mobile phones

Features

• Samsung's Ice Cream Sandwich update schedule

  By Ross Catanzariti | 23 February, 2012 13:14

  When will your Samsung smartphone get Google's latest Android update, 4.0 or Ice Cream Sandwich?

• LG's Ice Cream Sandwich update schedule

  By Ross Catanzariti | 16 February, 2012 12:23

  When will your LG smartphone get Google's latest Android update, 4.0 or Ice Cream Sandwich?

• Android's Ice Cream Sandwich update and why it takes so long

  By Ross Catanzariti | 13 February, 2012 11:44

  We explain how and why Android updates take so long to be released.

• HTC Velocity 4G speedtest

  By Ross Catanzariti | 24 January, 2012 15:40

  The HTC Velocity 4G promises data speeds of up to five times faster than its competitors, but is it really that fast? We put it to the test.

• A first look at the Nokia Lumia 800

  By Ross Catanzariti | 20 January, 2012 11:39

  Nokia's Lumia 800 represents somewhat of a new dawn for the struggling giant. It's the first phone to use the Windows Phone platform, following Nokia's decision early last year to partner with Microsoft for many of its future smartphones.

• HTC ThunderBolt 4G smartphone: Hefty but fast

  By Dan Rosenbaum | 22 March, 2011 06:41

  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.

• Android vs. iOS vs. Windows Phone

  By Preston Gralla | 18 March, 2011 05:43

  The past year has been a remarkable one for smartphones, with the meteoric rise of Google's Android OS, the restart of Microsoft's mobile strategy with its much-ballyhooed release of Windows Phone 7 and the continuing success of Apple's iPhone, buoyed by its new availability to Verizon subscribers. Never has there been so much choice in the smartphone market. As a result, hype and overstatement have been the order of the day.

• Steps to secure your smartphone against data theft

  By Alex Wawro | 05 March, 2011 11:04

  You may already know the basics of Internet security and keeping your personal data private while browsing the Web: Use a firewall, don't open attachments you aren't expecting, and never follow links from strangers. But what about your smartphone? The ease with which security researcher Georgia Weidman was able to infect Android phones with her custom botnet during the 2011 ShmooCon security conference suggests that anyone concerned about the privacy of the personal data stored on their smartphone should think twice before downloading dubious or otherwise untrustworthy apps.

• The top 5 smartphones of MWC 2011

  By Matt Egan | 18 February, 2011 05:31

  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.

• Six of the best free Android apps for geeks

  By Rohan Pearce | 30 August, 2011 09:20

  There are a lot of things about Google's Android operating system that appeal to geeks. It's open source, it offers a lot of flexibility when it comes to customising your handset, and, despite not yet matching the iPhone when it comes to the number of apps available, the Android Market continues to grow.

• Samsung Galaxy S II: Hands-On

  By Ginny Mies | 14 February, 2011 08:29

  Mobile World Congress hasn't even started, but the next generation of super phones are already being unveiled. Samsung showed off its latest, the Galaxy S II, at its flashy Unpacked event in Barcelona. The Galaxy S II sports a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, a dual-core processor, and a whole new user interface.

• Why Android users are such a happy lot

  By Katherine Noyes | 20 January, 2011 05:51

  Smartphone users tend to hold strong opinions about the various mobile platforms out there, often displaying feverish loyalty to the one they use and outright disdain for all others.

• Hands on with the Samsung Nexus S

  By Ginny Mies | 13 December, 2010 15:20

  The first phone to ship with Android 2.3 (also known as "Gingerbread") as the well as the follow-up to last January's Nexus One, the Nexus S is a joint effort between Samsung and Google with some impressive features. The hardware is gorgeous, and Android 2.3 delivers some useful enhancements; but with no support for HSPA+ or expandable memory, the Nexus S falls short of its potential.

• How Android phones will use Near-Field Communication

  By Jared Newman | 11 December, 2010 07:27

  The possibilities seemed endless when Google began hyping near-field communication for Android phones last month. Now, we've got some hard details on what the NFC capabilities in Android version 2.3, known as Gingerbread, will do in the near future.

• HTC 7 Mozart smartphone (preview)

  By Ross Catanzariti | 13 October, 2010 10:00

  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.