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ZTE Open: This dirt-cheap smartphone is a swing and a miss
Review Of the various open source Android challengers currently under development, the Mozilla Foundation's Firefox OS was the first to reach the market with actual, commercially available products. The ZTE Open smartphone is one such product. Unfortunately, that's about all it's got going for it.
When ZTE started selling the Open via …
TWO can play this 64-bit mobile game, says Samsung, crossly
Samsung's next smartphone will feature a 64-bit processor, according to co-chief executive Shin Jong-kyun: he's keen to prove it's not only Apple who can stuff more register bits into a chip.
Apple's latest flagship iThing, the iPhone 5S, features a 64-bit ARMv8 processor labelled the A7. The performance boost may not be …
Massively leaked iFail 5S POUNDS pundits, EXCITES chavs
Something for the Weekend, Sir? If it was tedious putting up with the prelaunch hype, it was at least entertaining this week to watch so many commentators backtrack on the cobblers they’d been serving up just hours before the event.
I’m talking about the iPhone 5S/iPhone 5C launch, of course. Everyone else has expressed an opinion these past couple of days, so …
One day we'll look back and say this was the end of the software platform
Comment I was once told by an editor not to waste too much time following Apple and other companies that sold hardware and software together.
He was reflecting the conventional wisdom in the late 1990s: any manufacturer that dared to "add value" by integrating its software into its hardware would be destroyed. Microsoft and Dell would …
iPhone 5S: Apple, you're BORING us to DEATH (And you too, Samsung)
Comment Apple's keynotes seem to command more mainstream front-page press attention than ever before – but each time, there's less and less to report. Is the modern smartphone era limping to a close?
Apple's announcements on Tuesday about the iPhone 5S and 5C were wearily predictable. Cupertino just doesn't seem to be where the action …
iPhone 5S: Fanbois, your prints are safe from the NSA, claim infosec bods
Apple’s decision to bundle a fingerprint scanner with its newly unveiled iPhone 5s has the potential to become a game-changer for personal device authentication.
But the success of "Touch ID" fingerprint authentication will depend on security as well as reliability, according to market-watchers. The fruits of Apple's acquisition …
Modular smartphones floated by Dutch designer chap
There isn't a product, or even a prototype, but if it could be made to work, why not turn the smartphone into a bunch of replaceable modular components on a standard backplane?
It may or may not be feasible, but the notion gathered enough attention that the proposal page, on crowdfunding site Thunderclap.it, was hosed by visitor …
BlackBerry goes all 'patch Tuesday' with multi vuln fixes
BlackBerry has issued four patches covering vulnerabilities in Flash, Webkit and libexif on its devices.
The Z10, Q10 and PlayBook all need patching for Adobe Flash vulnerabilities. If a user were led to a page containing crafted Flash content, an attacker could execute arbitrary code on an affected device. BSRT-2013-007 notes …
For PITY'S SAKE, DON'T BUY an iPHONE 5S, begs FSF
The Free Software Foundation has taken issue with fingerprint recognition in the iPhone 5S and has called on users to reject Apple’s closed system smartphones.
Executive director John Sullivan used the launch of the iPhone 5S and 5C on Tuesday to zero in on the iPhone 5S, the expensive iPhone variant that comes equipped with a …
New iPhones are latte-sipping inner city elitists
Not only has Apple reintroduced the “Australia tax” for its newly-launched iPhone 5 series: it turns out that LTE support doesn't include the 700 MHz bands Telstra and Optus purchased earlier this year.
In fact, the iPhone 5c and 5s LTE models only support one of the LTE bands currently in use in this country – the 1800 MHz LTE …
Apple quietly revives iPhone charging and syncing docks
Apple has quietly reintroduced an iPhone accessory that was discontinued when the iPhone 5 was unveiled last September: the lowly but in some quarters much-missed charging and syncing dock.
Apparently, Apple didn't want to clutter up its Tuesday-morning rollout of the iPhone 5C and 5S with a mention of such a quotidian piece of …
Apple slugs Australia with iPhone tax
Apple's newest iPhones have surprised the world with premium pricing, but that premium is even more noticeable in Australia, where punters will be asked to pay more than US shoppers, even once one takes into account exchange rates.
The Reg looked at prices for unlocked handsets, recorded on Apple's website. We checked out the US …
New iPhones: C certainly DOESN'T stand for 'Cheap'
Analysis You wanted new iPhones and you got them. But if anything, the most surprising thing about Apple's big Tuesday reveal was just how little it managed to keep secret from the tech media ahead of the event.
As predicted, Cupertino unveiled not one but two new iPhone models – a first – and just like everyone thought, they are named …
We made the iPhones, now we want OUR 'UNPAID' WAGES – student Pegatron toilers
A group of Chinese student workers who have been making iPhones in a Shanghai factory have claimed Apple manufacturer Pegatron owes them unpaid wages – and say they want their cash back.
The students handed a list of their grievances to China Labor Watch, which has released a report today making a series of allegations about the …
Apple prepares to unleash iPhone 5S, 5C for the GREAT BRAWL OF CHINA
Apple will launch an assault on the booming Chinese smartphone market tomorrow with the announcement of two new iPhones.
As well as the expected iPhone 5S, Apple is more or less certain to introduce a cheaper mobe thought to be called the 5C, which is aimed at China and developing markets.
China is now the world's biggest …
Amazon DENIES launch of iPhone-killing freebie smartphone
Amazon won't be launching a freebie phone later this year, in fact it won't launch any phone this year and has no future plans to give hardware away, ever.
The story started on Friday as an exclusive from ex-WSJ journo Amir Efrati, and spread across the blogosphere like wildfire as it sounded feasible and came from "people …
Xiaomi plans global domination with fast smartphones and software
The established smartphone vendors should prepare for challenge from China: Xiaomi, a firm started just three years ago by a Chinese serial entrepreneur and Google's ex-head of engineering, has announced plans to move out of the Middle Kingdom and onto the world stage.
The first time many people in the Western world heard of …
Amazon to offer FREE smartphone?
Analysis Amazon may offer a free smartphone, as it contemplates another market to get into and sterilize. Though the strategy is a bold one, it is hardly new, and its basic idea goes back to Henry Ford.
Bezos & Co are planning to launch a free smartphone, ex-Wall Street Journal reporter Amir Efrati reported on Friday, and hope to offer …
The REAL winner of Microsoft's Nokia buy: GOOGLE
Nokia might well boost Microsoft’s smartphone market share, but it won’t derail Android on mobile or thwart Google’s search and ads money machine.
Separate surveys say Nokia will consolidate Microsoft’s third-place status in smartphones while Google, helped by YouTube, will continue to dominate the cash haul from net searches …
Confirmed by cockup: New iPhones will be named 5S and 5C
Oops. If there remained any doubt that Apple was about to release two iPhones – one named the iPhone 5S and another named the iPhone 5C – those doubts have been removed thanks to a slip-up by one of Apple's Chinese iPhone carriers, China Telecom.
"China has been chosen as [the/a] first country where the iPhone 5S/5C will be …
Samsung Galaxy S4 Active: The mobe for CHUCK NORRIS TYPES
Review The key advantage Sony’s Xperia Z has over the Samsung Galaxy S4 is its IP57-rated waterproofing.
However, Samsung hasn’t got where it is today by sitting still and letting a rival get away with any sort of competitive upper hand, so now we have an S4 that carries an IP67 rating. Enter the S4 Active.
Samsung Galaxy S4 Active …
Panasonic to build Toughbook-style smartphone
Panasonic has become the latest venerable Japanese electronics giant to abandon the consumer smartphone market, with the firm set to concentrate its efforts on producing a “Toughbook” handset for business use.
Company president Kazuhiro Tsuga told Reuters that it will continue to sell consumer handsets in emerging markets under …
Apple throwing separate Chinese iPhone event
Chinese press have received an invitation to an Apple event, in Beijing, to take place just hours after the fruity phone factory does its usual thing in Cupertino.
Local news outlet Sina brought the world the news , and the image below that apparently translates as a promise of a “dazzling” day for China.
The event will take …
Furious Frenchies tell Apple to bubble off: Bling iPhone isn't 'champagne'
French booze watchdogs have warned Apple that its decision to flog a blinged-up "champagne gold" version of the iPhone could end in a nasty court battle.
Most Apple watchers now agree that the fruity firm is about to offer fanbois the chance to buy a garish gold phone, but the trade body that represents champagne makers has …
iPhone rises, Android slips in US, UK
Apple's iPhone is gaining market share in the US and UK, while smartphones based on Google's Android operating system – which continue to lead all smartphones in both markets – see their share slipping.
According to the latest report from the market-watchers at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, in the three months ending in July of …
It's official: Apple sends out invitations for September 10 event
Apple has sent out invitations that confirm rumors it will hold a widely expected event next Tuesday, September 10, at the company's headquarters in Cupertino.
Are those two orange-ish circles actually 'champagne gold'?
Although – true to Apple's übersecretive nature – the invitation is merely a teaser that offers no concrete …
Microsoft's Nokia plan: WHACK APPLE AND GOOGLE
Microsoft has posted the presentation it's used to explain its decision to acquire Nokia's mobile phone business and it reveals the key reason for the acquisition: hitting back at Apple and Google.
The presentation is available as a PDF or a slow HTML slideshow here and gets interesting at slide 15, depicted below.
Slide 15 in …
HTC trio suspected of pilfering design IP
Senior members of HTC’s design team have been detained by Taiwanese investigators on suspicion of defrauding the under-fire smartphone maker and stealing valuable IP.
HTC raised the alarm with Taiwan’s Bureau of Investigators after the suspects – including VP of product design Thomas Chien, R&D director Wu Chien Hung and design …
Apple to accept iPhone trade-ins at US Retail Stores
With the rumored launch date of the next iPhone fast approaching, Apple on Friday began allowing iPhone owners to trade in their old handsets at the company's Apple Retail Stores in the US.
"iPhones hold great value," an Apple spokeswoman told the AFP news service. "So, Apple Retail Stores are launching a new program to assist …
Fandroids blow $200,000 on secret PANIC BUTTON for their smartmobes
The cleverly-designed Pressy gadget drops into the headphone socket on any Android handset, adding a button that can be linked to any action.
While Apple might spend its time eradicating buttons, and touchscreens remain flavour of the decade, physical controls have advantages and there are rarely enough of them. Meanwhile the …
Now your iPhone apps can be FAT losers: Apple gobbles data diet upstart
Apple has picked up AlgoTrim, a Swedish upstart that knocks together tools for quickly decompressing apps, photos, videos and other stuff on mobile phones.
As well as image squeezing, AlgoTrim touts a code compression library that crams software into the flash memory of ARM-powered devices, possibly reducing the size of programs …
Huawei Ascend Mate: The phondleslab for the skint
Review Whether you think VLPs (Very Large Phones™) are the ultimate evolution of the personal telecommunication device or the bastard offspring of smartphone and tablet, there’s no doubting the little – well, not so little really – buggers are racing out of the woodwork. Most are rather expensive but Huawei’s Ascend Mate, like the …
Finance watchdog: Big fingers + tiny mobe screen + banking = doesn't end well
Companies providing mobile banking services must consider how to overcome limitations in mobile device screen sizes in order to help consumers avoid making erroneous payments, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has said.
In an interim report (12-page/724KB PDF) it published as part of its ongoing review into mobile banking, …
Web showered in golden iPhone 5S vid glory - but is it all a DISTRACTION?
Video A video has emerged online demonstrating what may or may not be a gold champagne-hued iPhone 5S and blue plastic 5C, both the next models lined up for Apple's smartmobe family.
The launch of the iOS 7 handsets is scheduled for 10 September. Corroborating rumours suggest we'll see a flagship 5S - available in a champagne-coloured …
Huawei Ascend P6: Skinny smartphone that's not just bare bones
Review Just who the heck does Huawei think it is? Surely it is the purveyor of budget Android tat and carrier-branded dreck? I’m loathe to use the word "landfill" because some of its newer cheap handsets, like the 4.5-inch Ascend GS510, aren’t actually that bad and I’d certainly take one in preference to an appless, gutless, webcam- …
Apple's Siri 'hurls insults' at Google Glass
Apple's oft-ridiculed virtual assistant Siri is saying apparently saying nasty things about Google's Glass tech specs.
Twitter user @seambrage noted the response depicted below when he invoked Siri and said “Okay Glass”, the phrase used to ready the tech specs for action.
Siri trash talking Google Glass. Love it. pic.twitter. …
Ubuntu Edge Linux mobe: 'Made you look,' crows Shuttleworth
Canonical's attempt to raise £20.5m ($32m) to create a Ubuntu Linux smartphone wasn't the failure it appeared to be: despite only managing two fifths of its fundraising target by its own deadline, the Edge handset project was a hugely successful advertisement for the Ubuntu distribution.
That's, of course, according to Canonical …
Delta Air Lines makes mass Windows Phone 8, Lumia 820 buy
Microsoft finally has something it must have craved for ages: a colossal, enterprise user of its Windows Phone platform, with a super-recognisable brand to boot. But the announcement about the buy uses the most optimistic number possible to describe the sale.
The buyer is Delta Air Lines, which has let it be known that as August …
EXPLICIT VID: Man filmed trying to bang brand new 'budget iPhone'
Footage has emerged which appears to show that Apple's mysterious cheap new iPhone has a scratch-resistant surface which can take a serious battering and still stay pretty.
A video posted on the Taiwanese site Apple Daily shows what it claims is a brand new model of iPhone being tested against several real-world scratch risks. …
Ubuntu Edge crowdsauce cash stash comes up short
Canonical’s Ubuntu Edge crowd-funded smartphone will remain a Shuttleworthian dream, having failed to hit its $32m funding target.
The phone raised $12.8m ahead of today's deadline on the Indiegogo site, less than half the figure stated necessary to fund production of 40,000 units when the campaign started on 23 July.
Canonical …
Battery-free e-ink screen grabs screenshots from smartphones
University boffins from Washington and Massachusetts joined forces with those at Intel to create an e-ink screen which can catch a smartphone screenshot – without needing a battery.
The screen catches energy over the NFC standard, the pay-by-bonk technology built into the latest models of smartphone. That power usually drives a …
UK mulls ban on tiny mobiles to block prison smugglers
UK police and government officials are considering a plan to block the sale of small mobile phones designed to look like car key fobs after confiscating an increasing number of the mini-mobes from prisoners.
Car key fob phone Phone too popular with prisoners
"A range of techniques – including body orifice security scanners …
