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Phone & Tablet News
Rumors: Xperia with 4.8-Inch Screen, Snapdragon 600 CPU Mid-Year
Sony Mobile didn't unveil a new device at the MWC but, according to the rumor mill, the Japanese device maker is working on a new flagship device, codenamed Sony C670X. Succeeding the Xperia Z (C660X), the C670X will have a smaller,...
BlackBerry Z10 Updated to Improve Camera and Battery Life
BlackBerry has started issuing the first software update for the Z10 only a month after making the device official in Europe and Canada. The software tweak, identified as OS 10.0.10.85, improves the Z10's battery life, makes the...
FCC Reversing Cellphone Unlocking Ban?
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission will investigate whether the ban on unlocking cellphones has any harmful effects for consumers and competitors, FCC Chair Julius Genachowski told TechCrunch. Unlocking a phone without...
Samsung Sends Times Square Invites for Galaxy S4 Launch March 14
Samsung will announce the Samsung Galaxy S4 on March 14, and the fourth iteration of the flagship device could be first seen in Times Square in New York. Samsung a few days ago sent out invites for a "Samsung Unpacked" event at...
T-Mobile Loses More Customers Ahead of MetroPCS Merger
Looking at the glass half full, T-Mobile closed out 2012 on a strong note, reporting 61,000 net customer additions for the fourth quarter and revenue of $4.9 billion that marks the second consecutive quarter of sequential growth....
Sony Shows Off Firefox OS for Xperia E
Just days after confirming its interest in Firefox OS, Sony released a ROM to run the new Mozilla-based OS on the Sony Xperia E. The ROM will allow Xperie E owners to try out the new HTML5-powered software. More importantly though,...
Amazon Tells iOS Users Not to Update Kindle App
Amazon warned users of its Kindle app for the iPad and iPhone to refrain from updating to the latest version of the app. Amazon's latest submission to the Apple App Store was designed to fix some bugs, as well as remedy certain...
Samsung Unveils Own Version of Apple's Passbook
Samsung introduced at the MWC in Barcelona, Spain a new app called "Wallet," which bears striking resemblance to rival Apple's own Passbook feature. The Wallet app is designed to let users store things such as event tickets, boarding...
Google Won't Open Own Retail Stores
Excited to join hundreds of people waiting outside a flagship Google Store ahead of a launch of a new exciting Nexus tablet or smartphone? Not so fast. Google's Andy Rubin shot down rumors that Google intends to open up its own...
LG Acquires webOS from HP but Not for Phones
February is LG's month. LG announced this month new smartphones, including the high-end, 5.5-inch Optimus G Pro, mid-rangers Optimus F5 and F7, and the second generation of affordable line of L series of handsets and touted those...
Instagram Passes 100 Million Monthly Active Users
Instagram announced that it now has 100 million active monthly users, far behind Facebook's 500+ million monthly users, but an impressive feat nonetheless. The photo sharing app reached the 100-million user milestone just two...
LG Unveils the World's Smallest Wireless Charger
LG unveiled the world's smallest wireless charger. The LG WCP-300 is Qi-compatible, meaning it can charge not only LG's own Optimus G Pro, but also the Nexus 4, the Nokia Lumia 920 and other Qi-compatible devices. Sized like a...
Huawei Claims to Have the World's Fastest Smartphone
Huawei unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Spain the Ascend P2, which is exalted as "the world's fastest smartphone." To back those claims, the Chinese device-maker notes that the device has 4G LTE Cat-4 on board,...
HTC, Alcatel, Huawei, LG and Sony to Release Firefox OS Phones
Mozilla previewed at the Mobile World Congress its Firefox OS open mobile ecosystem and announced that 17 operators worldwide have committed to its open web device initiative. Mozilla said it's working with manufacturers Alcatel,...
ASUS Touts 7-Inch Tablet Phone & LTE Phone That Turns into Full HD Tablet
ASUS at the Mobile World Congress unveiled a 7-inch tablet that can make calls and a 5-inch, LTE-enabled handset that docks into a 10.1-inch tablet. The Fonepad tablet features an HD screen, full-phone functions, Android 4.1 Jelly...
Nokia Unveils $20 Phone & Cheapest WP8 Device to Date at MWC
In an attempt to maintain its dominance in the lower-end market segment, Nokia unveiled at the Mobile World Congress a $20 feature phone, plus its most affordable Windows Phone 8 handset to date, as well as two other devices....
What to Expect from Nokia, LG and Sony at MWC 2013
This year's Mobile World Congress slated for February 25th to 28th in Barcelona, Spain, is a must-attend event for the mobile industry as the industry's biggest players are expected to show off their new weapons in the mobile...
Free Calls Now in Facebook's Main iOS App
Why sign a pricey two-year wireless service contract when all you need is a cheap data plan or Wi-Fi to make calls on your iPhone? Facebook today updated its iOS app to allow users in Canada and the U.S. to make free voice calls...
Motorola's $50 Google Play Credit Offer Expires March 4
Motorola has not announced its highly anticipated game-changing X Phone, but for now Google's smartphone subsidiary is aiming to drive sales by offering a $50 incentive to anyone buying one of almost 20 handsets. Shoppers can...
HTC Settles with FTC over Carrier IQ and Security Flaws
HTC has settled a case with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission for failing to address programming flaws that allowed third-party apps to bypass Android security. HTC devices came with HTC Logger and Carrier IQ -- software that...
No Chrome Tablet for Now; $1,300 Chromebook Pixel Launched
Amid rumors of a Chrome tablet coming to the market, Google unveiled Chromebook Pixel, a top-of-the-line laptop that would rival Apple's Retina MacBooks, Windows Ultrabooks, and Microsoft's Surface Pro tablets. The device, which...
Asus Teases "Metallic Miracle" and Alien Invasion for MWC 2013
Visitors of the mobile industry's biggest event, the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on February 25th to 28th, should "embrace the metallic miracle" and see "the next mobile transformation", ASUS says in its teasers and MWC...
LG Brings 4G LTE to Everyone with Optimus F5 and F7
LG announced the Optimus F5 and Optimus F7, both models offering 4G LTE connectivity and "premium user experience...to a mass audience." The F5 features a 4.3-inch display and a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor while the higher-end...
Apple iWatch with Flexible Screen Revealed in Patent Filing
Apple is working on a wristwatch that has a 1.5-inch display, runs iOS, and performs certain functions of the iPhone, according to recent rumors and reports. What could be indicating that the Apple iWatch is in an advanced stage...
New Qualcomm Tech Cuts Charging Time by 75%, Wakes Phone by Voice
San Diego-based chip maker Qualcomm unveiled a new technology that promises to cut mobile device charging times by as much as 75 percent. After touting its new powerful but battery saving quad-core chips last month, Qualcomm has...
Google Glass Out of Project Phase; Contest Winners Can Preorder Sci-Fi Eyewear
Google is once again stoking the hype machine over Project Glass, indicating that consumers could start wearing the Android-driven augmented-reality eyewear sooner rather than later. The tech giant released a new YouTube video...
iPhone 5 and Year-Old 4S Are World's Best Selling Smartphones
Apple's iPhone 5 debuted in September and quickly became the world's most popular smartphone in the fourth quarter of 2012. According to Strategy Analytics, Apple shipped 27.4 million units of the iPhone 5 and 17.4 million units...
NVIDIA's Tegra 4i Brings Quad-Core Power to Cheap Phones
NVIDIA announced the Tegra 4i, a compact version of the Tegra 4 that's designed to bring quad-core performance to mid-range phones. It doesn't offer the same graphical performance and the 3200 x 1200 maximum screen resolution...
HTC's 4-MP Superphone Unveiled, to Launch in 80 Countries
The HTC One has been officially introduced, touting an "ultrapixel" camera, a built-in remote control, an all-aluminum design, and a new interface to challenge the flagship phones from Samsung and Apple. The innovative ultrapixel...
Fujitsu Starts to Woo World's Seniors with Stylistic S01
Fujitsu marked its first foray into the smartphone market outside Japan with the Stylistic S01, an Android phone designed for senior users. The mid-range device is based heavily on its Raku Raku senior phone line, featuring large...
Future Nexus Phones to Have "Insanely Great" Cameras
Google's Nexus handsets have pretty decent cameras but they'll be DSLR-like in the future. A Google executive took to Google+ to wonder whether he should be taking a bulky DSLR with him in addition to his Nexus 4 and Google Glass...
Samsung Galaxy S IV Headed for March 14 Launch?
Samsung's unveiling of the newest version of its top selling Galaxy S line-up may take place March 14 in New York. Rumors originally pointed to a March 15th or March 22nd launch of the Galaxy S4 but a tweet from the head of Russian...
LG's Monster Phone Has 5.5-Inch Display, New Qualcomm Quad-Core CPU
LG unveiled a new version of its Optimus G Pro, which comes with a gigantic 5.5-inch display and an industry-first 1.7 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor. At 400 ppi, the LG Optimus G Pro's full HD display is far...
Opera Eats Fellow Browser-Maker Skyfire
It's a dog-eat-dog world in the mobile browser arena as Opera has announced a deal to gobble up Skyfire Labs for $155 million in cash and stock. It doesn't mean though that Skyfire's vanishing into oblivion as its browser will...
One LG Optimus L Device Sold Per Second; 2nd-Gen Coming to MWC
LG announced overwhelming figures for its Optimus L series handsets: one Optimus L handset sold every second in the past two months. The surge in demand has helped the Korean device-maker surpass sales of 15 million L series handsets...
Ubuntu Preview for Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4 to Land February 21st
Software-company Canonical Ltd. announced that a preview version of the new Ubuntu smartphone operating system will be promptly released to developers and will support both the Galaxy Nexus and the Nexus 4. To give developers...
Samsung's Java-Based Rex to Take on Nokia's Budget Phones
As part of its bid to dominate every single niche in the mobile phone arena, Samsung unveiled a new line of budget phones called Rex. The maker of the high-end Galaxy S phones and the Galaxy Note announced, namely, the Rex 70,...
Google Releases Tool to Find Nearest Nexus Retailers
Google has rolled out a new tool that may come in handy for those who want to buy a Nexus 4 smartphone or Nexus 7 tablet in person. Launched in November, the Nexus 4 saw huge demand because of its impressive specs and low $300...
Passcode Lock Flaw Allows Unauthorized Access to iPhone
A new security flaw has been discovered in recently released software update iOS 6.1, which allows anyone (thieves?) to bypass the passcode lock on an iPhone. This means that anyone can easily view or modify contacts, check the...
HP's Next Tablets (and Possibly Smartphones) Will Be Android
Hewlett-Packard's first foray in the tablet market flopped with the webOS-running TouchPad, which ended up being sold in $99 liquidation sales. HP, the world's largest PC maker, needs to carve out a niche in the mobile devices...