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LAS VEGAS--T-Mobile USA said it will soon have bragging rights as the nation's fastest 3G network. But will the claim to fame help the company attract new customers?

Executives at the CTIA trade show here on Tuesday outlined the company's network upgrade plans to a technology called HSPA+ that will effectively triple its network download speeds on its 3G wireless network by the end of the year.

T-Mobile admits that it got to the 3G wireless party late, but executives at the company said current upgrades to their network will offer faster speeds to more consumers than even … Read more

LAS VEGAS--T-Mobile USA on Tuesday announced its first Netbook for its 3G wireless network here at the CTIA trade show.

Starting Wednesday in select markets, T-Mobile will begin selling the Dell Inspiron Mini 10 Netbook with access to the company's newly upgraded HSPA 7.2 network. The device, which comes with Windows 7 installed as well as an Intel Atom processor for fast Web surfing, will be $199.99 with a two-year contract. Customers can buy the device without a contract for $499.

T-Mobile charges $60 per month for its data card service, which gives users 5GB of usage … Read more

With the recent release of DisplayMate Multimedia Edition for Mobile Displays, a battery of tests to measure the quality of portable screens--and apparently because I'm a glutton for punishment--I thought now would be the perfect time to bring five popular smartphones back to CNET Labs for a down-and-dirty comparison of their screen performance.

The five phones I chose to put through the ringer (ahem) are the Samsung Behold II, the Motorola Droid, the Apple iPhone 3GS, the HTC Nexus One by Google, and the Palm Pre Plus. These five were chosen because of their relative popularity and similar feature sets.

We used three different types of tests to evaluate each phone:

Scientific measurements: We used the Konica Minolta CS-200 ChromaMeter to test the maximum brightness, black level, and contrast ratio of each phone and reported numbers for each of these three tests.

Test pattern screens: We used several DisplayMate Mobile test patterns to test for color-tracking errors, 24-bit color, and font legibility, among others.

Real-world: Finally, we conducted real-world anecdotal testing using 3D games, photos, and a little tool I like to call "the Sun" to test the diffuse reflectance of each display.

All test screens were viewed within each phone's native gallery application. Some phones may handle pictures differently--and even improve them to some extent--outside the application. That said, we believe that testing within the respective gallery applications is still a viable test as this is where most users will view pictures on their phones.

In order to diminish potential repetition, I'll dive right into the details of how each phone performed; if you'd like to know more about our tests, you can binge off nerdy details in our "How we tested" section at the bottom of this article. Please note that this is an evaluation of each phone's screen performance and nothing else. Check out the full reviews of these phones to determine which is right for you. Also, DisplayMate recently conducted a more technically focused evaluation of the iPhone 3GS' and the Nexus One's screens that I recommend you take a look at.

The bottom line… Read more

LAS VEGAS--At CES 2010, AT&T revealed that it would add two Palm WebOS smartphones to its lineup. On Monday, we learned the identities and prices of the upcoming devices.

The Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus will be available from AT&T in the coming months (no specific release dates were given) for $149.99 and $49.99, respectively, with a two-year contract and after a $100 mail-in rebate.

There are not a lot of surprises in the announcement, since the hardware and software on both phones are largely similar to their Verizon Wireless counterparts. However, both … Read more

Not everyone likes the idea of having PC speakers with a separate subwoofer. But the reality is that unless you step up to something like Audioengine's fairly large and pricey A5 bookshelf speakers, you tend to need a 2.1 system to deliver a richer, more bass-laden audio experience.

Altec Lansing's Expressionist Plus FX3021 2.1 system isn't nearly as beefy as the company's current top-of-the-line PC speaker system, the Expressionist Ultra, but it manages to deliver decent sound at an affordable price--less than $100. It also looks good, though the speakers' glossy black finish is … Read more

Everyone, calm down. Rumors of the death of the Palm Pre and Pre Plus are not true.

The rumors started spreading like wildfire earlier Thursday when a report by OTR Global said three different sources confirmed that Palm suspended all future orders of the Pre and Pre Plus.

In the memo, a "key source" was reported as saying, "The decision is very sudden, and Foxconn was told to reduce all February Pre forecast to zero on Wednesday and nobody knows whether shipment will resume in March." Well, perhaps if someone had bothered to take a second … Read more

McAfee spent three years researching and developing a new vertical interface for its consumer security suites, and has made them far better in the process. The improved detection engine includes enhanced download scanning, faster scan and start-up times, and a stronger firewall.

Check out this First Look video for a tour of McAfee AntiVirus Plus. If you're interested in McAfee Internet Security 2010 or McAfee Total Protection 2010, note that those upgrades have more features tacked onto the same security engine, but they lack trials.

Security suite vendor McAfee debuts its 2010 product line today, introducing an overhauled interface and new features in a bid to remain competitive. The change to its interface is as dramatic a shift as the one that Avast introduced in its 2010 suites, although McAfee's look is drastically different from any major security program currently on the market. Most of the features in McAfee AntiVirus Plus, McAfee Internet Security, and McAfee Total Protection are not new, but the presentation is so radical that the improvements are likely to be glossed over. Users of older McAfee should note that VirusScan … Read more

There are many theories as to why some Brits like to drink many pints of beer, smash the glasses, and then jab the jagged edges into each other's faces.

Some blame "glassing" on the disappearance of the Colonial Empire. Some point to the limited licensing hours, which have traditionally encouraged little Englanders to down 10 pints in three hours, until their legs have left them for another paradigm. But what has always been clear is that beer glasses made from glass have led far too often to glass eyes.

Now, however, scientists have discovered a way to … Read more