Last December, just as I returned from covering the first flight of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner in Seattle, I learned that a longtime friend was diagnosed with brain cancer. He had collapsed that day at work and was in the hospital awaiting immediate removal of his tumor. Needless to say, it was a distressing few …

Samsung deserved the attention it received last week at CTIA for introducing its Galaxy S. The Android smartphone is pretty and powerful, but we still don’t know a lot about Social Hub, one of its central features. Social Hub is Samsung’s answer to Motorola’s  MotoBlur and Sony Ericsson’s Timescape (see our Xperia X10 review for more on Timescape). Social Hub …

Only the most passionate cell phone geeks know that the Federal Communications Commission holds a treasure trove of information on upcoming handsets. Because the FCC has to certify every phone sold in the United States, not to mention test its SAR rating, the agency’s online database offers a lot of sneak peeks to those who dig. And to save you …

Motorola has promised a deluge of smartphones in 2010, and so far the company is on track to complete that goal. Within days of each other, Moto introduced the Devour for Verizon Wireless and the Cliq XT for T-Mobile. Both smartphones run Google’s Android operating system and both are related to previous models. The Cliq XT, of course, is a …

It’s a very special day at Dialed In. For a limited-time engagement, our very own Bonnie Cha graces us with her presence on her way back to New York City from CTIA. Bonnie had a little business on the left coast, which included a visit to her old stomping grounds at the San Francisco office. She’s even back in her …

We’ve already told you about the Samsung Corby and the CorbyTXT and CorbyPro, but now Samsung has added the Corby Mate. Also called the GT-B3310, the Corby Mate has a slider design with a full QWERTY keyboard. You can get it in two color schemes: teal and black or silver and black. Features on the unlocked quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) world …

Another CTIA has come to an end, so it’s time for CNET to pass out our Best of CTIA awards. We had to make a tough choice this year and break away from our traditional categories; because most of the major handset announcements in Las Vegas this year were smartphones (you can blame Android for that) we consolidated the traditional …

Now playing: Watch this: Check your cell phone coverage 3:46 Late last year I told you about CNET’s new tool to accurately rate wireless coverage across the United States. With our partner Root Wireless, we’re able to show average signal strength, data throughput, dropped calls, and failed data connections for the four major carriers (AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless) …

Now playing: Watch this: Motorola Devour 2:43 Verizon Wireless announced today that the Motorola Devour is now on sale in the carrier’s stores for $149.99 with a two-year service contract and a $100 mail-in rebate. Verizon originally introducedthe Devour in February, but only made it available in select Best Buy stores. As we say in our review, there’s much to …

Now playing: Watch this: Sony Ericsson Xperia Pureness 1:49 Two months ago at CES we captured a few photos of the conversation-piece Sony Ericsson Xperia Pureness. And now that we’re back in Vegas, we’re giving it the video treatment as well. The Pureness lacks the high-end features of its Xperia X10 and X1 siblings. On the bottom, its candy-bar design …