Smartphones

Samsung Mobile just sent out a pretty sweet tweet that should make owners of the Verizon Wireless Samsung Omnia very happy.

The cell phone manufacturer has officially released software update CF03, which unlocks the smartphone's GPS for use with other location-based services. Previously, you were restricted to using Verizon's VZ Navigator app to get turn-by-turn directions, but now you can choose from other third-party navigation solutions.

Other features of the CF03 include the latest Microsoft Adaptation Kit Upgrade (AKU 1.5.1) and Bluetooth support for connecting to VZ Access manager. You can find the download and installation … Read more

Casio might be ripe to the world of mobile phones, but it certainly made a splash last night with a unique party for the launch of its Exilim C721, a versatile phone that combines rugged durability and a 5.1-megapixel camera in a stylish handset.

Casio canonized the launch by offering the Exilim mobile to several handpicked photographers with the challenge to use the short-form medium to document a week of their lives. Ricky Powell, Richard Kern, Dave Potes, and 11 other prominent artists were all in attendance at last night's event at the Stephen Weiss Studio in downtown … Read more

Last weekend I traveled to Mammoth Lakes in California's eastern Sierra Nevada. If you've never been I highly recommend it for its spectacular mountain scenery (Convict Lake is a highlight).

My family has visited the area for at least three generations, but the last time I went (give or take 20 years), the concept of a cell phone barely entered my mind. This trip, however, I took along CNET's iPhone 3GS. Not only did I want to use some of the travel-friendly apps, but I also wanted to gauge AT&T's service in the relative … Read more

On Thursday, Palm announced the public release of its Mojo SDK to all developers interested in creating apps for its WebOS and launched a new developer portal, complete with FAQs, forums, and all the associated documentation for the SDK. In addition, the company said it will open the app submission process to all developers this fall and new applications are already in the pipeline from its early access program. Sweet, sweet news for both developers and Palm Pre owners.

On this week's Dialed In, a tan and relaxed Bonnie joins us back in the studio to discuss a gallery of new phones for AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint. We also gab about Apple ending the Palm and iTunes party, upcoming Android updates and the dangers of texting while walking. And, of course, we report on our latest reviews and take your questions.

This post was updated at 2:56 p.m. PDT with a comment from Palm.

Oh dear. We can't say this was a complete surprise, but it looks like Apple made good on its earlier warning and put an end to the Palm Pre-iTunes synchronization with the release of iTunes 8.2.1.

In the release notes, Apple states that "iTunes 8.2.1 provides a number of important bug fixes and addresses an issue with verification of Apple devices." Not wanting to believe the news, we bit the bullet and downloaded the latest version of Apple's music software to our PC … Read more

Two weeks after iPhone OS 3.0's initial release, Apple posted new, beta 2 versions of the iPhone OS 3.1 firmware and the iPhone SDK 3.1 for developers. The OS 3.1 is available for all versions of the iPod Touch and the iPhone, while the SDK 3.1 is available in versions that are compatible with Leopard and Snow Leopard.

Without seeing the update, we don't know which changes the beta brings, but we're hoping it contains bug fixes for problems we've covered here and here.

If you've seen and used this … Read more

Google and T-Mobile held a joint news conference last week to discuss their upcoming promotion for the new Google Android-powered MyTouch 3G phone. While the code names of upcoming Android updates like Eclair and Flan were an obvious focus of the conference, I found the most important revelation to be the expansion of payment methods for Android Market.

Thanks to a coming update, Google Checkout will now support multiple billing systems and T-Mobile customers will be able to charge purchases directly to their monthly bill. Also, while the sign-up process for Google Checkout is not difficult, removing it is one less barrier to a potential purchase.

Google Checkout has been the only payment option since the Android Market first launched paid applications. Despite a few initial download glitches related to credit card authorization, the service has performed relatively well since. Purchases are easily completed in seconds and instant refunds are available during the first 24 hours.

… Read more

On Monday, AT&T Wireless introduced the Nokia Surge, a Symbian-based smartphone aimed at all you social butterflies out there.

Equipped with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, the Surge offers a suite of messaging capabilities (Oz Email 2.8 for personal accounts and Mail for Exchange 2.9) and comes preloaded with JuiceCaster so you can post messages, updates, photos, and more to social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr.

In addition, the smartphone offers a full HTML Web browser with Flash support and supports a number of AT&T services, including AT&T Navigator, AT&… Read more