Smartphone | featured news

Repairs to Android phones cost wireless operators billions, revealing a potential downside to the rapid expansion of Google's mobile operating system. A study by wireless services firm Wireless Dat Service, or WDS, found hardware failures are more common on Android devices than on Apple's iPhone or Research in Motion's BlackBerry.

HealthCanal reports that a new study of nearly 500 12 year olds found noticeably increased creativity among those who played video games, while use of cellphones, the Internet and computers (for non-gaming purposes) were unrelated to that particular branch of the imagination.

Some 2,000 people have reported poor battery life on their iPhone 4S and handsets upgraded with the iOS 5 operating system.

You want it. You want it desperately. You want it desperately, but you don't even know what it is. Such is consumer desire for 4G data connectivity in mobile handsets. Call it proof positive that the phone carriers' marketing efforts have paid off -- this despite slow 4G infrastructure roll-outs, and actual 4G data rates that fall far, far below the promise of the 4G spec.

Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth thinks Ubuntu Linux has a shot to be a contending operating system for future phones and tablets. It'll be a tough go -- Apple iOS and Google Android dominate the field now, with new Windows Phone 7 also making a play.

The first two phones to run on AT&T's new high-speed data network will go on sale Sunday. The phones are the HTC Vivid and the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket. Both are big touchscreen smartphones that run Google Inc.'s Android software. They'll cost $200 and $250 respectively, with a two-year service contract requirement.

In the third quarter of 2011, Samsung was the king of the smartphone world, with one report showing the domination of the manufacturer overtaking Apple's global reign.

Mobile devices have become mini-pacifiers/babysitters for many wee ones: 52 percent of all children 8 and younger have access to mobile devices at home like a smartphone, video iPod, iPad or other tablet, according to Common Sense Media, a nonprofit group that studies children’s use of technology.

Sony will take full control of its mobile-handset joint venture with Sweden's Ericsson. The Japanese consumer-electronics company will pay $1.46 billion for the 50% stake.

Google and Samsung announced the Galaxy Nexus, the first LTE-enabled smartphone to feature Android 4.0 — better known as Ice Cream Sandwich — on Tuesday night.