Smartphones

What, exactly, is a smartbook? Highlights from the show floor

LAS VEGAS--Before CES, one of our predictions as to what would be a big story on the show floor was the emergence of smartbooks, or mini-notebooks as they're sometimes called. The term was coined by Qualcomm in referring to tiny laptop-like devices using processors that are derived from smartphone-level CPUs, but are in many cases even more powerful. The two most common CPUs seem to be the Snapdragon from Qualcomm and the Tegra/Tegra 2 from Nvidia, both using ARM-based processors.

Consider the concept, ideally, as a device somewhere between a smartphone and a Netbook--hence "smartbook." Unfortunately, … Read more

Nexus One's hardware estimated to cost $175

Google's forthcoming Nexus One smartphone is composed of components worth about $175, according to a teardown conducted by iSuppli.

The new phone, which Google unveiled Tuesday, offers an inside designed by Google and an outside designed by HTC. The primary interface is a 3.7-inch AMOLED display. The Nexus One runs Google's Android 2.1 operating system, and the WVGA display can show 3D graphics.

While Google has priced the Nexus One at $179 with a two-year T-Mobile service plan ($529 without a subscription plan), the phone has a bill of materials of $174.15, according to iSuppli analysis, … Read more

Smartphone touch-screen analysis tests finger fidelity

Moto Development Labs devised a simple method of analyzing capacitive touch screens using drawing programs. They put the iPhone, the Nexus One, the Droid, and the Droid Eris through the paces and proved not all touch screens are created equal.

Using only your fingers and a drawing app, Moto shows how you can test out the accuracy of your smartphone's touch screen. The test is simple: draw some slow, steady lines across the screen with your finger. If they're smooth and straight, your touch screen is tracking with relative accuracy. If they're wavy or jagged, your phone … Read more

Hands-on with the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10

Sony Ericsson announced its first Android phone, the Xperia X10, in London two months ago, but I had to wait for CES to get my first look at the device on this side of the Atlantic.

As you'd expect, the Sony Ericsson stand at the massive Sony Electronics booth was crowded with people wanting to get a look at the handset. And there's no wonder why--the X10 is a sight to behold. Its slim profile and clean lines hit high on the beauty scale, and I enjoyed how sturdy and comfortable it felt in my hand. Front and … Read more

Windows Mobile 6.5 update available for Verizon HTC Ozone, Touch Pro2

Attention Verizon customers who own an HTC Ozone or an HTC Touch Pro2, a Windows Mobile 6.5 update is now available for your downloading pleasure. You can find the update for the Ozone here and the Touch Pro2 here.

Motorola shows China-bound Android phones

LAS VEGAS--Motorola's new Backflip Android phone captured most of our attention at CES, but the company also displayed two recent touch-screen devices destined for the Chinese market.

The XT800 has an attractive slim design with a 3.7-inch, 16 million-color WVGA display. I handled it for a few moments and liked how solid the device is and how it fit squarely my hand. It runs Google Android 2.1 and sports a standard 3.5mm headset jack.

The feature set is respectable. You'll find two SIM card slots, a 550MHz processor, Wi-Fi, A2DP Bluetooth, a 5-megapixel camera with … Read more

Firefox for Maemo closing in on final release

Mozilla has finished its second release candidate for its first mobile Firefox browser. Firefox 1.0 for Nokia's open-source Maemo platform can't be far behind.

In addition to fixing "a major performance issue" plaguing the Nokia N900, Mozilla has also updated the latest version of the Gecko layout engine. By using the same version of Gecko that's driving the forthcoming Firefox 3.6 RC1, Mozilla is keeping parity between the mobile and desktop versions of its browser.

Mozilla is expected to push out an update for Web surfers who have already downloaded the first release … Read more

LG's global smartphones make a showing

LAS VEGAS--LG doesn't have much of a smartphone presence here in the U.S., but it does have quite a number of them in Europe and Asia. Here at CES 2010, we finally gotten the chance to take a closer look at these unattainable devices. We've compiled a photo gallery showcasing the two Android smartphones (the LG GW620 and the LG GT540), and two Windows Mobile ones (LG GW550 and the LG GM750).

Though we didn't have a chance to get a hands-on with the recently announced LG GW990, we did get a shot of it behind … Read more

Dialed In Podcast 109: Live from CES 2010

We're all back together again as one big, happy cell phone family here in Las Vegas to cover CES 2010. There have been a few mobile announcements at the show, but the most talked about handset launched right before we got here. Yes, we're talking about the Nexus One. We dive into the Google phone as well as dish the details on the latest CES launches, including the Palm Pre Plus, LG Lotus Elite, and Motorola Backflip, all on this week's episode of Dialed In, Las Vegas edition.

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

Hands-on with Palm Pre Plus, Palm Pixi Plus

LAS VEGAS--Palm's announcement at CES 2010 wasn't a complete surprise. Rumors of the Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus for Verizon Wireless were floating around preshow for a few weeks, but that doesn't mean we weren't interested in checking out the products.

Luckily for us, Palm let us take a hands-on look at the devices this year (Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein even made a wisecrack about last year's restrictions at the press conference), and though they weren't quite the showstoppers that the Pre was at CES 2009, there were certainly things that … Read more