In a move designed to drive customers through Microsoft’s retail doors, and toward Nokia’s Windows Phone Lumia brand in particular, Microsoft will begin to sell the unlocked version of the Nokia Lumia 800 smartphone exclusively in its brick-and-mortar stores. About $900 will get you the Nokia Lumia 800 Entertainment Bundle, which consists of the unlocked …

U.S. Cellular may not be able to offer double the data cap for free, but it is hoping that crediting new customers $100 bucks for a two-year agreement will attract customers tired of their current carrier. Starting today, new post-paid customers will receive a $100 credit on their bill, plus the option to get another $50-to-$150 in cash for trading …

Chances are you’ve at least heard of the Samsung Galaxy Note, the big 5.3-inch mobile gadget that can either be used like a tablet or like a traditional cell phone. So said Samsung in its splashy Super Bowl ad that blatantly took a swipe at Apple fanboys. In the meantime, tech journalists are still arguing over where the Note, with …

Verizon customers in Clarksville and Cookeville, Tenn.; Little Rock, Ark.; Rapid City, S.D.; and San Antonio, Tex., can smile a little wider tomorrow. Big Red is switching on 4G LTE in Cookeville and expanding coverage in all the rest. The wireless provider has continued to roll out its fast LTE coverage bit by bit in an effort to complete its …

Now playing: Watch this: Dialed In #210: We kinda heart the Samsung Galaxy Note 28:59 It’s Valentine’s Day, which means it’s time to share a little love. There’s some of that for the top two phones we reviewed this past week: the keyboard-crazy Motorola Droid 4 for Verizon and AT&T’s gigantic Samsung Galaxy Note. But just because Cupid’s in the …

Now playing: Watch this: Motorola Droid Razr Maxx vs. Samsung Galaxy Nexus 5:31 Verizon stacked its deck with some of the strongest smartphones around, including two CNET Editors’ Choice Award winners, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx. Both come into the ring swinging–the Galaxy Nexus has its 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED display and Android 4.0 Ice …

Don’t let its 5.3-inch size fool you; the Samsung Galaxy Note for AT&T is no tablet. What it is, is a very large Android 2.3 smartphone firmly rooted in the Galaxy S II family tree. Yet the Note branches off in two places: that huge screen that makes the phone awkward to hold, and the stylus–called the S-Pen–that lets you …

Well, well, well. Acer has already won an award for a phone that few in the mobile industry knew existed. The electronics maker issued a press release today sharing its iF design award for the Acer CloudMobile, an Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich phone that the company plans to launch later this month at Mobile World Congress. Although it’ll pack …

This may come as a shock, but some people actually want a flip phone. In fact, I receive plenty of e-mails asking for recommendations from the non-techy and budget-conscious, young parents who want durability without the fuss, elderly neighbors, and people seeking a complementary device for audio only. I can now suggest the Samsung SPH-M370. Its design is decently attractive, …

Nvidia is one company that isn’t being meek about its wares. Instead, its press invitation to Mobile World Congress shouts “quad-core” from the rooftops. The chip-maker is properly veiling the actual products powered by its Tegra 3 processor, instead proclaiming that “quad-core firsts continue at MWC.” Since the first “first” was a quad-core tablet, it doesn’t take much deductive power …