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Along with today's launch of HTC's latest flagship phone, the powerful HTC Sensation, the Taiwan-based mobile handset maker debuted a new video marketplace called "HTC Watch." This iTunes-like store will offer TV shows, movies and trailers through a pre-installed mobile application that will ship first on the Sensation. The TV shows and movies will be available for both rental and purchase, and will be paid for via either carrier billing or credit card, depending on your mobile operator.

The service uses progressive download technology, says HTC, which means your content will start playing almost immediately. This is different from the iTunes model, which requires users to download the full file before being able to view the video.

Even if you're only casually following the developments in the tablet ecosystem, you've probably heard a little something about the HTC Flyer. It's the tablet that works with a pen. Not a stylus, mind you, but a pen. "A stylus is just a dead stick," HTC PR guy Keith Nowak told me during a briefing today. A stylus is used for navigation, he explained, but you don't need the pen to navigate the Flyer. In fact, you don't use it to navigate at all. You draw. You write. You scribble. Well, only if you want to, that is. The pen is an optional accessory.

The new pen has a pressure-sensitive tip and can be used with the tablet's built-in apps like Sketchbook and Notes, both of which offer the ability to draw directly on the tablet's screen using pen-based input. But the really exciting thing about the pen? The technology, which HTC calls Scribe, will be opened up to third-party development.

As rumored, HTC did launch two "Facebook phones" at Mobile World Congress this week: the HTC Salsa and the HTC ChaCha. No, they're not the Facebook phones - that is, they're not branded or licensed by Facebook itself - but they offer such deep integration with the social networking service, you may as well call them "Facebook phones," we'd say.

Here's another surprise - the phones may soon run a newer version of Android, which may or may not be code-named "Ice Cream."

The Android platform has garnered much attention lately because of its rapidly expanding number of apps and phones on the market, so additional growth statistics should come at no surprise. Mobile Web usage on Android devices in the U.S. quadrupled in the second quarter of 2010, stealing market share from Apple and BlackBerry devices, says U.K. mobile analytics firm Bango. Apple's traffic grew just 13% causing it's share of the mobile browsing market to fall 16%, and BlackBerry saw its similarly slow growth outpaced by Android devices.

Despite coming in second in ReadWriteWeb's 2010 Best of the Web poll, the sales numbers for Google's Nexus One were dismal. In the same amount of time it took Apple to sell 1 million iPhones, Google only sold 135,000 of the Android-powered Nexus.

Now, Google is discontinuing the Nexus One altogether. On July 16, the company announced that it received its final order from the phone's manufacturer, HTC.

Back in April when Opera Mini was released into the AppStore, as an iPhone user I naturally downloaded it and checked it out. Yes, some pages loaded faster, but navigating was choppy and there was no way to make it the default browser. These days I am lucky enough to have both an iPhone and an Android device - the latter of which saw an updated version of Opera hit the market today. So how does the new Opera mobile browser stack up to the competition and its predecessor? Check out the following video with a side-by-side comparison to find out.

Panda Security is reporting a second incident of malware on Vodafone's HTC Magic, a Google Android smart phone. it provide a clear example for how smartphones are prime targets to become botnets once connected to a user's personal computer.

The incidents provide real-world examples of how companies can inadvertently spread malware. It also raises questions about the quality assurance testing done by manufacturers and the carriers.

Blockbuster is bringing its OnDemand service to both Windows Mobile and Google Android phones, starting March 24th with the launch of the T-Mobile HTC HD2 smartphone. On that device, Blockbuster customers will be able to download and watch new releases directly on their mobile phones while also gaining access to queue management and movie locator tools similar to those found in Blockbuster's iPhone application.

The company has also confirmed that they're working on an Android app, which is likely to launch on the "select Motorola phones" Blockbuster previously hinted at when they partnered with the handset manufacturer last summer. Motorola is the maker of several popular Android-powered handsets including the Droid, Backflip, Devour, Cliq and Cliq XT, but Blockbuster won't yet confirm which of these will be able to utilize the new mobile service.

Following weeks of requests from open-source developers, HTC has released the Hero Android source code on their developer site.

In response to the mobile devs, HTC has previously stated it was waiting for its own developers to provide the source before releasing it publicly. As late as last week, HTC representatives had emailed developers saying, "At the moment we do not know when the kernel source for the Hero will be released," and "We are still pushing our developers to provide us with the source code and for the links to be added." Since the Android kernel is licensed under the GPL, this delay was creating both dissatisfaction and controversy in the community.