but the HP TouchPad has enjoyed numerous fire sales since the announcement. Today, HP announced that webOS will live on as an open source platform.

The arrival of Samsung's Galaxy S II phones has been a long time coming. We first saw the next generation of Samsung's popular line of Android phones back in February at Mobile World Congress. After many successful months in Europe, the Galaxy S II line of phones is finally coming to U.S. shores. The first of the phones, the Samsung Epic Touch 4G ($200 with a two-year contract with Sprint; price as of September 12, 2011) will be available starting on September 16.

As you're reading this article, developers, engineers, and product designers are working on the next great mobile technology. The mobile world is rapidly changing: Smartphones have gone from portable messaging and email devices to streaming-video machines that surf the Web at blazing speed and have cameras that rival point-and-shoots (and they also happen to make calls). What will smartphones look like in five years? Or ten? What sort of amazing things will they be able to do?

Earlier this month, T-Mobile announced the latest addition to its myTouch family, the myTouch 4G Slide. The specs look pretty standard for this summer's slew of high-end smartphones: 4G connectivity, a 3.7-inch Super LCD display, Android 2.3 and a dual-core processor. All of this is great and everything, but what really caught my eye were the camera's specs. In fact, T-Mobile claims that the Slide 4G has the most advanced camera of any smartphone available. So how does the Slide 4G hold up as both a phone and a camera? Read on to find out.

Tuesday morning, Microsoft took the wraps off Mango, an update to its Windows Phone 7 platform that includes more than 500 new features designed to improve multitasking, offer more dynamic information and make apps and the OS work together more efficiently.

Google unveiled Android 2.4 (deliciously nicknamed "Ice Cream Sandwich") at this morning's keynote at Google I/O in San Francisco. Ice Cream Sandwich brings the best features of Honeycomb to mobile phones. Still, other than a few intriguing demos, Google did not disclose many details about the update such as when it will be available to consumers.

HTC stopped by the PCWorld offices last week to show off its latest Android smartphone, the HTC Sensation 4G. The phone was officially unveiled today at a launch event in the UK, but we got an exclusive hands-on look. Coming to T-Mobile this summer, the Sensation is a Qualcomm dual-core phone running the latest version of Android, Gingerbread. While I was certainly impressed with HTC's last superstar, the Thunderbolt on Verizon, I have to be honest: in terms of specs and design, the Sensation blows it out of the water.

There's a lot to love about Android, but the slow, fragmented software updates can be annoying. Your friend might be rocking Gingerbread (Android 2.3), but you've been stuck with Éclair (Android 2.1) for months. On the upside, you can do a bit of detective work to see whether your phone is getting the upgrade or not. But a warning: Not all Android phones are getting the upgrade, so you might find out some heartbreaking news.

This Spring's CTIA delivered something totally new to the US mobile market: 3D phones.

The T-Mobile Sidekick 4G made its first public appearance on the eve of CTIA Spring 2011 in Orlando and I was lucky enough to get my hands on it. As a former Sidekick LX user (and honestly, I kind of miss good physical keyboards), I was excited to check out Samsung's spin on this popular phone.

One of the most buzzed about phones here at Mobile World Congress is LG's Optimus 3D, the first phone to use 3D display technology. Like the Optimus Black and the Optimus 2X, which we saw at Mobile World Congress, the Optimus 3D is powered by a dual-core processor and a 4.3-inch display. So how does 3D look on a mobile phone? Well, I'm honestly not all that impressed.

Mobile World Congress hasn't even started, but the next generation of super phones are already being unveiled. Samsung showed off its latest, the Galaxy S II, at its flashy Unpacked event in Barcelona. The Galaxy S II sports a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, a dual-core processor, and a whole new user interface.

CES might be over, but the 4G phones keep trickling in. As a part of its aggressive 4G plans, T-Mobile announced that the Samsung Galaxy 4G will launch in the first half of 2011. But will it have the specs of the hot next-gen Galaxy phones? It doesn't seem like it.

Prior to CES, there were only a handful of phones with front-facing cameras: the iPhone 4, the EVO 4G and the T-Mobile myTouch 4G to name a few. This year's CES was all about 4G, for sure, but video chat is definitely one of the apps carriers love to use as an example of how great the next generation of data speeds is.