Windows Phone 7

With a rush of amazing Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, this is a great time to buy a new phone for you or for someone else. There are excellent phones flooding the market (here are our top five favorite smartphones), but unless you plan on switching your next handset before your contract is up, you'll want to consider a few points before making any semi-permanent decisions.

OK, so what if you're looking for even more basic guidance, like which mobile operating system to get? Is the iPhone 4S really a better choice than a shiny, new Android phone? What's the story with Windows Phone, and are BlackBerrys even a thing anymore? Believe me, these are great questions, and they've been at the top of your mind. Earlier this month, I helped take your burning cell phone questions in a live chat, and fielded even more queries at our weeklong CNET Gotham event in New York. I expected questions comparing iOS versus Android, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus versus the HTC Rezound versus the Motorola Droid Razr--but what surprised me is how many of you were considering Windows Phone.

So to get you started, here's a quick primer on iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone (sorry, BlackBerry, you've lost your momentum), and a smattering of the most common questions about smartphone OSes I've received from you. (If you've got more to ask, mark your calendars for the next Ask the Editors live chat on November 29!) … Read more

Buying a cell phone as a holiday gift is a bit more complicated than buying a television or a camera. It's not that shopping for those products is easy--indeed, one TV can present you with a mind-boggling array of specs--but a cell phone also requires you to select a carrier and choose a service plan. (Also see my colleague Jessica Dolcourt's FAQ on picking the right mobile operating system.)

Those extra steps, combined with the staggering amount of choice in the mobile space, can confuse even cell phone fanatics. So if you're wondering where to start, don't feel bad.

Rest assured that CNET is here to help. With a little preparation, gift shopping for a cell phone can be a stress-free experience. If you keep in mind the following steps, the only pain may be to your pocketbook. … Read more

Dialed In has reached another milestone--its 200th episode!--and that calls for a celebration, don'tcha think? We do, which is why we broke out the champagne, party hats, and noise makers.

Of course, the talk of everything cell phones takes center stage with special host Bonnie Cha (remember her? She has her own theme song.) We've got the Samsung Galaxy Nexus with its coveted Ice Cream Sandwich operating system, plus a breakthrough in battery technology that could keep your resource-hungry cell phone going for up to three days. Bonnie also throws out her wishes for a Kindle phone, … Read more

It's a sad day in the Dialed In studio, with our beloved Nicole announcing that she's leaving us to break new ground over at TWiT. Our hearts will go on, Celine Dione style, so make sure you watch to the end for our special tribute and two surprise guests. It also turns out, Stephen's quite the speechmaker.

But before then, Nicole and I break down the news of the week, including our take on the HTC Rezound, a Verizon super phone, a wacky phone concept, and our take on if you should wait to buy a 4G … Read more

With the 2012 CES set to begin just two months from today, it's a perfect time to start speculation on what we might see in Las Vegas.

Today's rumor concerns Nokia and Windows Phone 7, two technology brands that up until last month were playing a game of hide-and-go-seek. Just when we were about to give up all hope, they finally got hitched at Nokia World when they debuted two shiny phones with the Nokia Lumia 800 and 710. And now it appears that they might form a threesome with AT&T at the annual electronics extravaganza. … Read more

It's been a couple of weeks now since we first glimpsed the Nokia Lumia 800, one of the first two of Nokia's brave new Windows Phone world, just after it was announced at Nokia World.

This phone had promise: a 3.7-inch WVGA AMOLED screen, a 1.4GHz processor, a singular design in crazy bright blue and magenta, and a fancy 8-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss Tessar optics, dual-LED flash, and 1080p HD video capture.

Let me tell you, specs don't always pan out. I have few complaints with the phone's interesting, gutsy design, but the … Read more

Is there such thing as too much of a good thing? Verizon comes out swinging with superphones galore, we take a look at the next generation of Windows Phone handsets, and we have a good old-fashioned rant against a very very weird phone. All that and more on today's Dialed In.

A glut of Verizon superphones Verizon and HTC announced the HTC Rezound last week, and the Droid Razr is getting the major-promotion treatment this week. And the Samsung Galaxy Nexus hasn't … Read more

I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised by AT&T's Samsung Focus Flash.

The specs looked more than reasonable for a smartphone that costs a quarter of the price of most high-end smartphones out there. More than that, the features all came together to achieve a solid Windows Phone at a stellar value. While the Samsung Focus S may be a better choice for those interested in more onboard memory (16GB versus 8GB) and a potentially higher-end camera (8 mexapixels versus 5), this model has its own shot at mass appeal.… Read more

AT&T's newest Windows Phone Mango devices go on sale this Sunday, and the Samsung Focus S and Focus Flash are looking to be nice improvements over its predecessor.

Building on last year's Samsung Focus, the Samsung Focus S and Samsung Focus Flash feature a faster 1.4GHz processor, Windows Phone 7.5 Mango, and support for AT&T's HSPA+ network.

Of the two, the $199.99 Focus S is the higher-end handset, offering a larger and sharper 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, an 8-megapixel camera, and front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera. Meanwhile, the Focus … Read more