Smartphones

Delete unwanted Facebook comments using the Android app

You can now moderate the comments on your own Facebook posts from your Android device. With an update to the Android app last week, Facebook enabled the ability for Android users to delete comments in just a few short steps.

The next time someone leaves an inappropriate comment, or an old flame starts proclaiming his undying love for you, you'll be able to delete the comment without having to rush to a computer.

The first thing you'll need to do is update to the latest version of Facebook for Android. After you've updated, you'll need to … Read more

Sony unveils waterproof Xperia ZR phone

Sony is launching a new Xperia smartphone designed to be dunkable.

Announced on Monday, the Xperia ZR phone can stay under as much as five feet of water for up to 30 minutes. Using the phone's 13-megapixel camera, you can shoot underwater photos and videos in full HD. The dedicated camera key also allows you to quickly take a shot even if the phone is locked.

The camera takes advantage of Sony's Exmor RS for mobile image sensor with HDR (High Dynamic Range) for both photographs and videos. The company promises that photos and videos are automatically captured … Read more

Apple, Samsung, others urged to help thwart mobile phone thefts

Apple and other mobile phone vendors are being asked to amp up the fight against cell phone theft.

In a series of letters sent today to the heads of Apple, Samsung, Google, Motorola, and Microsoft, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman requested information on what they're doing to make their phones more safe and secure from thieves. Schneiderman also urged the companies to work with his office to devise ways to cut down on the lure of cell phones to criminals.

The attorney general pointed to a rise in the theft of phones and other mobile devices in … Read more

Samsung: We'll get you 5G wireless by 2020

Samsung says it has developed new core technology that provides data transmission several hundred times faster than current 4G networks.

In an announcement Monday, Samsung said that plans to accelerate the research and development of 5G mobile communications technologies suitable for consumers across millimeter-wave bands are going ahead, with a view to commercialize the technology by 2020.

The Korean company says that it has developed the "world's first" adaptive array transceiver -- which is able to operate in millimeter-wave bands -- and has overcome issues caused by transmitting data over long distances. The core system is able … Read more

Zact touts lower phone bills

Why shell out extra bucks each month for a cellular service you don't benefit from? That's the question wireless newcomer Zact poses to customers. In a fresh twist on the MVNO model, today the company unveiled a radical way for people to buy and customize their phone plans on the fly.

Nokia video teases next Lumia with eye on camera

Nokia is shining a light on the camera and flash of a new Lumia smartphone.

A video posted on YouTube today takes us on a tour of the phone from the camera to the lens to the flash, promising "more than your eyes can see" and telling us that "the new Nokia Lumia is coming."

So, just which model Lumia is coming?

Nokia will hold an event in London tomorrow in which it will likely pull back the curtains on its latest Lumia phone. The company has been playing up its Lumia 928 in a series … Read more

Mozilla offers developers phones to write Firefox OS apps

Mozilla has a deal for programmers: We'll supply the phones if you supply the apps.

In an effort to ensure there will be good Firefox OS apps in the Firefox Marketplace, Mozilla is offering developer phones to programmers who have compelling ideas for software. In a blog post Thursday, Mozilla employee Havi Hoffman tried to drum up interest:

If you can show you've got a great app idea and the skill to build it, we'd love to see your apps in the Marketplace when the Firefox OS launch begins later this summer. And to sweeten the deal, … Read more

Get Automatic Lifelogging with Saga for Android

Meet Saga, the "Automatic Lifelogging" app. This is the app you've never known you needed. Remember what you were doing last Thursday? Saga remembers. OK, I guess that sounds a bit creepy. But really, here's what the app does...

Instead of forcing you to write a journal each day to talk about everything you did, in perhaps an overlong narrative, Saga keeps everything in a neat list for you. Checked in at the grocery store on Foursquare last Monday? Saga recorded it. Tweeted about an upcoming movie you want to see? Yep, Saga got that, too. … Read more

Get custom-tailored audio with Adapt Sound on the Galaxy S4

If glasses are adjusted for varying eyesights, why isn't the same logic applied to our ears? Today, most music players (that's probably your phone) are designed with a one-size-fits-all standard -- the manufacturer adjusts the audio tone and left/right balance to what might suit most people.

It turns out, however, there are differences in our hearing, including unique nuances in balance and processing.

Some phones do let you dig into accessibility settings to adjust left/right balance, but the Galaxy S4 might be the first phone that actually adjusts the audio output to your needs automatically.

Buried … Read more

Top 5: Reasons not to buy the Galaxy S4

If you're an Android fan with a short temper, please turn back now. Watching this video will just send you into hysterics.

Part of my job here at CNET is to play the devil's advocate, and sometimes that requires me to talk trash about products you love. This time around, I'm going to take a poke at a phone that we love as much as you do, the Samsung Galaxy S4.

You'd be hard pressed to find a smartphone on our site that comes more highly recommend than the S4, but that doesn't mean that … Read more