Smartphones

When it comes to Windows Phone 7 devices, AT&T might win in quantity, but we think T-Mobile wins in quality.

Both the HTC HD7 and Dell Venue Pro will be headed to T-Mobile shelves this holiday season, and frankly, we can't wait to get our hands on these phones, as they both offer enticing designs.

For now, we'll have to settle for the brief memories we had with the HD7 and Venue Pro at Microsoft's launch event. Read on for our first impressions and be sure to check out our photo galleries and First Look … Read more

As most of you have heard by now, Microsoft and AT&T took center stage in New York on Monday to officially launch Windows Phone 7.

Though handsets will launch with a variety of carriers, AT&T will soon offer three Windows Phone 7 handsets in the U.S.: the Samsung Focus, the HTC Surround, and the LG Quantum.

We got some brief hands-on time with all three phones from AT&T at the event, and you'll find first impressions, as well as some photos, below. In general, we were impressed with the hardware, and it's nice to see Microsoft and AT&T offering a variety of designs to ensure that there's a little something for everyone. … Read more

Nokia today began shipping its new C7 smartphone around the world.

The follow-up to the recently launched N8 smartphone, the C7 is Nokia's second phone powered by its new Symbian 3 mobile operating system.

The 3.5-inch glass touch-screen is an active-matrix OLED that offers 640x360 pixel resolution. The C7 offers an 8-megapixel camera that can shoot stills and high-definition video. Bluetooth 3.0 connectivity and 8GB of memory are part of the package as well.

But the real focus of the new phone is social networking.

The C7 can display multiple home screens to receive live updates from … Read more

Though AT&T took center stage with Microsoft to launch Windows Phone 7, T-Mobile got in on the action with the introduction of its first Windows Phone 7 device, the HTC HD7.

Available in mid-November--date and pricing were not given at this time--the HD7 brings the Windows Phone experience to an Evo-like package that includes a 4.3-inch capacitive touch screen and a kickstand. According to T-Mobile, the HD7 will offer the largest display on any Windows Phone 7 smartphone in the U.S.

Taking advantage of that fact, T-Mobile is bundling a number of entertainment apps on … Read more

HTC has flipped the switch on its new HTCSense.com Web site ahead of the launch of its new Desire handsets.

Designed to let users manage their Sense UI smartphone, the site provides you with the ability to locate a lost or misplaced phone using a map, as well as an option to turn the ringer up to full volume should you need to call the device. This will come in handy for those of us who tend to lose our phones in the cracks of a couch. If your phone is stolen, HTCSense.com will also let users remotely … Read more

A French fellow who goes by the handle Crazy Nawak e-mailed me some concept photos for a "multi-OS" smartphone from HTC that would allow you to switch between two operating systems. HTC already has the old HTC Touch Dual, but the "dual' in that phone stood for the combination of a slide-out keypad and a touch screen.

This fantasy model has a 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor and runs both Windows Mobile 7 and Android 2.2 (see more photos here). Of course, plenty of people out there have already hacked Windows Mobile phones to run … Read more

Android continues to gobble up more smartphone customers, according to the new stats from market researcher ComScore.

Looking at the three months ending August, Android's market share rose to 19.6 percent in the U.S.--a gain of 6.6 points from the prior three months. Though Google's smartphone platform is still third among the top five, it was the only one to show growth in market share for the period.

Among the other major players, RIM was the leading smartphone platform with 37.6 percent of U.S. subscribers. Apple was next in line with 24.… Read more

As promised, U.S. Cellular is delivering a Samsung Galaxy S device this fall, and it will arrive on October 27 under the name Samsung Mesmerize.

The Mesmerize will cost $199.99 after an $80 mail-in rebate and largely resembles Verizon's Samsung Fascinate in design. Like the rest of the Galaxy S series, the smartphone features a 4-inch Super AMOLED touch screen, 1GHz Hummingbird processor, Android 2.1, a 5-megapixel camera with HD video capture, and Samsung's Media Hub video store.

The Mesmerize will also come preloaded with Swype and a number of U.S. Cellular services, including … Read more

T-Mobile and Motorola are pushing out an update to the Motorola Cliq XT this week that is designed to improve the overall performance of the device.

While it's not the Android 2.1 update users have been pining for, it's recommended nonetheless. The 1.32.20 release is said to significantly improve common requests such as answering calls, opening apps, and downloading attachments from e-mails.

Other features include enhanced Bluetooth connectivity, updates to the Swype keyboard, and a fix for errors received in certain messaging scenarios.

The update to Android 2.1 is still scheduled for late Q3/… Read more