cellphones

Save the Planet, With Cell Phones That Last Five Years

Cliff Kuang — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 09:45:58 -0500

Solar gadget chargers are the rage these days, as we try and rethink our everyday energy use. But it's really window dressing on the greater problem: Over a two year period, the energy used to make a phone is three times greater than the energy used to operate it.

The solution, naturally, is to use our electronics for longer. But how do you pull that off, when Apple releases a new phone every year?

The Google Phone Is Coming to Change the Game

Kit Eaton — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:02:06 -0500

[Update: Could the Google phone be a data only, VoIP-driven device, rather than a standard phone? TechCrunch has a source that thinks so, and suggests that AT&T is already bidding to provide data services. (If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.) You can already port your phone number to Google Voice, after all. So you'd just make your calls over the data service instead.]

If Your 9-Year-Old Doesn't Have a Cell Phone, He's Not Socializing Enough

Kit Eaton — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:40:12 -0500

One in five kids have their own cell phone by the time they are 8 years old, according to Nielsen's latest survey, "A Pocket Guide to Social Media and Kids." And guess what? The kids love using their phones to socialize.

Cell Phones to the Rescue, for Iraqi Refugees

Cliff Kuang — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:04:20 -0400

2009: The Year Mobile Web Use Exploded

Kit Eaton — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:01:36 -0400

Mobile Web usage has been on the upswing ever since the iPhone leaped onto the stage. But new data form Opera suggests it's not just the iPhone that's delivering the Internet to smartphone users.

3 in 4 New Phones on AT&T Are iPhones

Kit Eaton — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:33:43 -0400

AT&T just revealed its quarterly finances and among the statistics lies one incredible fact, that demonstrates exactly how much the company's future hinges on Apple: 74% of new "integrated device" activations were iPhones.

Will 3-D Displays Spiff Up Cell Phones?

Kit Eaton — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:45:54 -0400

Three-dimensional display tech is coming to all sorts of gear, from TVs to strange desktop prototypes from Sony. And now, thanks to 3M and thin-film tech, it could be making it onto the tiny LCD of your favorite cell phone.

Verizon Getting Some Motorola Droid, and iPhone Action?

Kit Eaton — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:24:08 -0400

An iPhone-trashing video that promotes Motorola's Droid phone has surfaced on the Web, and it teases with a few details about the device. But as more Droid data pops up, there's another surprising rumor: Verizon's testing a CDMA iPhone.

Check out Motorola's promotional video below--it pulls no punches and directly suggests it's better than Apple's smartphone.

$834 Million Quarterly Loss Puts the 'Noooo' in Nokia

Kit Eaton — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:11:20 -0400

Nokia's just posted its third quarter financial report, and it's absolutely abysmal: An $834 million loss. But that's not all--there's still more bad news.

Cisco Buys Mass-Data Movement Experts to Speed Your Smartphone

Kit Eaton — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:23:06 -0400

Spend-happy Cisco systems has opened up its purse yet again, and shelled out some $2.9 billion for a company you've probably never heard of: Starent. What will interest you is that this should improve future smartphone powers.

Samsung's 12-Megapixel Digital Camera Also Makes Phone Calls

Kit Eaton — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 09:22:10 -0400

Back in February, rumors of a 12-megapixel Samsung smartphone surfaced. I was totally down on the device, worried about how badly the idea could go wrong. Now the SCH-W880's surfaced, and it appears to have allayed nearly all my fears.

xpPhone Smartbook Is Real, Set for Global Release

Kit Eaton — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 08:14:26 -0400

Back in June we reported on what could be considered as the first real smartbook device--a hybrid smartphone/netbook machine that could be the next big thing in mobile computing. Now it looks like the xpPhone's ready for the world.

Infographic of the Day: Which Cellphone Provider Is Best for You?

Cliff Kuang — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 09:50:37 -0400

How much thought did you give to choosing your cellphone provider? I'll bet not much, but the fine-grained details can end up biting you, if you're not careful.

LG Plans to Spam the Smartphone Market: 13 Phones Due 2010

Kit Eaton — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 08:17:12 -0400

LG's smartphone division is planning something a bit special--a press release just unveiled three new Windows-powered phones due very soon. And that's just the tip of the iceberg: ten more are due in 2010.

Samsung's TouchWiz App Development Kit Hobbles Into the Light

Kit Eaton — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 10:27:43 -0400

Samsung's a big player in the smartphone game, some might say surprisingly so since it's not really grappled the whole smartphone apps-equals-success meme. Until now that is: Its TouchWiz software development kit is out. And it's... odd.

Why Is Dell's Mini3i Smartphone China-Only?

Kit Eaton — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 07:29:41 -0400

Dell's launching a smartphone! It's Android-powered! It's going to be called the Mini3i! And it'll be hitting the streets soon! Only one hitch here: You'll need to be in China to get it. There can only be one reason for this. It's Apple's iPhone, soon to be China-bound itself.

Nokia Lifts the Veil on Its China Testing Site, but Why Now?

Kit Eaton — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 06:41:11 -0400

Nokia may be the world's biggest cell-phone maker, but it generally keeps its operations seriously under wraps. That's why the company's recent decision to open up its Beijing test center to select visitors is a deft public relations move at a time when one of its biggest competitors, Apple, is being scrutinized for its operations in China.

Is Verizon Giving Up the Storm Too Soon?

Chris Dannen — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:10:04 -0400

Telecom titan Verizon Wireless has sent two letters to lawmakers this week offering to limit the amount of time it keeps its handsets carrier-exclusive. Such proprietary deals surfaced on the radar of Department of Justice regulators largely because of Apple's unusually long contract with AT&T, which is rumored to end in 2010.

Nokia Wants You To Control Your Phone Without Buttons

Kit Eaton — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:45:44 -0400

Apple isn't the only company with some creative plans for smartphone UIs: Nokia just revealed how it thinks we might control our phones in the future. There'll be a lot of waving them in the air.

Nokia Profits Slump: Is The Cellphone World About to Change?

Kit Eaton — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 07:54:03 -0400

Though Nokia's not a massive name in the U.S., across the rest of the world it's enormous--the biggest cell-phone retailer by far. But the giant company's just announced its second-quarter profits, and they're terribly bad.

In fact, the figures for the second quarter net profits of €380 million represent a slump of some 66% year-on-year. That's an incredible downwards trend, and it's got Nokia on the defensive as the company also noted that it thinks the low demand for its products is beginning to bottom out.

Iranians Revolting Against Nokia for Alleged Spying Complicity

Kit Eaton — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 06:19:58 -0400

The tech-savviness of the Iranian people served them well during the protests against corruption in the recent election, and now it's making them turn against cell-phone giant Nokia--a government colluder in their eyes.

Google Voice Starts Singing for BlackBerrys And Androids

Kit Eaton — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 04:31:41 -0400

Google's been busy this last week or so, starting with the excitement of Chrome OS and now with Google Voice for smartphones getting its roll-out. The BlackBerry and Android apps dropped this morning, but iPhoners will have to wait.

Apple's Latest Figures Prove There's Just One App Store to Rule Them All

Kit Eaton — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 09:36:36 -0400

Apple just dropped the official statistics on the iTunes App Store's first year in business, and they're astonishing, on all sorts of scales. Turns out over 1.5 billion apps have been downloaded by iPhone users across the world.

LG BL40 Chocolate Phone Video Gives Us Widescreen Envy

Kit Eaton — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:25:39 -0400

Last week some bloggers dug out the secret of LG's upcoming Chocolate smartphone--a cinema-aspect widescreen. It sounds amazing, but little else was known about it. Until this video leaked. And boy it's impressive.

Watch Out Nokia: Sony Ericsson's Got the Hang of Smartphone Design

Kit Eaton — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 06:39:19 -0400

More images of Sony Ericsson's upcoming Android Rachael smartphone have leaked and confirm it's a real looker, right up with the iPhone's minimalistic beauty. Nokia, with its clunky retro-boring N97 should watch out.

The Racheal's funky 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 8 megapixel autofocus camera and 3D graphics acceleration should even give the new iPhone 3G S a real run for its money. But first, check out those neat design curves.