Nielsen released a study that found just about a third of smartphone users turn to their device for shopping-related activities. But the study highlights that while not everyone is using their phone in this way, many more would like to. Read more »
Cloud storage player Box is beefing up its Android clients with collaboration and batch upload support. It also seems to be favoring Android devices even over popular IPhones and iPads and is definitely backing them at the expense of Windows Phone. Read more »
T-Mobile USA may have had a horrible fourth quarter while its merger with AT&T suffered its death throes, but the operator is definitely taking advantage of the aftermath. T-Mobile is using the breakup fee and spectrum won from AT&T to build an LTE network in 2013. Read more »
Voice-over-Wi-Fi pioneer Kineto Wireless is trying to convince operators that if they can’t beat the over-the-top VoIP challengers, they might as well join them. Kineto is selling VoIP software to operators that would allow them to bypass their own voice networks and offer cheap VoIP calling. Read more »
Canonical will turn Android phones into Ubuntu desktops, which could eliminate the need to carry a laptop. The idea of using a docked phone as a full-fledged desktop computer isn’t new — remember Motorola’s lapdock? — but Canonical is better suited to make the concept work. Read more »
Constant connectedness means an increased risk of communication addiction, with knowledge workers checking their devices at all hours and burning themselves out in the process. But whose problem is this? Should companies, individuals or even countries be responsible for setting boundaries? Wharton School experts debate. Read more »
The excellent Swype keyboard found its way to Android 4.0 devices this week while questionable rumors of Android 5.0 surfaced. Android tablets made a dent in the overall tablet market share, but its the small and low-priced slates that are selling well. Read more »
Benchmark results of a quad-core Android smartphone appeared on the web, and the handset tests twice as fast as recent smartphones, such as the Galaxy Nexus. But there’s an important aspect to remember here: software is still catching up to hardware, so set your expectations accordingly. Read more »
Wi-Fi is now a staple in today’s smartphones, but it’s expected to improve in the handsets of tomorrow. The new 802.11ac standard, or “5G Wi-Fi,” offers improved power efficiency and speeds faster than 802.11n Wi-Fi, and it could be your smartphone’s new best friend. Read more »
Cisco has read the mobile data tea leaves again, and it predicts that next year the global population of mobile users will switch to streaming the majority of their content from “the cloud.” This will represent a shift from downloaded and sideloaded content. Read more »
Cisco Systems’ oft-cited Visual Networking Index of the world’s projected mobile data consumption fell under some criticism this year as some operators’ rapid growth seemed to peter off, but Cisco isn’t changing its forecasts. Rather, it is revising them upward, predicting even greater traffic growth. Read more »
Shown off at TEDxBoston, Netra is a $2 solution for mobile eye exams. The Netra clips to a phone, and users tap buttons on the touchscreen display until images seen in the Netra are aligned. The device can measure for nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism. Read more »
Remember Crazy Frog? The bike-riding amphibian and his irritating, ubiquitous song symbolized the premium ringtone market a few years ago, before fading into obscurity. The frog has disappeared, but one startup thinks it has found a way to evolve the idea for the modern mobile user. Read more »
The era of cheap digital photography means it is easier than ever to take a good picture, but it also means we are drowning in photos, and pictures have become just another form of digital detritus. Where will those digital memories be when we need them? Read more »
When AT&T first started throttling unlimited smartphone data users plans last fall, it claimed it had to limit the “extraordinary” consumption of its greediest customers. It turns out extraordinary is only 2 GB – a full gigabyte less than it sells customers under its most-common data plan. Read more »
Sony’s next-generation SmartWatch is “coming soon” according to the product page, and it looks like a huge improvement over the company’s first attempt, which debuted in Sept. 2010. The SmartWatch connects wirelessly to an Android phone for message notifications checking Facebook and Twitter or monitoring exercise. Read more »
Now that Google has brought its Chrome browser to desktops, laptops, Chromebooks (remember those?) and, just today, to Android 4.0 tablets and smartphones, where will Chrome appear next? For $60, it can be on your wrist, but don’t expect to browse for anything but the time. Read more »
Mobile World Congress is still three weeks and an ocean away, but Samsung is already threatening to steal the show. Analytics blog Anlytk has compiled Twitter data on the most referenced terms surrounding MWC and found that Samsung is already generating an enormous amount of buzz. Read more »
We already knew the iPhone 4S camera was good thanks to its small pixel size and backlit sensor. That’s helping the iPhone 4S to become the most used camera on Flickr, and it may help the iPhone 4S become the most used smartphone in a microscope. Read more »
Combine the gargantuan information flows from the web and apps available to us everywhere with the small screen and processing power of a smartphone and you get a pretty evident bottleneck. Startup CoreMobile hopes to solve this with its enterprise software. Read more »
Based on a growing number of data points, Android’s sales dominance may be nearing its apex while iOS is on the rise. Even as a daily user of both an Android smartphone and tablet, I can’t deny the facts that Android’s future won’t rival Android’s past. Read more »
The iPhone may have passed over Android in total U.S. smartphone sales, but Google’s platform still has one key advantage: it’s attracting more mobile data newbies. According to the NPD Group, 57 percent of first-time smartphone buyers last quarter chose Android handsets. Read more »
Samsung’s next flagship phone, the Galaxy S III, is expected to be super-thin and run on a quad-core processor, with availability in May. The details aren’t official, but make sense given that code support for Samsung’s Exynos 4212 quad-core chip was found in October. Read more »
The Verizon Galaxy Nexus LTE handset is reportedly no longer a Google-supported developer phone, which could have software update implications. Code for the CDMA/LTE Nexus has been archived for reference by Google and it sounds like the issue is Google Wallet, which Verizon simply doesn’t want. Read more »
Apple’s huge iPhone sales numbers from its latest quarterly results helped it grow its mobile phone business by 128.4 percent year over year in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to a new report. That makes it the third-largest mobile phone maker by volume. Read more »
Apple has failed to secure a preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Tab 10.1N tablet and Galaxy Nexus smartphone in Germany, thanks to a ruling by the Munich Regional Court Wednesday. That should help take the sting out of the appeal it lost on Tuesday. Read more »
Next month, consumers in smaller towns and cities across the U.S. will have access to their first LTE network as U.S. Cellular ramps ups its commercial 4G service. The regional CDMA operator will start selling a tablet in March and a Galaxy smartphone in April. Read more »
TMNG Global , a consulting and strategy firm that works with all the major carriers, is introducing the first mobile device leasing program in the U.S., which will allow operators to offer no money down one-year leases for handsets to their best customers. Read more »
T-Mobile may soon begin restricting roaming data usage to cut down on the amount of packets its customers consume off the carrier’s networks. If true, the new caps could affect many of T-Mobile’s customers, though the size of the impact on each customer may be small. Read more »
There’s a new app store available for millions of devices, but it’s not built for iOS, Android, or Windows Phone handsets. As of Tuesday, the newest app store is for robots, and the first four apps are compatible with the estimated 6 million iRobot Roomba Vacuums. Read more »
IBM is stepping up its mobile profile, buying up Israeli mobile app provider Worklight and releasing a new device management tool for enterprise customers. The moves help IBM capitalize on the push toward mobile by enterprises as they manage an exploding number of devices and apps. Read more »
Now that Samsung offers the Galaxy Tab 7.7, my patience to upgrade the old Galaxy Tab has paid off: This small slate with high-def display offers big performance. Here are benchmarks compared to other tablets like the Transformer Prime; both are solid performers in real life. Read more »
Japan’s eAccess isn’t deploying any old LTE network. It’s going for broke, pushing the upper limits of the technology to launch a network that can support speeds of 300 Mbps. That makes Verizon’s LTE network, which can breach 25 Mbps on a good day, seem pokey. Read more »
China Telecom is getting very near to launching Apple’s iPhone 4S on its network, according to a new report. China Telecom subsidiary Beijing Telecom said it will likely offer a CDMA version of the iPhone 4S by the end of February or the beginning of March. Read more »
Mobile operators insist we are fast approaching a mobile datapocalypse where their networks will no longer be able to meet mobile broadband demands. But are these claims of a spectrum crisis red herrings? A couple of telecom industry commentators think so, and they’re calling the carriers out. Read more »
Another hot device from this month’s Consumer Electronics Show is about to hit the market: AT&T announced a Feb. 5 pre-order date for the Samsung Galaxy Note. With a 5.3-inch HD display, can this phone, er tablet, succeed where Dell failed with the Streak? Read more »
The Pew Internet and American Life Project shed light on one of the biggest challenges for retailers: more than half of U.S. adult cell phone owners used their mobile phone during the recent holiday season to get in-store help for their purchases. Read more »
Apple’s iPhone was a hot seller in the company’s first fiscal quarter of 2012, but that’s nothing compared to what one analyst predicts we could see in just a couple of years’ time. Morgan Stanley thinks Apple’s efforts in China could pay big dividends by 2013. Read more »
Could Apple spend its $100 billion in cash to create a virtual cable operator to compete with Comcast and the like? Sure. But it would have a really hard time offering a competitively priced service and building a profitable business out of it. Read more »
Wondering why AT&T smartphone data rates just went up? Because the operator was denied its acquisition of T-Mobile – at least that’s what AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson implied Thursday. Ma Bell is still bitter about AT&T-Mo’s failure and it’s taking it out on its customers. Read more »
