mobile phones

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If Your Cellphone Was Useless Today, You're Not Alone

Major carriers appear to have resolved most of the outages, but the cause is still unclear

(Newser) - It's been a lousy day for a lot of smartphones, but the trouble is mostly over: AT&T said late in the afternoon that its network was back again for an hourslong outage across the country, reports the AP . The trouble began overnight, leading to nearly 60,000 outages...

UK Makes Big Move on Huawei After Threat From US

United Kingdom won't let telecom firm play a part in its new high-speed mobile phone network

(Newser) - Britain's government on Tuesday backtracked on plans to give Chinese telecommunications company Huawei a limited role in the UK's new high-speed mobile phone network in a decision with broad implications for relations between London and Beijing. Britain imposed the ban after the US threatened to sever an intelligence-sharing...

The Suspect Had a Bow and Arrow. The Victim, Just His Phone

Aussie man's device saves him during attack in New South Wales

(Newser) - Ways you can use your cellphone to keep safe: Set up a list of "in case of emergency" contacts, turn on the "locate my phone" feature so you can be tracked down if you ever go missing, hold your device up like a shield if someone ever goes...

How Smartphones Rob Bosses of Company Time

Survey finds most employees spend an hour a day playing on their phones

(Newser) - Everyone knows smartphones can steal hours from a day, but employees are turning to their mobile devices while on the clock, too. A new survey by staffing firm OfficeTeam finds that office workers spend an average of 56 minutes a day on their cell phones while at work, and another...

An Iconic Cell Phone Could Be Coming Back

New version of Nokia 3310 is rumored

(Newser) - Perhaps it isn't just flip phones that are making a comeback. HMD Global, the Finnish company that produces Nokia phones, reportedly hopes to make a splash in the tech world this month by reintroducing a model first presented in the Y2K era. VentureBeat reports the company plans to unveil...

Study Sees Link Between Cellphones, Cancer, but 'Far From Definitive'

Whether it's a harbinger or hype remains to be seen

(Newser) - The concern that cellphones may lead to cancer has been bounced around for years—and partial results from a $25 million government study purport to have found such a link, though with major caveats, the Wall Street Journal reports. Per the so-far results of the multiyear National Toxicology Program study...

Woman Killed by ... Phone Charger

Sheryl Aldeguer electrocuted by faulty charger in April

(Newser) - A mother of two has died in Australia thanks to a $4.95 phone charger. Authorities say Sheryl Anne Aldeguer, 28, was talking on the phone, plugged into a cheap charger that failed to meet Australian safety rules, when she was electrocuted with 240 volts and died instantly. The Filipino...

Stop Constantly Upgrading, Hang on to Your Smartphone

We're at 'innovation plateau,' and latest isn't that much better: Farhad Manjoo

(Newser) - With the cost of our smartphones often built into carriers' contracts, it's easy to forget how valuable the gadgets are. And these days, new generations of iPhones and Samsungs aren't necessarily vast improvements over their predecessors. So why not make our phones last longer—if not for ourselves,...

T-Mobile: Join and We'll Pay Your Termination Fees

New users can get up to $650 in credit

(Newser) - Wireless carriers know it can be a pricey headache to switch from one provider to another—and T-Mobile is hoping to get a leg up on its competitors by covering those costs, the New York Times reports. Engadget explains the process, for which customers of AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint...

FAA Warms to Gate-to-Gate Gadgets

Ban likely to remain on cell phone calls

(Newser) - For the first time since the 1960s, the FAA's rules on electronic devices could change in a big way. An FAA advisory panel says it's time to start allowing certain gadgets to be used during taxiing, takeoff, and landing, the Wall Street Journal reports. Rules developed decades ago...

In a First, Smartphones Outpace Regular Ones

Samsung leads the way in units shipped, with Apple in second

(Newser) - It's a tech milestone: For the first time, more smartphones were shipped in a quarter than regular mobile phones, reports PC Magazine . Market Research firm IDC says 216.2 million of the 418.6 million mobiles shipped in the first three months of the year were of the smartphone...

40 Years Ago Today: World's 1st Cell Phone Call

NYC call was made on a 'brick'

(Newser) - Give someone a call on your smartphone today, and you'll be celebrating history: It's been 40 years since the first mobile phone call was made, the Guardian reports. That first call was placed by Motorola worker Martin Cooper in New York City on April 3, 1973, using a...

Could Facebook Launch Its Phone Next Week?
Could Facebook Launch
Its Phone Next Week?
rumor mill
Mar 29, 2013 10:21 AM CDT

Could Facebook Launch Its Phone Next Week?

Rumors swirl as Facebook says announcement coming April 4

(Newser) - Is the long-rumored Facebook phone finally here? The social media giant has long denied having a phone in the works, but yesterday it issued an invitation to journalists, asking them to “Come see our new home on Android" on Thursday. And many tech watchers think this announcement will mean...

Your iPhone Could Have Been the ... Telepod

Apple also considered 'Mobi' and 'Tripod'

(Newser) - Would you have bought a Telepod? Or a Mobi? Turns out those are two names Apple considered for its original iPhone, 9to5Mac reports. Ken Segall, former chief of Apple advertising, revealed the names to a marketing crowd at the University of Arizona last week. Apple's reasoning:
  • Telepod: It sounded
...

Petition Gets Obama to Back Unlocking Cell Phones

FCC backs legal unlocking, too

(Newser) - It now takes 100,000 signatures to get an official White House response to a We the People petition—and angry cell phone users got more than 114,000 after it became illegal to unlock your cell phone on Jan. 26. That's the day the Librarian of Congress ruled...

Google Is Building a Private Wireless Network at HQ

Which makes some wonder what it's up to

(Newser) - Google is creating its own, experimental wireless network for its headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., leaving tech watchers wondering what it's up to. Last week Google asked the FCC for permission to set up an "experimental radio service" within a two-mile radius of its headquarters, using frequencies incompatible...

Don Juans Have a Secret: the 'Infidelity Phone'

Japanese cheaters stick with the Fujitsu F-Series

(Newser) - Japanese philanderers know their weak spot: the smartphone. Afraid that girlfriends and wives will spot incoming calls from certain secret someones, Lotharios in Japan are sticking with Fujitsu's old "F-Series" flip phones, the Wall Street Journal reports. The so-called "infidelity phones" can easily be programmed to conceal...

Samsung's Next Gamble: Bendable Screens

It's working on flexible phones

(Newser) - Have you ever looked at your phone and thought, "This is cool and all, but why can't I roll it up?" Well, Samsung has. That's why its display arm, Samsung Display Co., is moving forward on a plan to mass-produce screens made out of flexible plastic, which...

Notification Center for Windows 8 May Be in Works

'We ran out of time,' says Microsoft exec

(Newser) - A standard feature of most mobile operating systems is a notification center, a centralized place users can get alerts about their applications. Microsoft's new Windows Phone 8, however, does not have the feature. Why? It's not because of any groundbreaking, new way of organizing information. "Because we...

Intel Working on Power Chip for Phones

48-core processor could make them main computers

(Newser) - Imagine if your smartphone could run multiple power-intensive apps without draining the battery or slowing everything down. Expect it in coming years if Intel is able to develop its 48-core processor chip for smartphones and tablets, reports Computer World . The chip would allow multiple cores (think of them like powerhouses)...

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