Verizon Wireless will add 28 more cities to its nationwide LTE network on Thursday, bringing the total to 258 markets.

Nokia has filed claims in the U.S. and Germany saying that products from HTC, Research In Motion (RIM) and ViewSonic infringe a number of the company's patents, it said on Wednesday.

The worldwide smartphone market grew 42.5 percent year-over-year during the first quarter, as Samsung Electronics overtook Apple for the smartphone leadership position, according to IDC's estimates.

The European Patent Office (EPO) in Munich has revoked a patent belonging to IPCom, but the impact of the decision is in dispute.

Internet telephony provider Skype released its app for the Windows Phone operating system on Sunday on the Windows Phone Marketplace, a couple of months after releasing the beta version of the app.

Since the advent of the first modern smartphone--arguably the original Apple iPhone in 2007--the power of these mobile computing devices that also happen to make phone calls has advanced by leaps and bounds.

Even by the new standards of cell phone advertising, the run-up to the HTC ThunderBolt -- Verizon's first 4G LTE smartphone -- was elaborate and expensive. Gatefold ads in mass-market magazines and high-profile TV spots on the Oscars, NASCAR and college basketball all proclaimed that there was a new 4G phone coming from Verizon, but not much else. Inquiries made of HTC and Verizon were met with official shrugs. The company spent many millions of dollars advertising a phone and didn't tell anyone when it would be on the shelves.

As Mobile World Congress 2011 draws to a close, it's time to take stock of the plethora of smartphones and tablet PCs we saw for the first time. Tomorrow, we'll bring you the best tablet PCs of MWC 2011, but here, in no particular order, are smartphones that stood out at MWC 2011. Sadly, they didn't include a Facebook phone or an iPhone nano - but when and if such things exist, you'll read it here first.

HTC is one of three mobile phone manufacturers to partner with Microsoft for the launch of Windows Phone 7, the company's new mobile operating system. Exclusive to Telstra, the HTC 7 Mozart comes equipped with a 3.7in SLCD display and an 8-megapixel camera. It is also the only Windows Phone 7 device to feature a Xenon flash.

Froyo is coming.