LDprod/Shutterstock Not keen on handing out your bank details when your friends owe you some money? Want to split a bill with buddies but don’t know their numbers? Nine UK banks have signed up to Paym, which launches in spring and lets you send money to someone from your phone knowing only their phone number. …

Phones really are getting bigger. Why, buy the new Sony Xperia Z2 from UK network Vodafone and it comes with a 32-inch screen! Well, sort of: the first 3,000 people to order the 5.2-inch Z2 from Vodafone get a 32-inch Sony Bravia television thrown in for free. You can pre-order the Z2 now, and it hits shops to buy on …

Now playing: Watch this: Sony Xperia Z2; a 4K shooting, waterproof powerhouse 1:34 Phones really are getting bigger. Why, buy the new Sony Xperia Z2 from UK network Vodafone and it comes with a 32-inch screen! Well, sort of: the first 3,000 people to order the 5.2-inch Z2 from Vodafone get a 32-inch Sony Bravia television thrown in for free. …

From the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the Nokia X to the Big Brother-blocking Blackphone and a whole armful of wearable gadgets, we’ve got our hands on a vast array of cool phones, tablets and mobile gadgets this week at Mobile World Congress 2014. We’ve trawled the halls of Barcelona’s annual mobile gadgetpalooza for the coolest cutting-edge kit and up-to-the-minute news …

BARCELONA, Spain — Lumia lives! Microsoft will continue the Nokia and Lumia brands when it takes over Nokia’s phone business, although the company is sending out mixed messages on the details of the transition. I chatted about the future of Nokia today with Greg Sullivan, Director of Windows Phone, at industry shindig Mobile World Congress. He confirmed that Lumia as …

BARCELONA, Spain — The first Ubuntu phones will launch in the autumn, and will be “astonishingly great in some areas” and “weak in others” — but the software “outperforms” Microsoft, according to Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth. Ubuntu-powered versions of the Meixu MX3 and BQ Aquaris smartphones will debut in the third quarter of this year. I sat down with Shuttleworth, …

Where there’s a WILL there’s a Wacom. WILL, or Wacom Ink Layer Language, was announced Wednesday by the specialists in digital art devices to create a standard language for drawing on the screens of phones, tablets, laptops, or any digital devices. WILL is an abstract language that records brush strokes in a consistent format regardless of how they were drawn, …

BARCELONA, Spain — “Mapping 1.0 is done,” says the head of Nokia Here. He envisions a world of constantly-updating, infinitesimally precise maps guiding us on through the world on our smartwatches and smartphones, as self-driving cars zoom past and delivery drones soar overhead. “First we had paper maps with lots of colourful lines,” says Christof Hellmis, head of map platforms …

Now playing: Watch this: Fujitsu smart glove works smarter, not harder 1:13 BARCELONA, Spain — It was just another day at the plant — until disaster struck! Fortunately it’s in situations like this that Fujitsu’s prototype Intelligent Glove combines augmented reality, NFC and wearable technology to save the day. When something goes wrong in the factory, on the oil rig, …

BARCELONA, Spain — In a world of leakers, hackers, spooks, and crooks, absolute privacy seems like a pipe dream, but that’s what the intriguing Geeksphone Blackphone promises: a smart phone in your pocket without putting you in the pocket of Google, the NSA, or Big Brothers of any stripe. The Blackphone comes from Switzerland, where privacy is enshrined in the …