ion

AT&T officially confirmed the pricing of its new Xperia Ion smartphone. The manufacturer's first 4G LTE handset, the device will cost $99.99 and ship to stores beginning June 24. … Read more

Stop me if you've heard this one before: an embattled consumer electronics company is counting on its latest smartphone to vault it back onto the U.S. consumer's radar.

I could be talking about Nokia, Research in Motion, or LG. But today, it's Sony and the Xperia Ion, which AT&T will sell on June 24 for $99.99.

That you could tell the same attempted-comeback story about so many different vendors in the U.S. underscores the increasingl challenges in the smartphone arena, where there are a few haves (Apple and Samsung Electronics) and many … Read more

Editors' note: This is a guest post. See Noam Kedem's bio at the bottom.

The smartphone market revolves around one question: how do you fit all-day access to all of a consumer's favorite applications and services comfortably into one hand? (The tablet market? Two hands.) The rest is commentary.

No smartphone manufacturer has managed to answer the question fully, because they all face a fundamental dilemma. The electronics that enable faster performance, higher-speed data, better video and gaming, a more vivid and detailed screen, are moving at the speed of Moore's Law. The lithium ion (Li-ion) pouch … Read more

In today's show, we're buying status updates, finding a new route and building a new game addiction:

Would you pay $2 to get your Facebook status message seen by more people? It's something Facebook is testing in New Zealand. (And tell me your two-cents on the issue via Tout!)

The Foxconn factory for Apple products is preparing to build the much anticipated Apple television set. The chief at the Foxconn spilled the beans in a news conference.

According to 9to5Mac, the next version of iOS will not include Google Maps. Rather, it will have Apple's own mapping software. … Read more

If you know anyone living outside the U.S. who wants a tablet, laptop, camera, or smartphone from the States, it's best to send it to them before May 16.

As of next week, the United States Postal Service, or USPS, is banning all international shipments containing lithium ion batteries, which many electronics have (see the full list below).

The most likely reason for the ban is that if lithium ion batteries are fully charged or not correctly stored or packed, they can catch fire or combust -- something obviously best to avoid while shipping. … Read more

With Mobile World Congress just three weeks away, rumors continue to fly about what we might see out of big players like Nokia, LG, Samsung, and HTC.

Sony has been a notable exception up until now, but a recent filing with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office may finally offer some clues as to what the company has in store.

Filed on January 31, the application asks for a trademark on the name "Xperia Sola." Though there's no indication as to what type of device would carry the moniker, the long line of Xperia smartphones points … Read more

While many are cheering the impending death of Internet Explorer 6, including Microsoft itself, large businesses aren't. Replacing corporate apps built for IE6 could cost tens of millions of dollars, and that's where Browsium's new Ion browser add-on comes in.

Originally known as UniBrows, Ion ditched Browsium's locked-down, more secure IE6 engine, once engineers realized that it wasn't necessary. Ion utilizes a merged IE8-and-IE9 engine to enable corporations to run their proprietary sites and apps without having to deal with complications like sluggishness from virtualization.

Gary Schare, president and chief operating officer of Browsium, explained … Read more

Even electronics need to let their kink flags fly sometimes. Open-minded iPad and iPhone 4S owners can dress their devices up as furries with ION-factory's fur covers.

The Monster Fur Cover for the iPhone is a hard snap-on cover with a shock of artificial fur on the back. It comes in three colors: snow white, creamy camel, and schnauzer grey. Gotta dig that schnauzer grey.

The iPhone cover costs $40, while a leopard-print version for the iPad 2 costs $70. Ion encourages you to pamper your new flat tribble with combing and grooming. Your real-life Shih Tzu will soon … Read more

The latest rumors from Boy Genius Report suggest some juicy details about AT&T's planned devices for the first quarter of 2012.

BGR indicates AT&T is gearing up to offer yet another Windows Phone device on March 18: the 4G-equipped HTC Titan II at $199. There's word that the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket HD, Samsung Exhilarate, and Sony Xperia Ion also will debut on the carrier toward the end of March, but pricing is unknown.

Lastly, the rumors note that a Sony tablet (code-named Crystal) with HSPA+ will launch on AT&T for $409. I fully believe that Crystal is the dual-screen Sony Tablet P that has evaded a U.S. launch (despite being available in Japan for several months now).

There aren't any sources listed for the rumored information, but BGR has built a bit of a reputation for itself with several credible road map leaks in the past. Regardless, we still recommend you take this news with a grain of salt until things become official. … Read more