Smartphones

A start-of-the-week treat for iPhone fanboys--Google has released a new entry in its series of behind-the-scenes Nexus One videos, this time featuring the search giant's smartphone being squeezed, dropped, bent, and subjected to several other flavors of abuse.

This being a Google production you won't get to see the phone actually splinter and break--frustrating stuff considering that CNET UK's resident Nexus One managed to self-destruct last week without the help of any industrial equipment.

Read more of "Nexus One beaten to a pulp in Google's behind-the-scenes video" at Crave UK.

Here's a little known keyboard trick on the iPhone or iPod Touch that will activate Caps Lock mode for typing in all capital letters. Unfortunately it isn't available by default--you have to turn it on.

Here's how:

1. Open the Settings app 2. Tap General 3. Tap Keyboard 4. Flip the Enable Caps Lock switch to ON

Now, when the keyboard is open and you want to type more than one capital letter, quickly double-tap the shift key to enable Caps Lock. The Shift key will turn blue. Type the word you want in all caps, i.… Read more

In week since Mozilla released the first Firefox browser for mobile phones, we've had a better chance to explore the Web on the Nokia N900. Firefox for Maemo, as it's called, is also available for the N810 Internet Tablet.

We go over some of our observations in the First Look video here, pointing out that extensions, in particular, are the browser's most notable innovation for Firefox mobile.

There are some limitations to the way Firefox handles the add-ons screens. For a start, the search engine icons you see when you begin a search (for Google, Wikipedia, or so on) count as pre-installed add-ons. That makes removing them easy, but it also takes up space in the add-ons manager, which is knock against Firefox for Maemo since maximizing screen real estate is the gold standard of the mobile experience. In this case, that precious space should be devoted exclusively to showing off add-ons.

So far, new add-ons are hard to find. Firefox mobile surfaces five recommended extensions at a time; expect the YouTube Enabler and Weave Sync to be at the top of a newcomer's list. Although there is a search bar, there's no way to browse the add-on catalog from the device. Your best bet is to discover what you want from the online catalog, which is clearly less than ideal for mobile users. Mozilla's Firefox developers might consider creating one screen for managing add-ons you already have, and another for discovering new ones, just like with NoScript, Adblock Plus, and TwitterBar.… Read more

Google released an over-the-air update for the Nexus One on Tuesday that brought, among other things, multitouch and Google Maps 3.4 to the smartphone. This is great news for Nexus One owners, but what about the rest of the Android family?

Well, here's some partial good news for Motorola Droid customers. Google Maps 3.4 is now available for download through the Android Market, which brings star syncing, personalized page suggestions based on personal history, night mode, and yes, the use of pinch-to-zoom.

For now, it seems the multitouch capabilities are limited to just Google Maps, but hey, … Read more

They say never to leave a candle or a baby unattended. In our case, that's just extended to one of our favorite smartphones.

We left our Google Nexus One charging on a desk during lunch Friday. When we returned, the screen was rife with hairline cracks and a horrible purple bruise had spread across the gorgeous AMOLED touch screen.

There was no evidence that the phone had been moved, and the screen doesn't have any scratches or marks on the surface. The thin cracks all appear to be under the glass -- as if the phone had been … Read more

If you've ever petitioned Facebook to add a "Dislike" button to the site, you might get a kick out of a new antisocial networking site that lets your friends anonymously rag on you from the privacy of their homes. Failin.gs is currently in beta, but soon you'll be able to hit your friends up for anonymous comments about your mundane status updates. No, it doesn't integrate with Facebook itself (thankfully), but hopefully it'll force you to think twice about telling everyone what you had for dinner last night.

After 30 years of the same boring design, Heinz finally wised up and redesigned its ketchup packets. Fans of fast food will be treated to a new packet that opens up on BOTH ends: the top features the same tear-off perforation, but the new bottom opens to reveal a section for dunking your fries, which happens to be one of the most popular applications for the condiment! Check out this video on CBSNews.com for more details and look for the new packets coming to fast food joints near you!

Last week's viral "Post your doppelganger to Facebook" meme might violate Facebook's terms of service, but we're featuring our own celebrity photos on today's episode anyway...with a twist. Check out our cartoon doppelgangers above and let us know what you think: does Wilson really look like the Asian kid from "Up?" Does Jeff turn into a green-faced ogre at night? And should I seriously consider growing a goatee? Sound off by leaving us a voice mail at 1-866-404-CNET or send an e-mail to the404(at)cnet{dot}com.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

We have an exciting giveaway this week that involves a Blackberry Bold smartphone and a useful mobile voice app called Vlingo, which perhaps you've heard about already.

To help get the word out about its new 4.0 Plus app for the BlackBerry, Vlingo is offering Crave readers the chance to win a BlackBerry Bold 9700 and a voucher code for the Vlingo Plus app, a $19.99 value. One important note: the BlackBerry is from AT&T but it doesn't come with service (you'll have to activate it to install Vlingo).

What does Vlingo do … Read more

Pandora's largely undisputed reign on Palm WebOS-based phones may be over.

On Thursday, Slacker Radio released a version (.0.9.4) of its streaming radio app to the App Catalog in the U.S. and Canada. As with Slacker Radio for other mobile platforms, the free app gives you the run of more than 100 curated stations, or it lets you go into discovery mode a la Pandora and ilk by creating "custom" stations based on songs or artists you like.

Artist bios with photos are on Slacker's Palm menu, as are the buttons to rate … Read more

It's J.D. Power and Associates time again! The marketing information firm that loves to give awards spun out another this week with its 2010 wireless customer care performance study. Verizon Wireless emerged as the winner with an index score of 753 points on a 1,000-point scale. Verizon's score was 14 points higher than the industry average.

This wasn't a total blowout, however. T-Mobile, which tied with Verizon and Alltel in a similar study last August, was close behind with 752 points. T-Mobile and Verizon have traded the title back and forth over the last couple … Read more