mobile

Although ZTE is pouring more money into high-end phones like the ZTE Warp Sequent, the Chinese manufacturer is still releasing entry to mid-level handsets as well.

Today, the prepaid carrier, MetroPCS, is offering the ZTE Avid 4G, a mid-range 4G LTE handset, for $149.

Running on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the handset has a 1.2GHz dual-core processor.

It also has a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera and a front-facing VGA camera.

In addition, its 4-inch TFT display has a 480x800-pixel resolution.

Other features include Wi-Fi hotspot, and joyn capabilities, which is MetroPCS' content sharing and chat client.

The European Union is expected to file an antitrust case against Samsung very soon.

According to Reuters, which spoke with the European Union competition chief Joaquin Almunia, his office will "issue a statement of objections very soon" against Samsung. Almunia didn't say what would be included in those objections, but the move follows a year-long investigation into Samsung's patent practices.

The European Commission -- the executive arm of the EU -- announced in November 2011 that it had launched a preliminary investigation into Samsung's patent policies. Just two months later, the Commission announced a formal investigation into whether Samsung had used wireless patents as an anticompetitive tool, … Read more

Google has sold the Motorola Home set-top business -- which it inherited as part of its $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility earlier this year -- to the Arris Group, for $2.35 billion in cash and stock.

Under the terms of the deal, Google will receive $2.05 billion in cash and $300 million in newly issued stock, giving it a 15.7 percent ownership stake in Arris upon the deal's closure. Arris will also gain access to a collection of Motorola Mobility patents.

The broadband technology provider is expected to use the acquisition to enhance the … Read more

Sprint announced today that it's now offering the rugged handset Sonim XP Strike for $129.99 after a two-year carrier agreement and mail-in rebate.

The XP Strike includes push-to-talk Direct Connect and has an extra-tough design to withstand even the harshest of elements.

Its Corning Gorilla glass screen is 1.8 millimeters thick, the phone itself meets military specifications for dust and shock resistance, and it's covered by a three-year warranty.

You can also submerge the device in 6.5 feet of water for up to 30 minutes and drop it on concrete from a height of 6.… Read more

It's been called the Internet of Things, the connected future, the post-PC and even, in our minds, the post-mobile world: however you want to refer to it, the trend toward ubiquitously connected devices and people is inescapable and poised to change everything about the consumer electronics world.

At CNET, we're calling it the post-mobile future: mapping the next frontier of consumer electronics. Because let's be blunt: consumer electronics has been kind of a boring world for the past couple of years. It seems like all we talk about is smartphones and tablets, tablets and smartphones. Last year'… Read more

Autoplay video ads may be coming to Facebook's news feed within the next six months, according to AdAge.

These video ads are supposedly scheduled to hit the desktop version of the social network first, then could be rolled out to mobile. According to AdAge, the ads will most likely play 15 seconds, could be targeted to certain users, and may even have an auto-audio function. On the desktop version, the ads are expected to get users' attention by expanding out of the site's news feed into the left and right columns.

Facebook's goal is to attract advertisers … Read more

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

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

Apple might soon launch 3G versions of its fourth-generation iPad and iPad Mini in China.

China-based TechWeb reported (translation) today that a cellular version of the iPad and the iPad Mini cleared the country's regulatory hurdles last week, potentially paving the way for the device to launch before long.

Apple launched the Wi-Fi-only versions of the iPad and iPad Mini on December 7. The company previously said it would launch these iPads in China in December, but didn't say if that only applied to the Wi-Fi versions or would also include the cellular models.

According to TechWeb, the … Read more