Without conducting some tests on a smartphone, it's hard to tell whether an upgrade is overdue or just a waste of money. The most important component to benchmark is the CPU, which is most easily done on Android phones-the free application Quadrant generates a graph comparing processor speed with that of other popular phones.

There's always been a lot to love about a pico projector. A palm-sized device that can port video from anything from a laptop to an iPod onto a large projected screen? Sign me up. Until now, though, picos only came is two forms: as a standalone box, or strapped onto the back of a device like a smartphone, rendering the gadget bulky and extremely power inefficient. Enter MicroVision's PicoP Gen2 projector, debuting this week. The PicoP Gen2 is among the smallest pico system we've seen, and it's incredibly power efficient - perfect for embeds in multi-function devices. Oh yeah, and it's 720p high-def, too.

I just got back from Nokia's booth here at CES in Las Vegas, where things are decidedly focused on Windows Phone. And with good reason; the Lumia 800, which is available in Australia, is the best Windows Phone on the market, and the new 900, announced officially just yesterday, is set to become the best Windows Phone in the US. I played with the Lumia 900 for a little while, and came away reassured: this phone is just as good as I expected.

The average smartphone user consumed 89 per cent more megabytes of data in the first quarter of 2011 than in the same period last year. But the era of unlimited data is almost over as, more and more, mobile providers are instituting tiered pricing plans. To avoid coverage fees, you'll need to rein in data consumption. Cutting back doesn't have to be painful, though. A few tweaks to the phone will reduce the data stream considerably, and certain apps and browsers can bring even greater savings.

HP has spent the last year or so, as the new owner of the WebOS mobile operating system, alternately making arbitrary decisions about the platform's future and making sure to not release any nice hardware for it. After the company ignominiously shut down WebOS for good this summer, we thought that was it for the best smartphone platform nobody used - but HP has surprised us with an announcement that WebOS will be going open-source.

Here's the thing about the Galaxy Nexus: It is the best Android phone available now by such a huge margin that I am prepared to say that shoppers should either buy it or steer clear of Android entirely. And that has nothing to do with its hardware.