Mobile

T-Mobile has agreed to pay nearly $50 million after misleading customers about a supposed unlimited data plan. Unlike rival AT&T, it chose to settle with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rather than risk a court case. The agreement ... came after complaints from a customer who had signed up to an unlimited plan for mobile data use. It turned out that at times when the service was most heavily used T-Mobile "de-prioritized" -- in other words, slowed down -- data speeds for customers who used the most data. It's believed the threshold, which was never made public, was ... (view more)

What's worse than a bunch of smartphones catching fire? A company that recalls them, reissues them, and the reissued ones also going up in flames. That's what's happened to Samsung with its Galaxy Note 7 handset, which ultimately led the company to ... permanently discontinue and abandon the model altogether. Launched in August, 2016, the Samsung Note 7 originally received great reviews and was listed by some as not only among the best Samsung phones, but also the best of any phones running the Android operating system. Like previous Samsung Note models, it has a huge screen that ... (view more)

Comcast is to offer cellphone service next year, targeting its existing customers. It will use a combination of cellphone towers leased from Verizon and its own wireless hotspots. The company is not revealing too many details at this point, but it ... appears it believes it will be able to offer a wider coverage area by using its existing network of around 14 million wireless hotspots. Customers Own Routers Part of Network That network is so large because it not only covers devices in public places such as coffee shops but also uses a "guest mode" on the wireless routers of many cable ... (view more)

AT&T is dropping overage charges for mobile data plans. Instead of charging extra fees, it will slow down the connections of users who exceed their monthly data allowance. The move is accompanied by a general price rise, though it will only ... affect new customers or those existing customers who choose to change plans. The change makes AT&T the last of the three biggest carriers to drop mandatory fees for customers who go over their monthly data cap, an issue that became even more important as truly unlimited data plans were phased out across the industry. T-Mobile dropped overage ... (view more)

Varying attitudes around the world to cellphone use are reflected in two new policies. India is to mandate 'panic buttons' in cellphones, while a German city has taken drastic measures to keep phone users safer. The Indian rules begin to take effect ... next January when all cellphones on sale will have to include some form of panic button. The measure is designed to deal with growing fears for safety on the streets, particularly among women. Officials reportedly concluded that while cellphones make it much easier to call for help than in the days of relying on payphones, the process of ... (view more)

A new manufacturer plans to sell ultra-secure smartphones for as much as $15,000. They won't be the most expensive ever made, but will be the costliest outside of gimmick "luxury" handsets. Sirin Labs, a company based in the United Kingdom and ... Israel, has raised $72 million in investment funding. It plans to launch its first handset in a dedicated retail store next year. (Source: reuters.com ) The company has released relatively little detail about the handset, but has been working on it for almost three years. It says the big selling point is that it will offer military level ... (view more)

A Google-owned app aims to tell you the right time to leave on a car journey based on current traffic. It's something of a chicken and egg situation though, as the more people who use Waze, the more accurate it gets. Waze was developed by an Israeli ... company and bought out by Google in 2013. Unlike most GPS navigation tools, it doesn't work solely by databases of roads. Instead, it gathers anonymized information from users about their journeys, measuring exactly how long they take to cover a particular route and where they are being held up. The idea is to use this crowdsourced ... (view more)

Microsoft's goal of having Windows 10 used on just about every form of computing device has taken one step forward. Manufacturers have already incorporated it into a phone and even a portable stick. Acer, the company that helped establish the idea ... of the netbook as a way to run 'real' Windows on an ultra-portable device, has announced what it is calling the first PC Phone. At first glance, the Jade Primo looks like a high-end smartphone running Windows mobile; however, it has fairly impressive specifications, including a Snapdragon 808 Processor, a full 1080p HD 5.5" AMOLED ... (view more)

Yahoo is testing a system that could use your ear as a way to log in to a smartphone. It's designed as a cheaper and more practical alternative to using fingerprint recognition. Biometric identification has become more popular in recent years as a ... way to increase security, rather than relying on passwords or other inputs that could be guessed or hacked. The concept of biometrics has become ever increasingly mainstream, especially with the latest models of iPhones that include a fingerprint scanner. In fact, Barclays Bank has a system for online customers that scans the pattern of finger ... (view more)

Facebook has begun rolling out its free video and audio call service to other Facebook users via its Messenger app. It's arguably the biggest challenge yet to the Skype audio and video calling platform, which is now owned by Microsoft. Facebook ... began offering video calls back in 2011, when it partnered with Skype but has since developed its own technology. The new call service works in the dedicated Facebook 'Messenger' app, which is available only on smartphones and tablets and does not work through the Facebook website. Last year, Facebook removed the messaging feature from its main ' ... (view more)