Mobile

For tablets and cellular, it's go time

In 2010, the iPad wedged itself into the market between the smartphone and laptop using the operating system of the former but something closer to the screen of the latter.

Apple's tablet has long offered cellular connectivity as an option, but tablets have developed a reputation for being homebodies, at least compared to their pocket-sized, cellular-equipped smartphone cousins. Indeed, the falling prices and declining sizes of tablets have resulted in a number of products where Wi-Fi is the only practical option at this point.

However, changes in the cellular landscape are not only making the case stronger for cellular … Read more

AT&T; to disclose government requests for customer data

AT&T has joined Verizon Communications in publishing a report that details how many surveillance requests it gets from law enforcement.

The company announced Friday that it will begin publishing a semiannual report offering details of requests it has received from law enforcement. This comes one day after Verizon announced a similar plan. AT&T and Verizon have each come under pressure from shareholders to disclose to their customers how many requests they get a year.

These reports will include information about the total number of law-enforcement data requests they receive from governments in criminal cases including the … Read more

Google gives thumbs-up to first Cyanogen phone

Come Christmas Eve, CyanogenMod will be the first third-party version of Android to ship on a phone out of the box.

Noted CyanogenMod and Android developer Koushik Datta revealed that Google has approved of a CyanogenMod version of the Oppo N1 to ship on December 24. No other details were revealed in the post, although the currently available version of the N1 costs $599 and is carrier-independent. Cyanogen has produced a commercial for the phone, embedded below, in which the phone is called the Oppo N1 CM Edition. It will run the Google Apps suite out of the box, as … Read more

iPad, Surface, Kindle owners reveal their top gripes

Got a beef about your iPad, Surface, or Kindle tablet? Join the club.

The new holiday report from Q&A site FixYa sifted through thousands of problems reported by its Web site users to determine the most common grievances. The tablets that faced the firing squad included Apple's iPad Air and Retina Display iPad Mini, Microsoft's Surface 2, and Amazon's Kindle HDX. Let's see how they fared.

Microsoft's Surface 2 The Surface 2 was dinged for its poor app support, speaker quality, and Touch Cover keyboard. Users applauded the Microsoft Office suite that comes … Read more

New Moto X ad lets you change the color on a printed page

Motorola has gone to great lengths to market its flagship Moto X smartphone as not the most powerful device, but one that a user can tailor to his or her tastes down to the color of the camera ring. To take that customizability message even further, the company infused a low-tech environment with a hi-tech concept in the form of an interactive ad in the pages of Wired magazine.

The trick is pulled off using a piece of plexiglass inside a page of polycarbonate paper, LEDs, a handful of lithium batteries, and some smart circuitry. The end result is a … Read more

BlackBerry CEO details survival strategy

BlackBerry is not going down without a fight.

There's no question that the smartphone maker is in trouble. The company has been losing customers and money for some time now. And this third fiscal quarter was no different than previous quarters in that regard. In fact, the losses were a bit steeper than Wall Street had expected.

The company is still bleeding customers, especially in the high-end device market. In total, sales of its BlackBerry smartphones were off about 50 percent in the quarter. And with about 75 percent of those sales for lower-end BlackBerry 7 units, it doesn'… Read more

T-Mobile's 'Project Houdini' rumored to shoulder your ETF

Can T-Mobile unshackle customers from rival carriers' early termination fees? That could very well be behind T-Mobile's latest secret initiative, "Project Houdini," according to TmoNews.

A source close to the blog says that T-Mobile's project will give switching customers up to $350 in credit for leaving another provider. Reportedly, the deal would be aimed at families with up to five lines of service. What's more, it would not matter if each line had its own contract end date.

The tipster says new customers would receive instant credits for trading in their current smartphone. Once a … Read more

How to use facial recognition on your iPhone

iPhone and iPad users waiting for Apple to bring facial recognition to the iOS world may want to check out a couple of apps in the meantime.

A few different apps in Apple's App Store use the camera to identify your face, thereby granting access to certain stored information. The two apps that I took for a spin are FastAccess Anywhere and FaceCrypt. Both of them use facial recognition to lock and unlock specific content. How do they fare?

FastAccess Anywhere FastAccess Anywhere lets you use your face as a password to access any Web site that you choose.… Read more

Samsung GamePad may get bundled, courtesy of Galaxy Tab 3

Samsung's GamePad, a controller that's designed to make it easier to play games on mobile devices, will come in a bundle, a new leak suggests.

The folks over at All About Samsung in Germany on Thursday released a leaked image of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Game Edition. The bundle includes a Galaxy Tab 3 8.0, HDMI adapter, and the GamePad. According to All About Samsung, the price has not been announced.

Samsung unveiled its GamePad earlier this week. The device holds Android devices ranging in size from 4 inches to 6.3 inches, but can also … Read more

Samsung said to unveil Galaxy Pro tablets in early 2014

Samsung may be targeting a new lineup of Galaxy Pro tablets for the first quarter of 2014.

Based on a tidbit from an unnamed insider, SamMobile said on Friday that Samsung is prepping three Pro tablets as well as a lite version of the Galaxy Tab 3. The pro lineup would include the Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4, the Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1, and the Galaxy Note Pro 12.2.

All three tablets will be available in Wi-Fi and LTE variations and offer a color choice of black or white, said SamMobile. The 8.4 and 10.1 editions … Read more