smartphones

Speaking before an audience in Tokyo Tuesday, Chief Executive Michael Dell dropped a few hints that his company might be looking to release a smartphone.

"For the last three years, we have integrated 3G radios into our notebooks," said Dell. "We already have agreements with many mobile carriers around Netbook devices, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect that we would have smaller mobile Internet devices or smartphones in the future."

I don't think Dell can simply start selling small computers, call them smartphones, and expect to be successful. As a company that missed quite a few trends in the market and one of the last to stop selling Pocket PCs, Dell has to carefully prepare for some of the issues that await it if it does release a smartphone.… Read more

iPhone users in the United Kingdom heavily rely on their device for accessing e-mail and Web content, compared with owners of other smartphones in the country, according to a report released Thursday by market researcher ComScore.

During a three-month period concluding in January, ComScore found that 79.7 percent of U.K. iPhone users accessed news and other Web information with their iPhone. Contrast that to 48 percent for users of all smartphones.

And e-mail also has struck a chord, with 75.4 percent of iPhone users relying on the device for checking their in-boxes and sending messages, compared to … Read more

Delivering on its promise, Google released a new mobile application on Wednesday that brings its Voice Search feature to BlackBerrys, much like it did for the iPhone and Android-based T-Mobile G1.

The Google Mobile App is available now as a free download and allows you to conduct searches with the sound of your voice. To do so, you simply hold down the Talk button on your BlackBerry and then speak your search term into the phone. Brits, you'll also be happy to hear that the app now supports British English accents.

Perhaps even more powerful, the app also includes … Read more

We're headed to Vegas...again. But before we take off for CTIA, we discuss this week's latest news and rumors, including the possibility of the HTC Touch Pro2 landing at T-Mobile and Verizon's new Nokia Intrigue 6205. Is it really that intriguing? Plus, we review the Motorola i9 and HTC S743 and answer more listener mail. All this and more on this week's Dialed In.

News Nokia Intrigue 6205 launches on Verizon Alltel launches the LG Banter … Read more

Ever since the HTC Touch Pro2 was announced at GSMA 2009, everyone's been wondering when will the smartphone be available and which U.S. carrier will offer it. There's still no official word, but you know that never keeps tech community from sniffing out the details.

Now, thanks to a leaked ROM, multiple sites are reporting that the HTC Touch Pro2 will be headed to T-Mobile first. The test ROM, posted at xda-developers, shows the listed device as "RHOD21000" with the CID "T-MOB010" and language as "USA." To fuel the fire even … Read more

AT&T and T-Mobile customers have gotten their fix of BlackBerry goodness with the BlackBerry Bold and BlackBerry Curve 8900, respectively, but Verizon Wireless and Sprint subscribers are wondering when they'll get that same kind of QWERTY love. Well, we can't say when it'll happen but it looks like the love will come in the form of the RIM BlackBerry 9630 aka BlackBerry Niagara.

The Boy Genius Report managed to snag an early (not final) version of the dual-mode (CDMA/GSM) BlackBerry 9630 and posted some initial thoughts about the smartphone. In the report, BGR states … Read more

Q: I want to know how to upgrade a jailbroken iPhone's firmware to 2.0 or 3.0 from version 1.0. Presently, all I can do is listen to music, text, and make calls--I can't install applications. Meanwhile, my others friends have it all because they are on AT&T. I am begging for a way to upgrade to 2.0 or 3.0. - Ishan

A: First off, the iPhone OS 3.0 is available only to developers at the moment. It won't be released to the general public until this summer (Apple hasn'… Read more

Skype's latest mobile beta for Windows Mobile phones graduated to version 3.0 on Tuesday. Skype 3.0 beta for Windows Mobile integrates two big features from the desktop version--file transferring and SMS. Both are welcome additions that bring the mobile VoIP application much closer in line with the newly updated desktop version, Skype 4.0 for Windows.

The SMS feature has been seamlessly added as a shortcut icon on the contact list page (it's the black circle encasing a tiny cell phone), but you can also initiate a text message by selecting "Send SMS" from … Read more

As he has been doing in public speeches and interviews in the last year, Michael Dell has again stirred up speculation about what his company has planned in the handheld market.

In a speech he gave in Tokyo Tuesday, the chief executive of Dell was slightly more specific than he has been in the past on this topic.

"For the last three years, we have integrated 3G radios into our notebooks," said Dell. "We already have agreements with many mobile carriers around Netbook devices, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect that we would have smaller … Read more