Want a free iPhone 5? Try Best Buy's limited trade-in program

Got an old iPhone lying around? For one day only, you can trade that for a free iPhone 5 at Best Buy.

Best Buy on Saturday will give customers a $150 trade-in credit for any working iPhone 4 or 4S, making the iPhone 5 free. The only out-of-pocket costs for the customer will be any applicable sales tax on the new phone and any applicable carrier activation fees.

Customers must be eligible for an upgrade and activate the iPhone 5 on a two-year contract with Verizon, AT&T, or Sprint to take advantage of the offer. The deal isn'… Read more

Android now owns half of China's smartphone market

Android has upped its lead in the growing Chinese smartphone market.

Google's mobile OS reached a milestone at the end of the first quarter as it gobbled up a 51.4 percent slice of all smartphones owned in China, Kantar Worldpanel ComTech said on Friday. That figure showed a gain of 2.8 percent over the fourth quarter of 2012.

Among all Android vendors, Samsung proved the fastest growing with a 15.2 percent share among Chinese smartphone owners. And Kantar expects more growth on the way.

"Samsung has recently launched the Galaxy S4, selling over 10 million … Read more

Size up the Galaxy S4 Mini in this new video spot

Consumers can catch Samsung's Galaxy S4 Mini up close in a new video posted by U.K. mobile carrier Three.

The video starts off by showing the Mini in the hand of Brendan Arndt, the device portfolio manager for Three. Arndt's grasp of the phone shows that many people will likely find it easier to hold than they do the full-sized S4. The next clip displays the Mini along with its bigger brother and the upcoming Galaxy Mega to contrast the sizes of all three.

With a screen of just 4.3 inches, the Mini seems quite compact … Read more

Eight things the Moto X needs

Motorola needs a smartphone hit badly, and it should have happened already. Its last innovative smartphone was the Droid Razr Maxx, way back in January 2012. While its battery lasted a phenomenal 15 hours, a number that newer handsets can't yet match, this is an inexplicable handset drought for the company. Motorola has a long and storied history of shaking up the market with earth-shattering products. That's why I know the company has what it takes to craft the Moto X, now officially due by October, into a hit. And with such stiff competition in the mobile space, … Read more

Comparing the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini and the GS4

Following the success of its flagship handset, the Galaxy S4, Samsung announced that it will launch a smaller version of the device in the U.S. and U.K. Aptly named the Galaxy S4 Mini, the manufacturer will release 4G, 3G, and 3G dual-SIM models.

While pricing and carrier information remain unknown, a few key specs were released. As you can see from the chart below, not only is the new device physically smaller, it also has some less powerful hardware features.

For example, it has an 8-megapixel camera (compared with the GS4's 13-megapixel), a dual-core CPU, and a … Read more

HTC could release 5.9-inch 'phablet' later this year

HTC is expected to release a huge 5.9-inch smartphone in the second half of the year, a number of sources report.

This fall should see the arrival of a larger, more powerful take on the HTC One experience, according to Taiwanese analyst Laura Chen.

Aside from the ultralarge screen size, the only other detail tipped for the device is an "upgraded" processor, though even that specific is unclear.

Considering HTC's history of working with Qualcomm, I'd infer that Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 chipset could power the phablet.

Prolific handset tipster @evleaks has also apparently gathered … Read more

HTC One Nexus User Experience confirmed

HTC just made all the speculation about an stock Android Version of its HTC One smartphone official today. The company's blog announced that the HTC One with what it calls the Nexus User Experience will arrive on June 26 for $599.

CNET did previously confirm that HTC was indeed working on a version of the HTC One that will run pure Android. Now the shroud of mystery has been lifted. In fact, the coveted device was shown off today by Google's Sundar Pichai at the D11 technology conference.

Contrasting Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S4, which will also be … Read more

BlackBerry Q10 landing on Verizon June 6

Not to be outdone by T-Mobile, Verizon sets June 6 as the launch date for the BlackBerry Q10. Priced at $199.99, the long-anticipated device features a superbly crafted physical keyboard plus the latest BlackBerry 10 software.

Verizon is now taking preorders for the Q10 and expects to stock its store shelves with the phone by June 6. This development will no doubt come as welcome news for the BlackBerry faithful. Many in this camp are zealously addicted to typing on real keys and poo-poo messaging via touch screen.

And what a keyboard the BlackBerry Q10 sports. Based on the … Read more

Apple screen could react to the force of your touch

Your future iPhone or iPad could offer an interactive touch screen that reacts to the pressure exerted by your touch.

Published Thursday by the U.S. Patent and Trademark office, an Apple patent application called "Embedded force measurement" takes the concept of tapping on your touch screen at least one step further. Instead of just lightly tapping on your screen, you would actually press down on it to activate a command. The phone would measure the force of your tap and respond accordingly.

As one example, an on-screen icon could let you control the volume of your device. … Read more