cellular

Researcher Don A. Bailey will be showing at the Black Hat security conference next week how easy it is to open and even start a car remotely by hacking the cellular network-based security system. Even more disturbing is the message that demonstration brings, that cars aren't the only things at risk.

"We are seeing more GSM [Global System for Mobile Communications]-enabled systems popping up in consumer culture and industrial control systems. They're not just in Zoombak [Global Positioning System] location devices and personal security control systems, but also in sensors deployed for waste treatment facilities, SCADA [… Read more

The last time we checked in with U.S. Cellular, the carrier was promising no less than seven Android devices by the end of the year. At the time we had a few clues about possible manufacturers, but we were largely left in the dark as to what to expect. Thanks to a recently leaked road map, however, we now have a clearer picture as to what lies ahead for the nation's sixth largest carrier.

As expected, HTC figures to play a prominent role in the second half of 2011 with two phones and tablet on the horizon. Tech-savvier Android fans will enjoy the Desire 2 (Desire S) while new smartphone buyers might gravitate more toward the entry-level Wildfire S. Both of these handsets should replace current offerings and join the U.S. Cellular lineup at some point in October. Before that, however, the HTC Flyer is expected to arrive in August, presumably as part of a back-to-school offering. The 7-inch tablet and stylus combination could make for a good digital assistant, especially if the price is right. … Read more

The LG Cosmos Touch has arrived for U.S. Cellular in the form of the LG Attune. It's essentially the same phone but with a slightly different button layout and it comes in a red color scheme instead.

It has a 2.8-inch touch screen, a four-row QWERTY keyboard, Bluetooth, a 1.3-megapixel camera, GPS, and microSD support for up to 16GB cards. The LG Attune is meant as a basic messaging phone with a touch-screen interface. It's available now for $49.99 after a $50 rebate and a two-year contract. A data plan is required with the … Read more

Even glancing at U.S. Cellular's smartphone lineup, one thing stands out. With the exception of a couple of BlackBerrys, Android completely dominates. Or it did, until the HTC 7 Pro muscled its way in, a rebranding of Sprint's HTC Arrive.

As staunch supporters of mobile platform diversity and consumer choice, this is a very good thing. The handset, while heavy, has some interesting design elements, including a screen that tilts up when you slide open the QWERTY keyboard. The keyboard itself has rubbery buttons that are easy to press, and the HD video capture and playback are … Read more

As U.S. Cellular promised last week, the carrier is launching its first Windows Phone 7 device this summer (and by this summer, we mean tomorrow). The carrier announced today that the HTC 7 Pro will be available on June 14 for $199.99 with a two-year contract and after a $100 mail-in rebate.

Similar to the HTC Arrive for Sprint, the smartphone features a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and a tilting 3.6-inch, WVGA touch screen. The HTC 7 Pro also has a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and a 5-megapixel camera with 720p HD video capture, along with the Xbox Live and Zune integration and other goodies that come with Windows Phone.

The HTC 7 Pro will require a data plan, which starts at $79.99 per month for 5GB of data, unlimited text and multimedia messages, and 450 voice minutes. Customers on one of U.S. Cellular's Belief plans will be able to get the smartphone at the $200 price without having to sign a new contract. … Read more

In most respects, the HTC Merge for U.S. Cellular is a fairly standard Android 2.2 Froyo smartphone. It's got a decent but standard touch screen, a nice but not superlative 5-megapixel camera (with 720p HD video capture and playback, we might add,) and an unremarkable keyboard that's nevertheless sufficient.

The phone's primary point of difference lurks below the back cover, a SIM card slot that international travelers can use while taking the phone abroad. Even if you never step foot outside the continent, there are plenty of other features to keep you handy and connected. … Read more

Sprint isn't the only one ramping up its lineup today. U.S. Cellular just announced its product road map for the remainder of the year, and it includes eight smartphones and two tablets.

Seven of the eight handsets will run Android 2.3 Gingerbread and the eighth will be the carrier's first Windows Phone 7 handset. One of the models among the group will also be U.S. Cellular's first 4G LTE smartphone, due out in November.

HTC will provide four of the devices, beginning with the Windows Phone handset due out this summer. This will be … Read more

The Samsung Chrono may not stray much from the well-worn path tread by Samsung's flip phones before it, but we will say one thing: the phone can make calls.

Large dial pad buttons keep it simple, and a call quality so unclouded we had to ask several times to make sure our callers were still on the line is a rarity among most cell phones, period, no matter how many rabbits their software pulls out of a hat.

Of course, we wouldn't say no to a few more software tricks and to updated specs in general, but for … Read more

First introduced at CES 2011 and made available just a little more than a week ago, T-Mobile's Rocket 3.0 Laptop Stick USB 4G modem faced huge expectations as the company said that it would offer twice the download speed of other 4G devices, up to 42Mbps.

In our testing in the San Francisco Bay Area, the device didn't deliver.

Throughout the city of San Francisco, including in specific locations designated by T-Mobile as offering the new speed, the modem's connection capped at about 13Mbps. Now, this is by no means slow, in fact it's one of the fastest speeds we've seen from a 4G device, and it is capable of downloading a full 1080p movie (about 10GB of data) in about or under 2 hours. Still, it's quite far from 42Mbps.… Read more