Screenshot by Lance Whitney/CNET Prospective iPhone 6 buyers can already preorder cases even though the phone hasn’t yet been announced. Korean mobile case and accessory maker Spigen has unveiled a dedicated product page touting its iPhone 6 cases with rendered images illustrating how the cases themselves would fit snugly into Apple’s next iPhone. Spigen said …

Jason Cipriani/CNET Die-hard Android fans are crazy about customizing their devices. From completely overhauling the entire look and feel of the operating system with a theme app, to installing custom ROMs, Android users take pride in a feature iOS users lack. Most of the time, however, a third-party app is required to change app icons. Some apps provide a healthy …

Amazon Local Register at work. Amazon Amazon on Wednesday unveiled a new mobile card reader, pushing the online retailer deeper into payment services and up against the likes of Square and eBay’s PayPal. The new service, called Local Register, will allow businesses to swipe credit and debit cards using their mobile devices along with the reader and a mobile app. …

Motorola could be tapped with delivering a successor to the Nexus 5. James Martin/CNET Editors’ note: This story was updated on Wednesday, August 13 with new information. Motorola has become the latest hardware maker to have its name linked with an upcoming Nexus device. According to details first discovered by TechTastic, a Motorola smartphone code named “Shamu” could ultimately arrive …

Android 4.4 KitKat keeps flavoring more devices. Google Android 4.4 KitKat continues to climb up the food chain of Android devices. In Google’s latest Android Developer Dashboard released on Wednesday, version 4.4 of Google’s Android mobile operating system, called KitKat, scooped up a market share of 20.9 percent. Using data collected via visits to the Google Play store over a …

At first glance, you may mistake the new Galaxy Alpha for an iPhone. Samsung is stepping up its style by adding a metal frame to its newest smartphone. Watch the CNET Update video below to learn more about the Galaxy Alpha, and what other metal phone may be in Samsung’s future. Today’s news roundup also covers Amazon’s card reader for …

Dolby With any luck you’ve at least heard about the latest surround-sound standard, Dolby Atmos. Maybe you’ve even had a chance to hear it, in one of the 650 theaters so equipped. It’s a different way to do movie surround sound, not just with additional speakers, but changing the way movie sound is mixed and adding a new dimension — …

The Galaxy S5 CNET Samsung can’t get away from a rash of bad news lately. Fitch Ratings, a major credit rating agency in the US, shared negative sentiment Tuesday on Samsung’s chances in the smartphone market over the next year. Nitin Soni, director of corporate rating at Fitch, predicted that Samsung’s worldwide smartphone market share will fall from 31 percent …

Apple has again been awarded a boatload of new patents, but one stands out for its obsolescence. The US Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday granted Apple a patent on a filing that dates back to 2008 on the integration of a camera into a mobile device. Interestingly, the patent also includes a standalone camera built into a small, rectangular …

Yo Yo, a mobile app that only allows people to say “yo” to each other, has added some features. Launched Tuesday, the Yo update now lets people create profiles and show both a name and photo in addition to their usernames. Although Yo isn’t letting users add more content to their communications, they can now attach a link to messages …

The iPad Mini with Retina display. Sarah Tew/CNET Mass production of a new full-sized iPad has begun, with the tablet expected to be unveiled by the end of the current quarter or early next quarter, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. Manufacturing complications may restrict output of the device, the publication said, due to a new anti-reflection coating being added to make the …

Soon enough, the iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S will be superseded. Apple Photos have surfaced showing what could be the iPhone 6’s rear backplate. Sonny Dickson, a noted Apple leaker who has made a name for himself for producing typically accurate leaks and information related to the notoriously secret firm, has published photos of what could be the backside of …

Lyft To defend itself from allegations of sabotage, Uber is throwing the blame back at Lyft. On-demand car service Uber released a statement Tuesday, saying its pink mustache-donning competitor has been encouraging the booking and canceling of thousands of rides. On Monday, Lyft accused Uber of the same tactic. Ordering and canceling rides reduces the number of cars available for …

Matt Elliott/CNET One of the many wonderful aspects of college is learning how to live and get along with other people, and then realizing the world is filled with people who think, act, and view the world differently to you. If you share an apartment with a group of people, it doesn’t take long before an argument springs up over …

Shutterstock A third of people in the British countryside are unhappy with their mobile phone service. New research shows that rural and remote areas of the UK are under-served by mobile phone signal, let alone 4G, with Vodafone the worst network for call quality. UK telecoms watchdog Ofcom compiled the data from surveys of phone users and data supplied by …