ice

It's the apps, stupid.

Users will stick with iOS because of the abundance of apps despite problems with the rollout of iOS 6, said a Taipei-based analyst.

A rocky introduction of new in-house apps such as Maps and Siri nothwithstanding, users will stick with iOS because they "have already bought so many mobile apps and music on the iOS platform that it would be hard for them to switch to other devices running on the Android or Windows operating systems," said Simon Yang, an analyst at the Topology Research Institute, speaking in Monday's China Post.

Yang … Read more

Doran Else bought his Photon 4G last October, lured by the fast dual-core processor and by the close relationship between Motorola and its new owner, Google. Motorola had recently joined the Android Upgrade Alliance, promising to release operating system updates to all its phones for 18 months following their release.

But for Else and thousands of others, those operating system updates turned out to be a mirage. Last Friday, buried in a Motorola forum, the company quietly abandoned its update pledge, killing off plans to ever update the Photon 4G. The Electrify, a re-branded Photon available on the US Cellular … Read more

Pantech's Burst and Element will be getting the Ice Cream Sandwich treatment starting today.

Both phones can be upgraded to Android 4.0, AT&T said in a blog post published today. The update brings the phones to the second latest version of Android, behind Jelly Bean, or Android 4.1.

To download the update for the Burst, go here. To download the update to the Element, go here.

The two Pantech phones are mass market smartphones and part of AT&T's strategy to widen its smartphone base with more attractive pricing.

Perhaps believing that it's not wise to put all its smartphones in an iPhone basket, AT&T has been on an Android tear lately. The last two weeks have yielded eight handset announcements with more on the way as we head full-on into the holiday buying season. Suffice it to say, AT&T is headed into the fourth quarter with its strongest Android lineup to date.… Read more

For the Apple-loyal, the iPhone 5 is practically an automatic purchase. But for the rest of you, it can't hurt to know what your options are.

A few weeks ago, CNET's Brian Bennett posted a roundup of the best iPhone 5 alternatives. It turns out that there are tons of excellent smartphones out there that can match (and in some ways surpass) Apple's iPhone 5. The above video collects Brian's top picks into a rated list.

So if you're wondering about your smartphone options, be sure … Read more

AT&T is preparing to offer an "entry-level" Android 4.0 experience in the form of the LG Escape, according to recent internet chatter.

Also possibly known as model number of P870, the LG smartphone will run Android Ice Cream Sandwich and feature a 4.3-inch (960x540-pixel) display, a dual-core 1.2 GHz Qualcomm MSM8960 Snapdragon S4 processor, a 5-megapixel camera, and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera. The device is expected to carry a 2,150mAh battery and 1GB RAM.

Additional details for the unofficial phone include NFC and support for AT&T's 4G LTE … Read more

Google's Android market is still dominated by Gingerbread.

Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) versions, which first appeared on the mobile scene in December 2010, are currently running on 57.5 percent of all Android devices, new data posted on the platform's developers site shows. The newer Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) comes in at 20.9 percent market ownership. Android 2.2 (Froyo) is running on 14 percent of devices.

Ice Cream Sandwich is slowly but surely gaining on Gingerbread: last month, the former had just 16 percent share, compared with more than 60 percent for the latter.… Read more

The Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G smartphone now has an official U.S. launch date, or rather a launch timeframe.

The Korean handset maker said today that the phone will appear on T-Mobile's network sometime in the coming weeks. T-Mobile subscribers will be able to order the phone through the carrier's retail outlets, certain third-party stores, and online through T-Mobile's site.

Initially known as the Galaxy S Blaze Q, the phone was rechristened with its current moniker last month. The Relay 4G was also allegedly supposed to reach consumers in August.

Sporting Android 4.0 Ice Cream … Read more

Mobile phone customers can choose from even more contract-free plans from RadioShack as of today.

Four new plans are available altogether through Cricket Wireless -- two for feature phones and two for smartphones.

The $25-per-month feature phone plan offers 300 voice minutes, while the $35 plan raises that to 1,000 minutes. Both plans up the ante with unlimited data access, unlimited texting, call waiting, and three-way calling.

The $50-per-month smartphone plan adds unlimited voice minutes and promises that the first gigabyte of data will run at full 3G speeds. The $60 plan offers the first 2.5GB of data … Read more