Smartphones

OPINION

What Went Wrong With the iPhone 5c?

The iPhone 5c has been bugging me. As a product, it's so good -- and yet so wrong. By not saying much at all during the financial conference call with analysts this week, Apple has confirmed doubts while presenting new questions. Does the iPhone 5c represent a colossal misstep by Apple? Or is it jus...

Smartphones have been steadily stealing shutterbugs from digital camera makers, but most of those converts are coming from the point-and-shoot snapper crowd. The next step for phone makers is to target more sophisticated photographers who use cameras with interchangeable lenses. Apple appears to be ...

HOT TECH RUMOR

Apple’s Next iPhone: Big’s In, Plastic’s Out

iPhone rumors hit pretty much every week of the year, but some rise to the top -- with or without great sources. The latest bigger-screen iPhone 6 rumor comes courtesy of three authors who span the globe, writing together from Hong Kong, Taipei and San Francisco. According to "people familiar with ...

Even if you've never been guilty of sharing one of those annoying vertical videos, you may have run into a situation where you've been filming and moving around at the same time -- and because you were scrambling over a rock or playfully wrestling while recording, your fun little video perspective s...

LG Electronics has revealed initial plans for the rollout of its curved screen LG G Flex handset in the U.S. and Europe. Until now, the LG G Flex has been available only to consumers in Asia -- namely in LG's home market of Korea, as well as Hong Kong and Singapore. Sprint will sell the device in th...

CROWDFUNDING SPOTLIGHT

Moment Goes Big on Smartphone Camera Magnification

Regular readers will know that we love the functionality that comes with smartphone cameras, including inherent portability, powerful processors, and imaginative post-processing app solutions. However, what we supremely dislike -- with a vengeance -- are the little software-driven lenses that phone ...

Silent Circle and Geeksphone have teamed up to create the Blackphone -- a smartphone designed to truly protect users' privacy. Carrier- and vendor-independent, the Blackphone allows users to make and receive phone calls securely, as well as transfer and store files, swap secure text messages, and co...

Facebook will start peddling user data to Yandex, Russia's top search engine, as part of a deal between the two tech giants. Yandex will get full access to public data from users in Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Yandex will use the data in question -- which includes posts and comm...

TECH TREK

French Cabbies Attack Uber Vehicles

French taxi drivers reportedly attacked vehicles linked to the smartphone app Uber, which helps people find shared rides and drivers-for-hire -- or, from cabbies' perspective, helps erode a time-honored business model. Protestors blocked traffic and went after the service's vehicles, reported one Ub...

Flir Systems this week unveiled an iPhone case with a difference. The Flir One, which made its debut at CES, lets consumers view heat signatures through a thermal imaging camera attachment to the phone. It works by focusing the camera's attention on a different part of the electromagnetic spectrum t...

Rumors that Samsung will include iris-recognition technology in its forthcoming Galaxy S5 smartphone, widely expected to be launched in April, were given a boost on Thursday through an interview with Lee Young Hee, executive vice president of Samsung Mobile. People are "fanatical" about iris recogni...

One of the disadvantages of retaining a phone after the expiration of a two-year contract -- as many of us do -- is that those older phones have accumulated a few years' worth of digital gunk. They're clogged up like an aging sewer on the wrong side of town. Just like on a PC, bits of app and OS cod...

China reportedly will temporarily lift a sales ban on foreign videogame consoles, reversing a 14-year prohibition. Companies like Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo -- which long have salivated over the heretofore obstructed gold mine of Chinese videogamedom -- will be allowed to make game consoles in Sha...

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. That seems to be what Canon is saying with its announcement Monday of a new PowerShot camera model, the N100, which includes several features popular on smartphones. For example, the shooter has front and rear cameras. Combined in Dual Capture mode, a picture-in-pict...

Nintendo's Wii U hasn't exactly been the smash hit that the company had surely hoped, and a year after the console's debut Nintendo is reportedly exploring a future that could include mobile apps. With Angry Birds, Temple Run and other casual games dominating tablets and mobile phones, Nintendo face...

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