phones

Nokia's Lumia push to get 'much more aggressive'

Nokia has vowed to get more aggressive when it comes to promoting its Lumia phones, promising advertising that will take direct aim at the company's biggest rivals.

"I think what you're going to be seeing," Nokia's global head of smart phone marketing, Vesa Jutila, told CNET, "not only from Nokia but also from our key partner Microsoft, is that we're going to be much more aggressively going head-to-head with competition."

The Finnish firm, which is struggling to make a dent in Apple and Samsung's hammerlock share of the mobile market, recently … Read more

Skype updates for Windows Phone 8, Windows desktop

Microsoft's Skype unit made available for download on Monday Skype updates for Windows Phone 8 and Windows desktop.

Skype 2.6 for Windows Phone 8, which the team calls a "minor" update, is available for download from the Windows Phone Store. The 2.6 update includes improvements around the reliability of chat and call notifications, of calls to phone numbers, and resolution to "occasional missing message preview in the recent conversations list," according to the Skype site.

The Skype team also provided information about some upcoming fixes and updates for still-unresolved problems with Skype on Windows Phone 8. … Read more

Apple, Samsung, others urged to help thwart mobile phone thefts

Apple and other mobile phone vendors are being asked to amp up the fight against cell phone theft.

In a series of letters sent today to the heads of Apple, Samsung, Google, Motorola, and Microsoft, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman requested information on what they're doing to make their phones more safe and secure from thieves. Schneiderman also urged the companies to work with his office to devise ways to cut down on the lure of cell phones to criminals.

The attorney general pointed to a rise in the theft of phones and other mobile devices in … Read more

Zact touts lower phone bills

Why shell out extra bucks each month for a cellular service you don't benefit from? That's the question wireless newcomer Zact poses to customers. In a fresh twist on the MVNO model, today the company unveiled a radical way for people to buy and customize their phone plans on the fly.

Nokia video teases next Lumia with eye on camera

Nokia is shining a light on the camera and flash of a new Lumia smartphone.

A video posted on YouTube today takes us on a tour of the phone from the camera to the lens to the flash, promising "more than your eyes can see" and telling us that "the new Nokia Lumia is coming."

So, just which model Lumia is coming?

Nokia will hold an event in London tomorrow in which it will likely pull back the curtains on its latest Lumia phone. The company has been playing up its Lumia 928 in a series … Read more

Gingrich to world: Rename the cell phone

It's time this country addressed the real issues.

Things cannot go on the way they are and cometh the hour, cometh the man. That man is Newt Gingrich.

No, the great Republican doesn't want to impeach the President, repeal Obamacare and institute conscription for everyone aged 15 and older.

Well, those aren't his current priorities. Instead, he believes that for America to progress we need to call the cell phone something else.

Please, this is serious.

In a video posted to YouTube on Friday, Gingrich made his case, while waggling his encased cell phone.

"If it'… Read more

Review: QuickVoice Recorder for iPhone provides easy voice recording

The free version of QuickVoice Recorder for iPhone does very little that the built-in voice recorder for your phone doesn't already do. You can quickly and easily record your voice with the tap of a button, navigate the list of recordings you've taken, and share them with people via e-mail as a recording or a ringtone. Is this enough to replace the built-in tool that comes with the iPhone? Let's take a look.

Quick Voice Recorder has a very limited audience in its free iteration because it really just retreads the same basic functions of a built-in … Read more

Defense Department to let Apple devices onto Pentagon network

Pentagon employees may soon start using Apple mobile devices, like iPhones and iPads, on the U.S. Defense Department's secure network.

The department expects to clear the devices for use on its network early next week, Bloomberg reported Friday.

It's a space that's normally dominated by BlackBerry, but with other smartphone brands gaining popularity, the federal government is considering other options. Those options include Samsung, which officials cleared last week.

Approval means employees using government-issued iOS 6 devices can access military networks after the department builds a mobile-device management system to secure the phones and … Read more

Star Apps: Counting Crows

For some audiophiles, Counting Crows and The Wallflowers will forever be associated with the mid-1990s--along with Netscape Navigator, Hotmail, and of course, Windows 95. But don't call their joint summer outing a nostalgia trip. Velvet-tongued Counting Crows vocalist Adam Duritz, hot off the heels of The Outlaw Roadshow (alongside a slew of new indie bands), prefers to view his comparatively intimate Wallflowers double bill as a much-needed respite.

Other than sharing a decade, the comradely combos have shared previous tours, a track (Duritz sang on The Wallflowers' "6th Avenue Heartache"), and even a producer (T-Bone Burnett, back … Read more

Top 5: Reasons not to buy the Galaxy S4

If you're an Android fan with a short temper, please turn back now. Watching this video will just send you into hysterics.

Part of my job here at CNET is to play the devil's advocate, and sometimes that requires me to talk trash about products you love. This time around, I'm going to take a poke at a phone that we love as much as you do, the Samsung Galaxy S4.

You'd be hard pressed to find a smartphone on our site that comes more highly recommend than the S4, but that doesn't mean that … Read more