Mickey Mouse and pals stepped aside this week in sunny Orlando, Florida to make way for the latest and greatest gear wireless companies had to offer. After a killer Consumer Electronics Show in January and an action-packed Mobile World Congress in February, we wondered if our favorite brands had enough juice left in the tank for CTIA Wireless 2011 this week. While there weren’t quite as many announcements as in other shows this year, we definitely saw some exciting new devices showcased by companies like Sprint, HTC, Samsung and more. Hit the break for a rundown of all the biggest announcements from this year’s show.

We kicked the show off this year with the Nokia Astound, a sleek Symbian smartphone set to launch on T-Mobile early next month. We didn’t see much more from Nokia at the show this year, but the Finnish giant will likely be relatively quite for most of 2011 as it transitions to Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform. In fact, the Astound could very well be one of the last Symbian smartphones pushed out by a U.S. carrier. We’ll pour some out.

Another company that didn’t make much of a showing at CTIA Wireless this year was Sony Ericsson. The Swedish joint venture did have some representation at the show, however. Sony Ericsson’s beast of a gaming phone — the Xperia PLAY — was found lurking at the show dressed in Verizon Wireless branding, and we spent s few minutes putting it through the paces. This gaming Goliath definitely packs a punch, and we can’t wait to get our hands on a review unit. Bonus: if you missed them earlier, you need to watch these Xperia PLAY promo videos recently released by Sony Ericsson.

T-Mobile didn’t stop at the Astound, of course, as the soon to be acquired carrier announced several new devices at the show. The dual-core processor packing T-Mobile G2x by LG was definitely one of the stars of the show for us, and we can’t wait for it to launch. T-Mobile also had its upcoming Sidekick 4G and LG G-Slate on hand at the show, and we enjoyed taking both devices for test spins. Don’t forget to check out our video hands-on with the Sidekick 4G, the T-Mobile G2x and the LG G-Slate.

Samsung came to CTIA Wireless packing two new tablets this year — the Galaxy Tab 8.9 and a redesigned Galaxy Tab 10.1. These puppies are thin and sleek, and they definitely represent a nice step up from the original 7-inch Galaxy Tab. We also spent some time looking at Samsung’s TouchWiz UX, which will be the first custom UI layer for Google’s Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) platform when Samsung begins pushing it out later this year.

Next up was Sprint’s event, and it was easily one of the biggest shindigs at the show this year. Sprint unveiled two terrific new devices by HTC — the HTC EVO 3D and the HTC EVO View 4G tablet — which were among our favorite new gadgets shown off at CTIA. The EVO 3D will be the the first device to launch in the U.S. with a glasses-free 3D display, and it sports top of the line specs that rival any smartphone on the market. The EVO View 4G will be a WiMAX-equipped rebranded version of HTC’s Flyer tablet, and while there are definitely still a few wrinkles to iron out, this 7-inch slate has a lot to offer. Sprint also showed off a new version of Google’s latest smartphone — the Nexus S 4G — which is just like the original save for the addition of a WiMAX radio. Be sure to check out our hands-on videos of the HTC EVO 3D and HTC EVO View 4G if you haven’t already — and check out our new hands-on with the Kyocera Echo as well.

Not one to be left out of the fun, AT&T brought a few new devices to the show… which were all likely overshadowed by the recent announcement that it plans to acquire T-Mobile USA for $39 billion. The carrier unveiled two new smartphones to the show — the Windows Phone 7-powered HTC HD7S and the LG Thrill Android phone. The HD7S was the only new Windows Phone announced this week, though it will be AT&T’s version of the HTC HD7 currently offered by T-Mobile so it isn’t even really new. The LG Thrill is a rebranded LG Optimus 3D and it features an awesome 3D display along with solid build and high-end specs. Finally, AT&T noted that it will launch the 10-inch Acer Iconia Tab A501 Android tablet this coming summer. We shot some hands-on video of the HTC HD7S and the LG Thrill on Wednesday, so don’t forget to check them out.

Is controversial radio-host Howard Stern on the verge of signing a three-year deal with Apple, Inc. to host an iTunes radio program? According to whomever operates the Sirius Stock News (@SIRI_STOCK) Twitter account, yes. Yesterday, the account posted a tweet that stated:

Howard Stern on the verge of signing $600 million 3 year agreement with Apple to host an Internet/TV/iTunes broadcast. $SIRI

The idea of Stern and Apple joining forces seems unlikely, but is — if you really stretch your imagination — plausible. We’ve reached out to both Apple and Sirius and will update this report with any additional information provided.

UPDATE: Blog softsquatch.com has published a post taking credit for the tweet and calling the whole thing a hoax. This new information, like the original post on Twitter, has not been authenticated by anyone of authority from Sirius or Apple.

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Now that CTIA 2009 has come and gone we wanted to take a step back and reflect on what was most definitely a show unlike any CTIA in recent years. It was great to hit the floor and catch up with a bunch of companies to talk tech of course, but anyone in attendance will tell you the show was slow. Very slow. Painfully slow. Hell, even Billy Crystal didn’t bother to show up. An interesting though unofficial note: The vendor count was up this year — significantly — or so we were told. Attendance was way down however, as was the amount of newsworthy announcements from the big boys. Blame it on the economy if it helps, but the number of new (and potentially significant) handset announcements from big manufacturers at the show can be counted on one hand. With three fingers.

Luckily there’s already a light at the end of the tunnel as this Summer we’ll definitely see things pick up. Palm will finally let people touch the Pre — and maybe even buy it. The BlackBerry 9630 will be out and we’ll be hitting you with info about the next up and coming handsets from RIM. HTC will have released the Touch Pro2 and the Touch Diamond2. Apple will be dropping a new iPhone or two… Things will be exciting again and hopefully enough momentum will be generated to help the industry as a whole begin to rebound. In the meantime, like the guy in front of us at Al Gore’s keynote, we’ll all be doing our best not to fall asleep.