Motorola Mobility announced a new, “budget friendly” Android smartphone for Asian and European markets this week with the XT531. Powered by Android 2.3 Gingerbread and an 800MHz processor, the touch-only handset features a 3.5-inch display and a 5-megapixel camera. Additional specifications include a front-facing VGA camera, a microSD card slot, and support for 3G, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n) and GPS. …

As wireless operators eliminate unlimited data plans and talk about “throttling” traffic, smartphone subscribers are left wondering what to do. It’s clear that the majority of smartphone customers don’t need an unlimited data plan anyway. But some carriers offer data-lite options, while others don’t. Also what’s the deal with prepaid carriers? In this week’s Ask Maggie, I help one reader …

Verizon Wireless announced today that a new software update is available for its Motorola Xoom tablet. The biggest wins from the HTJ85 update are microSD card support and a screen scaling compatibility mode, but users should appreciate the smaller features as well. With a microSD card you’ll now be able to use the file manager to view files stored on …