iphone 4

4G LTE smartphone shipments to triple next year -- study

Shipments of 4G LTE smartphones will triple next year, research firm Strategy Analytics predicts.

The research firm sees shipments rising to 275 million next year from this year's 91 million, a rise of 203 percent resulting in a record year for LTE phone vendors. Companies that stand to benefit the most include Apple, Samsung, and LG, with the iPhone 5 and Samsung's Galaxy S3 among the most popular handsets.

But other vendors will participate in the LTE push, such as Nokia, HTC, Motorola, Blackberry, Huawei, ZTE, and Pantech. Growth in LTE smartphones will be driven by demand in … Read more

Best Buy trims $50 off iPhone

Holiday shoppers looking for an iPhone 5 or 4S can save some cash courtesy of a new sale at Best Buy.

The retailer is currently discounting all the various flavors of the iPhone by $50.

That means the 16GB iPhone 5 is selling for $149.99, the 32GB for $249.99, and the 64GB for $349.99. The 16GB iPhone 4S can be had for $49.99. Both the black and white versions are up for grabs.

All of them naturally require the standard two-year contract with Verizon Wireless, AT&T, or Sprint.

A few of the variants can … Read more

Chat and set up audio or video calls easily with this popular app

Skype is one of the most widely used messaging and calling applications available on practically every current platform. Skype for iPhone is, as the name implies, the iOS port that works on iPhone and iPad. Available for free from iTunes or several download sites, including the publisher's, Skype installs and configures easily.

Skype lets you message or chat with anyone on your contacts list. You can also set up either audio or video conferences easily with Skype, as well as conference calls, by hitting a single button after choosing the contact. Calls over standard data networks, from one Skype … Read more

View and edit Office format files on the iPhone with Quickoffice Pro

Quickoffice Pro for iPhone is an office productivity app that lets you work with most popular file formats on your iOS device. Quickoffice Pro is available through iTunes and other download sites. It installs easily. Quickoffice Pro is sold for $14.99, and there are versions specific to iPhone and iPad.

Quickoffice Pro was one of the first apps for the iPhone that supported all the popular Microsoft Office formats, and the software has continued to evolve and improve over the years. It consists of viewers and basic editors for document, presentation and spreadsheet files (so it opens and saves … Read more

Boombox iPhone case styles up speakerphone situations

In the early days of '80s hip-hop, you were almost sure to see one item on the streets of any major city: the boombox.

More recently, city ordinances and personal music players have all but eliminated the chance of encountering a wild boombox blasting tunes, but you can resurrect the iconic look of the gaudiest piece of consumer electronics ever with the $17.50 Boombox Ghetto Blaster iPhone case by Caseorama on Etsy (available for iPhone 5 and 4/4S). … Read more

iPhone 5 gets 4G LTE when Apple says so, not carriers

Apple will be the judge of whether a network's 4G LTE offering is worthy of supporting the iPhone 5, not the other way around.

That's the apparent revelation in a report today from industry site Telecoms.com. A spokesperson from Swisscom confirmed Apple's 4G approval protocol to the site this week, claiming that "Apple only enables 4G access after testing their device on an operator's live network."

In other words, Apple has managed to put 4G behind its fabled walled garden in a way, wrestling a significant measure of control away from the network carriers. Once Apple has determined that a 4G network has met its internal performance standards, it pushes out a software update enabling the step-up from 3G (or -- gulp -- something else) to LTE on that network.… Read more

T-Mobile boosts 4G coverage in attempt to lure iPhone users

T-Mobile today added Baltimore, Houston, and Washington, D.C. to the list of U.S. cities served by 4G (HSPA+) on its faster 1900 network.

"As a part of our $4 billion plan to transform our network, T-Mobile continues to strengthen an already fast and competitive 4G experience in major metro areas across the country by installing new equipment and retuning our 4G airwaves to work with more devices," T-Mobile USA Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray said in a statement today.

One of the devices that the carrier specifically highlighted to get the faster 4G coverage is the … Read more

AT&T Mobility CEO sees record customer loyalty by 2015

AT&T believes customers will stick even tighter to its wireless service over the next few years.

The company expects to hit a record-low rate of customer turnover by 2015, according to Ralph de la Vega, chief executive of AT&T's mobility arm. He was speaking today at the company's investor conference in New York.

De la Vega was his usual bullish self and threw out several stats to back up his optimism. In addition to the customer turnover rate estimate, he said he expects 90 percent of its customer base to own a smartphone by … Read more

FreedomPop's $99 sleeve brings 4G to iPod Touch

After a long wait, FreedomPop is now shipping the iPod Touch 4G Sleeve.

The sleeve can be attached to any fourth-generation iPod Touch, and allows you to connect to the firm's 4G network and make free calls via Skype and any other voice-over-IP application. Users can connect to 4G anywhere that is on the startup's 4G coverage map -- including the East Coast, Florida and California.

Currently, a sleeve-equipped iPod Touch can stream video, make VoIP calls, and serve as a hot spot for up to eight devices. The startup began taking preorders in May for the $99 … Read more