Mobile

It's time this country addressed the real issues.

Things cannot go on the way they are and cometh the hour, cometh the man. That man is Newt Gingrich.

No, the great Republican doesn't want to impeach the President, repeal Obamacare and institute conscription for everyone aged 15 and older.

Well, those aren't his current priorities. Instead, he believes that for America to progress we need to call the cell phone something else.

Please, this is serious.

In a video posted to YouTube on Friday, Gingrich made his case, while waggling his encased cell phone.

"If it'… Read more

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is sure to be one of the hottest selling smartphones of the season. And it's great news for consumers that it's available on all four major wireless operators. But unfortunately, every operator isn't selling all versions of the phone.

That's right, even though Samsung announced three versions of the Samsung Galaxy S4, with three different amounts of internal storage, some carriers are offering only one option. Is 16GB of on-device storage enough? In this edition of Ask Maggie, I offer some advice to a reader deciding if she should buy the only … Read more

BlackBerry's next phone announcement doesn't have to be big or flashy. It just needs to be affordable.

With the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10, the company has shown it can make a competitive smartphone. Now it needs a budget-friendly version that it can market to the regions of the world that have shown the most growth over the last few years.

"I think a low-cost phone is critical," said Maribel Lopez, an analyst at Lopez Research. BlackBerry "can still gain traction in emerging markets."

That could come as early as Tuesday, when BlackBerry kicks off … Read more

Mozilla has a deal for programmers: We'll supply the phones if you supply the apps.

In an effort to ensure there will be good Firefox OS apps in the Firefox Marketplace, Mozilla is offering developer phones to programmers who have compelling ideas for software. In a blog post Thursday, Mozilla employee Havi Hoffman tried to drum up interest:

If you can show you've got a great app idea and the skill to build it, we'd love to see your apps in the Marketplace when the Firefox OS launch begins later this summer. And to sweeten the deal, … Read more

The Android faithful are getting giddy over what Google goodies could be revealed at next week's Google I/O developers' conference, and the de-shelving of the Nexus 4 at retailers has some wondering if a new pure Android phone is about to replace it.

Two U.K. retailers, Carphone Warehouse and Phones4U, have discontinued sales of the Nexus 4 this week, and the number of U.S. retailers still offering the phone online also seems to be shrinking. Check Google's official retail locator for the latest pure Google phone and the only outlets that pop up in most places (I checked New York, San Francisco, and Denver) are all T-Mobile stores.

Yet, when I checked Best Buy's Web site and clicked on the only Nexus 4 on offer (the T-Mobile version), I got a mysterious "Page Not Found" error. It certainly appears someone thinks the Nexus 4 has run its course and is looking to make room for something new.… Read more

Amazon's got a new app for iOS that gives users of Apple devices a way to view and sync up with photos they have stored on Amazon's Cloud Drive, including photos they've taken on other devices.

Every time the app (iTunes) is opened up, it can tap into a user's camera roll and automatically sync up photos people have taken. Amazon is the latest company, along with Facebook, to offer such software, and the app works over both Wi-Fi and cellular connections.

Other features include the option to share stored photos on Twitter and Facebook, as … Read more

When Verizon Wireless and HTC wanted to promote the launch of their last holiday flagship phone, the Droid DNA, they held a big, splashy event in Manhattan.

For the debut of the Nokia Lumia 928 on Friday, Verizon fired off a tweet.

The distinct lack of fanfare today is a subtle indication of where Verizon thinks the Lumia 928 belongs in its lineup. While Nokia calls it its flagship phone for Verizon, Verizon certainly doesn't think the Lumia 928 is its flagship phone.

Nokia finally getting its higher-end phone at Verizon is a victory for the Finnish handset vendor … Read more

The follow-up to the Nexus 7 tablet may get a slew of upgrades but still keep its $199 price tag.

That's the opinion of KGI Securities analyst Mingchi Kuo, who believes that Google may unveil the upgraded tablet at its Google I/O conference next week.

The upgrades include a faster Qualcomm APQ 8064 processor, a 1,920x1,200 7-inch display with narrower bezel, a 5-megapixel camera, wireless charging, and a body that's 7.5mm to 8.5mm thick. It is expected to be lighter. Blog site 9to5Google picked up on the analyst's report.

The analyst also … Read more

The rumored Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom may be a reality after all.

A Bluetooth special interest group document lists a new Samsung product with the model number SM-C101, which Unwired believes is the Galaxy S4 Zoom, a variant of the company's flagship phone that's supposed to be smaller and comes with a 16-megapixel optical zoom lens.

There has been a heightened focus on camera as a standout feature on smartphones. Nokia has pushed hard with its Lumia 920 and PureView camera technology, which it claims takes superior low-light pictures. HTC opted to forgo the usual megapixel game, instead … Read more