The sandbox can still be triggerred if you get it wrong. It was always possible to avoid it anyhow, all you needed was to soft launch your site, and get links from news sites ratyher than directories etc. blogs etc are great for avoiding the sandbox. As is a link from the BBC (but you need mates working there for that LOL)
It also has been noticed that most of the new sites will get pretty high rankings in their first few weeks and then return nowhere in the rankings (where they actually belong). It is a sort of confidence boost for the new babies or maybe a smart strategy from Google. Once you feel the taste of the traffic you can't live without it so when your website gets nowhere in searches you might go and buy some adwords...
Personally I haven't seen many new websites sandboxed lately...
It also has been noticed that most of the new sites will get pretty high rankings in their first few weeks and then return nowhere in the rankings (where they actually belong).
Well my sites have not dropped.
Strange statement "where they actually belong"
A good site is a good site no matter when it was made.