Smartphones

Poynt for iPhone: Like a Google, Flixster, Yelp mashup

Article corrected 3/3/2010 at 12:00 PT (SuperPages.com supports its own version of Yellow Pages) and updated stability issues at 2:00 pm PT.

The field of iPhone search apps is already crowded with Yelp, Urbanspoon, and Zagat for dining; Flixster's Movies app for showtimes; YellowPages for people; and Google Mobile App for just about everything else. Now here comes Poynt, a new free iPhone search app that mashes together elements of them all.

At its core, Poynt is an aggregator of third-party services encased in an attractive wrapper. SuperPages.com powers the business listings; CinemaSource feeds you entertainment info and facilitates ticket purchases via MovieTickets.com. Poynt taps SuperPages, CitySearch, and OpenTable to find you food, and Google Maps handles all mapping and directions on its native app. With the exception of Google Maps, which kicks you out, Poynt keeps you in its environment with an in-app browser.

Poynt's feature set is strong overall, with buttons for visiting the Web site where available, calling, mapping, searching nearby, streaming movie trailers, and viewing augmented reality if you have an iPhone 3GS. Instead of tapping to place a call, Poynt employs a calling gesture. As with voice search in Google Mobile app, lifting the phone to your ear triggers the action.… Read more

Top 25 tough iPhone cases

Note: If you own an iPhone 4 or 4S for, please go to Top 20 tough cases for iPhone 4 and 4S. This article features iPhone 3GS cases.

How you choose to protect--or not protect--your iPhone is a matter of personal choice. Sure, plenty of people like to leave their iPhone naked, reasoning that any protective cover diminishes its sleekness. But the majority of iPhone owners realize it's probably a good idea to give your precious device some degree of armor, particularly if you don't like the idea of seeing your iPhone's lovely finish dinged and scratched … Read more

Superaffordable Nokia 5230 Nuron headed to T-Mobile

Everyone loves a great deal and Nokia and T-Mobile are offering one heck of a value with the upcoming Nokia 5230 Nuron.

Due to arrive at T-Mobile in the coming weeks, the Nuron is a 3G touch-screen smartphone that will sell for just $69.99 with a two-year contract. For that price, you're also getting free turn-by-turn, voice-guided navigation since the device ships with Ovi Maps. The app includes maps for the U.S., Canada, and Mexico and offers pedestrian mode, weather forecasts, and Lonely Planet guides, among other things. There is no monthly subscription required to get this … Read more

AT&T's Motorola Backflip reviewed

On March 7, AT&T will release its first Google Android smartphone, the Motorola Backflip, for $99.99 with a two-year contract and after a $100 mail-in rebate.

The Backflip made its debut at CES 2010 where it earned our Best of CES award for the cell phones and smartphones category because of its unique design, which includes a rear-facing QWERTY keyboard and a trackpad behind the display. Unfortunately, after now spending some time with the final product, this seems to be the only real highlight of the phone.

The Backflip suffers from performance issues and runs Android 1.… Read more

Turn your arm into a phone with Skinput

What if your skin could serve as an interactive surface? Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Microsoft have produced Skinput, an experimental device that turns the body's largest organ into a touch screen.

CMU's Chris Harrison and colleagues at Microsoft rigged up an acoustic bio-sensor to detect sound patterns created when tapping a forearm or palm. Each area has a specific acoustic signature that can be associated with functions like dialing a phone or playing Tetris. Pinching and flicking gestures can also be used for commands.

The video below shows how the system works. A bulky armband array … Read more

Nokia kicks off C series with the new C5

We've known for some time that a new group of Nokia handsets was on its way, and Tuesday the company spilled the first handset in its C series. We spotted the C6 on the FCC database last week, but today's news concerns the C5.

The minimalist candy bar design is very Nokia. No, the gray and white color schemes aren't very exciting, but we like its clean lines, the trim profile (0.47 inch), and what appears to be a spacious navigation array. You'll also see a 2.2-inch display and an alphanumeric keypad.

Features on … Read more

The 411: Feature phones vs. smartphones

Hi, 411 fans! I'm taking a break from answering questions this week and will instead go over a particularly interesting topic in the mobile phone industry. I'll go back to answering your queries next time around. Please send your questions to nicole.lee@cnet.com. Thanks!

As much press as smartphones like the Apple iPhone and the Nexus One get, Americans by and large still prefer to use less powerful "feature phones." For example, the LG enV Touch (just a feature phone, not a smartphone) was one of the most popular phones on Verizon for a long time- our CNET review of the enV Touch consistently made our monthly Top Five list for the most pageviews from July to October in 2009. It was even No. 1 for two of those months (August and September). There was also an NPD report last year that claimed around 72 percent of new handset sales in Q2 of 2009 were feature phones, not smartphones.

On the face of it, this is understandable. Smartphones are seen as complex and might have features that many consumers don't need or want. Feature phones are typically easier to use, and are cheaper to boot. But this field is rapidly changing--feature phones aren't so simple anymore, while smartphones are focusing much more on the consumer market. More importantly, the pricing differences aren't as clear cut as you might think. The lines between the two categories are blurrier than ever, and I'm thinking a shift in the balance might be forthcoming. … Read more

Seesmic updates Blackberry, Windows Twitter apps

Seesmic has seen a flurry of development on the Web, desktop, and mobile phones lately. Last week, the third-party developer of Twitter apps released an update to its Web-based Twitter manager that outmaneuvered its downloadable Windows apps.

Seesmic also issued a version bump for its BlackBerry app. The new Seesmic for BlackBerry 1.3 now supports posting messages on up to 10 Twitter accounts versus just one default account. You view only one account at a time, and switch accounts from the bottom of the context menu. It's not a seamless transfer, but it works. Seesmic for BlackBerry also … Read more

Sprint focuses on price

Editors' note: Sprint also advertises on CNET.

We've always followed Sprint's television ads with interest, primarily because they've been a roller coaster ride. We were never fans of the black-and-white spots with CEO Dan Hesse, but we liked the most recent campaign that tried to demonstrate what users could do on the carrier's network at that given moment.

Now Hesse is back, and frankly his claws are out. On Monday, Sprint announced a new commercial that will focus on its "Any Mobile, Anytime" calling plan. In the TV spot, Hesse informs viewers that unlike … Read more