Smartphones

An Apple patent application published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday describes an intelligent magnetic attachment system that provides an interface for an iPad to connect and communicate with a variety of accessory devices, including other iPads. Apple’s patent for a “Magnetic attachment unit” has a basis in the keyed magnetic mechanism Continue Reading →

News that Google is working on 3D smartphones has analysts speculating that the company will one day add the tech to a slew of its products, such as Google Maps, Google Glass, Google robots and even virtual reality tools. “Google is much more than what it seems,” said Scott Strawn, an analyst at IDC. “It Continue Reading →

TechCrunch broke the news on Thursday that Google was producing a prototype 3D sensing smartphone called Project Tango. They also broke down the capabilities of the vision processor inside the device and talked about what it means for the future of phones. Now, we’ve got an exclusive look in the video below at a real Continue Reading →

Since 2007, Wi-Fi calling has been a major feature that’s helped T-Mobile stand out from its larger carrier rivals in the US. Starting Friday, however, Sprint will be offering the convenient perk to subscribers nationwide. Wi-Fi calling is completely free and allows Sprint customers to make voice calls and send texts over any Wi-Fi network. Continue Reading →

On Wednesday, Google’s head of Android and Chrome, Sundar Pichai announced that the Mountain View-based giant will host the I/O 2014 developer conference on June 25-26. In an attempt to find out whether we’ll get to see the next Android iteration at I/O we got in touch with a person familiar with the matter who Continue Reading →

BlackBerry users on T-Mobile who want to upgrade will now receive $250 towards any BlackBerry phone, or $200 toward any other manufacturer’s phone in T-Mobile stores. The deal was introduced after a recent furor between BlackBerry and T-Mobile in which the carrier sent out an email to its BlackBerry-using customers that urged them to upgrade Continue Reading →

Google has built a prototype Android smartphone that can learn and map the world around it. The device comes from a new initiative called Project Tango, and it’s ready to get the phone into developers’ hands to see what the technology is capable of. Google says that the phone will learn the dimension of rooms Continue Reading →

Microsoft has been in a state of “shut up and ship” with Windows Phone for more than a year now. While the company has released a few minor updates to Windows Phone 8, its feature set hasn’t changed significantly from when Microsoft first introduced the mobile OS in October 2012. The software giant refuses to Continue Reading →

If you’re unhappy with your current mobile service, the new Glove app for Android wants to find you something better. Launching today in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City, the free app logs your location and phone usage for three days before serving up recommendations for the carrier that best suits you. Continue Reading →

You can now use Amazon Coins, the online retailer’s virtual currency, to purchase apps, games, and in-app content on Android devices. Unsurprisingly, those purchases must all be made within Amazon’s standalone Appstore; Google Play is sticking with more traditional payment options. Amazon first unveiled Coins last year and gave every Kindle Fire owner $5 in Continue Reading →