Smartphones

All hail the unlocked phone

So now we know the full story of the Nexus One. After the newest Google Android device was sighted last month, Google formally released the handset to the world Tuesday morning.

Though the Nexus One's specs are promising--particularly the Snapdragon processor and the enhanced voice control capabilities--it's not necessarily the best Android phone yet. Indeed, the real story of the Nexus One is not its design or features, but how it is being sold.

As my colleague Tom Krazit points out, Google is changing the way cell phones are sold in the United States. Google alone will sell … Read more

T-Mobile boosts its 3G to HSPA 7.2

T-Mobile officially announced today that it has boosted its entire 3G network to HSPA 7.2, which is nice timing for one of the first carriers to offer Google's Nexus One (and especially since the Nexus One currently only supports T-Mobile's 3G bands). HSPA 7.2 promises to deliver three to five times the speeds of current 3G networks, and, best of all, this will apply to all existing 3G smartphones as well. Nice one, T-Mo.

Google unveils Nexus One

We knew it was coming, but we had to wait for Google to spill the news before we could talk about it with authority. And the company did so Tuesday morning at a press conference at the Googleplex in Mountain View, Calif.

As expected, the Nexus One is a new Google Android phone that offers an inside designed by Google and an outside designed by HTC. According to Google's Mario Queiroz, the Nexus One is a "superphone" where the Web meets the cell phone. "It's an exemplar of what mobile phones can do with Android," he said. The handset will be available first for GSM carriers like T-Mobile, but a Verizon version will follow.… Read more

Smartphones continue to surge

Was 2009 the year of the smartphone? Or will it be 2010? Either way, a new Forrester report confirmed a surge in smartphone ownership last year and expects more growth and more competition this year.

Around 17 percent of mobile phone subscribers now own smartphones, up from 11 percent at the end of 2008 and 7 percent at the end of 2007. Those numbers are even more impressive than they sound, Forrester said Monday, because new technologies typically enjoy a growth spurt in their first year and then trail off in subsequent years. Smartphones are doing the reverse.

In 2009, … Read more

Using your smartphone safely (FAQ)

Smartphones aren't just smart, they're personal computers. Unlike a desktop or even a laptop PC, those devices and other mobile phones can easily slip out of a pocket or purse, be left in a taxi, or get snatched off a table. They let you store photos, access e-mails, receive text messages, and put you one browser click away from potentially malicious Web sites.

In effect, gadgets like the Apple iPhone and those running Google's Android software can be as risky to use as PCs, except that the wide variety of mobile platforms has deprived malicious hackers of … Read more

Lenovo announces Skylight smartbook, smaller than a Netbook

Do you believe in smartbooks yet? Smaller than Netbooks, running custom OSes and miniature smartphone processors, these newly-coined devices are supposed to offer the best of smartphone convenience with the form factor of a Netbook. They're ready to start appearing on the scene, and Lenovo has one of the first with their Skylight.

With a 10.1-inch screen, it's not exactly a supersmall device compared to an iPhone--but it is much thinner than nearly any Netbook. With built-in 3G and Wi-Fi, Lenovo promises a seamless browsing experience. The OS, however, is not Windows, or even Ubuntu: it's … Read more

Dial a phone number using in-air gestures

Gesture-recognition interfaces for cell phones are closer to reality with technology from the University of Tokyo that lets you operate your phone or mobile device without laying a finger on it.

Researchers at the Ishikawa Komuro Laboratory have created a "vision-based input interface for mobile devices" through which users can type words by pointing in the air. There's no dialing demo in the video below, though that would presumably be just as simple.

Unlike gestural interfaces such as MIT's SixthSense, the system does not require special colored finger markings to track gestures.

A single high-speed camera … Read more

Sort your app icons--David's iPhone tip of the week

Here's a short, handy tip for sorting your iPhone or iPod Touch app icons in alphabetical order for people who find comfort in an alphabetized world.

1. Launch the Settings app 2. Tap General 3. Scroll down and tap Reset 4. Tap Reset Home Screen Layout

Your app icons will be sorted as follows:

All standard Apple apps will be placed in their factory default locations. All remaining apps will be sorted alphabetically.

On an iPhone or iPhone Touch with more than 180 apps, the 11th Home screen will display the last app that is visible. In my case … Read more

Want to see Google's new phone on YouTube?

Google won't officially unveil its Nexus One smartphone until Tuesday, when it has scheduled an Android Press Gathering. There are plenty of descriptions and images of the phone floating around the Web, though--a result of Google's decision to "dogfood" the device with employees.

And now, some video. Wednesday, a 10-minute clip of what appears to be someone taking the phone through its paces popped up on the Web. There's no sound, and the device appears to be configured for French speakers, so if you're an American with a short attention span, I'm not … Read more