ctia

NEW ORLEANS--Much of the talk this week at CTIA has centered around the best and brightest mobile handsets poised to hit the market. These include the Samsung Galaxy S III and HTC Evo 4G LTE. Many people though still haven't moved from their basic feature phones to smarter devices.

Handset maker Unnecto believes there's an opportunity to be had here. The company specializes in low-cost unlocked phones that also sport dual-SIM card slots.… Read more

NEW ORLEANS--Cell phone signal boosters may sound like snake oil, but when you bring in a heavy hitter like Wilson Electronics, you'll find that some products actually work.

Utah-based Wilson always shows up at CTIA 2012 with a new product in hand, so I had to swing by its booth to check it out. And in New Orleans, it expanded on its Sleek booster line with a device compatible with AT&T 4G's LTE network.

The Sleek 4G is similar to Wilson's existing Sleek 4G V, which debuted at CES in January for Verizon's LTE … Read more

NEW ORLEANS--Usually when I come across a phone designed for the elderly demographic, more times than not it's a feature phone. Most have the same big rubber buttons, the simple UI, and some sort of emergency call button.

I've never seen features characteristic of a smartphone, however, like data connection, a touch screen, or an app store.

That is, until now.

At CTIA this year, the Swedish telecommunications company, Doro, announced an entire mobile ecosystem tailored for an older demographic. This includes its first ever smartphone for seniors, the Doro PhoneEasy 740.

The PhoneEasy 740 is equipped with … Read more

NEW ORLEANS--Huawei issued forth no formal product announcement at CTIA 2012, but I did find this new Android smartphone quietly sitting at Huawei's booth.

The Ascend Y200 is part of Huawei's latest strategy in naming families of phones. The "Y" stands for youth, which also typifies mass market, entry-level phones with smaller screens, slower processors, and fewer camera extras.

An Android Gingerbread phone, the Ascend Y200 has a 3.5-inch touch screen, a 1GHz processor, and a 3.2-megapixel camera with no flash. It's a fairly attractive phone nonetheless, with smooth, round lines and a … Read more

NEW ORLEANS--You know all that typing on your phone's virtual keyboard? Snapkeys says that so long as you're using a QWERTY layout, you're doing it wrong.

The company believes that there's little logic to the traditional way a keyboard's arranged, and instead offers up an onscreen virtual keyboard that uses only four buttons.

The buttons are organized by letter types: one for letters that touch the bottom of a ruled line once (like T and I); one for letters with two touch points (like K and H); one for letters with straight lines at the … Read more

NEW ORLEANS--After three furious days, CTIA 2012 has come to a close. Though a visit to the Crescent City always is enjoyable, this year's event was a little quieter than in past years. But that doesn't mean we didn't see some very cool stuff. Here's what the CNET team picked as the Best of CTIA 2012.

Best phone: Samsung Galaxy S III Samsung may have unveiled its Samsung Galaxy S III flagship phone days before CTIA 2012 kicked off, but CTIA was our first chance to handle it. And at the end of the day, the … Read more

NEW ORLEANS--Wireless carriers are looking to Wi-Fi to help them offload traffic from their cellular networks. And a new standard will make it even easier for consumers to use the unlicensed airwaves. But would you pay extra for that easy access?

The Wi-Fi Alliance, a trade association promoting the use of Wi-Fi, says a recent survey indicates that nearly three-quarters of respondents said they would.

The Wi-Fi Alliance is promoting the new standard, which will basically allow people to access a carrier's Wi-Fi without ever typing a passcode or even selecting a Wi-Fi hot spot. The technology will automatically … Read more

Mobile phones weren't the only exciting tech that dazzled me at CTIA this week. Bluetooth gizmos put on a show as well. Here are a few of the devices that piqued my interest whether for having a neat skill, good looks, or for being very well priced. … Read more

NEW ORLEANS--When Apple introduced the iPhone 4 in 2010, it sported a new radical design with a full sheet of glass on its backside. While striking, the design didn't take kindly to drops on the sidewalk and the wrap-around antenna presented some unfortunate attenuation problems.

Neither scenario was best for consumers, but it also created a boon for anyone eager to make an iPhone case. And at the 2012 CTIA, it was clear that there's a lot of innovation behind such a practical product.

I began my last morning at CTIA visiting with Tech21, a London-based company furiously … Read more