A mirage no more, the Samsung Illusion is now officially on the records. Whispers of Verizon’s more midlevel Illusion first reached our ears in September, when a spoiler image briefly appeared on Flickr. Back then, we knew few details, other than its Android character. Now we know that it runs on a 1GHz Samsung Hummingbird …

The HTC Wildfire S is quickly becoming HTC’s go-to budget and off-contract Android device. Already available on T-Mobile and U.S. Cellular, the petite Android 2.3 Gingerbread handset is now headed to MetroPCS this week, where it will cost $179 for the off-contract smartphone, and come in white. The Wildfire S has a 3.2-inch HVGA touch screen, a 5-megapixel camera with …

Now playing: Watch this: Dialed In #200: Mimosas, battery revolutions, and the… 45:03 Dialed In has reached another milestone–its 200th episode!–and that calls for a celebration, don’tcha think? We do, which is why we broke out the champagne, party hats, and noise makers. Of course, the talk of everything cell phones takes center stage with special host Bonnie Cha (remember …

With all these high-priced, superpremium smartphones exploding onto the holiday shopping scene, it’s nice to see that Sprint hasn’t forgotten about the budget-conscious. Running Android 2.3 Gingerbread, the candy bar Sprint Express has a portrait QWERTY keyboard and costs $19.99. It has a 2.6-inch touch screen, 3.2-megapixel camera with flash, hot-spot capability for up to five devices, and Sprint ID, …

The buzz surrounding Google’s release of its Ice Cream Sandwich operating system is similar to every release of the latest Android operating system on a single, debut device. The difference is: this one’s a doozy. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is the first to introduce the Android 4.0 OS, better known as Ice Cream Sandwich (or ICS). Google redesigned or recoded …

LOS ANGELES–Chatting with rapper Busta Rhymes about smartphones, his sons, and the business of online music distribution isn’t how I had intended to spend part of my afternoon. Yet the artist made a surprise appearance at the Google Music launch in LA this afternoon and graciously granted CNET an interview. Rhymes joins other artists, like Coldplay and The Rolling Stones, …

After teasing the Samsung DoubleTime and Samsung Captivate Glide at CTIA last month, AT&T is finally sharing the news we all want to hear: when the phones will arrive, and for how much. Samsung DoubleTime (photos) +5 more See all photos The DoubleTime, the more entry-level of the two keyboarded Android handsets, has a price tag of $49.99 with a …

We all know that RIM needs a new game plan to stay relevant in the super-smartphone age, and its name is BBX. The forthcoming BBX operating system converges QNX, the OS behind the unsuccessful BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, and BlackBerry OS, which continues to run current BlackBerry smartphones. Even when RIM announced its plan to develop BBX last month at the …

Now playing: Watch this: Dialed In #199: We’ll miss you, Nicole 44:28 It’s a sad day in the Dialed In studio, with our beloved Nicole announcing that she’s leaving us to break new ground over at TWiT. Our hearts will go on, Celine Dione style, so make sure you watch to the end for our special tribute and two surprise …

Samsung DoubleTime (photos) +5 more See all photos Samsung still isn’t releasing information about the pricing or availability of the forthcoming Samsung DoubleTime, but the company did bring the phone to our CNET offices in New York for some glamor shots. What makes this Android 2.2 Froyo handset distinct is its double-screen design. Instead of sliding out a keyboard for …