The Samsung PNF8500 from 2013, distinctive O’Keeffe-esque stand and all, will continue to be sold through 2014. Sarah Tew/CNET Last year the superb Samsung PNF8500 series of plasmas was our third-favorite TV overall for picture quality, losing out to Panasonic’s VT/ZT series by a nose. Now that those two are gone, never to be replaced, …

Amazon Amazon sent out invites for a press event for this Wednesday, and all signs point to this being the release of the long-rumored Amazon streaming video device. There has been speculation of an Amazon streaming device since about a year ago, but the recent flood of rumors seems to indicate that it may finally be on its way. Here’s …

An obvious benefit to the Pebble app store are the ideas developers come up with for the smartwatch. As it stands now, the Pebble doesn’t include any native activity tracking features. Naturally, developers have taken advantage of this and are attempting to fill in the holes. One such app is called Morpheuz. The free app works independently of your smartphone, …

BlackBerry seems to be having some trouble getting consumers to move across to the BlackBerry 10 operating system. BlackBerry CEO John Chen speaking at an event at Mobile World Congress in late February. (Credit: Brian Bennett/CNET) In fact, of the 3.4 million phones the company sold in the fiscal fourth quarter of last year, only 1.1 million were BB10. The …

Yesterday, here on CNET Geoffrey Morrison‘s article, ” Music Multitasking: How background listening enhances life,” put me through some changes. He said a lot of things I think are just plain wrong, but I’ll start with this, “I don’t understand people who don’t listen to music all the time. I listen while I’m working. I listen in the car. I …

Jason Cipriani/CNET As you may recall, the iPhone 5S launched with the ability to track your activity thanks to its M7 coprocessor. The small chip is constantly counting your steps and movement, allowing developers to access and use that information. With the Pebble smartwatch lacking a native pedometer, and third-party apps unable to run in the background, a developer decided …

The Typo’s keyboard covers the iPhone home button, but that’s “replaced” by a substitute button on the bottom-right side of the keyboard. Sarah Tew/CNET BlackBerry has squashed Ryan Seacrest’s BlackBerryesque Typo iPhone case, at least for the time being. A US district judge in San Francisco granted this week a preliminary injunction — i.e., a temporary sales ban — against …

Geoffrey Morrison/Maxell There’s an attitude, particularly among those who style themselves dedicated audiophiles, that boils down to judging others for how they listen to music. It says that people who stop all else and do nothing but listen, are somehow more righteous than those who don’t. That it’s not possible to be a true music fan if you do other …

ZTE is reportedly doubling down on memory for the Grand S II. Lynn La/CNET The time might finally be right for smartphones with 4GB of RAM. That is, of course, if the latest rumors surround the ZTE Grand S II prove accurate. Related stories ZTE’s 5.5-inch Grand S II features powerful quad-core processor (hands-on) US buyers: It’s time to consider …

Facebook The Facebook Messenger iOS app recently became a bit more useful for people who like to chat through the social network. Facebook on Thursday updated the app with the ability to put people in groups for easier access. The feature lets you group together people you message and assign that group a name and photo, for example “Roommates” or …

If this phone wore pants, some think they would be on fire. Brian Bennett/CNET The superphone-benchmark whistle-blowers are on the case of the HTC One M8 after the new Android flagship posted some chart-topping results. And HTC turns out to be more than happy to answer their charges. You may recall that Samsung got a little defensive last year when …

Sorry, iPhone — advanced Android is more my speed. Jason Cipriani/CNET I’ve written about and reviewed mobile phones for almost a decade and a half. Everything from flip phones, to BlackBerrys, to today’s hottest Android models, and yes, Apple iPhones, have passed through my hands. That experience is why, more than anything, I’ve ultimately settled on Google Android as my …

Ed Rhee/CNET In San Francisco yesterday, Microsoft announced the long-awaited arrival of Office for iPad. For some users, the availability of Office for iPad will make replacing their laptops with a tablet even easier. And if you plan to do a lot of typing in Office, you may end up relying on external keyboards. Related stories Microsoft Office for iPad …

Sorry, Android, I’m just not that into you. Rick Broida/CNET I gave it the old college try. After a long stint as an iPhone user, I decided I wanted something with a bigger screen. Apple failed to oblige last year, instead merely tacking letters onto the iPhone 5, so I made a move: I adopted a Motorola Moto X from …

Japan Display’s 1,440×2,560-pixel, 5.5-inch display. It boasts 538 pixels per inch. Japan Display Japan Display could be providing a hint of iPhone attractions to come. The company announced on Thursday that it has developed a 5.5-inch-wide Quad HD, aka, WQHD, display with a resolution of 1,440x 2,560 pixels as a display format for “leading-edge smartphones.” JDI (Japan Display, Inc.) — …