phone

Police accused of erasing cell phone footage of fatal beating

Cell phones seem to be causing the police increasing unease.

It's quite easy for ordinary people to film officers in the line of duty, and sometimes that duty can seem to be excessively dutiful.

This seems to be the view of Maria Melendez, who says she used her phone to film a case of what appeared to be fatal police brutality, only to have it confiscated without a warrant. Worse, reports are now emerging that some of the footage may have been deleted by the police.

As The New York Times reports, Melendez was leaving the Kern Medical Center … Read more

Findables case turns your entire smartphone into a business card

QR codes haven't exactly set the world on fire, yet most people know what they are, and most phones can scan them, either out of the box or with a third-party app.

The Findables Case takes that idea to heart by emblazoning a unique QR code on each hard-plastic shell, the idea being to use that code to share information about yourself or help recover your lost phone.

In other words, your case can now take the place of your business card, while at the same time offering good Samaritans a means of contacting you (that doesn't involve poring through your address book).

When someone scans the code, they'll see one of three profiles (chosen by you via a companion app or the Findables Web site): Business, Social, or Lost.… Read more

T-Mobile: No iPhone discount lasts forever

Nothing lasts forever, especially iPhone discounts.

T-Mobile on Monday boosted the upfront cost of the iPhone by $50 to $149.99 for the 16GB version, which T-Mobile Financial Chief Braxton Carter said Wednesday was the company's plan the entire time. However, T-Mobile didn't say at launch that the lower price was temporary. And the increase -- which brings the total cost for the phone to $629.99 after two years of $20 a month payments -- comes only a month after the iPhone became available at T-Mobile.

"When we look at the overall landscape, there's no … Read more

Lawsuit claims Apple sold iPhone 4 with bad on-off button

A lawsuit has been brought against Apple for allegedly selling iPhone 4 smartphones with faulty power buttons. The suit, which seeks class-action status, claims that Apple knew about the issue and failed to fix the problem.

Debra Hilton filed the lawsuit in San Jose, Calif., alleging that she and "thousands of iPhone 4 users" were sold the device with on-off buttons that stopped working shortly after the 1-year warranty was up. The problem purportedly had to do with a defective flex cable that controlled the power button.

"The Apple iPhone 4 is plagued by a latent defect … Read more

Microsoft posts details of next Windows Phone 8 update

Microsoft is starting to open up a bit on what Windows Phone 8 users can expect with the next version of its Windows Phone 8 operating system, known as "GDR2."

On May 14, company officials shared a couple of the expected GDR (General Distribution Release) 2 features in a blog post that was primarily about the new Lumia 925 phone Nokia unveiled today. That phone, code-named Catwalk, is due out in June on Vodafone and some time after that on T-Mobile. It is Nokia's first lighter-weight, aluminum-body Lumia.

Microsoft's supposed plan, according to my tipsters, is … Read more

BlackBerry Messenger expands to Android, iOS

ORLANDO, Fla. -- More news rolled out of BlackBerry Live 2013 today, including the company's plans to offer BlackBerry Messenger to Android and iOS devices.

The BBM platform will hit these products by summer, but best of all, the service will be offered as a free download. The BlackBerry CEO sounded very excited about the move, a first for the service. He said, "It's a statement of confidence. We are confident time is right for BBM to be independent."

Those are bold words indeed and certainly a great tactic to lure users back to BBM. The … Read more

BB 10.1 and Skype come to BlackBerry Z10

ORLANDO, Fla.--At BlackBerry Live 2013, the phone maker announced that it would roll out BB10.1 software to its Z10 handset. The upgrade will also include access to the Skype video chat application.

BlackBerry also handed out the Z10 device to attendees here at the BlackBerry Live show so many folks no doubt will be able to enjoy the fresh infusion of software. Stay tuned as he get hands on with our upgraded Z10.

Apple looks to add Galaxy S4 to Samsung lawsuit

Although a federal judge has requested that Samsung and Apple pare down the number of infringements in their lawsuit in California, the iPhone maker actually wants to pile on.

According to FOSS Patents' Florian Mueller, Apple on Monday requested that U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh allow it to add the Samsung Galaxy S4 to the list of Samsung products that Apple believes violates patents it owns. Apple currently has 22 products that it claims violate its patents. The Galaxy S4 would be added to that list.

According to Mueller, Apple analyzed the S4 and "has concluded that … Read more

Nokia's Lumia push to get 'much more aggressive'

Nokia has vowed to get more aggressive when it comes to promoting its Lumia phones, promising advertising that will take direct aim at the company's biggest rivals.

"I think what you're going to be seeing," Nokia's global head of smart phone marketing, Vesa Jutila, told CNET, "not only from Nokia but also from our key partner Microsoft, is that we're going to be much more aggressively going head-to-head with competition."

The Finnish firm, which is struggling to make a dent in Apple and Samsung's hammerlock share of the mobile market, recently … Read more