Smartphones

There's one obvious lesson learned from the earnings news of America's biggest wireless carriers: people can't do without their cell phones, even when times are bad.

This week AT&T and Verizon Communications each reported strong growth in their cell phone businesses. Verizon saw a profit gain of 15 percent, largely boosted by its growing wireless service. Despite a 26.3 percent drop in profits, which was mostly attributed to increased expenses, AT&T managed to grow revenue across the board with wireless providing the biggest benefit.

Executives running the two largest phone companies say … Read more

T-Mobile hit us with a triple whammy today when it released the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8900, T-Mobile Shadow and the Nokia 7510. Bonnie managed to secure the two smartphones for full reviews, and she gave us the full details in today's Dialed In. We also dish on the the latest Palm Treo Pro rumors, a camera phone-hating Congressman, texting in the sky, and why service rebates really stink. And if reviews are all you're after, we also give you the scoop on the latest handsets that we put to the test. Listen now: Download today's podcast

Less than a year after buying up smartphone maker E-Ten, Acer will debut its first handheld, a company representative confirmed Wednesday.

The Taiwanese PC maker has just begun distributing invitations to a press event that will be held next month during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Both President and CEO Gianfranco Lanci and Aymar de Lencquesaing, the head of the Smart Handheld business unit, will be on hand for the event. The invitation specifically says "smartphones" launch, so it doesn't sound like it's going to be an event focused on a single model or … Read more

Correction: Telstra says it will not be introducing new 21Mbps-capable handsets at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February. The interview has been changed to reflect this.

If you're looking for a super fast wireless network, you might want to head to Australia, where Telstra, the largest wireless operator Down Under, has just launched an upgrade to its 3G wireless network that will offer peak data rates of 21 Megabits per second.

Of course, the 21Mbps downlink speed is a theoretical speed at peak performance. True download speeds will likely top out at between 4Mbps and 6.6Mbps. But … Read more

T-Mobile teased us at CES 2009 by introducing the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8900 but denying us any details on its availability date and pricing. Fortunately, we didn't have to wait too long as the carrier released the final details on Tuesday night.

The BlackBerry Curve 8900 is available now to business customers and will be available to everyone else on February 11 with a price tag of $199 with a two-year contract. It replaces the BlackBerry Curve 8300 series, and brings several notable improvements, including a sleeker design, a faster processor, a full HTML Web browser, and a 3.… Read more

In addition to the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8900, T-Mobile also announced the retail availability of the T-Mobile Shadow on Tuesday night. The Windows Mobile 6.1 device was first announced at CES 2009 as the replacement to the original Shadow and can now be purchased online and at T-Mobile stores for $149.99 with a two-year contract.

I have the T-Mobile Shadow in hand, but I only received it a few hours ago, so I'm still checking out the smartphone and putting through its paces. I'll have a full review for you tomorrow morning, but for now, I … Read more

Solid-state drives may see heady growth despite a sliding world economy, according to a report released Tuesday by a market research company. Devices like the Apple iPod and iPhone are expected to drive growth.

Flash memory revenue in the solid-state drive segment will see compound annual growth rates of over 100 percent through 2012, according to market research firm In-Stat. The type of flash used in solid-state drives is referred to as NAND flash.

"You're starting from quite a small base. Back in 2006, you're in the tens of millions (of dollars) kind of a number. By … Read more

AdMob put out a call Tuesday for Android developers, as it unveiled an ad unit specifically for applications running on Google's smartphone.

AdMob's ad unit is designed to allow third-party developers to generate revenue from the applications they create for Google's Android mobile phone. AccuWeather, Jirbo, and TapJoy developers have already put AdMob's Android ad unit to work, the company said.

"We are already seeing strong interest in developing applications for Android-based devices, similar to what we saw with the iPhone last summer," Ali Diab, AdMob vice president of product management, said in a … Read more

Last week, several blog sites, including Engadget Mobile, reported the appearance of the Palm Treo Pro on Sprint's Web site, but as soon as it appeared, it disappeared.

While this may be a case of someone getting a little too trigger-happy, the idea of a Sprint Treo Pro is certainly not a fluke, and in fact, the smartphone is now up on Best Buy's Web site.

The Windows Mobile smartphone is advertised for a whopping $699.99 (though we suspect and certainly hope the price will drop with a service agreement) and is currently listed as backordered. Up … Read more