Sony and Watchdata have teamed up in the latest effort to further the use of contactless payments. The consumer electronics giant has signed an agreement with Singapore-based smart card company Watchdata to integrate near field communication (NFC) and Sony’s FeliCa technology into Watchdata’s SIMpass solutions next year. As part of the agreement, Sony and Watchdata …

Residents in an additional 17 towns and cities in the U.K. will have the option of signing up for EE’s 4G LTE network by March 2013. Everything Everywhere — a collaboration between mobile operators Orange and T-Mobile — launched the United Kingdom’s first 4G network in October this year. Although these two carriers still exist, for next-generation data speeds EE …

Sony is launching an app aimed at Xperia smartphone users that grants access to additional music, film, and sports content. Sony Mobile Communications, a subsidiary of Japanese electronics maker Sony, announced today that a new app, called the Xperia Lounge, has been released in beta. Available on Google’s Android operating system, Xperia Lounge contains “backstage” content based around music, film, …

A teasing post on Samsung’s site suggests a new product will be revealed at CES 2013. In a blog post and video, the electronics giant says that its customers should “get ready” for January 8 to 11 — the dates of the Consumer Electronics show — and should stay tuned to learn more. Related stories: Will the Samsung Galaxy S4 …

Now playing: Watch this: Unboxing the Nexus 7 2:11 Asus Chief Financial Officer David Chang says that the company is selling close to 1 million Nexus 7 tablets a month. Although Google has not released the official sales figures for its 7-inch Nexus 7 tablet, following Tuesday’s declaration of Asus’ third-quarter earnings yesterday the Taiwanese electronics maker managed to beat …

This can hardly be encouraging news: Nokia’s third-quarter financial results show the number of handsets it sold down by 22 percent compared to last year and 1 percent on the quarter before. The company said Thursday it sold 82.9 million handsets in the quarter, with revenue from phone sales falling by 34 percent compared to Q3 2011. Nokia’s overall revenue …

HTC has unveiled its new high-end HTC J Butterfly smartphone aimed at the Japanese market. The Taiwanese phone maker announced today the arrival of the new handset, which features a 5-inch, 1080p display. The HTC J Butterfly — available in red, white, or black — boasts a 440ppi HD “Super LCD 3” panel, an 8-megapixel rear camera that can cope …

Cisco Systems has washed its hands of Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE, Reuters reports, after Cisco determined that ZTE was selling Cisco-branded networking equipment to Iran. This year, the China-based firm had been reported as selling restricted and banned computer equipment developed by Cisco and other U.S. companies to Iran’s telecom firms. According to the publication, ZTE agreed to ship …

Sony has stopped selling its Xperia Tablet S after finding defects in the devices. According to Reuters, sales were halted after gaps were discovered between the screen and case, making some of the tablets susceptible to water damage. A Sony spokeswoman told Reuters that the hardware issues have been traced back to a “manufacturing flaw” at the Chinese plant where …

Apps and devices have been designed to turn smartphones into light switches, medical tools and even satellites. For people who wish to extend a little less effort in their daily lives, they could even replace the traditional house key you use to get into your home. Consider Lockitron, a keyless entry device that attaches to a door’s deadbolt. The small …