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Apr

Archos Announces A New Line Of Ultra-Affordable Smartphones, Prices Start At Just $99 (No Contract)

Posted by Cameron Summerson in ARCHOS, News

When it comes to buying a new smartphone, Archos generally isn't the first company that crosses ones mind. The company is looking to change that with a new line of highly affordable "3G+" smartphones, which were just unveiled today. Say hello to the 35 Carbon, 50 Platinum, and 53 Platinum.

This trio keeps the somewhat familiar Archos branding – the number indicates the display size, while the suffix alludes to the "quality" of the product (i.e. Carbon is lower-end, while the Platinum name is reserved for higher-end products).

ARCHOS 35 Carbon

The 35 Carbon is the smallest and packs the least impressive specs of the trio, but for $99 without contract, you shouldn't expect much in the first place.

Jan

Canonical Announces Ubuntu For Smartphones, A New Version Of Its OS Just For Your Pocket 'Superphone'

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News

While Ubuntu (and Linux as a whole) may not be hugely popular among the consumer desktop computing crowd, it'd be folly to discount the OS as a whole. Especially among the Android developer crowd. Well, if you happen to be among the tech-literate faithful who use open source desktop operating systems to write code for your open source phone operating systems, Canonical would like to make your life a little weirder: introducing Ubuntu for smartphones!

Not to be confused with Ubuntu for Android, which allowed a docked Android phone to run a more-or-less full version of Ubuntu a la Webtop, this new product is a full-blown smartphone OS, distinct from Android entirely and meant to run all on its own.

Aug

Back To School Buyer's Guide 2012: The Best Smartphones For Students (Or Anyone Else)

Posted by Cameron Summerson in AT&T, EVO V 4G, Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy S II, Galaxy S III, News, One S (Ville), One X (Endeavor), Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Virgin Mobile

Last week, we took at a look at the best tablets for students and parents alike. Today, we've picked through the hundreds of offerings out there to pick the best overall and best on-a-budget smartphones on all the major carriers. As a bonus, we took a look at the latest offerings on some of the more popular pay-as-you-go carries, which can oftentimes be the best choice for a student.

With that, let's get started.

Best Overall

For the first time in the history of forever, there is one clear winner for "best Android phone" on all major carriers:

The Samsung Galaxy S III

As I started working on this roundup, I realized after completing two carrier breakdowns that nothing would trump the GSIII on any of the Big Four (or U.S.

Jun

Sony Announces Four New Smartphones: The Xperia miro, Xperia tipo, Xperia tipo dual and Xperia ion HSPA

Posted by John Thompson in AT&T, Sony, Xperia Ion (Aoba)

Sony has had a busy morning so far, announcing no fewer than four new Android smartphones. The newly announced Xperia miro, tipo and tipo dual will all ship with Android 4.0, despite each having underwhelming specifications, whilst the HSPA version of the Xperia ion is still set to ship with Android 2.3, but as the name suggests it will be lacking 4G.

Xperia miro

The Xperia mio packs a 3.5-inch display with a resolution of 480 x 320, Android 4.0 and a 5MP rear camera. Unfortunately, this is all being powered by a 800 MHz Qualcomm MSM7225A processor, so don't expect any performance miracles.

Oct

Ubuntu Plans To Head Into The Mobile Space, Confront Android Head-On

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Android OS, News

Oh snap, here comes another entry into the mobile OS game. Instead of some no-name third-party, though, Canonical has plans to step up to the plate with Ubuntu and see how it fares at on-the-go computing. Once the finishing touches have been put on the the upcoming LTS (long term service) release -- version 12.04 -- Canonical plans to start porting Ubuntu to mobile handsets, tablets, and even smart TVs.

Mark Shuttleworth, Canonical founder, stated that Android will be their primary competition, going as far as to say that Google's purchase of Motorola Mobility has "[shaken] up the hardware vendors, so some of them are looking for non-Android alternatives."

OEMs have tough choices.

Jan

Sony PlayStation Suite And PlayStation Store Official, Bring PSOne Games To Android Devices

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Games, News, Sony, Sony Ericsson

Sony's new PlayStation Suite isn't the PlayStation Phone (or the Xperia Play) we were expecting, but it's arguably something even better for those of us who love gaming but hate the idea of giving up our current Android device(s).

Sony claims that PlayStation Suite will offer "legendary original PlayStation content" and says it will be a "cross platform, cross device" PSOne emulator. In reality, it's limited to Android 2.3 and beyond - a version of Android only one currently available handset runs (and it's not Sony's own Xperia X10). Still, PS Suite does look intriguing, especially when you consider Sony's "PlayStation Certified" program for hardware manufacturers, which will, supposedly, ensure a high-quality gaming experience.

Nov

Panasonic To Enter The Smartphone Market In 2011 Using Android

Posted by Nate Kimmey in News, Panasonic

If the Samsung Galaxy S taking over sales of the iPhone 4 in Japan is any indication, Android is growing at an insane rate, and isn't showing any signs of stopping. And that's exactly why Panasonic is choosing our favorite mobile OS in its return to the smartphone market. Starting early next year, the company plans on selling multiple smartphones in Japan, although sales in other countries will not begin until 2012.

"We misjudged the speed at which smartphones would be taken up in the Japanese market," Osamu Waki, head of the company's mobile communications unit said at a news conference.

Sep

Best Buy Launches Free Phone Fridays To Start Your Weekends Right

Posted by Brad Ganley in News

Yesterday, Best Buy announced a pretty cool new promotion for the moth of October: Free Phone Fridays. It's a pretty straightforward deal that offers buyers four phones (one on each carrier) that will be free every Friday.

They have promised that each week they will feature one high-end smartphone, the first of which will be the Samsung Fascinate. The other phones to be offered for free on October 1st will be the Sprint Blackberry Curve, HTC Aria on AT&T, and the Samsung Gravity 3 on T-Mobile.

Scott Anderson, the head of Best Buy Mobile's merchandising department, had this to say:

We are seeing an amazing amount of curiosity and demand for mobile phones right now, especially smart phones, and we want to give consumers another reason to visit Best Buy Mobile in October.