MetroPCS is making good on its Android commitment by announcing today the Samsung Admire, a mid-tier Android 2.3 Gingerbread smartphone. The Admire comes equipped with a 3.5-inch HVGA touch screen, a 3.2-megapixel camera and camcorder, a Swype virtual keyboard option, and an 800Mhz processor. It also includes a microSD card slot that takes up to …

Verizon today pumps up its supply of durable phones with the addition of the Samsung Convoy 2, a rugged, push-to-talk handset that follows up on the original Convoy, released in November 2009. Meeting military specifications for shock resistance, altitude, temperature, humidity, and sand and dust, among other elements, the Convoy also features Bluetooth, a 3.2-megapixel camera, a microSD card slot …

Samsung Galaxy S Josh Miller If you’ve got a taste for plain old vanilla Android Froyo or Gingerbread, finding a smartphone without all of a carrier’s and manufacturer’s extra toppings is harder than you might imagine. Custom interfaces that sit on top of the Android foundation cost phone makers (and sometimes carriers, who can also weigh in) time and money …

Relief is a little iffy for contract-free customers thirsting for smartphones. Weak quarterly earnings for prepaid carriers, like leader MetroPCS, TracFone, and Cricket-owner Leap Wireless, are making the ability of these second-tiered carriers to act effectively as alternative smartphone providers to the big-four operators a little murkier. Why? As CNET Senior Writer Roger Cheng noted, the overall growth of tier-two …

Huawei Upmarket Huawei phones are rare on U.S. retail shelves, but the Huawei Vision, announced today in Beijing, may just provide that glimmer of light for Android enthusiasts looking for something new. Running Android 2.3 Gingerbread, the Vision also touts a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255 processor, a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash, and 720p HD video capture and …

If you act fast, you may be able to get a free Samsung Nexus S smartphone. Google is promoting the deal–today only–from its well-trafficked search page, Google.com. In order to get the phone with one of three participating carriers–Sprint, T-Mobile, and most recently, AT&T–you’ll need to sign up for a new two-year contract. If you follow links from the Google …

It’s without much fanfare that we learned about AT&T’s Sharp FX Plus, a rather entry-level Android 2.2 Froyo smartphone that has been available since July 30. Like the Sharp FX before it, the FX Plus is positioned as a messaging phone targeting the younger set. However, it does get an upgrade with Android, and a much rounder body that smooths …

PayPal mobile payment rival Square has said that it now processes approximately $4 million daily in mobile payments, $1 million more than Square advertised it handled at the end of May. Square has clearly sailed beyond any shadows cast by the nasty volley begun by CEO of competitor VeriFone, Doug Bergeron, and answered by Square’s CEO and co-founder, Jack Dorsey that called …

If you’re of the school of cell phone design that leans toward messaging cell phones with full QWERTY keyboards, U.S. Cellular’s newest phone is meant for you. The Samsung Character, released today, features a 2.8-inch QVGA touch screen, a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a 1.3-megapixel camera, and of course, Bluetooth support. There’s also an onboard music player. The Character runs on …

For the past few years, T-Mobile and Verizon have traded the crown for customer care. This time, Verizon has again snatched that title, according to data from J.D. Power and Associates’ semiannual survey, which was released today. Related links • Survey: T-Mobile tops in customer satisfaction • J.D. Power says Verizon tops in call quality • T-Mobile back on top …