Tag: CTIA2008

Touch screens meet keyboards as the latest mobile phones debuted at last week's CTIA convention. Switched.com has a full report on the phones and the rumors -- including when you should plan to buy your next iPhone. Plus: Text Messages from The Grave. Listen Now (mp3) Be among the first to hear the 'Switched Show' each week. Subscribe for Free with iTunes. (Or subscribe with your own podcast ...

When it comes to gadgets, it seems there always has to be a fly in the ointment. For the iPhone, it's slow network speed. Yes, the device is a lovely piece of kit, with a smooth, functional UI (user interface) and a nice form-factor, but -- due to the slower AT&T EDGE network -- it doesn't deliver the speeds for Web surfing or e-mail downloading that competing 3G phones offer. As a result, ...

If you find yourself wishing for a zoom lens for your camera phone, Green House's "Mobile Telescope Lenz" might be exactly what you're looking for. The Green House kit comes with an 8x zoom lens and a small tripod designed to accept most camera phones. We're not totally sure how the system works, but it appears that you line up your phone's lens with the adapter (connected to the 8x zoom) and ...

Well, they're a little late to the party, but AT&T is finally warming up to Google's phone OS, Android. T-Mobile and Sprint and members of the Open Handset Alliance, which champions Google's new Linux-based platform, and Verizon has promised to make its network open to any device, a move that likely had Android devices specifically in mind. At the CTIA wireless show in Vegas AT&T Mobility ...

We'll admit it. We've been chased out of a big box retailer or two for taking pictures of products and writing notes on prices. It seems comparison shopping isn't something these stores want their customers to be doing. But in comes Amazon.com to the rescue. The giant online retailer announced a new service called TextBuyIt for a little comparison shopping and buying, and it's as easy as ...

It's been nearly a year since Microsoft wowed us with its Surface tabletop computer, a multi-touch display built into a cocktail table that had a number of crazy features. You could set your phone down on it and then, via Bluetooth, literally drag files to and from the thing, pulling your pics from the camera and showing them on the screen. It allowed some crazy interaction with digital mapping ...

We weren't too sold on live TV on mobile phones when the feature first launched on Verizon Wireless phones a year ago, but the slim and sexy Samsung Access, which we got to play around with here at the CTIA Wireless mobile phone show, may just sell us on the concept. Imagine a Samsung BlackJack II with bigger keys and no glitchy Windows Mobile, and you pretty much have the Samsung Access. It's ...

The days of actual tactile buttons seem to be numbered, at least that's what a slew of new cell phones would have you believe. Samsung's new Instinct, which made its official debut at the CTIA Wireless show in Las Vegas yesterday, makes use of two currently hot ways to control your phone -- touchscreens (made popular by the iPhone) and voice-recognition. Slim and light, the Instinct is jam-packed ...

Of all the numerous choices you have available to you for your Internet searching, names like Google and Yahoo! stand out. There are some worthy alternatives out there, though, most notably one called ChaCha, which has an interesting alternative angle: All its searches are human-powered. Yes, Google has made jokes about having monkeys power their searches, but ChaCha has real people producing and ...

Live TV has long been promised to mobile phone users but a lack of inspiring content has been one element in the equation that has slowed down adaptation in the United States. Mobile phone users in Asia are already well-accustomed to watching live, digital TV content over their devices and now Sony Pictures Television is hoping that its stable of movies will encourage consumers in America to do ...

Verizon Wireless is getting in on the friend-tracking game, offering a $3.99 per month service for its GPS-capable phones that allows a user to note the location of a friend or where a picture was taken. The service, called Loopt, allows people to share their location with anyone in their contact list or in their AOL Instant Messenger list. Privacy controls are in place so each user adjust ...

The other shoe may be about to drop for those who have been holding off on buying an iPhone: According to analysts at Bank of America, Apple is expected to launch a high-speed (read: 3G) version of the device in the second quarter of 2008. "Our latest channel checks point to a significant production build of a 3G iPhone beginning in the month of June after an initial small build in May," Bank ...