s3

If you're a Samsung Galaxy S3 owner, your long, patient wait for an Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update will soon end.

Starting today, T-Mobile will begin pushing Android 4.1.1 over the air and through the Samsung Kies app.

If you run into trouble, T-Mobile provides documentation to help you through the process.

Among other changes, Android Jelly Bean offer richer notifications, an improved Search app that also includes Google Now, and much more powerful Android Beam functionality.

When you get it, tell us how you like the update! Chime in below.

For all the flexibility that comes with rooting an Android smartphone, there are always intrinsic risks. Such is the case with at least one Samsung Galaxy S3. A moderator over at XDA forums recently discovered that his handset was storing his Google account password in clear text in the S-Memo application.

While this isn't so much of an issue for nonrooted Galaxy S3 users, it's worth a reminder that rooting could give novices more than they bargained for. Not all developers are trustworthy, not all custom ROMs are stable and secure, and you do put yourself at risk … Read more

Lenovo expects the growing market for 7-inch tablets to compete with large-screen smartphones, not PCs.

During the company's second-quarter earnings conference call Thursday, Lenovo Chief Executive Yang Yuanqing said he had just read a report on Apple's iPad Mini and was encouraged about the trend in the tablet market.

"The market accepts the 7-inch [tablet] better than the 10-inch. That's a very strong signal, the tablet will not replace the traditional PC," he said during the conference call.

Yuanqing continued. "Probably, the tablet will compete with the large-screen smartphone rather than the PC," … Read more

The latest statistics from research firm Strategy Analytics peg Samsung's Galaxy S3 as the world's most popular smartphone model, holding 10.7 percent of the global smartphone market in the third quarter.

According to the research firm, Apple's iPhone 4S was relegated to a close second place with 9.7 percent of the market after two years at the top of the list, while the iPhone 5 held just 3.6 percent of the global share.

According to the figures, Samsung shipped 18 million Galaxy S3 units in the third quarter, up from 5.4 million in … Read more

Allen Calvin earned a doctorate in experimental psychology, was a consulting professor at Stanford University, and is currently the president of Palo Alto University, a post he's been holding for 28 years. He's learned a lot during his 84 years of living -- except for how to cut and paste text on a smartphone.

"I just want to copy anything and paste it out of an e-mail," he said with a voice that sounds like sandpaper. "This is obviously harder than it looks."

Calvin and his wife, Dorothy, are inside a brightly lit Verizon … Read more

When choosing a smartphone or a wireless carrier, it's important to know what your deal-breakers are.

There are so many choices today when it comes to picking out a new smartphone or even choosing a service provider. Devices come in different sizes, with different software and even different network support. And wireless carriers, which all have different strengths when it comes to network coverage, offer different packages with different prices for their services. When it comes to choosing a device or a carrier, which of these things is most important to you?

In this edition of Ask Maggie, I … Read more

If you've ever wondered about that intimate thing where two Samsung Galaxy S3s touch each other in order to communicate, wonder some more.

For here is a quite brilliant exposition of the full breadth of possibilities afforded by the NFC hidden in this marvelous device.

Just when you thought married life was nothing more than a repository of drudgery, woe and sinking feelings, here is a family that truly knows how to share.

For it isn't just this lovely husband's little kids who have made a video for him to share. It is also his wife.

Though … Read more

Sprint Nextel's super-fast 4G LTE network may not show up in major markets such as New York and San Francisco until as late as March, CNET has learned.

When Sprint said in September that it would launch in 100 markets "in the coming months," many customers were left scratching what exactly that meant. Internally, coming months refers to a period of three to six months, according to a person familiar with the company's roll out plans.

So the best-case scenario is a December launch, while the worst-case scenario calls for the service to be turned on … Read more

Samsung is making good on its goal of turning its flagship Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone into a household name.

Today, prepaid carrier MetroPCS announced that it would sell the Android 4.0 smartphone for $499. The 4.8-inch Galaxy S3 will ride MetroPCS' 4G LTE network at rates ranging from $30 to $70 per month.

The Galaxy S3 continues to sell like hotcakes around the globe. MetroPCS' offering not only brings good tidings to Samsung's bottom line, it also offers customers on the no-contract carrier one of the top phones available today, something that prepaid carriers like Metro often … Read more