tablets smartphones

Samsung video hints at big release at CES

A teasing post on Samsung's site suggests a new product will be revealed at CES 2013.

In a blog post and video, the electronics giant says that its customers should "get ready" for January 8 to 11 -- the dates of the Consumer Electronics show -- and should stay tuned to learn more.

The video doesn't give much away. But the phrase "the world is waiting" may be indicative of previous rumors concerning a potential successor to Samsung's Galaxy S3 smarphone, which debuted in May. The company actually quashed such rumors in September … Read more

Apple's rise to test Intel's next CEO

The success of the iPad and iPhone is a problem for Intel's next CEO.

Intel CEO Paul Otellini seems to be exiting in the nick of time. His successor will face an increasingly hostile world of customers like Apple fashioning chips for their own purposes.

Apple is a big Intel customer. Macs are all Intel-based. Problem is, most of Apple's growth is happening in tablets and phones.

This is not a trivial issue for Intel. As Apple ships more iPhones and iPads, more R&D and money flow to Apple's internal chip development -- in the … Read more

More than half of users polled would vote via mobile devices

Would you use your mobile device to vote in an election? A majority of people recently polled said they would, at least under the right conditions.

Among smartphone and tablet owners asked, 60 percent said they'd cast their vote for the next president through a mobile app or text message -- if they could do so without any fear of fraud.

Conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Internet radio provider Stitcher, the poll also found that 49 percent of mobile device owners ages 18 to 34 are using more apps to stay up to date on election information … Read more

People love their tablets, report says

Compared to smartphones, people are more satisfied with their tablets -- and of all tablets, they especially love the iPad, according to a new report by ComScore.

"New TabLens data showed that tablet owners were highly satisfied with their respective devices, with the average overall satisfaction rating reaching 8.6 on a 10-point scale," the ComScore report says. "In comparison, smartphone owners rated overall satisfaction with their device an 8.1."

Surveying 6,000 U.S. tablet owners over three months, the research company found out that iPad owners have the "highest level of satisfaction,&… Read more

HandAble: Avoid a smartphone death grip

As smartphones get smaller, flatter, sleeker, and shinier, they also get harder to hold onto. The HandAble holder is one way to avoid developing a smartphone death grip.

The accessory market is a crowded one, but HandAble is just clever enough and simple enough to warrant a look. It attaches to the back of the phone and consists of a retractable disk that you slip your fingers under, keeping the phone snug against your hand.

HandAble is the brain child of Aaron Block, a 78-year-old inventor. The accessory was originally a Kickstarter project, but one that failed to reach its funding goal. An unfunded Kickstarter project doesn't mean the idea has to die. HandAble is proof of that.… Read more

Would you pay for a shared data plan?

Verizon is looking to appeal to data-hungry users by introducing shared data plans this summer.

Speaking at yesterday's conference call on first-quarter earnings, Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo confirmed the company's intent to introduce such plans in the next few months. And Verizon is expecting these plans to fuel growth.

"There's going to be other categories that drive the growth of wireless in the future, as I said, we will be launching our data share plan in mid-summer this year," Shammo said, according to a transcript from Seeking Alpha. "We believe that, that plan, … Read more

Samsung Galaxy Note spills its guts

If you're like me, you can get pretty tired of smashing your gadgets to the floor just to see what's inside. For one thing, it's a fairly expensive method and for another, it gets messy.

Fortunately, Samsung Tomorrow took it upon itself to digitally rip apart the Samsung Galaxy Note and explain, layer by layer, what exactly is in this hulk of machinery.

The first obvious component of this smartphone/tablet hybrid is the stylus. According to Samsung Tomorrow, the S Pen "uses electromagnetic induction technology and has pressure sensitivity equal to a regular pen." … Read more

T-Mobile cares

Links from Friday's episode of Loaded:

New Blackberry smartphone coming soon Google is set to use location aware ads Samsung will debut two new cameras LG announced its Android tablet for the holiday season T-Mobile ranks first in customer service

Archos working on Android Internet tablet/phone

Thanks to a lovely little press release from Texas Instruments, we now know that Archos is working on a new product line of ultrathin Internet Media Tablets (IMTs) with voice functionality provided by the Google Android operating system.

The release highlights the fact that the new series will use TI's OMAP3 processor and goes on to detail the features of the product, stating that Android will contribute the smartphone and applications environment while Archos will bring the multimedia and Web capabilities.

Given that the company is known for its portable video players, it's no surprise multimedia plays a … Read more