smartphones

Apple is currently king of the smartphone world. The iconic iPhone has doubled in market share since 2008, rising to 10.8 percent in the first quarter of 2009 from 5.3 percent in 2008, according to Gartner.

But Apple may be in for a Microsoft moment. Just as a steady stream of well-heeled competitors like IBM, Red Hat, and Oracle are aligning themselves with Linux as a way to undermine Windows in servers and desktops, so, too, are crowds starting to form around Google's open-source Android in the smartphone market.

Linux: the bete noir of proprietary operating system … Read more

On Tuesday,T-Mobile answered the prayers of many smartphone fanatics and officially announced the upcoming release of the HTC Touch Pro2 smartphone. The Touch Pro2 will be available starting August 12 and will come in a mocha finish, but pricing was not revealed at press time.

First announced at GSMA 2009 as the successor to the HTC Touch Pro, the Touch Pro2 will finally bring T-Mobile customers a much-needed update to the T-Mobile Wing, which has been in circulation since 2007.

While the smartphone will still run on Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, it brings a number of notable improvements, … Read more

Verizon Wireless is jumping on the application store bandwagon and taking on Apple and its App Store with its own Vcast application store, which it announced at its first ever developer conference in San Jose, Calif., Tuesday.

The new Vcast application store will launch in the fourth quarter of 2009. Lowell McAdam, CEO of Verizon Wireless, said it will offer application developers a quick and simple way to distribute and monetize their applications while providing wireless subscribers with an easier way to discover and buy new applications for their smartphones.

Executives from Verizon Wireless--which has been criticized in the past … Read more

As promised back in May, T-Mobile is bringing Microsoft Exchange support to the T-Mobile Sidekick LX 2009. Starting Tuesday afternoon, Sidekick LX owners will be able to download the Sidekick Sync app from the handheld's Download Catalog and get real-time push e-mail, attachment viewing, and full sync capabilities. In addition, you'll also be able to sync your contacts and Exchange calendar to the Sidekick. Developed by Remoba, Sidekick Sync costs $4.99 per month and requires you have a Sidekick data plan.

There is still no official word about when or if Verizon Wireless will ever get Apple's iPhone, but the wireless operator has confirmed it will be getting the Palm Pre early next year.

The company's chief operating officer, Denny Strigl, spilled the beans on the impending smartphone availability during a conference call with analysts and investors discussing the company's second-quarter earnings on Monday. The Palm Pre, which was highly anticipated for several months, is currently only available on Sprint Nextel's network.

Since Sprint and Verizon use the same underlying cell phone technology, it shouldn't come … Read more

On Monday, T-Mobile announced the upcoming availability of its latest smartphone, the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8520. The Curve 8520 is slated for release on August 5 for $129.99 with a two-year contract and will come in two colors: frost or black.

This will be RIM's first model with dedicated media keys, which are integrated along the top of the handset, and also replaces the trademark trackball navigator with a touch-sensitive optical trackpad (think Samsung Omnia). Also of note, the BlackBerry Curve 8520 touts Mac compatibility out of the box (via desktop software).

The rest of the smartphone's … Read more

Well, I'll be damned. I never thought I'd see this day, but after numerous delays, Garmin-Asus is finally releasing its Nuvifone models, starting with select Asian markets.

The Garmin-Asus Nuvifone G60 will be the first out the door and will go on sale in Taiwan on July 27, and then in Singapore and Malaysia by the end of August. The Garmin-Asus Nuvifone M20 will also go on sale in August, shipping in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia.

As for us here in the States (and Europe), Garmin-Asus says the Nuvifone G60 is on schedule for delivery … Read more

On Friday, Motorola launched a new program called Motodev, designed to give developers early access to tools and programs so they can get a head start on creating apps for the company's future Google Android devices.

Motodev consists of the App Accelerator Program and Motodev Studio for Android Beta. Through the Accelerator Program, select developers will be given access to tools, specs, and other resources, such as direct access to the company's developer support engineers via private discussion boards. In addition, they will also have exclusive prerelease access to Motorola's upcoming devices for testing and debugging.

Meanwhile, … Read more

This post was last updated July 24, 2009 at 7:50 a.m. PT.

Oh, snap! Things just got a little more heated between Palm and Apple. On Thursday, Palm released WebOS 1.1 for the Palm Pre, which, among other things, brings back iTunes syncing even with version 8.2.1, which disabled the feature. The news was posted on Palm's blog where it listed the new features and enhancements of the software update and nonchalantly added at the end:

Oh, and one more thing: Palm webOS 1.1 re-enables Palm media sync. That's right--you once again … Read more