Dialed In

San Francisco officials have indefinitely delayed implementation of the city's Right to Know ordinance, which would have required retailers to display a phone's Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) at the point of sale and distribute materials educating consumers on cell phone radiation. A revamped version of the legislation is likely to be introduced in its place, but no further details have been announced.

First passed last June, the ordinance (PDF) quickly prompted a lawsuit from the wireless industry's lobbying arm, the CTIA. In addition to claiming that the law was unconstitutional because only the FCC and FDA have … Read more

The Samsung Infuse 4G is a remarkable smartphone, but not for the reasons you might be thinking. Yes, the massive 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus touch screen, thin 8.9mm design, and 1.2GHz processor are impressive, but none of these features has Android fanboys buzzing with excitement. Rather, the hot topic today is that the Infuse 4G is the first Android phone from AT&T to allow app installation from outside of the Android Market.

Long a thorn in the side of Android enthusiasts, AT&T has restricted the ability to load apps from any source outside … Read more

What do you get when you merge Android 2.3 Gingerbread with a 1GHz dual-core processor, a 4.3-inch high-end screen, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, and 4G capability? Simply Samsung's best smartphone to date.

The Samsung Galaxy S II (first announced at Mobile World Congress) impresses with a long list of top-shelf features that overall deliver. Not every design element is perfect and we weren't always able to maintain 4G-like speeds, a hurdle that's hardly surprising given this model is an unlocked handset that's unoptimized for US networks.

However, the FCC's recent clearance … Read more

U.S. Cellular announced today its plans for bringing 4G LTE coverage and cell phones to more than a quarter of its customers in 2011.

The nation's sixth largest mobile operator will roll out 4G service in stages, starting with Iowa, Maine, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wisconsin. 

"In addition to our line-up of cutting-edge devices, customers who switch to U.S. Cellular get unique benefits like faster phone upgrades without continuously signing contracts, and join the happiest customers in wireless," said Mary Dillon, U.S. Cellular's president and CEO, in a statement.

U.S. … Read more

Few companies other than Apple can inspire such burning questions in the tech world. And until they're answered, those questions orbit around the blogosphere at tremendous speed. When will Verizon get the iPhone? How much will the next MacBook weigh? Will the iPad ever get Flash?

In the last few weeks, however, one question has put the tech press on the the edge of its collective seat like never before. It wasn't about the capacity of the next iPod, but rather whether the long-elusive white iPhone 4 was thicker than its black counterpart. Apple fans demanded to know … Read more

Sony Ericsson unveiled the follow-up models to last year's Xperia X10 Mini and Xperia X10 Mini Pro today, refreshing the pair with Gingerbread and improved specifications.

Due later this year, both handsets feature a 3-inch touch display, 5-megapixel camera, and 1GHz Snapdragon processor. As was the case with the first generation of these Xperia phones, the primary difference between the two is that the Mini Pro features a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, whereas the Mini is touch only. Additionally, the Mini Pro adds a front-facing VGA camera and a pair of business-minded apps: Office Suite and McAfee Antivirus.

At first … Read more

NEW YORK--We haven't heard a peep about the Samsung Infuse 4G since it was first introduced at CES 2011, and frankly, we were beginning to wonder if the Android smartphone would ever see the light of day, but it looks like its day has finally come.

At a special event in New York today, AT&T and Samsung announced that the Infuse 4G would be available starting May 15 for $199.99 with a two-year contract (no mail-in rebates).

Unlike the petite HP Veer 4G, which is also launching on that day, the Infuse sits on the opposite … Read more

BlackBerry users, your tweet game just stepped up a notch, as Twitter for BlackBerry version 2.0 is now available in BlackBerry Beta Zone. Thanks to a newly adopted "iterative development approach" at Research in Motion, this newest version comes to us less than a month after version 1.1 dropped.

The biggest improvement can be found in Twitter Search, which now combines the Find People, Search, and Popular Topics functions into a single unified search screen. Trends and Saved Searches are also tucked in there, making for a more streamlined search experience overall. And for BlackBerry 6 … Read more

Good news, America. The Samsung Galaxy S II (GT-I9100T) recently cleared the FCC. Although there's been no official word yet from either Samsung or AT&T, it's suspected that AT&T may be the carrier to bring this top-notch Android smartphone home. Testing suggests that the Galaxy S II will support AT&T's 850/1900MHz 3G bands, though at CNET we've been using an unlocked version with an AT&T SIM card and receiving HSPA+ speeds (review on its way--check back soon!)

The Galaxy S II has a lot going for it, … Read more