Smartphones

Looks like Microsoft isn’t the only latecomer scrambling to add a voice-guided assistant to its mobile platform. A leaked test-build of the new BlackBerry firmware (version 10.3.0.140, if you’re curious) is rocking an app called “Intelligent Assistant,” but as both N4BB and a ZonaBlackBerry forum poster have noticed, it doesn’t quite work yet. The application Continue Reading →

LG introduced a feature known as ‘Knock Code’ when it took the wraps off its G Pro 2 flagship smartphone last month, which lets users activate the display by tapping one of up to over 80,000 programmable combinations. The feature has been making an appearance on its smartphone models unveiled so far this year, including Continue Reading →

Success in business is largely about taking credit. Just ask the co-founders of Twitter. Or, more accurately, those who say they’re the co-founders of Twitter. It is said, indeed, that Steve Jobs used to take credit for too much at Apple. But now that he’s gone, a new creditor has stepped into the limelight he Continue Reading →

Almost 50 percent of old phones are kept stored away somewhere in the house, MarketWatch reported earlier this year. My own family employs a trickle-down approach where a new iPhone is brought into the house each year, and everyone ends up getting an upgrade. So by the time the oldest phone, which is presently an Continue Reading →

HTC is set to launch its all new One smartphone on Tuesday of this week, but there’s still time for one final rumor. The good news is that the phone might be available on store shelves shortly after the announcement. The bad news (for some) is that it might launch first as a Verizon exclusive. Continue Reading →

You probably know that you can set custom ringtones for different contacts on your phone, but did you know that you can set custom vibration patterns for them, too? As long as you have an iPhone running iOS 7, you can easily set this up and know exactly who’s calling you without looking at your Continue Reading →

After years of rumors, Amazon will finally launch an own brand smartphone within the next three to six months. So says KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, whose reputation for accurately revealing device vendors’ plans long before they are announced definitely precedes him. Kuo is widely known for his Apple research, which is easily the most Continue Reading →

The White House is testing smartphones from Samsung and LG Electronics for internal use, a person familiar with the matter said, threatening one of the last and most high-profile strongholds of BlackBerry. The devices are being tested by the White House’s internal technology team and the White House Communications Agency, a military unit in charge Continue Reading →

If you’re wary of the NSA but still want to keep in touch with your family and friends, I’ve got a cell phone for you. FreedomPop recently launched the Privacy Phone, which the company says is the only smartphone and mobile service that allows for encrypted communications. Nicknamed the “Snowden Phone,” the phone – which Continue Reading →

The NASA SPHERES satellite drifts like a puck on an air hockey table, spinning slowly as its canisters release puffs of CO2 to steady its course. A Google Project Tango phone, which acts as the satellite’s eyes and brain, displays a heat map view of its surroundings. Its world is limited: a 6x6x6 foot cube Continue Reading →