Smartphones

Samsung Launching New Four-Inch Galaxy S III Mini Tomorrow

Samsung has confirmed that it will unveil a new, smaller Galaxy SIII on October 11th. The new phone won’t be a budget version, but rather a (slightly) scaled-down device, with a four-inch screen for those who prefer a more pocketable handset. JK Shin, head of Samsung Mobile Communications, announced that the new device was conceived…

Today’s Smartphone Cameras Are Already Better Than Point-and-Shoot Cameras from 5 Years Ago

The saying is that the best camera is the one that’s with you and that’s more than often your phone. But phone cameras are getting so good that they may eventually just became the best camera period (DSLRs notwithstanding). And it might be sooner than you think. Already, phone cameras are better than a 5-year-old…

The Crazy Journey of an MMS from Your Phone to Your Friends

Any message transmitted from one phone to another—whether it’s a cute video of your kid or a nakey celebrity shot—appears almost instantly on the recipient’s screen. Amazing! Now, how did it actually get there? Turns out, the exact path traveled by millions of messages is long, complex, fascinating, and top-secret. But we got a chance…

5 Reasons Why Nokia’s Lumia 920 AT&T Exclusive Is Dumb

It has a breakthrough camera, wireless charging and a gorgeous screen. And it’s headed to AT&T–and only AT&T. When I heard the news that the Lumia 920, Nokia’s flagship Windows Phone 8 device, was going to be exclusive to one carrier, I felt compelled to tweet the following. “I don’t think that’s good for Windows…

BlackBerry Has a Mystery Quad Core 2GB RAM Superphone in the Works

A spec sheet of a supposed new phone from RIM has turned up on RapidBerry, and its specs actually seem, for once, pretty modern. Here’s the spec rundown: a Qualcomm APQ8064 Krait Quad Core 1.5GHz processor, 2GB of RAM, LTE, an OLED 4.65-inch 1280×720 screen, 16GB of storage with a microSD card slot, and a…

Nokia’s Lumia 920 Will Be an AT&T Exclusive Because Verizon Hates You and Everything You Love

AT&T just confirmed it will have the Lumia 920 some time in November, and it’ll be an AT&T exclusive. Great. Ugh. https://gizmodo.com/nokia-lumia-920-hands-on-you-really-want-this-thing-bu-5940654 In summary: Verizon misses out on the coolest phone coming out this year. Nokia (CDMA concerns aside) hitches its wagon to the crappier major LTE carrier. And Microsoft’s best foot forward is on…

This Year’s Best Halloween Costume Is Cheap, Easy, and Awesome

Last year around this time, a NASA JPL engineer blew us away with a Halloween costume that used two iPads to create the illusion of a gaping hole in his chest. Cool, if you could afford two iPads. For the 99 percent of us that couldn’t, he promised that his 2012 costume would be equally…

Subliminal Flickering Extends TV Ads To Your Phone

The idea of an interactive TV experience where additional information about a show or a product could be simultaneously accessed on another device has been tossed around for a while. But Fujitsu’s new subliminal transmission technology might finally make it an easy and unobtrusive reality. Instead of visual cues like on-screen QR codes which can…

Grip-Based Phone Interface Lets You Squeeze to Tap

If you’ve ever tried to use your smartphone while standing in a cramped subway car, or while carrying a bag of groceries, you soon realize the limitations of a touchscreen UI. You need two hands free, particularly in the age of the jumbophone. So as an alternative means to interact with your device—not a replacement—NTT…

How Many Buttons Do You Need on Your Phone?

Most phones—non-iPhones, of course—have a row of dedicated ‘hardware buttons’ that typically include some combination of home, search, menu and a back button. They make for convenient, quick-access commands! But do you really need them all? Our friends at BuzzFeed FWD argue that the dedicated back button should die because its unclear where pressing that…

Before Sexting, There Was Polaroid

Long before cell phones gave us the ability to share pictures with the tap of a button, Polaroid was synonymous with instant photography. In his new book Instant: The Story of Polaroid, Christopher Bonanos explains how that little one step camera paved the way for sexting as we know it: There are plenty of naughty…

A Week With the iPhone 5

After waiting in line to buy and spending seven days with the iPhone 5, living with it, owning it, I can say confidently that it’s the best smartphone you can buy. The whiners, the babies, the cranky zealots who think it’s boring, or disappointing, or not different enough? They don’t understand. The iPhone has finally…

Sharp: Don’t Blame Us for iPhone 5 Shortage

You’re going to wait three to four weeks for your iPhone 5 if you order it online. But Sharp—one of Apple’s touch panel suppliers—says it’s not to blame for the hold up. Wait times and shortages are business as usual when it comes to an Apple launch. Part of the reason this time around, due…

Spies Like Us: We’re All Big Brother Now

Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign took a tumble last week with the release of a hidden-camera video recorded at a fundraiser in Florida. In it, Romney dismisses nearly half the country in a set of statements some pundits are calling the worst things a modern presidential candidate has ever said. http://gawker.com/5943968/it-would-be-helpful-to-be-latino-and-other-blowhard-things-romney-was-caught-saying-on-a-hidden-camera The words—boneheaded, indiscreet, and un-presidential—might…

Instagram now has more daily mobile users than Twitter, according to comScore. A win for the Hefe filter. [Mashable]

AT&T Wants to Automatically Translate Your Texts From English to Spanish

AT&T is working on a service that will automatically translate text messages from Spanish to English and vice versa, no additional software required. So next time you want to shoot a text to a friend who doesn’t speak English all that well, you don’t have to worry about anything getting lost in the language barrier.…

iPhone 5 vs Galaxy S III: Smartphone Display Technology Shoot-Out

The iPhone 5 has been the most anticipated mobile device of 2012 together with its cousin the iPad Mini, which we expect to be seeing shortly. Apple has made displays their most prominent marketing feature because it determines the quality of the visual experience for everything on a smartphone or tablet—including apps, web content, photos,…

iPhone 5 Camera Battle: Is It the Best Smartphone Shooter?

For many of the people scooping up an iPhone 5, its 8-megapixel camera will be their go-to shooter. But how much of an improvement is it over the iPhone 4S? And how does it compare to the smartphone—and point and shoot—competition? We tested the iPhone 5’s camera against the iPhone 4S, the top Samsung Galaxy…

How Does the iPhone 5 Fit in Your Hand? A GIF Guide

The new iPhone isn’t just faster—it’s taller. It’s your more athletic, better looking friend who you kind of hate. But how does it fit in your mitt? We put together an animated guide versus the competition. The iPhone 5 isn’t wider than its predecessor—just taller. This means that you won’t have to stretch your thumb…

Planes Will Be Safe for Cellphone Calls as Early as Next Year, but WIll the Government Let You Use It?

Boeing is making a big push to outfit its airplanes with more connectivity. By 2013 all new Boeing 747-8 and 777 planes will have built-in systems so that you can make calls on your cellphone while flying. In addition, Boeing already offers a kit to make its monster 787 Dreamliners phone call friendly as well.…