Personal communications

T-Mobile announced today that BlackBerry Q10 registration for its business customers will begin Monday, April 29.

Though the smartphone is expected to cost about $249, the carrier stopped short of revealing official pricing information and an availability date for the device.

This news follows on the heels of T-Mobile's announcement last week that it will begin selling the HTC One.

The Q10 is BlackBerry's latest mobile venture, running the most recent BlackBerry OS, version 10.1, and sporting the familiar four-row QWERTY keyboard that BlackBerry handsets became famous for.

The phone boasts a compact build, an 8-megapixel camera, … Read more

It's hard to type fast and not make any spellibg msitakes, but scientists reckon they've solved that with a new keyboard for Android tablets. Kalq is a keyboard calculated to have you typing 34 percent faster.

Developed by keyboard heroes at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics, the University of Montana, and the University of St. Andrews, Kalq -- named, like the standard Qwerty keyboard, for one of the rows of letters -- splits the keyboard in two so you can quickly type with your thumbs. … Read more

The release of Samsung's next super smartphone, the Galaxy S4, is just days away. Sporting an improved design over the Galaxy S3 and packed with a ton of high-end features and specialized software, the Galaxy S4 already is an Android powerhouse. And even better, it will land at all major U.S. carriers plus a few smaller, regional providers.

Note, however, that the carriers aren't following the same release schedule. T-Mobile, for example, will begin selling the phone this week, but U.S. Cellular customers will have to wait until next month. Meanwhile, C Spire and Cricket have … Read more

A small Spanish company called Geeksphone will begin selling two smartphones on Tuesday that are geared for developers who want to build apps for Firefox OS -- or for that matter, to build Mozilla's open-source browser-based operating system itself.

As previewed earlier this year, Geeksphone has two models, the Keon at 110 euros including VAT ($143) and the Peak at 179 euros ($234) including VAT.

That's a notch cheaper than high-end unlocked smartphones you'll find, like the $574.99 HTC One, an Android phone that just went on sale. But the low price is part of the … Read more

Slowly but surely, LG is releasing more details about its "Share the Genius" event, that's scheduled for Wednesday, May 1 in New York City.

The event will take place at The Metropolitan Pavilion at 8 p.m. EST, and will feature the band Atlas Genius (hence, the "Share the Genius" event name).

Most importantly, however, is that the event will focus on the LG Optimus G Pro.

The handset debuted back in February, during MWC 2013. Its 5.5-inch full-HD IPS screen places it in "phablet" territory, and it's pitted as a … Read more

The HTC One, otherwise known as the phone that we're sort of in love with right now, hits various online and retail stores today.

Two carriers that offer the device, AT&T and Sprint, start selling the device today via both their respective online and retail stores.

However, only AT&T carries both storage capacities for the HTC One.

Contract-free carrier T-Mobile also starts selling the handset today, though users can only purchase it online for now. Starting on April 24, it will be available in the carrier's retail stores.

Unfortunately, Verizon will not offer the … Read more

A San Francisco Board of Supervisors committee on Thursday voted unanimously to approve a watered-down settlement with the wireless industry over legislation that required cell phone retailers to distribute radiation warning materials.

As currently written, the settlement calls for San Francisco to agree to a permanent injunction against the "Right to Know" ordinance and promise that it will refrain from further litigation. In return, the CTIA, the wireless industry's trade association, will waive any claims to attorney's fees.

The proposed settlement now advances to the full board for consideration at its May 7 meeting. If approved … Read more

Google uses its Android mobile operating system to power its Glass devices, Chief Executive Larry Page confirmed yesterday.

"Obviously Glass runs on Android," Page said toward the end of the conference call reporting Google's strong first-quarter financial results.

It's not a surprise, given how the engineering resources Google already has poured into Android. But the company hadn't confirmed it, even when it detailed Google Glass specifications last week.

Fragmentophobes might freak out that Android is being stretched to yet another device: it's hard enough for programmers to keep up with the diversity in screen … Read more

Archos announced today that it will release its first family of Google smartphones in Europe by the end of May. Each handset will feature dual SIMs, a pure Android OS experience, and cloud storage capabilities.

Its most entry-level device is called the 35 Carbon. For $99.99, it runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, has a 1,300mAh battery, and is powered by a 1GHz processor.

It includes 512GB of RAM, 4GB of ROM, and a microSD card slot that takes cards of up to 32GB. Its 3.5-inch IPS display has a 320x480-pixel resolution, and its rear-facing camera … Read more