Mobile

Sony Ericsson Xperia phones out in U.S., if you can find them

Two Sony Ericsson Android phones made their debut in the U.S. today, although they are only available through the Sony Store.

The handset manufacturer unveiled the Xperia Arc S and the Xperia Neo V. The Arc S is $549.99 and the Neo V is $349.99, and both come unlocked.

That the two phones are hitting the U.S. shores only through Sony's stores is indicative of Sony Ericsson's recent struggles in the U.S. Smartphones that are sold without carrier support typically languish in the market or remain niche items for gadget enthusiasts.

A representative … Read more

Boom mobile money service helps spread the wealth

Boom isn't your everyday mobile banking service.

While much of the attention in mobile payments has focused on affluent smartphone-wielding consumers and their top-tier banks, m-Via has gone the opposite route. The company has built Boom as a service almost entirely devoted to the migrant worker population in the U.S., allowing them to easily set up a bank account they can access on their phone, and use the account to send money back home.

M-Via is tapping into a largely unnoticed, but extremely large segment of the population with its Boom service. The company charges a flat $25 … Read more

Android smartphone share more than triples iOS in Q3

If there was ever a period of time that showed Android's dominance over the smartphone space, it was last quarter.

During the three-month period that ended September 30, 60.5 million Android-based smartphones shipped worldwide, helping the mobile operating system secure 52.5 percent of the market, research firm Gartner revealed today. In just one year, Android has more than doubled its market share; in the third quarter of 2010, Android's share stood at 25.3 percent. Furthermore, Android smartphone shipments for the quarter just about tripled from the 20.5 million that hit store shelves in the … Read more

Still love BlackBerrys? Two more are on the way

Research In Motion today unveiled two more BlackBerrys to its current lineup, continuing an impressive run of new product rollouts.

The company showed off the BlackBerry Bold 9790, which looks like a compact version of its flagship Bold 9900 phone, as well as the all-touch-screen Curve 9380, which looks like a slightly smaller version of the all-touch-screen Torch, and shares similarities with the original--and glitch-plagued--Storm.

The two phones augment an already plentiful lineup of BlackBerrys for RIM, which is hoping its revamped BlackBerry 7 operating system will at least draw in its more loyal customers. While the company is rolling … Read more

Nokia's Lumia Windows Phones singing a new tune

Nokia plans to add a little rhythm to its Lumia line of Windows Phone handsets.

Nokia's partner Echo Nest today unveiled the Nokia Music app. It includes the Nokia MixRadio service, which acts like Pandora, as well as additional features such as an MP3 music store and concert recommendations. It will first be preloaded on the Lumia 800.

With the smartphone manufacturers struggling to find ways to set themselves apart, many of them are turning to media as one way to shine. HTC, for instance, purchased a majority stake in Beats to get access to the company's trademark … Read more

Help! Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet?

At less than $250 a pop, Amazon's Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet are sure to be hot gifts this holiday season.

The new, low-cost tablets are ushering a new era in tablet computing by making these devices more affordable. In fact, they're so cheap in comparison to other devices on the market that a shopper could get two Kindle Fires or Nook Tablets for less than or the same price as one Apple iPad.

So which low-cost tablet is right for you or for those on your shopping list? In this edition of Ask … Read more

Amazon's Kindle Fire upends the tablet landscape

roundup The 7-inch $199 tablet is here to entertain us. It could also help redefine a market that's long been the playground of Apple's iPad.

Help! Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet? In this edition of Ask Maggie, one reader needs advice on choosing between the new Amazon Kindle Fire and the Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet. (Posted in Signal Strength by Maggie Reardon) November 15, 2011 12:00 a.m. PT

Kindle Fire: the Android tablet developers love the most Amazon's tablet has surpassed Samsung's Galaxy Tab as the Android tablet developers are most excited about, … Read more

Google releases source code for Ice Cream Sandwich

A treat for modders and developers, Google has released the source code for Ice Cream Sandwich.

The source code for Android 4.0--the latest version of the mobile operating system--was released today as part of the Android Open Source Project, Jean-Baptiste M. "JBQ" Queru, a software engineer in the project, said in a blog post that urged patience.

"Since this is a large push, please be aware that it will take some time to complete," Queru said. "If you sync before it's done, you'll get an incomplete copy that you won't be … Read more

Less than half of app users have paid for an app

App users are a tight-fisted bunch, according to a recently released Pew Internet & American Life study. Pew reports that only 46 percent of U.S. cell phone and tablet users who have downloaded apps have paid for one.

That means that 16 percent of adults in the United States have paid for an app. That's a boost from the 13 percent polled by Pew who reported parting with their cash in May 2010.

Pew queried 2,260 adults over the age of 18 between July and August of this year, including 916 interviews conducted over cell phones. The numbers might not look so rosy for app developers who would much rather have paying customers than freeloaders.… Read more