ctia

NEW ORLEANS--Huawei issued forth no formal product announcement at CTIA 2012, but I did find this new Android smartphone quietly sitting at Huawei's booth.

The Ascend Y200 is part of Huawei's latest strategy in naming families of phones. The "Y" stands for youth, which also typifies mass market, entry-level phones with smaller screens, slower processors, and fewer camera extras.

An Android Gingerbread phone, the Ascend Y200 has a 3.5-inch touch screen, a 1GHz processor, and a 3.2-megapixel camera with no flash. It's a fairly attractive phone nonetheless, with smooth, round lines and a … Read more

NEW ORLEANS--You know all that typing on your phone's virtual keyboard? Snapkeys says that so long as you're using a QWERTY layout, you're doing it wrong.

The company believes that there's little logic to the traditional way a keyboard's arranged, and instead offers up an onscreen virtual keyboard that uses only four buttons.

The buttons are organized by letter types: one for letters that touch the bottom of a ruled line once (like T and I); one for letters with two touch points (like K and H); one for letters with straight lines at the … Read more

NEW ORLEANS--After three furious days, CTIA 2012 has come to a close. Though a visit to the Crescent City always is enjoyable, this year's event was a little quieter than in past years. But that doesn't mean we didn't see some very cool stuff. Here's what the CNET team picked as the Best of CTIA 2012.

Best phone: Samsung Galaxy S III Samsung may have unveiled its Samsung Galaxy S III flagship phone days before CTIA 2012 kicked off, but CTIA was our first chance to handle it. And at the end of the day, the … Read more

NEW ORLEANS--Wireless carriers are looking to Wi-Fi to help them offload traffic from their cellular networks. And a new standard will make it even easier for consumers to use the unlicensed airwaves. But would you pay extra for that easy access?

The Wi-Fi Alliance, a trade association promoting the use of Wi-Fi, says a recent survey indicates that nearly three-quarters of respondents said they would.

The Wi-Fi Alliance is promoting the new standard, which will basically allow people to access a carrier's Wi-Fi without ever typing a passcode or even selecting a Wi-Fi hot spot. The technology will automatically … Read more

Mobile phones weren't the only exciting tech that dazzled me at CTIA this week. Bluetooth gizmos put on a show as well. Here are a few of the devices that piqued my interest whether for having a neat skill, good looks, or for being very well priced. … Read more

NEW ORLEANS--When Apple introduced the iPhone 4 in 2010, it sported a new radical design with a full sheet of glass on its backside. While striking, the design didn't take kindly to drops on the sidewalk and the wrap-around antenna presented some unfortunate attenuation problems.

Neither scenario was best for consumers, but it also created a boon for anyone eager to make an iPhone case. And at the 2012 CTIA, it was clear that there's a lot of innovation behind such a practical product.

I began my last morning at CTIA visiting with Tech21, a London-based company furiously … Read more

NEW ORLEANS -- Former U.S. President Bill Clinton took the stage here on the final day of the CTIA trade show to emphasize the need for cooperation in solving problems domestically and abroad. And he pointed to the wireless industry as a good example of how this cooperative spirit has created an industry that is changing people's lives.

Clinton was the last keynote speaker at the CTIA conference. It was his second appearance at the industry's semi-annual trade show. He came to Orlando, Fla., in 2007 with former President George H. W. Bush.

The primary message that … Read more

NEW ORLEANS--In addition to showing off its V96 tablet this year here at CTIA, ZTE also displayed its AT&T Avail. The device is a prepaid GoPhone that retails for $129.99.

Equipped with a 3.5-inch TFT touch-screen display, the Avail has a 600MHz processor and includes 512MB of RAM.… Read more

NEW ORLEANS--Moshi is taking Apple's magnetic iPad case a step further, with origami.

The hard plastic Moshi iGlaze with Versacover case totally surrounds the iPad, combining both a protective screen that helps minimizes glare (but not as much as the separate iVisor product) with a back panel that wears a microfiber flap like a blanket.

Manipulate this flap along its folds to shape it into pyramidal formation that props up the iPad in both landscape and portrait modes. Fold it a different direction to fashion a stand for typing and viewing movies.

The magnetic cover works like Apple's … Read more