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The Cellular Network - Not Just For Cell Phones


By Ed Hansberry | 01:05 AM ET, Jul 30, 2010

When most of us think of our cellular network, we immediately think of cell phones. That is why we fork over big bucks to the carriers each month right? They keep us connected without tying us down to a physical location. Today though there is so much more using cellular networks that have nothing to do with voice communication at all.

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Droid X Suffers Death Grip Says Apple


By Ed Hansberry | 12:48 AM ET, Jul 29, 2010

Apple has acknowledged that the iPhone 4 has a serious problem when you hold the device in a certain way, which just so happens to be the most common way a right handed person holds a phone, with their left hand at the base of the unit. For now, the fix is free bumpers for everyone which mitigates the problem. Not content to stop there though, Apple is claiming other phones have the same issue, and going to great lengths to document it.

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AT&T To Be Premier Windows Phone 7 Carrier


By Ed Hansberry | 12:35 AM ET, Jul 28, 2010

AT&T has been a long time supporter of Windows Mobile by carrying a variety of devices over the years in the US. Now they are claiming they will be the premier carrier for the forthcoming platform from Microsoft. Does that bode well for users buying new Windows Phone 7 devices this fall?

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HP's Grand Plans For WebOS


By Ed Hansberry | 08:42 AM ET, Jul 27, 2010

After HP acquired Palm, which was to gain access to WebOS, the platform that powers the Palm Pre and Pixi phones, there was concern that smartphones would fall by the wayside. Those concerns were laid to rest weeks ago and smartphones are very much in the picture, but they are only a part of the picture. Can HP make WebOS a multi-form factor powerhouse?

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The End of Closed iPhones?


By Thomas Claburn | 08:39 PM ET, Jul 26, 2010

Go ahead and pick the iPhone's digital lock. The U.S. Copyright Office says that's okay. In a surprise decision, the Copyright Office granted the Electronic Frontier Foundations' request for three exemptions from the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) anticircumvention provisions.

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Windows Phone 7 Partners Confirmed [Updated]


By Ed Hansberry | 08:25 PM ET, Jul 26, 2010

Microsoft has five official partners that will be building devices running Windows Phone 7. Some are old partners. What may be more telling is who isn't on the list.

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Blackberry 6 Eye Candy Available


By Ed Hansberry | 12:38 AM ET, Jul 23, 2010

Even though Windows Phone 7 is heavily anticipated this fall, mainly as Microsoft's last chance to turn its mobile device effort around, it isn't the only major release in the pipeline. Research in Motion's Blackberry platform is getting a pretty big update with version 6 and now there are a number of screenshots available as well as information about the Blackberry 6 Desktop software.

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Free Windows Phone 7 Devices For Everyone


By Ed Hansberry | 12:09 AM ET, Jul 22, 2010

Everyone at Microsoft that is. It looks like all 90,000 employees of Microsoft will be getting a new phone with Windows Phone 7 on it. If nothing else, it makes it instantly more successful than the Kin, perhaps ten times as successful.

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AT&T And The iPhone, Or Oil And Water


By Ed Hansberry | 12:40 AM ET, Jul 21, 2010

It obviously sounded like a good idea in 2007 when Apple and AT&T signed a multi-year exclusivity agreement but a few short years later, it became evident the agreement between Apple and AT&T wasn't turning out as planned.

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Android Juggernaut Marches On


By Ed Hansberry | 12:02 AM ET, Jul 20, 2010

The new Verizon Droid X by Motorola has sold out in many places the first day it was for sale, including on Verizon's site. It is the latest phone with Google's platform that is driving over one million activations each week.

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Windows Phone 7 Enters Tech Preview


By Ed Hansberry | 01:35 AM ET, Jul 19, 2010

Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 is expected to hit the store shelves in time for the holiday season and they have just passed a major milestone in their development. Right now, everything appears to be on schedule. What I am not clear on at this stage though is how the average user is supposed to keep all of their important data on their phone and PC's in sync.

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Government Apps For Your Phone


By Ed Hansberry | 12:05 AM ET, Jul 16, 2010

The US government has written a number of apps for some of the smartphone platforms. You can get information on recalls, locations of alternative fuel stations or find the closest US embassy no matter where you are.

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Three Mobile OSes To Usurp Android or iOS


By Ed Hansberry | 12:55 AM ET, Jul 15, 2010

This fall, three mobile operating systems will be released (if you don't count what Android does, since they tend to release every few months). Windows Phone 7, Blackberry 6 and MeeGo are all due this holiday season. Will any of them make a dent in either iOSes or Android's share?

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More Windows Phone 7 Details


By Ed Hansberry | 12:15 AM ET, Jul 14, 2010

Microsoft has had a number of cloud services for Windows Mobile and/or PC's and as Windows Phone 7 nears release, some of those services are getting a facelift to better match them with a mobile lifestyle.

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Windows Mobile's Lost Generation of Users


By Ed Hansberry | 12:03 AM ET, Jul 13, 2010

Steve Ballmer apologized to its partners during Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference saying that the mobile platform missed out on a "whole generation of users." It is evident Microsoft recognizes its mistakes with the mobile market. The question is, will they learn from them?

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Only Android Gains Share


By Ed Hansberry | 01:18 AM ET, Jul 12, 2010

For the three months ending May 31, 2010, the only major mobile platform to gain market share was Android. Samsung was one of the few manufacturers to gain share due in no small part to its phones that ship with Android.

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Windows Phone 7 Coming Sooner Rather Than Later?


By Ed Hansberry | 12:03 AM ET, Jul 9, 2010

Microsoft has announced that their new mobile platform will be in consumer's hands by the holiday season. There are some speculating that the holiday might be as soon as Labor Day, or even sooner.

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Kin Fallout Gets Ugly


By Ed Hansberry | 12:04 AM ET, Jul 8, 2010

The aftermath of the Kin debacle at Microsoft doesn't seem to be doing a whole lot for employee morale. Those with inside knowledge have started disclosing the circumstances within Microsoft during the development of the Kin and after it was dropped. Many are former Kin team members and just about all are doing so unofficially.

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Apple iTunes Accounts Hacked


By Ed Hansberry | 12:40 AM ET, Jul 7, 2010

Apple said today that about 400 of the 150 million iTunes accounts was hacked today by an unscrupulous developer. If you've put your credit card info in your iTunes account, you might want to check for unusual charges and at the very least, change your iTunes password.

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Palm Trying To Boost App Ecosystem


By Ed Hansberry | 12:59 AM ET, Jul 6, 2010

It is debatable as to what is more important, the smartphone platform or the apps available for it. While the platform maker can't do much to the OS itself in the short or even medium term, they can help move the applications. Palm is taking a two pronged approach to increasing the number of apps as well as how fast they move out of the WebOS App Catalog.

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Deciding On A Smartphone?


By Ed Hansberry | 12:04 AM ET, Jul 2, 2010

There are a ton of capable smartphones on the market today but figuring out which one to get can be a daunting task given the myriad of hardware configurations on various carriers. There is a chart though that may help you make your decision.

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Kin's Fate Foretells Windows Phone 7's Future?


By Ed Hansberry | 12:50 AM ET, Jul 1, 2010

On Wednesday Microsoft killed the Kin a mere 48 days after launch. It makes you wonder how much Microsoft will be behind Windows Phone 7.

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Verizon iPhone Rumors Heating Up


By Ed Hansberry | 12:05 AM ET, Jun 30, 2010

This isn't the first time we've heard Verizon would be getting the iPhone "soon." This rumor though has enough details to help its credibility. Think this one will come true?

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Nokia's Troubles


By Ed Hansberry | 12:10 AM ET, Jun 29, 2010

While Nokia continues to have large sales figures, it is mostly because of the low end freebies that carriers give away with a contract. They get to count a lot of those phones as smartphones simply because they have some version of Symbian on them, even though not many of those owners ever install a third party app. The truth is, Nokia is in trouble in the smartphone world. They are making changes, but will they be enough?

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Windows Phone 7 Missing A Number Of Features


By Ed Hansberry | 01:05 AM ET, Jun 28, 2010

Windows Phone 7 is nearing "gold" status so they can release it to the carriers and manufacturers for final testing and device production. There are a number of features that simply won't be in the initial release. Will it matter or is the target market for the device less discerning than the smartphone enthusiast?

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iPhone 4 Reports


By Ed Hansberry | 12:52 AM ET, Jun 25, 2010

The latest iPhone has officially launched and reports are coming in on how the device is performing. Overall, it is a welcome improvement over the 3GS version it replaces, though there are a few issues. Some should be fixable via firmware updates. Others though may have to wait until the next production batch has been made.

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App Store Isn't Big Profit Center


By Ed Hansberry | 12:00 AM ET, Jun 24, 2010

Just about everyone knows what the App Store is for the Apple iPhone. The "There's an app for that" theme is widely recognized and even parodied in ads like Verizon's "There's a map for that" commercials. Apple isn't raking in the profits though from the store, and that's ok.

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Developer's Thoughts On Future Of Mobile Platforms


By Ed Hansberry | 08:27 AM ET, Jun 23, 2010

It is pretty easy to see what consumers think of each mobile platform based on the sales data; consumers vote with their wallets. Developers tend to go were the money is as well, but they also have well informed opinions on where things are going. Appcelerator has a survey that asked developers several questions on the future of mobile platforms. Some of the results are expected, others less so.

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AT&T To Charge For Non-AT&T Bandwidth


By Ed Hansberry | 12:07 AM ET, Jun 22, 2010

Unlimited data plans for mobile devices is quickly going away and AT&T is leading the pack. For those of you that have a femtocell because AT&T coverage in your house is sub-par, the bandwidth you use on that may also count against your monthly data allotment, even though you aren't using AT&T's wireless network.

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The Value Of Multi-Core Processors On Phones


By Ed Hansberry | 12:01 AM ET, Jun 21, 2010

We all know the value of symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) on our PC's. At any given time, a modern desktop can have 50-100 process running from the browser or RSS reader you are using to read this to dozens of background tasks indexing files, checking your email, looking for keywords on Twitter and more. Your phone can benefit from SMP as well, but for entirely different reasons.

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The Continued Evolution Of Windows Phone 7


By Ed Hansberry | 12:07 AM ET, Jun 18, 2010

Even though consumers are supposed to be able to buy a Windows Phone 7 device by the end of this year, Microsoft is still tweaking the user interface. Some of the changes are subtle and others are more noticeable.

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Does RIM's Tablet Make Sense?


By Ed Hansberry | 12:02 AM ET, Jun 17, 2010

It seems everyone is jumping on the tablet bandwagon and Apple's iPad success is just increasing the excitement surrounding the form factor. Unlike the iPad though, RIM's tablet is rumored to be a companion device to the Blackberry, not a stand-alone tablet.

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All Phones Free At T-Mobile June 19


By Ed Hansberry | 03:15 PM ET, Jun 16, 2010

If you are looking for that special Father's Day gift for that technical dad, T-Mobile may have just what you are looking for. This Saturday, June 19, all T-Mobile phones are free.

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AT&T Exposes iPhone Customer Information


By Ed Hansberry | 12:03 AM ET, Jun 16, 2010

Not content to let 3G iPad users have all of the fun, AT&T decided to let iPhone users in on the data exposure game. Those jumping on the iPhone 4.0 bandwagon early today may have been shown your iPhone account information during the upgrade process rather than their own.

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3G iPad Hack More Than Email Addresses?


By Ed Hansberry | 12:05 AM ET, Jun 15, 2010

If you have a 3G iPad on AT&T's network and you are one of the lucky 114,000 who's email addresses were exposed, you might have a bit more to worry about. In fact, even if you aren't one of those originally identified has having their email address exposed, you might still have something to worry about.

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Microsoft Paying For Porting iPhone Games


By Ed Hansberry | 12:04 AM ET, Jun 14, 2010

Microsoft has been throwing around cash lately to help bolster the application offerings for Windows Phone 7. Compared to Android and iPhone application stores. Windows Mobile's library is at best anemic. To make matters worse, everything has to be rewritten for WP7. Microsoft seems to be taking the "if you want things done right, do it yourself" approach to filling the library.

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Because A Single 1GHz Core Isn't Enough


By Ed Hansberry | 12:01 AM ET, Jun 11, 2010

One of the hot processors right now is the Qualcomm 1GHz Snapdragon processor. The HTC HD2 uses it, as well as the recently released HTC EVO 4G on the Sprint network. If that kind of power isn't enough for you though, there is hope. Qualcomm has just announced a line of dual core 1.2GHz Snapdragons.

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T-Mobile, Not Verizon, Getting iPhone Next? No


By Eric Zeman | 09:50 AM ET, Jun 10, 2010

"When will Verizon Wireless get the iPhone?" is a question I still hear every day. According to Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu, the iPhone is headed to T-Mobile next, not Verizon Wireless. Unfortunately, Mr. Wu is wrong.

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114,000+ 3G iPad User Emails Exposed


By Ed Hansberry | 01:35 AM ET, Jun 10, 2010

Adding to AT&T's troubled reputation is the recent security breach with iPad 3G users accounts. It has been labeled the worst security breach in Apple's history and it is a breach that was beyond Apple's control as it all happened on AT&T's servers. The list of who was exposed is a veritable who's who list of politicians, corporate executives and celebrities, along with the average Joe here and there.

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Oops, Sprint 'Overstated' EVO 4G Sales Figures


By Eric Zeman | 08:54 AM ET, Jun 9, 2010

Well, this is embarrassing. Sprint issued a correction overnight, indicating that it was perhaps a little too excited about first-day sales of the HTC EVO 4G. It is still the best-selling Sprint handset, but not by as large a margin as previously stated by Sprint CEO Dan Hesse.

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Monitoring Your Data Usage


By Ed Hansberry | 12:05 AM ET, Jun 9, 2010

Now that AT&T has gotten rid of unlimited data plans for new iPhone customers, it is important to be able to track your usage so you don't have any surprise bills at the end of the month. With AT&T having taken the first step, look for its competitors to make similar moves in the future.

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Android Bleeps And Blurbs: HTC And Samsung


By Eric Zeman | 04:05 PM ET, Jun 8, 2010

HTC has a bona fide hit on its hands with the EVO 4G, which Sprint apparently can't keep in stock anywhere. On top of that Samsung is already teasing about the U.S. launch of its Galaxy S Android handset. Android smackdown on the way?

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iPhone's Killer Feature? Price


By Eric Zeman | 01:32 PM ET, Jun 8, 2010

Apple and AT&T continue their two-pronged assault on the mobile market with aggressive price points on the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS. With prices starting at $99, it puts Apple at a price advantage over competing models.

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5 Things iPhone 4 Still Lacks


By Eric Zeman | 09:30 AM ET, Jun 8, 2010

The new Apple iPhone 4 earns passing marks on most fronts, but Apple still left out some key innovations. Here are five awesome technologies that iPhone 4 should have on board, but doesn't.

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New Policies For Windows Phone Marketplace


By Ed Hansberry | 12:25 AM ET, Jun 8, 2010

Microsoft has released new guidelines for developers to get programs into its application store, now dubbed Windows Phone Marketplace. A number of the new policies should attract a few more developers than the previous rules without having the store cluttered with junk designed to increase the app count.

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Apple Announces iPhone 4 And iOS4


By Eric Zeman | 02:56 PM ET, Jun 7, 2010

Apple CEO Steve Jobs took the stage at the company's Worldwide Developer Conference to introduce the latest iPhone and iPhone software. The entirely new hardware is indeed similar to the device found by Gizmodo in April. The new OS has been renamed and has several new features.

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AT&T Gives iPhone Customers Early Upgrade Option


By Eric Zeman | 10:57 AM ET, Jun 7, 2010

AT&T has changed the upgrade eligibility date for current iPhone owners basically to "immediately." In other words, even though iPhone users may be only one year into a two-year contract, they'll be able to purchase the new iPhone at the discounted price (whatever that turns out to be).

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HTC EVO 4G Smashes Sprint Sales Records


By Eric Zeman | 08:42 AM ET, Jun 7, 2010

According to Sprint, the new HTC EVO 4G Android smartphone has set a new single day sales record for the company. It has beat out every other smartphone Sprint has ever sold. Is that really significant? Yes, yes it is.

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Final Batch Of WWDC Rumors


By Ed Hansberry | 12:07 AM ET, Jun 7, 2010

Apple's World Wide Developer Conference begins today, June 7 at 10am PST and everyone is wondering what they will see there. The next iPhone is high on everyone's list of what they want to see. Of course, there will probably be a number of non-iPhone related technologies discussed to. After all, Apple does have a few other product lines. What you won't see there though is Gizmodo.

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Still Room For Surprises At Apple's WWDC


By Eric Zeman | 04:59 PM ET, Jun 4, 2010

Even though the next-generation iPhone has leaked all over the place, been photographed, video'd, and dissected, there's still plenty of things we don't know about it. Apple CEO Steve Jobs is prepared to address the developer faithful June 7 at its Worldwide Developer Conference. Jobs insists we "won't be disappointed."

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