Smartphones

LAS VEGAS--Palm's announcement at CES 2010 wasn't a complete surprise. Rumors of the Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus for Verizon Wireless were floating around preshow for a few weeks, but that doesn't mean we weren't interested in checking out the products.

Luckily for us, Palm let us take a hands-on look at the devices this year (Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein even made a wisecrack about last year's restrictions at the press conference), and though they weren't quite the showstoppers that the Pre was at CES 2009, there were certainly things that … Read more

It's the same sad story: You're cruising along the Interstate, hungry for lunch, so you pull off at the first exit that has food--and end up at Burger King. (The horror. The horror.) Then you get back on the freeway, only to discover there's a Panera Bread at the very next exit. And a Chik-Fil-A! Oh, wretched fate.

Allstays.com's new iExit for iPhone shows you all the points of interest for upcoming exits: food, gas, lodging, auto repair, grocery stores, and so on.

Granted, any GPS (or GPS app) worth its salt will provide similar … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Ever since Apple opened up the door for developers to create turn-by-turn GPS applications with the third-generation iPhone operating system, there have been many GPS applications for the iPhone. However, soon owners of phones running on different platforms, including Android and Windows Mobile, won't be missing out anymore.

Navigon, the developer of the Navigon MobileNavigator for the iPhone, which for the time being is the most comprehensive iPhone GPS app with potentially more features than you can ask for, announced Thursday at CES 2010 its upcoming MobileNavigator app for Windows phones and Android platforms.

Unlike the version for … Read more

If you're a Palm Pre owner looking for some serious protection for your smartphone, you're in luck: OtterBox has announced its Tandem Series, a new case line designed for slider phones with the first model offering "flagship protection" for the Pre.

Building a case for a slider like the Pre is tricky. According to OtterBox, the Tandem Series provides two custom fit polycarbonate shells with overmolding and an adhesive screen to shield against scratches.

"Overmolding is an injection molding process that combines two materials into one interconnected component," says Curt Richardson, OtterBox's CEO. &… Read more

Update: CNET video added.

Outside of its Mobile Digital TV trial and the pledge to recycle one million phones in 2010, Samsung didn't have a lot to offer at CES. The company didn't announce any new phones, but it did offer a couple of handsets that debuted late last year. We got our first look at the company's W9600, which offers a pico projector for your viewing pleasure, and the bling-worthy Samsung Diva. Check them out in the accompanying slideshow, and be sure to watch Tom Merritt's W9600 video first look.

LAS VEGAS--In addition to its new Backflip Android phone, Motorola also announced updates to its other Android handsets at a CES press conference Wednesday night.

The Cliq is the biggest winner. Currently running on Android 1.5, the Motoblur-equipped device will jump past Android 1.6 to 2.0. Though Moto CEO Sanjay Jha didn't say when the update would take place, it's a welcome change to what we consider to be one of the better Google Android devices around.

Over at Verizon Wireless, the Droid will get Flash 10.1 for the Web browser and a maintenance … Read more

LAS VEGAS--After introducing the showstopper at last year's show, Palm is back again making new device announcements at CES 2010, including revamped versions of the Palm Pre and Palm Pixi. Read along with CNET's live blog for the full scoop.

10:54 a.m. Seated and waiting for the press conference to start. Not as big or packed as last year's event. Just got a 5-minute warning.

11:00 a.m. Palm Chairman Jon Rubinstein is on stage. Talking about all the various awards Palm has won over the year, including Best of Show last year.

11:… Read more

Since there's no such thing as too many music apps, Thumbplay has announced at CES its plan to turn its song and ringtone e-store into a downloadable, cloud-based, on-demand music player for desktops and smartphones.

Thumbplay Music launches on Thursday as an invitation-only beta for Windows, Mac, and select BlackBerry smartphones. A single Adobe AIR app will run Thumbplay Music on Windows and Mac. At launch, the app supports BlackBerry Tour (9630), Bold (9000), and Curve (8900) phones. Compatibility with a greater number of BlackBerry models, and apps for iPhone and Android, are next on Thumbplay's road map.… Read more

LAS VEGAS--On Wednesday, Motorola introduced its latest Google Android smartphone to the world, the Motorola Backflip. Scheduled for a global release at the beginning of Q1 2010, Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha said the device would be available in Europe, Asia, Latin America, and North America but would not disclose any carriers. Oh gee, it couldn't possibly be AT&T, which announced five upcoming Android smartphones, including one from Motorola, could it?

The Motorola Backflip is a quad-band GSM phone with support for the 850/1900/2100MHz 3G bands (coincidentally, AT&T's 3G bands), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and … Read more