Smartphones

On Call: About that Interphone study

On Call runs every two weeks, alternating between answering reader questions and discussing hot topics in the cell phone world.

Q: I saw that the long-awaited Interphone study finally came out. I'm concerned about the issue and was looking forward to the findings. Given its mixed results, have you changed your position on cell phone radiation? - Jose

A: As you note, Jose, the International Agency for Research on Cancer finally published the results of its Interphone study on May 17. The $24 million study attempted to determine whether long-term cell phone use leads to an increased risk of … Read more

The 404 594: Where we live to 100 (podcast)

Jeff's unwavering pessimism and general distaste for life might finally take a turn in his favor, according to research that claims grumpiness is good for you. If that's true, then Jeff will definitely outlive all the cockroaches in New York and New Jersey, combined.

An experiment conducted by an Australian psychologist suggests overly-pessimistic personalities are more prone to attentive, careful thinking as a result of examining issues from all possible perspectives--but mostly the negative ones.

Yesterday AT&T announced a series of new data plans for its smartphone and tablet devices that could generate savings for the … Read more

Boost Mobile first to land Motorola i1

When Motorola announced its i1 smartphone at CTIA 2010, the rugged Android device was slated for release with Nextel; however, barring any last-minute announcements, it now looks like Boost Mobile will be the first carrier to offer the i1.

The Motorola i1 will be available from Boost Mobile stores, as well as Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile retail locations, starting June 20. The Motorola i1 is the first push-to-talk Android device and it has a 3.1-inch HVGA touch screen, a 5-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS.

It looks like the smartphone will launch with Android 1.6, … Read more

Photos of possible white 'iPhone 4G' surface

As iPhone rumors and buzz reach a fever pitch with the approach of the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference on June 7--where many believe Steve Jobs will unveil the latest addition to the iPhone family--new pictures of a possible white next-generation iPhone have surfaced online.

The recent photos supplement earlier photos of an alleged "iPhone 4G" in white.

However, as the Powerbook Medic blog points out, we wonder if these photos indicate that the next generation iPhone is indeed ready to be released, noting that the serial number in these pictures is "XXXXX," which is typical of … Read more

Affordable Nokia E73 Mode headed to T-Mobile

Nokia and T-Mobile are proving to be quite a pair when it comes to delivering smartphones at an affordable price. First, there was the Nokia Nuron and now there's the Nokia E73 Mode.

The E73 Mode is a QWERTY messaging smartphone (Nokia's thinnest to date) that will be available starting June 16 for just $69.99 with a two-year contract and after a mail-in rebate. Nokia is calling the smartphone a "work and life solution" and for the price, you get a nice range of features.

This includes the full gamut of wireless options, Microsoft Exchange … Read more

Dialed In 129: Welcome back, Kent! (podcast)

Hooray! The Dialed In gang is back together again with Senior Editor Kent German back from his month-long sabbatical, just in time for the next iPhone. On this week's episode, we make some predictions of what we might see at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference and we discuss AT&T's new data plans. Plus, Motorola announces a new Android phone with a twist, and we take a look at Garmin's latest smartphone. Is it a flop like the last one? Tune in and find out.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) … Read more

Hands-on: IMing with Trillian's BlackBerry beta

A new instant messaging app is on its way to BlackBerry smartphones, and it's name is Trillian.

Trillian-maker Cerulean Studios announced work on its BlackBerry beta in May, adding one more operating system for the multinetwork IM app that's already well-known on Windows, Mac, and more recently, on iPhone. Although we expect to see Trillian launch into public beta for BlackBerry phones running OS 5.x, we got to try it out this week.

The app closely resembles the screens we saw from the closed beta (see slideshow below). Trillian lets you quickly sign into accounts from a start screen, and gets you chatting with friends on MSN, Yahoo, AIM, ICQ, MySpaceIM, Facebook Chat, Jabber/XMPP, and Google Talk.

The feature set is basic at this point--not so unusual for a beta app. It can display avatar images, add emoticons, and send photos that you either grab from the image gallery or take fresh with your phone's camera. The app alerts you to new instant messages with a flashing LED light or with pushed e-mail alerts when the app is closed.

Trillian beta is easy enough to use, but not very elegant at this stage. You control the app with the BlackBerry's Back arrow and menu key, but unlike competitors, Trillian doesn't utilize a lot of on-screen buttonry. For example, competitors like Beejive do a better job alerting you to new IMs and who sent them, and makes switching among conversations possible from within open chat windows. Instead of being able to switch among open chats with a menu item, Trillian has you arrowing back to the buddy list and navigating to the developing conversation.… Read more

Check your AT&T data usage to keep within new iPhone, iPad plans

With the big announcement coming from AT&T, introducing tethering and changing the data plan structure for iPhone and iPad, here is a quick guide to checking out your monthly data so you can purchase the right plan for you.

Starting on June 7th, iPhone and iPad customers may want to be a little more savvy about checking their data usage, given AT&T's new plan structures. To check your data usage online, open your favorite Web browser and navigate to the AT&T Wireless homepage. Enter your account information and log in. Click on "… Read more

Google edges into the mobile download game

With nearly every smartphone manufacturer and carrier creating its own application storefront for downloading mobile apps, we suppose it was only a matter of time before Google got into the game one way or another.

Starting Wednesday, searching Google.com for iPhone and Android apps--from your iPhone or Android phone--will likely yield a mobile app as its result. The trick, it seems, is to enter the magic word, "download," before the name of the app you seek.

The resulting link and surround context, like a star rating and number of user reviews, isn't a direct download URL … Read more

Up close with the Dell Streak

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif.--The tablet parade at D: All Things Digital continued into Wednesday afternoon, with Dell doing a brief onstage demo of its 5-inch Dell Streak device.

The Android-powered gadget is bigger than any smartphone but smaller than nearly all other tablets. The size of the device seemed to puzzle the conference moderators, with Walt Mossberg saying that using it as a phone was like holding a waffle to his head, while Kara Swisher said the most likely use for the device was as something to eat.

That reaction came in stark contrast to the veritable love fest … Read more