MetroPCS is getting another chance to offer its customers an Android phone. The Huawei Ascend runs on Android 2.1 and costs an affordable $179 without a contract. It goes on sale today. The Ascend sports a 3.5-inch HVGA display, a 3.2-megapixel camera, a 16GB card slot, and supports 3G and Wi-Fi. It also has the …

Smartphone interface is very often the cover by which we begin to judge the book. The layout, designs, and color scheme play a heavy role in how easy it is to navigate and customize the phone; but we also can’t underestimate the UI’s emotional connection. So let’s not. Instead, let’s have an interface-off that lines up ten smartphone interfaces for …

While we can’t call it “instant,” Google’s expansion of Google Instant to mobile phones around the globe has been relatively snappy. Google Instant, the company’s implementation of real-time Web search results as you type, first debuted in beta form in the U.S. last month, for iOS 4.0 devices like iPhone and iPod Touch and for Android smartphones running operating system …

Google’s Priority Inbox for Gmail has evidently been successful enough on the desktop that it’s now moved to the Android smartphone. The new Gmail for Android 2.3.2 (compatible with Android 2.2 (Froyo) and 2.3 (Gingerbread) better supports the “Priority Inbox” e-mail filtering tool by showing off tagged e-mails in a view dedicated to the feature. If you don’t currently use …

It’s hard not to look at the Samsung Zeal for Verizon without feeling some reaction to its unique e-ink keyboard. Instead of characters printed on the topside, the gel-like buttons are lit from below, and morph from numbers to letters to symbols at the flick of a hinge or press of a button. However, we’ve seen this exact keyboard before …

New or existing U.S. Cellular customers looking for a new phone should keep the Samsung Profile (SCH-r580) in mind. The QWERTY messaging slider looks like so many other Samsung handset before it. In particular, it’s the spitting image of the Samsung Intensity II and the kissing cousin of the Samsung Restore (minus the latter’s eco awareness, and both models’ colorful …

News of the Google Nexus S may have surprised nobody, but that doesn’t stop us from dissecting the specs on this first Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) smartphone while Kent steals off for some rigorous testing. In the meantime, U.S. Cellular makes some notable moves, the crew spills their holiday wish lists, and Bonnie seems to have undergone an unusual makeover. Now …

CNET We’ve been talking about Android 2.3–code-name Gingerbread–for so long, this morning’s Google’s co-announcement with Samsung of the Gingerbread-powered Nexus S was frankly anticlimactic. Nevertheless, version 2.3 of the operating system that’s taking the mobile world by storm is a significant next step in Android’s evolution. While there are plenty of user interface changes (we’ll get to those), some of …

We can’t blame you for getting excited about Google’s official Gingerbread announcement–also known as Android 2.3–and all it contains. That said, we wouldn’t hold our breath over seeing an Android 2.3 update immediately pop up. Yes, purchasers of the Google Nexus S will be the first to use the Gingerbread OS update–it’ll be available at Best Buy stores in the …

Price is important for a large swath of the cell-phone-buying public. But so are call quality, hardware and software features, and style. That perfect balance between a great price and satisfying everything else is rare, and also subjective. Nevertheless, we’ve rounded up the nine cell phones and smartphones that caused our deal hounds the most excitement in 2010. This wasn’t …