iPhone and iPad users can now do battle as SHIELD agents, courtesy of Avengers Alliance. Launching Thursday for iOS devices, the free game first requires that you qualify as an operative of SHIELD, the not-so-secret government agency made famous in Marvel comic books and movies. You then move on to recruit your team of heroes, …

HTC’s Butterfly S seems to be spreading its wings courtesy of a few images and other details posted online by VR-Zone. A follow-up to HTC’s current Butterfly, aka Droid DNA, the upcoming S edition will sprout a pair of front-facing speakers, according to VR-Zone. The audio will also get some oomph from HTC’s new BoomSound technology, which keeps distortion low …

AT&T has unveiled an iOS app that turns the iPhone into a walkie-talkie for the business world. Known as Enhanced Push-to-Talk (Enhanced PTT), the new app brings two-radio features to the iPhone 5 and 4S. With PTT, mobile users can talk to one person via a private call or a large number of people though a group call. And like …

Nokia’s new Lumia 925 smartphone can show you the time and battery life without you having to press a button. Consumers in Germany will get their first crack at the 925 as the phone debuts there on Monday. Sales will then ramp up in other European countries and in China, followed by the United States and other global markets. The …

The world will see combined shipments of PCs, tablets, and smartphones rise past 1.7 billion next year. And more of those will be headed toward developing markets, research firm IDC said today. Out of that 1.7 billion figure, 1 billion devices will end up in emerging markets. China, India, Brazil, and Russia will grab around 662 million devices, for a …

AT&T subscribers eyeing the HTC One were able to save $100 and get a free Beats speaker to boot due to an error from AT&T. The carrier’s HTC One 32GB package includes the 32GB edition of HTC’s flagship phone and throws in a Beats Pill Bluetooth speaker, which by itself retails for $199. On Friday, the price listed for the …

The Amazon Kindle has officially landed in China. On Friday, both the Kindle Fire HD tablet and the Kindle Paperwhite e-reader popped up for sale on Amazon’s Chinese Web site. The Fire HD tablet costs 1,499 yuan ($244) for the 16GB version and 1,799 yuan ($293) for the 32GB version, while the Paperwhite e-reader costs 849 yuan ($138). The Kindle …

Updated at 10 a.m. PT with a headline change noting that BlackBerry is disputing T-Mobile’s initial claim. It looks like iOS and Android won’t be able to download BlackBerry Messenger come June 27 after all. Earlier on Thursday, T-Mobile U.K. tweeted that BBM would indeed be available for iOS and Android come June 27, even serving up an image of …

Smartphone shipments will finally outshine those of feature phones this year, says research firm IDC. Smartphones are expected to carve off a 52.2 percent slice of all mobile phones shipped in 2013, leaving feature phones with a 47.8 percent share, IDC said Tuesday. Smartphone shipments are projected to hit 958.8 million this year, a 32.7 percent jump from the 722.5 …

Dell plans to offer consumers its own flavor of an 11.6-inch convertible laptop with Windows 8 by year’s end. Due out in time for the 2013 holiday season, the Dell XPS 11 ultrabook will sport a hinged keyboard that allows it to transform into a Windows 8 tablet, The Wall Street Journal reported today. Demoed at the Computex computer show …