Mobile

Troubled smartphone maker Research in Motion (RIM), best known for its BlackBerry mobile device, may soon be bought up by tech industry heavyweight, Samsung. The rumor of such a purchase was responsible for an increase in RIM's stock value Tuesday ... (January 17, 2012). This is not the first time a heavy-hitter like Samsung has been mentioned as a possible purchaser of RIM. Back in December, 2011, Nokia, Amazon and, in particular, Microsoft, were all believed to be interested in obtaining the Waterloo, Canada-based firm, which has faced considerable adversity in the past year as a result of ... (view more)

A tech website has accused Research in Motion (RIM) of lying about its decision to delay the release of its BlackBerry 10 mobile operating system (OS). RIM, however, denies the allegation. Research in Motion recently admitted it has been forced to ... delay the release of its highly-anticipated BlackBerry 10 OS until late 2012. However, the company attributed the postponement of the mobile operating system to its adoption of a new and different hardware chipset, now being developed by an unknown third-party vendor. "High-Level" RIM Worker Leaks A Different Story The blog "Boy ... (view more)

A Microsoft manager has revealed that the latest Windows Phone system already includes support for "contactless" smartphone payments in stores. However, there remain serious questions about the system's security status, which is still being worked ... on. Electronic Payments Make Transactions Quicker NFC is a form of wireless communication that works very much like Bluetooth and WiFi, but only over a much shorter distance (as little as a few centimeters). One of its primary uses could be to make electronic payments in stores without swiping a card. Although technically NFC payments are ... (view more)

It seems like we've seen a million studies conclude that texting from behind the wheel of an automobile is an extremely dangerous practice. Yet a new report suggests most Americans just haven't received the message. Even more surprising is that the ... number of people texting while driving has actually increased since most U.S. states passed laws to ban the dangerous practice, and to levy stiff fines on perpetrators. The new report comes from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which on Thursday (December 8th) announced that texting while driving has increased by a ... (view more)

Are you unhappy with your mobile service? If so, there's a good chance you're an AT&T customer. According to a recent customer satisfaction survey, AT&T once again ranks dead last among all mobile service providers. The survey comes from ... Consumer Reports, which released this latest report on mobile service providers this past Tuesday (December 6). For the second straight year , AT&T came in well behind its major competitors, including Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and T-Mobile. Even worse, AT ... (view more)

Google's Android platform continues to be a powerhouse in the highly competitive smartphone market, despite a recent study that reported malware attacks are up nearly 500 per cent . Industry analysts Nielson recently released its third quarter ... statistics for smartphone usage among United States-based mobile subscribers. Researchers found that Android once against ranked as the most popular mobile operating system (OS), with devices using this platform accounting for approximately 42.8 per cent of the total smartphone market. More specifically, Android phones made by HTC accounted for 15 per ... (view more)

The first hands-on reviews of Amazon's debut tablet device, the Kindle Fire , are beginning to appear. Their general theme is that the price is great, but the device itself could use some improvement. The Fire costs $199, approximately 60 per cent ... lower than Apple's iPad, and right on the consumer electronics price point at which mass market purchasers become more willing to try out new technology. Kindle Fire: Silky Smooth But Not Ultra Fast Most of the reviews claim that Amazon's highly promoted web browser for the Kindle Fire, Silk, is too slow. The browser actually displays web pages ... (view more)

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion's fall from grace continued on Thursday as the Canadian company's stock value continued to plummet. Now, analysts wonder if the firm, which helped pioneer the smartphone device, will be able to recover. Times have ... been tough of late for Research in Motion (RIM), the Waterloo, Canada-based firm whose BlackBerry handheld device was once the darling of the smartphone market. Besides a major outage in early October that affected users around the world, the company has seen BlackBerry sales slip steadily in recent years. Beyond that, RIM also flubbed in its ... (view more)

A couple weeks ago embattled BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion (RIM) suffered a massive service outage that affected an estimated 10 million users around the world. The service remained down for up to 5 days. (Source: theinquirer.net ) At first, ... the problem seemed to spare North American users, with only Europeans, South Americans, Africans, and residents of the Middle East reporting problems, but soon after Canadian and American BlackBerry owners were complaining that calls were being dropped and text messaging a complete and total mess. Now, frustrated and angry BlackBerry users are ... (view more)

Microsoft has recently released the first major overhaul of its Windows Phone operating system and it's getting some generally good reviews. The revised system is powering a range of devices, including the first significant results of the ... Nokia-Microsoft partnership. Windows Phone 7, released late last year, was a much-delayed revamp of what had previously been Windows Mobile. Although the system was generally praised, it appeared to come far too late to overcome a significant loss of market share to systems such as Apple's iOS and Google's Android. Sales of the Windows Phone 7 handsets thus ... (view more)