CES - Cell phones and smartphones

LAS VEGAS--ZTE isn't announcing devices besides its tablets, but we were able to glean a few things during our meeting with the Chinese phone manufacturer at CES. Chiefly, ZTE is looking for a home for the ZTE Blade, an Android-powered smartphone that's already been released in Europe and Asia.

We took a look at the Blade--it has a 3.5-inch touch screen, and a 3.2-megapixel camera. In global markets, it currently runs Android 2.1 but should be upgradable to Android 2.2 (Froyo). Right now ZTE says it's in talks with major and regional U.… Read more

The glory days of the digital camera market are coming to an end.

So concludes analyst firm iSuppli, which forecasts modest growth in coming years followed by decline as camera phones take over.

It'll still be a huge market, with tens of millions of units sold annually--just not as big as it once was after it peaks in 2013, the firm forecast.

"During [2014], shipments are expected to decline by 0.6 percent to 135.4 million units, with low-end DSC [digital still camera] models expected to encounter stiff opposition from the cameras in cell phones, which increasingly … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Fear not, Verizon customers, never again will you have to miss an episode of your favorite TV show, as Sling Media has just announced that it will offer a subscription service to a select number of Big Red's upcoming 4G smartphones.

The service includes a Slingbox, SlingPlayer application, and networking accessories, which, coupled with Verizon's 4G network, will allow you to watch programming from your home TV on your smartphone.

Sling says that Verizon customers will be able to sign up for the service later this year through Verizon's mobile app store, V Cast Apps, beginning … Read more

Rockchip, a Chinese chip designer that focuses on processors for Net-connected phones, TVs, and e-book readers, announced a new processor today at CES that supports Google's WebM technology for video streaming.

WebM can be used to encode video with the the open-source and royalty-free VP8 video codec and Vorbis audio codec, and Google hopes it will keep patent encumbrances off the Net. Its primary competitor is the H.264 codec, also known as AVC, whose use requires licensing an expensive set of patents.

Crucial to WebM's success, though, is hardware support that speeds decoding and saves battery power … Read more

LAS VEGAS--BlackBerry owners now have a way to send content directly from their phones to their PCs.

Introduced this week at CES, the new Tazzle IT device connects a BlackBerry to any Windows PC via a Bluetooth connection, allowing people to send e-mails, file attachments, documents, photos and other files to their computers for easier access.

BlackBerry owners install the Tazzle app on their phones and computers and then plug the Tazzle USB stick into the PC for instant BlueTooth pairing. Once the connection is established, people can not only send content from their phones but also directly view and … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Just as we reported yesterday, Huawei introduced a new phone for the U.S. market at this year's CES, the Huawei Ideos X5. This midrange Android handset is no stranger; it's already been released in Asia. The U.S. timetable is much murkier--Huawei is keeping the U.S. launch date, carrier, and price under wraps until later this month.

In that sense, the specs are no surprise. The slim, trim Ideos X5 has a nice 3.8-inch screen with a WVGA display (800x480 pixels). It looked bright in our hands and we liked the dark gray brushed … Read more

LAS VEGAS--"Flexible" isn't something you'd think you needed in a cell phone screen, but CES is all about concepts and future applications in addition to big-name product releases.

That's why we were excited to see prototypes of two Samsung displays. One is a malleable screen you can actually bend in a wave or arc. The 4.5-inch screen has an impressive WVGA (800x480 pixel) resolution that you can curve. It's also paper-thin, less than 0.3mm thick.

We may have been a bit drastic with our photo shoot (see image above,) but there … Read more

LAS VEGAS--No shortage of Dell news today.

On Thursday at its press conference, Dell debuted the Streak 7, but right after that presentation the company showed a very quick look at the Dell Streak 10.

The Streak 10 will have a 10-inch screen and will be geared toward business and enterprise users.

Expect built-in support for VPN and other business-related features.

No work yet on release date, price, or if there will be a consumer version.

LAS VEGAS--Clarity, a leading provider of amplified telephones and assistive listening devices for seniors and those with hearing loss, has learned over the years that many seniors (75 and older) need new tech to be simple. Really simple.

An example: it's removed the plastic around its phone cords in packaging because so many reported having a hard time doing it themselves.

So the company's new customer service platform, ClarityLogic, gives their customer service call center access to each customer's phone so that, with the click of one button, they can get help for any phone issues without … Read more