Dialed In

Nvidia's mobile future might have been leaked yesterday on a Chinese forum site.

A user going by the name "Xenomorph" yesterday republished an image shared on China's Twitter equivalent Weibo, detailing what could be the mobile processor that Nvidia launches to replace the Tegra 3. And for now, it's being called "Wayne."

According to the image, Wayne, which might eventually be renamed Tegra 4, comes with Nvidia's 4-Plus-1 technology, meaning the chipset will have four regular cores and another low-power core designed to save battery life. That CPU is described as a &… Read more

Samsung Electronics is the new leader in cell phones.

Already ahead of the pack in smartphones, Samsung extended its dominance over the entire worldwide handset industry by displacing longtime cell phone king Nokia, according to a study by IHS.

The role reversal illustrates how fast Samsung has risen, thanks largely to its Galaxy S smartphone franchise, and how far Nokia has fallen. Prior to this year, Nokia enjoyed a 14-year reign atop the cell phone market, though its past few years were propped up by its legacy Symbian platform.

Samsung controlled 29 percent of the overall cell phone market, and … Read more

AT&T said today that it has brought its faster 4G LTE network to five more cities, as well as expanded coverage in a few major cities.

Green Bay, Wis.; Springfield, Mass.; Tucson, Ariz.; Melbourne, Fla.; and Oxford, Miss. are the newest additions to AT&T's LTE network. That brings the total to 125 cities.

Customers in Phoenix, Los Angeles, New York, and Salt Lake City should all benefit from better coverage as well.

The faster connection enabled by a 4G LTE network has been a chief selling point for the carriers this year. Verizon, however, has … Read more

China is now the world's largest Android market, market researcher Informa said today.

Informa estimates that about 786 million smartphones will be sold worldwide by the end of the year, up 45 percent compared with 2011. Total Android-based smartphone sales this year will hit 461 million units. One-third of all of the Android devices sold in 2012 were sold in China, making it the world's largest Android market.

That figure becomes all the more staggering when one considers that the United States is in second place with 11 percent of all Android device sales this year.

The fact … Read more

Samsung today unveiled the Samsung Galaxy Grand smartphone, which runs the Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean mobile operating system and sports a 5-inch WVGA display.

The smartphone also features a powerful dual-core 1.2GHz processor, along with 1GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel rear camera offering 1080p video recording and a 2-megapixel front camera.

It also includes 8GB of internal memory with a microSD memory expansion slot, Wi-Fi b/g/n, GPS functionality, and the usual perks, such as an accelerometer, compass, and gyroscopic sensor.

The Galaxy Grand also connects to high-speed HSPA+ networks, but falls short of offering 4G … Read more

ESPOO, Finland -- The executive offices of Angry Birds creator Rovio were exactly how I imagined them.

There were stuffed Angry Birds plush toys everywhere. Flanking the reception desk were Angry Birds versions of Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, and his Storm Trooper, created for the recent Angry Birds-Star Wars mashup game.

To the left was a short wooden crate blanketed by tiny Angry Birds figurines. To the right was an upright showcase chiller stocked with Angry Birds-themed soda, which recently launched in Finland and now outsells Coke and Pepsi. On the opposite end of the office was a cabinet with … Read more

Nokia has undergone a significant cultural and identity shift under the leadership of CEO Stephen Elop.

Elop didn't wait too long after he joined the company in September 2010 as CEO to make a splash. Five months into his tenure, he decided to drop the company's home-grown next-generation platform for Windows Phone, which just so happens to be created by his former employer.

But perhaps it's the changes within Nokia that will ultimately have the largest impact in the company's bid to turn itself … Read more

HELSINKI, Finland -- Local startup Jolla believes what few others do: that even with four major smartphone operating systems vying for supremacy -- or just relevancy -- there is still room for one more at the party.

Jolla hopes to resurrect MeeGo, which was once considered Nokia's savior and next-generation platform before it was dumped for Windows Phone. The company, founded by former Nokia product engineers intimate with the development of MeeGo, brought back the community-driven successor as Sailfish late last month.

There isn't a better example of a David and Goliath story. Jolla is made up of … Read more

HELSINKI, Finland -- I came here to listen for a death rattle.

It was a late Monday morning in late November when I arrived, and there was no sunlight. None. The sky was gray, bleaching out the city's colorful buildings. I asked the cab driver whether it would get any brighter, but he wasn't confident. The sun comes up late in the day and fades early in the afternoon this time of year. As even the Finns concede with a stoic chuckle, it's depressing.

Unsurprisingly, it's considered the worst time of the year to travel to … Read more