Phone Scoop - Latest News

Facebook to Become Location-Aware in April

Eric M. Zeman — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:10:57 GMT

According to unnamed sources cited by The New York Times, Facebook plans to introduce a new location-sharing feature to is social networking service. The feature will let users share their own location as well as see the location of ...
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Leap Shutters Some Stores, Reduces Headcount

Eric M. Zeman — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:32:13 GMT

Leap Wireless recently indicated that it has permanently closed 27 -- about 10% -- of its 269 Cricket Wireless stores. It has also laid off 180 people, trimming its staff level down to 4,200 employees around the country. The ...
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Apple Revises iPhone OS 3.2 SDK Yet Again

Eric M. Zeman — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:28:24 GMT

Today Apple made a fourth beta of the iPhone OS 3.2 software development kit available to developers. The SDK provides developers with the tools they need to write for iPhone OS, which also applies to the iPod Touch and ...
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Review: Motorola Backflip

Eric M. Zeman — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:34:22 GMT

AT&T lands the Motorola Backflip as its first Android handset. Based on our experiences, it's tough to recommend to anyone other than the most diehard Motorola and AT&T fans.
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Palm Helps Developers Port Games to WebOS

Philip Berne — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:20:27 GMT

Palm today announced the Plug-In Development Kit (PDK) for Palm WebOS. The PDK allows developers to use C and C++ in addition to the Web-based framework of the Palm OS. With the new PDK, developers get access to OpenGL ...
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FCC Suggests Free Wireless Broadband

Philip Berne — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:14:23 GMT

At the Digital Inclusion Summit, the FCC released a statement supporting free wireless broadband for some Americans in a bid to increase affordable broadband service nationwide. The commission did not specify which Americans would qualify for such a service ...
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Samsung's Stunt Lands at Cricket

Eric M. Zeman — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:32:23 GMT

Today Samsung announced that it is offering the SCH-r100 Stunt to Cricket customers. The Stunt is a tri-band CDMA bar-style phone that has entry level features. It includes Bluetooth, speakerphone, and simple messaging services. It costs $100.

NFL Mobile Touches Down on Verizon Wireless

Philip Berne — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:23:44 GMT

The NFL and Verizon Wireless today announced a four year deal that will bring NFL Mobile programming and the NFL RedZone channel to Verizon Wireless phones. Specific phone and pricing information for the new service will be available in ...
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Android Develops Enhanced OpenGL Support

Philip Berne — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:29:52 GMT

Google today released the Android Native Development Kit revision 3 (NDK r3), offering expanded capabilities to Android developers. Most interesting to end users is probably enhanced support for OpenGL ES 2.0, now offering improved graphics rendering through vertex and ...
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Gowalla App Out Now For Android Phones

Philip Berne — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:08:01 GMT

Travel Channel will also bring new content to Gowalla, starting with locations used in "Food Wars."

Asiq Brings Mobile Service to Airplanes Via Bluetooth

Eric M. Zeman — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:55:26 GMT

Today Asiq announced what it calls the first aircraft Bluetooth Access Point. The AP, in conjunction with Asiq's SafeCell application, will allow airlines to offer cellular services (including SMS, MMS, voice messaging and email) on board aircraft during flight. ...
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Verizon Wireless Talks Up LTE Speeds

Eric M. Zeman — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:45:21 GMT

Today Verizon Wireless indicated that its preliminary tests of Long Term Evolution in the Boston and Seattle trial markets demonstrate that the next-generation wireless technology can deliver peak download speeds of 40 to 50Mbps and peak upload speeds of ...
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Qualcomm Developing Dual-Mode Femto Chips

Eric M. Zeman — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:57:18 GMT

Qualcomm has announced that it is bringing new dual-mode HSPA+ and EVDO Rev. A and B. chips to femto cells. Qualcomm says the chips are the first to combine 3GPP HSPA+ and CDMA2000 1X and EV-DO Rev. A and ...
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Swype Offering Beta Download for Android Phones

Eric M. Zeman — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 14:19:24 GMT

Swype recently began offering a beta version of its QWERTY keyboard input software. Users can download the beta version of the software for free, though the number of users Swype will allow is going to be limited at first. ...
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T-Mobile Trades In Yahoo for Google

Eric M. Zeman — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:10:59 GMT

T-Mobile USA has called off its year-long exclusive search deal with Yahoo and has replaced it with Google. The deal was completed recently and Google replaced Yahoo as the default search engine on T-Mobile handsets approximately March 3. Phone ...
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FCC Plans to Overhaul Universal Service Fund

Eric M. Zeman — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:30:20 GMT

Today the Federal Communications Commission proposed a major change to the Universal Service Fund. The USF is collected from U.S. citizens via their phones bills and is put towards developing voice services in underserved rural areas. Rather than put ...
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Verizon Wireless Quietly Drops Mail-In Rebate for Pre and Pixi

Eric M. Zeman — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:55:44 GMT

Verizon Wireless has eliminated the mail-in rebate previously necessary for customers to get the lowest price for the Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus. Customers will now only pay $149 out of pocket for the Pre Plus and $79 ...
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AT&T Joins Sprint in Green Efforts

Eric M. Zeman — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:27:18 GMT

AT&T recently announced that it is going to be adopting new standards for its packaging and handset designs to reduce waste, encourage recycling and reduce its carbon footprint. AT&T is working with manufacturers to reduce the amount of packaging ...
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Verizon to Score Microsoft's 'Pink' Phones by Summer

Eric M. Zeman — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:00:11 GMT

According to an unnamed source cited by Reuters, Verizon Wireless plans to sell two new devices from Microsoft that are not Windows Phone 7 handsets. Reuters' source says that the two new phones are being developed under the code ...
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Microsoft Outlines Windows Phone 7 Development Platform

Rich Brome — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 01:30:00 GMT

Microsoft today announced that its new Windows Phone 7 platform will include the company's Silverlight and XNA technologies for developers. Silverlight is a runtime designed to make it easier for developers to create rich, attractive interfaces that are intelligently ...
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