Phones

This will be a weekly article tracking the most popular ringtones.

Ah, to be Chris Brown. The 18-year-old has a double-platinum album, was nominated for a Grammy, and has no problems with the ladies. But now, in even more exciting news, his single "Poppin'" is the top ringtone in the United States this week, according to Billboard.

The second hottest ringtone is Buckcherry's "Crazy B****." A catchy tune, yes, but you might run into trouble if you assign it to your girlfriend's number.

Proving that they're not dead yet, the Canadian rock band … Read more

The rumors were true: Nokia's N-Gage is returning, but it will be a gaming platform available on several new phones rather than on a single gaming handset. Gaming blog Kotaku was among the first to report on the news, which Nokia will expand upon at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco. Top mobile publishers such as EA, Glu Mobile and THQ Wireless are said to be on board, and Nokia is showcasing at least six N-Gage games, including versions of such well-known franchises as Brothers in Arms and FIFA 2008.

Nokia's press release specifically mentions that … Read more

Man, the RIM BlackBerry 8800 has to feel a little jilted. The sleek, full QWERTY device just came out over a week ago, and already we've moved on to the next big thing. That's a pretty quick 15 minutes of fame, even in the tech world. But can you really blame us? Not when there are rumors of a Wi-Fi-enabled BlackBerry 8820 out in the wild. And now, thanks to Spanish site Mentesdigitales, we can drool over another rumored RIM device, the BlackBerry 8300, aka "Daytona." This sexy beast sports an attractive silver casing as well … Read more

Maxwell Smart would be so proud. While we've seen other high-tech uses for footwear, most notably GPS devices, what we've really craved is an authentic shoe phone.

So even though we'd prefer that it come in the form of an oxford or loafer, we'd be happy to have a tennis shoe version like this Sports Illustrated collectible found by Red Ferret. Unfortunately, it's corded, which would definitely put a crimp in our sit-com spying missions. But for top-secret conversations in person, we at least have the "Cone of Silence."

We'd just about given up hope on ever seeing the Nokia N75 hit U.S. streets, but our dreams have been briefly resuscitated after spotting pictures of a Cingular-branded N75 on the Boy Genius Report. As you may recall, the N75 got the FCC's blessing back in November, so it's really just up to Nokia and Cingular to get this thing finalized and out the door. Unfortunately, there's no official word on availability or pricing, but there are rumors that the N75 may be released as early as this month or delayed till later--come on, already! … Read more

Coffee behemoth Starbucks has launched a new cell phone-based service that lets you efficiently locate the nearest store and feed your addiction get your caffeine buzz on. Starting today, when you send a text message with the ZIP code of your location to the number "MYSBUX" (697289), you'll receive another text with the addresses of the three nearest Starbucks locations. It won't cost you anything besides your cell phone plan's normal texting fees.

Only problem is, if you're wandering around in an unfamiliar city, you might not have any clue as to the exact … Read more

Sure, everyone knew this was coming but Verizon Wireless formally switched on its new V Cast TV network today in 20 markets. As we told you earlier this week, the lucky locales for the Media Flo-powered service are concentrated mostly in the Midwest and West with Jacksonville, Fla., and Norfolk/Richmond, Va., being the sole outposts on the East Coast. The full list includes Tucson, Ariz.; Palm Springs, Calif.; Denver/Boulder and Colorado Springs, Colo.; Chicago, Ill.; Wichita, Kan.; New Orleans, La.; Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn.; St. Louis and Kansas City, Mo.; Omaha/Lincoln Neb.; Albuquerque/Santa Fe, N.M.; … Read more

Does it really work? That's anybody's guess. But given all the health scares that routinely make headlines, the "Cell Sensor" electromagnetic field detector will likely be a popular item for those who think of their mobile phones as a bodily appendage.

The gaussmeter--which, by the way, features a distinctly unscientific-looking logo--supposedly sounds an alarm when it detects certain emission levels from phones, computer monitors, TVs and the like, according to Red Ferret. Some of the skeptics at Crave have expressed their doubts, but we suspect that a good number of people will spring $40 even … Read more

Helio has announced a brand new cell phone in its lineup, and no, it's not that QWERTY phone that we were all excited about a week ago. Instead, it's a slim and shiny slider phone called the Heat, which appears to be the glam version of the company's much more sedate-looking Drift. The big design difference is that the Heat features "electrostatic" touch-sensitive buttons, much like the ones on the LG Chocolate. The touchpad includes the standard soft key and navigational buttons as well as dedicated music-player controls. It comes in onyx black as well … Read more