handset

Remember the Novophone, that nifty retro handset that plugs into your iPhone for old-school, crook-of-the-neck gab-fests? It was cool, but it was only half the picture.

The iRetrofone completes it, combining a similar corded handset with a big, black, 50s-style base. It looks like something right out of a Humphrey Bogart movie, one with private eyes, dangerous dames, and a big old office desk.

As you can no doubt guess from the photo, the iRetrofone is essentially an iPhone dock. You plug an included cord into the audio jack, connect your existing sync cable to the dock connector (too bad … Read more

Nokia saw its earnings and sales grow in the first quarter, though the results didn't meet analysts' expectations.

On Thursday, the Finland-based mobile phone maker reported earnings of 349 million euros ($465 million), or 9 cents a share, for the quarter ended March 31, a healthy boost from the 122 million euros it earned in 2009's first quarter.

Sales inched up 3 percent to 9.52 billion euros, showing growth for the first time in two years. But analysts as a whole were looking for earnings of 15 cents a share and sales of 9.69 billion euros.… Read more

The first time I saw the Novophone, I laughed. Then I mocked. Then I got a little thirsty. Finally, after thinking about it for a while, I started to develop some genuine interest in the thing. Desire, even. Is it crazy, or am I?

As you can tell from the photo, the Novophone is a handset--a full-size, old-fashioned, haven't-seen-one-since-the-'80s corded handset.

Just plug it into your cell phone, then enjoy a trip down Nostalgia Lane as you cradle it comfortably on your shoulder, stretch and twirl the coiled cord, roll around on the couch, and tell your BFF … Read more

Customer satisfaction is greater among users of smartphones and handsets sporting touch screens than among those whose wireless phones require other input methods, according to two new J.D. Power surveys released Thursday.

The survey measuring customer satisfaction among smartphone owners in the U.S. found that smartphones with touch screens ranked 771 out of 1,000 points, a full 40 points higher than smartphones without a touch screen. A little more than half of owners said their smartphone has a touch screen. Though touch screens aren't as prevalent on traditional mobile phones, satisfaction with those devices reached 756 points on the scale, 53 points higher than the industry average, the survey of traditional-handset owners showed.

Smartphones were ranked for ease of operation, operating system, physical design, features, and battery power. Traditional handsets were graded for their operation, overall design, features, and battery life. Individual scores in each category were added up to create a total grade for each different brand of popular phones.

Among smartphone manufacturers, Apple hit the No. 1 spot for overall satisfaction with a score of 810, followed by BlackBerry maker Research In Motion with a grade of 741. Among companies who make traditional handsets, LG won the top spot by scoring 729, following by Sanyo at 712 and Samsung at 703.… Read more

Smartphones will capture 37 percent of the worldwide cell phone market by 2014, a leap from 16 percent in 2009, predicts a new report from Pyramid Research.

The report, released late last week, sees much of the growth coming from outside the U.S., notably in emerging markets. Across the globe, China is likely to outpace the U.S. as the largest smartphone market next year. Latin America will be the fastest-growing region over the next five years, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 48 percent for smartphone sales, forecasts Pyramid.

"Pyramid expects China to capture the … Read more

Though stung by a higher net loss and lower sales for the third quarter, Sony Ericsson managed to beat expectations.

The mobile phone maker said Friday it lost 164 million euros ($243.7 million) in the quarter, compared with a loss of 25 million euros ($37.1 million) in the third quarter of 2008.

But analysts polled had been eyeing a net loss of 227 million euros. The company's results also showed an improvement over the second quarter when the company had a net loss of 213 million euros.

Sales for the third quarter fell to 1.62 billion … Read more

Cell phones are the hottest tech items of the year, and one of the most frequent questions we get at CNET is: what's the best phone?

We conferred with Mr. Kent German, who sees every phone created, and worked up a list to count down. And don't forget you can post an answer to the lame prize question in the comments for a chance to win the signed iPhone cases! So watch the show and come back.

T-Mobile has demonstrated the first pay-as-you-go Android handset to go on sale in the UK.

The Pulse, which is manufactured by Huawei, was announced on Thursday. Huawei is best known in the UK for manufacturing mobile broadband dongles for operators such as T-Mobile, and the Pulse marks its entry into the British handset market.

"The T-Mobile Pulse represents another Android milestone from T-Mobile," said Nicola Shenton, who currently heads the operator's handset business in the UK, in a statement. "We introduced the first Android handset, the T-Mobile G1, to the UK back in October 2008, launched … Read more

Whenever Dell does unveil its much-hinted-about new handset, it will apparently be taking a nontraditional route to the market, according to an analyst report Monday.

Dell has decided to sell its new product through retailers only, Ashok Kumar of Collins Stewart said. While that's certainly interesting, and in line with Dell's recent record of testing new ways of approaching the market with its products, the reason Kumar gives is far more tantalizing: he says U.S. and European carriers were none too impressed with Dell's effort when the company tried to sign up some wireless partners during a meeting at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last month.

"The carriers, who see products from all the leading handset vendors, have decided to pass on Dell's handset," he wrote in a research note Monday. "Some carriers are citing a noncompelling product with a road map that lags competition."

Dell hasn't responded to a request for comment. But if Kumar's claims are true, this presents serious problems for Dell. The company already has relationships with some of the major carriers, including AT&T and Verizon Wireless, to sell wireless-service plans for its notebooks and Netbooks in the United States and in Europe. Rejecting what will, by its very nature, be a high-profile product from a current business partner doesn't speak very well of the product's competitiveness.

Having been rejected from the major carriers will also handicap the device from the start, since U.S. consumers are conditioned to buying subsidized phones and may balk at paying a full price. But the bigger problem is that there's just not that much market share left to grab, especially without the marketing might of large carriers behind it.

"It's a crowded market. Two years ago, (Dell) may have had an opportunity, but (Research In Motion), Nokia, and Apple have been joined by HTC, Samsung, LG, Palm, Motorola, (and Acer)," Kumar said in an interview. "The market is extremely crowded just as it's slowing down." … Read more