Gadgets, Cell Phone | featured news

Amazon is reportedly developing a smartphone that sports a 3D screen that relies on retina-tracking technology to make images seem to float above the screen like a hologram. With the smartphone, users would be able to navigate through content by using their eyes alone, according to two unnamed people who discussed the phone with the Wall Street Journal.

Taiwan's HTC expects its second-quarter revenue and operating margin to rise from the first quarter, as sales of the new HTC One smartphone pick up.

The Department of Defense is expected in coming weeks to grant two separate, security approvals for Samsung's Galaxy smartphones, along with iPhones and iPads running Apple's latest operating system.

Samsung is planning to launch a new eight-inch tablet and a new smartphone built to withstand harsh environments this summer and designed to appeal to business and government clients.

So many consumers are opting to buy older iPhone models that some analysts wonder whether Apple has lost its ability to create new versions that dazzle. How strange to think that Vicki Macchiavello's decision to buy an iPhone after years of using a BlackBerry could be bad news for Apple.

As the Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone breaks cover around the world, a number of US writers have early reviews of the flagship Android phone from Samsung. While none of the reviews are glowing, it's clear that the South Korean manufacturer has not taken any risks with the handsets, making it a little bit bigger, the specs a little bit higher, the size and weight a little bit smaller, and so on.

Apple's China sales rose at a healthy clip in its latest quarter, but the numbers belied growing concerns as the bonanza in high-end smartphones started winding down.

The flow of new customers to Sprint stopped in the latest quarter, the company reported Wednesday as it weighed the offers of two corporate suitors. Sprint Nextel Corp., the country's third-largest cellphone carrier, said it added a net of just 12,000 customers to its Sprint brand in the quarter, and it would have lost 252,000 if it wasn't for Nextel customers moving over now that their network is being shut down.

A movement urging Verizon to get rid of wireless contracts appears to be gaining steam. A petition calling for the carrier to end contracts for smartphones and "create an affordable way for consumers to purchase their devices" had attracted more than 55,000 signatures by midday Tuesday on Change.org, the online petition platform.

Smartphones are powerful tools, and with the right apps and accessories, they can become even more so. A California-based tech company has launched a tool that turns a regular iPhone 4 or 4S into a powerful biometrics scanning tool. AOptix has unveiled its app and a wrap-around device for turning the smartphone into a portable iris, face, fingerprint and voice scanner.