CTIA Day 1 recap: Landslide of announcements

CTIA Wireless is one of the largestmobile electronics shows throughout the year and it startedfulfilling our hopes for new and more powerful handsets right fromthe get-go. It all began with a slightly changed schedule afterT-Mobile decided to cancel many of its events due to the recent newsabout its acquisition by AT&T. But actually the carrier was thefirst to unveil a number of new devices.

T-Mobile

Big Magenta officially confirmed theLG's T-Mobile G2x, a rebranded LG Optimus 2X, with a powerfuldual-core processor. The close relationship between the carrier andLG, showed up once more with the reborn T-Mobile Sidekick 4G for theexciting price of just $99 on a two-year unlimited contract and theT-Mobile G-Slate, which also got a price tag of $529 with a 2-yearagreement. Nothing surprising, you might think, and you'll be right,if it wasn't for the Wireless Charging Dock unveiled by LG, whichwill make you feel like you're living in the future now when it's released. Finally, thecarrier added the Nokia Astound to its portfolio and with a $79.99Symbian^3-powered handset with free navigation you can't really gowrong, can you?

Sprint

But all eyes were on Sprint, which haskept a low profile so far this year, only to make a splash with thenext generation of its successful EVO phones – the HTC EVO 3D(hands-onhere) brings a 4.3-inch 3D-capable screen and a dual-camera setup forthree dimensional video capture. This powerhouse supports thecarrier's 4G network, and has the latest of Snapdragon chipsets – a1.2GHz third generation silicon. But Sprint's main man had to bring atablet to the table and it was the 7-inch HTC EVO View 4G, also knownas the HTC Flyer. Check out our handson video of its nifty stylus and almost pocketable small body toget an idea of what's to come. Sprint wasn't done with the refresh of its portfolio and it also introduced the Google Nexus S 4G. But nothing compares to a live coverage of these fascinating events,so make sure to take a look at how it all felt like here.

Samsung

Next on the list, but probably first inimportance is the groundbreaking announcement by Samsung. The Koreanswent back to the drawing board with their Galaxy Tab 10.1 andcompletely redesigned it. But they didn't stop here as a new 8.9-inchtablet creatively named the Galaxy Tab 8.9 will also hit shelves withsimilar guts, but a smaller screen. The result? Nothing less than theslimmest tablet on planet Earth, with an 8.6mm of thickness. We'reseriously starting to consider using tablets instead of knives. Okay,maybe not so seriously as Samsung, which summarized the redesign inone simple phrase: "Samsung will not be outdone." To feeltheir determination and all the excitement, check out our livecoverage of the Samsung Mobile Unpacked event here.We rushed to get some hands-on time with the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 and the renewed Galaxy Tab 10.1 after the event, but you'll have to see their slim figure for yourself to actually believe it.

AT&T

That behemoth of a carrier didn't waitlong to reply to Sprint's 3D offering. Soon after it, the LG Thrill4G, which is basically an AT&T-branded LG Optimus 3D, made uswonder which one is better. Make up your mind after you see the comparison between the two and a hands-on look at the latter. The recently announced HTC HD7s is thelargest Windows Phone 7 handset on AT&T. We took a look at it anda hands-on video is coming up shortly, but since it mimics T-Mobile'sHTC HD7 why don't you peek in our in-depth review to find out more? Finally, AT&T added one more tabletto its portfolio – the Acer Iconia Tab A501. Its brushed aluminum back gives it a premiumfeel and it has the dual-core power and Honeycomb brains to be aninteresting proposition.

Day 2: What will it bring?

The first day ofCTIA Wireless 2011 brought a lot of new announcements, but we hope tosee some more today, so stay tuned to our web feeds, Facebook orTwitter accounts, to be the first in the know.