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Don't hang up the banners and throw the ticker-tape parade for BlackBerry yet.

BlackBerry's fiscal fourth-quarter report brought a bevy of good news. The company surprisingly returned to profitability; it shipped 1 million Z10 smartphones, the majority of which were snapped up by consumers; and it appears as if it it's taking share from competing platforms.

It's a strong start for BlackBerry. But by no means can the company declare "Mission Accomplished" on its comeback. Indeed, there are a lot of unanswered questions that won't get answered until another several months of results … Read more

It's not just the BlackBerry faithful signing up for the BlackBerry Z10.

More than half of the customers snapping up a Z10 -- 55 percent -- are coming from a different platform, BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins said during a conference call today.

Heins wouldn't go into detail about the breakdown of where these customers were coming from, but it's an encouraging sign that the Z10 was enticing enough that people were willing to switch over to the new device. It's one sign of progress for a company badly in need of a home run.

"We'… Read more

BlackBerry swung to a surprising profit in the fiscal fourth quarter amid early signs of progress with its BlackBerry Z10 flagship phone.

For the three months that ended on March 2, the Canadian smartphone manufacturer reported a profit of $98 million, or 19 cents a share, compared with a year-ago loss of $125 million, or 24 cents a share. Excluding items such as its cost-savings program, the company reported an adjusted EPS of 22 cents. Sales, however, fell by 36 percent to $2.68 billion.

More importantly, BlackBerry said it sold 1 million units of the Z10 in the period. … Read more

Game maker Popcap today revealed Plants vs. Zombies Adventures (PvZA) beta for Facebook, but gamers might be more interested in the mention of Plants vs. Zombies 2.

The social spinoff PvZA takes gardeners out of the backyard (the primary setting in the first game) and sends them on the road to fight off ravenous zombies. To freshen up gameplay, Popcap enhanced the title with new plants, zombies, and defenses, as well as the implementation of social features that include leaderboards and community challenges. … Read more

T-Mobile just took a bold, new step by shredding the contracts for its plans plus launching its new 4G LTE data network. But what kind of speeds can you really expect to see on the carrier's hot, new devices? Judging from what I observed at T-Mobile's splashy press event in New York, apparently quite a bit. … Read more

Now that T-Mobile has done away with its two-year contract model, we take a look at the three hottest handsets that are destined for the carrier.

Based on its new options, you will be able to get these phones alongside a monthly $50 unlimited talk and text plan (and 500MB of data thrown in for good measure). If you want unlimited data, you'll need to pay $20 more, totaling up to a reasonable $70 per month.

For more on what the carrier has in store, join CNET tomorrow at 8 a.m. PT as we live blog its "… Read more

Have no fear if your BlackBerry Z10 needs to be repaired.

Repairing the latest smartphone from BlackBerry is a snap, according to iFixit,which rates the Z10 an 8 out of 10 on its scale of repairability, something the firm notes is rare for a smartphone.

The BlackBerry Z10 represents one of the company's last chances at a turnaround, and marks the first device to use its next-generation BlackBerry 10 platform. The phone has been out for a few weeks in select countries around the world, but just launched at AT&T on Friday. It will be available … Read more

I've spent the whole week uttering rude words at my iPhone 5.

Some had four letters, some have had fewer. Several had four syllables. All were expressions of utter disdain, frustration or disappointment.

I'm very suggestible, you see. And this week, two very clever tech CEOs publicly denigrated Apple's lucky charm, making it seem like it was the result of a couple of parts that had fallen off a Segway.

First, there was BlackBerry's Thorsten Heins, who declared that the iPhone user interface is as old as Jay Leno's jokes. Well, his actual words were: &… Read more

T-Mobile continues to rev up the changes it's got in store for customers.

The wireless carrier today seems to have finally done away entirely with contracts for wireless customers. This follows earlier moves that had allowed options including either a traditional two-year contract or no contract at all.

The shift is part of a broader transformation that CEO John Legere hinted at during his Consumer Electronics Show press conference in January, changes that are intended to make the carrier more competitive in the industry. As a distant fourth-place carrier among the national players, the company has been willing to … Read more