Smartphone displays have grown at a ridiculous rate over the last couple of years. It seems like just yesterday that we were making the jump from the 3.7″ original DROID to the hummer-esque 4.3″ DROID X. At the time of the release of the first EVO and the DX, we thought we had reached a limit for super-sized phones. Boy, were we wrong. We’re now swimming in 5.5″ phone-tablet hybrids with 4″ devices coming off as “small.” Companies are even pushing towards 6+-inch phones – an absurd idea. But hey, if people keep buying ‘em, why not make ‘em?

But for the sake of a good poll, why don’t you tell us what your optimal display size would be?

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Since Android has taken over our lives, dating back to the original DROID push of late 2009, we know that many of you have owned a number of different handsets. For a while, we were all OG owners, but over the years as more devices have been launched, we can tell that readers have jumped between the latest and greatest devices with much greater regularity. We’re now in 2013, which means some of you have gone through 1.5 upgrade cycles and at least another phone or two.

So we’re curious, how many Android phones have you owned in your life? Feel free to list them out, as well. (Let’s not count tablets for now.)

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After the original DROID had finished its run as the top Android phone on Earth and we started to see new phones touch down on what seemed like a weekly basis, we also starting seeing a dip in the development scene. With so many phones, it was tough to pinpoint the best ROMs, best developers, and in our case, cover it on a regular basis. Also, phones these days are so incredibly powerful, that we rarely have to worry about overclocking to get better performance, tweak kernels to extend battery life (outside of the Galaxy Nexus), and remove custom OEM skins to fix a device. We understand that there is still an amazing ROM scene that is producing incredible features, but it’s just not as tight as it once was.

So as we do often, we will ask the status of your phone. Are you running a custom ROM or is your phone stock? And if you’d like, feel free to list out your device and specific ROM in the comments. If you are stock, be sure to tell us why.

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With 2012 behind us, it only makes sense that we start looking ahead in an attempt to prepare ourselves for what’s to come. CES ended with little bang, so that means we have Mobile World Congress, CTIA, Google I/O, IFA, and stand-alone press events left to bring us the real goods. Will we see Motorola’s “X” phone and be blown away? Can HTC make a comeback with the next line of One Series phones (assuming they continue that line)? Will LG really introduce new Nexus devices? Or does it all really just come down to whatever Samsung and Google tell us to buy in late Spring or early Summer?

You tell us what you are most looking forward to and why.

For me personally, it’s all about that Motorola “X” phone and then whatever it is that Google decides to surprise us with at I/O, which of course could be the “X” phone. Samsung and the Galaxy S4 will undoubtedly be all over our radar, but Motorola remains the big question mark here. This is the “new” Moto after all, so hopefully “new” means awesome.

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Our time at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas has come to an end. That’s both a happy and sad statement, mostly happy though, as the show failed to impress as it has in the past. There simply weren’t the number of innovative product announcements that we had seen at previous shows, something that may be the trend going forward for the world’s biggest electronics show.

But even with only a few headline grabbing products, I think it’s safe to say that we all had our favorites. The gamers in the building were blown away by NVIDIA’s Project Shield (our hands-on) and their Grid Gaming System. I found myself drooling over Sony’s new phones (Xperia Z and ZL), something I wasn’t expecting to admit after spending a week in the desert.

To see more of our thoughts on the week, be sure to tune into the replay of last night’s Droid Life Show.

What about you? Was there a certain product that stood out the most? And we’re not necessarily looking for Android-related stuff, but new and exciting tech products in general. Drop into the comments and let us know.

On Sunday evening, NVIDIA made the largest splash of CES with the unveiling of Project SHIELD, a cloud based mobile gaming system that allows users to play PC titles right on the device. NVIDIA has worked years on creating the infrastructure and hardware of SHIELD, but some are still unconvinced that the device could become largely successful. The reason for this apparent doubt is that NVIDIA has yet to announce any type of pricing for the device, which people have guessed could cost anywhere from $199 all the way to even $499 and beyond.

From the few hands-on reviews we have seen so far of the device, the hardware seems to be of utmost quality, making some other Android-powered gaming systems look rather cheap and plasticy. The speakers are loud, the display is clear and bright, and all of the buttons and triggers seem to be what you would expect on any top console gaming system (Xbox 360, PS3) on the market today.

So, without knowing how much it is, would you buy one? Feel free to let us know the price point you are hoping NVIDIA can meet in order for you to be interested in the device.

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About half a year ago we asked our readers if they currently lived in an area that supported Verizon’s 4G LTE network. Out of 10,000+ votes, we found that a whopping 84% of voters did live in a 4G LTE area. For a company whose goal is to cover their entire 3G footprint with LTE by mid-2013, they are on the right track.

Today, let us know if you are residing in an LTE market and for which carrier. AT&T has been steadily growing their network to become a strong number 2 here in the U.S., even though they still are no where near the amount of markets Verizon currently supports. And even with Sprint getting their toes wet with LTE now, it would be nice to see what everyone is running currently.

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Lots of folks are starting to update to Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean, so we think it’s a good time to find out what version of Android you are all currently running. If you want to know how to check your version of Android, open up your Settings menu. Go to “About Phone” and then check your “Android version.”

According to Google’s latest distribution numbers, Gingerbread is on a whopping 50%+ of Android devices, so let’s see how their numbers stack up against ours.

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