Smartphones

Colin Giles, Nokia's former senior vice president of sales, has a new gig.

The executive, who left Nokia in April 2012 to spend more time with his family, has been appointed executive vice president of Huawei's Consumer Business Group. In his new position, Giles will head up the Chinese firm's global marketing, retail, and open channel development.

One of Giles' first tasks will be to promote the company's Ascend P6 smartphone. Huawei argues that the handset, which launched just a few weeks ago, is the slimmest in the world, making it an appealing option to international … Read more

Motorola's upcoming Droid Ultra will be thin and still as "tough as steel." At least, that's how the company is teasing it.

A page on Motorola's Web site displays a small gray box with a tidbit of promotional copy for the Droid Ultra: "Available in a bunch of glossy colors, this high-grade DuPont Kevlar body proves you can be even thinner and still be tough as steel."

The rest of the page is filled with lots of technical specs. But as noticed by blog site Droid Life, the specs are the exact same … Read more

Last week I made a visit to my local Verizon Wireless store. As the store employees rung up my wife's new Galaxy S4 and sang its praises, they talked even more giddily about the impending arrival of another phone on the nation's largest carrier -- the HTC One.

This is just one small-town store in a vast network of Verizon stores, mind you, but employees told me iPhone sales had fallen off in favor of Samsung's Note and Galaxy S lines, and that they were expecting even bigger things from the HTC One.

What I couldn't get a straight answer on was when the flagship Android phone might finally come to Big Red. It's been months since the last great hope for struggling HTC was released to the masses, and the HTC One has since landed on all other major carriers in the United States. … Read more

You know you have a hidden inbox on Facebook, right? The "other" message folder is reserved for those people who message you and aren't one of your Facebook friends.

There's a chance some messages from nonfriends will go to your main inbox (depending on your settings), but most of the time these messages make their way to your other messages, without you ever being notified of a waiting message. Unless the sender decides to pay $1 to guarantee the message ends up in your main folder.

Up until recently, the only way to access your other … Read more

Samsung fans, listen up: a new Galaxy Note 3 phone might be right around the corner. A new report claims the latest phablet device from the Korean tech giant could become a reality in September.

Samsung certainly has made a lot of noise about its newest Galaxy S4 superphone, but another of its popular gadget lines, the Galaxy Note franchise, is sorely overdue for a refresh. Now it appears a Note 3 model is in the works, according to sources close to technology blog Android Geeks.

You may recall that the original Galaxy Note first shook up the mobile device … Read more

Embed Instagram is a tool brought to you from the Digital Inspiration blog. It is free, easy to use, and can add a 612x612 photo or video alongside your writing. You can also edit the dimensions if you need a smaller version to fit Web site formatting.

Step 1: Open Instagram in your Web browser and navigate to the photo or video you want to share. Copy the URL in the top address bar.

Step 2: Next, open a new tab and head to the Embed Instagram Web tool. Paste the URL in the box and click Generate Embed Code. … Read more

Boomerang is a service that works with your Gmail to send e-mail later, give you follow-up reminders, and notify you if you don't hear back within a specific time. To use the service in the past, you had to install an extension for Chrome or Firefox.

Now there's Boomerang for Gmail on Android, an app that allows you to use all of the same features you expect from the Web versions on your smartphone or tablet.

One big reason for using the app alongside the desktop version is that you don't have to wait until you're … Read more

Hewlett-Packard plans to jump back into the smartphone business.

Yam Su Yin, HP's senior director for consumer PC and media tablets for Asia Pacific, told the Press Trust of India that the company will focus on all segments of the market, including tablets, notebooks, and all-in-one PCs, the Indian Express reported Sunday.

Asked specifically about a smartphone, Yin said: "The answer is yes, but I cannot give a timetable. It would be silly if we say no. HP has to be in the game."

HP attempted to carve a bigger slice of the mobile market after acquiring Palm in 2010. … Read more

It's not every day that a new mobile operating system arrives, but Tuesday will be one of them as Telefonica begins selling the inexpensive ZTE Open with Mozilla's Firefox OS in Spain.

The move marks the commercial beginning of an effort by phone makers and network operators to use Mozilla's open-source, browser-based operating system to reclaim power in the mobile market lost to Apple and Google.

The phone itself costs 69 euros ($90), including 30 euros ($39) of pay-as-you-go credit -- or for those who sign up for a two-year contract, for 2.38 euros ($3.10) … Read more