Smartphones

We've heard a few people complain that taking photos initially with their iPhone took a while to get used to because of the awkward placement of the Camera app's shutter button and the shape of the phone. Tapping the shutter button resulted in blurred or out-of-focus photos. So forget about tapping that button; we've got a better solution!

We noted that when taking photos with the iPhone it will not actually take the photo until you release the shutter button. So the key to better photography on the iPhone is to press and hold the button while … Read more

Mozilla has been steadily creeping toward its goal of releasing the first Firefox browser for mobile phones. On Friday, Firefox 1.0 for Nokia's Maemo--previously code-named Fennec--arrived.

Firefox for the Maemo 5 platform has a few interesting conceits that set it apart from other mobile browsers, like Opera Mobile and Opera Mini. Mozilla is banking on the uniqueness of its claim to fame--third-party, customizable browser extensions--to help its browser win mobile market share. Add-ons, after all, helped make Firefox the top browser alternative to Internet Explorer in the desktop space. To punctuate the importance of add-ons for Firefox's mobile browser, Mozilla also pushed out on Friday the general release of its bookmark and history-syncing extension, Weave Sync 1.0, for both desktop and mobile.

Mozilla's accomplishment with a mobile version of Firefox is a mixed one, and not only because Maemo is a platform relatively few people have heard of. Nokia's open-source, Linux-based Maemo operating system supports mobile Firefox on just two devices--the N900 and the N810, an Internet tablet. To make matters more limited, just two days ago Mozilla unveiled a third release candidate with a last-minute decision to pull wholesale support for Adobe's Flash plug-in from the build, citing unhappiness with the overall standard of quality. As an aside, this is apparently a sore spot for Adobe, who became miffed with Apple for excluding Flash in its new iPad device about the same time that Mozilla made its comment about degraded performance when visiting Flash sites.

Yet what kind of mobile browser would Firefox be if users couldn't watch videos or adequately view Web sites that heavily rely on Flash? Not a browser anyone could take seriously.… Read more

Hardware specifications and details surrounding upcoming HTC Google Android handsets are coming to light. Two models in particular, the Bravo and Supersonic, are getting a lot of attention, which leads us to believe an announcement is coming soon. Much like the Nexus One and the Sony Ericsson Xperia 10, the new wave of Android handsets seem to all have two things in common: large screens and plenty of horsepower.

The HTC Bravo resembles the Nexus One, save for a few changes. Like the Nexus One, the Bravo features a 3.7-inch screen with 800x480 pixel resolution, a 5-megapixel camera, and … Read more

We've now had three weeks to play with the Nexus One, aka the "Google phone." After a lot of poking around under the hood, we still think that it's a great addition to the Google Android family and that it deserves our "Excellent" rating. But even so, there are three things with which we're not entirely comfortable.

3G reception and touch-screen Like with our CNET iPhone, we haven't experienced many problems with our Nexus One data connection. It's a little shaky in subway stations and deep inside buildings, but not much more so than other T-Mobile 3G phones. Yet, enough CNET readers have reported problems and T-Mobile admitted as much earlier this month. And earlier this week, the carrier said it is developing a fix, but cautioned that it may not solve the issues of all users. We're waiting to see what happens.

We've also aware that some Nexus One customers are having problems with their touch-screens. We haven't experienced this issue either, but we've heard from a lot of people who have. We tend to think this is more of a teething problem than an inherent flaw in the device, but we'll be watching this as well.

Yahoo e-mail As we've mentioned, we had trouble syncing Yahoo e-mail on the Nexus One when we tried the standard setup. Not only did we receive a message that the phone does not support all Yahoo accounts, but also it wouldn't recognize our user name and password. We finally were able to make it work using the manual setup, though it involved extra steps and information that isn't readily available.

If you're having trouble with Yahoo mail on your Nexus One, and we know that many of you are, try these steps.… Read more

In case you haven't heard, Nokia's launched its answer to Apple's App Store, the Ovi Store. To help kick things off, Nokia and its Ovi Store are giving away an unlocked N97 Mini to one lucky Crave reader (sorry, service isn't included).

Nokia describes the Ovi Store as a one-stop-shop for free and paid content, with support for a range of device types--from smartphones to feature phones. "Globally, Nokia device owners, in more than 180 countries, across more than 100 Nokia device models in 30 languages have access to the Ovi Store," according to … Read more

A new Research In Motion BlackBerry device, code-named Magnum, has been spotted and videotaped in the wild.

It appears to be the company's first touch-screen QWERTY device, and an attempt to bridge the gap between its popular Curve and Bold QWERTY handsets and its Storm touch-screen device.

Read more of "BlackBerry Magnum spotted in the wild; RIM's first touch-screen QWERTY" on ZDNet's The ToyBox.

Apple may have focused all its laser-beam attention on the iPad at Wednesday's press event, but that wasn't the computing giant's only announcement. Effective immediately, Apple has given up blocking voice-over-IP (VoIP) calls over 3G data networks on the iPhone, and has changed the SDK to reflect the allowance. Of course, your carrier has to also comply for VoIP calls to work over 3G in addition to Wi-Fi. Luckily for us, AT&T in the U.S. is already on board.

The iCall app was one of the first to announce the 3G compatibility news to … Read more

This episode of The 404 Podcast is dedicated to all of our heartbroken comrades out there who were expecting an Apple tablet computer, but got an Apple e-reader instead. Join us as we recap what might be the most underwhelming Apple product announcement since Apple TV.

Full disclosure here: This entire 30-minute episode is dedicated to the Apple iPad. We know a lot of you must be exhausted with all the moaning and groaning so far, but we'll take any opportunity to make fun of Wilson. Bear with us as we try to get him to say one bad thing about the iPad.

In addition to a healthy dose of polite yelling, we also play a collection of voice mails that drive the stake in even further. We guarantee tomorrow's show to be (relatively) free of Apple talk, and we're also very excited to welcome Jerry Ma and Cliff Chiang of the Asian-American comic anthology "Secret Identities," who will join us in the studio tomorrow to talk about state of the industry, ethnic minorities in the comic genre, and...well let's face it, we want their artistic opinion of the iPad.