Cell Phone, Smartphone | featured news

Federal, state, and local law enforcement requested about 1.3 million cell phone records from wireless carriers in 2011. It's the first time cell phone carriers have reported on the staggering surveillance numbers. Millions of innocent Americans are having their privacy invaded via the dragnet requests.

Nokia’s latest smartphones may be chasing the ubiquity of iPhones and Androids, but the Finnish phone maker hopes that vivid colors, simple form factor and the “instinctive” user interface on its latest Lumia range will help claw back thinning margins and faltering profits. The trick is to appeal to trend-setters, much like Apple‘s iMacs first did nearly 15 year ago. Are its designers and managers living in a parallel universe, or can they pull it off?

This will almost surely be the handset that Apple’s next iPhone will be measured against. Apple hasn’t said when the iPhone 5 will arrive, but the next version of Apple’s iOS smartphone software is due this Fall. A new iPhone will probably arrive with it.

Apple's patent case against Google's Motorola Mobility unit in Chicago was dismissed on Friday with prejudice, keeping both parties from refiling claims against one another.

A federal judge in Chicago, Ill. has thrown the Apple-Motorola Mobility smartphone patent case out the courtroom window and locked the window behind it, making sure it never finds its way back inside his court.

Far from throwing their existing users under a truck marked Windows Phone 8, Microsoft have promised an update that will keep their handsets up to date, and add functionality to their smartphones. It's just a shame they didn't do very well in telling the world that bit of the Windows Phone story.

Samsung Electronics Co said it was investigating reports that one of its flagship Galaxy S III smartphones exploded in a user's car in Ireland... There have been other reports of Samsung smartphones overheating or exploding. In March, a Korean schoolboy reported that a spare battery for his Galaxy S II exploded in his back pocket. Samsung said then that massive external pressure or force caused the explosion.

On Wednesday, Microsoft announced features of its upcoming Windows Phone 8 mobile OS, including built-in turn-by-turn navigation, a secure "wallet" system, a new, faster browser and live tiles that can be custom sized to better fit the Start screen. Perhaps most importantly, the company revealed that the next wave of Windows Phones will really be Windows Phones, because when Windows Phone 8 comes out, it will share a "common core" of software with Windows 8.

Struggling BlackBerry maker Research In Motion said Wednesday it has started laying off employees as part of its restructuring plan aimed at saving about $1 billion this year.

The Galaxy S III offers some startlingly creative features, but it may take some time to master... In the galaxy of app phones, this one is a bright, beautiful star.