Last month I shared my thoughts on “How to talk to Siri the right way,” the idea being to better understand — and work around — some of Apple’s voice assistant’s limitations. With the arrival of iOS 7, however, we’ve got a smarter, more capable gal Friday (or, if you’ve changed Siri’s voice, guy Friday). …

If you own a Moto X phone designed for T-Mobile’s network, today is your lucky day. Motorola has just pushed a fresh camera software update to this model of its flagship handset. According to Motorola, the update will improve overall photo quality, such as white-balance and color accuracy. Specifically the phone should exhibit better exposures in outdoor and strongly backlit …

Jason Cipriani/CNET Spotlight is a universal search box on iOS devices that makes it possible to quickly search for and find an app, contact, or e-mail directly from the home screen. In previous versions of iOS, users would swipe to the left of the main home screen to access the search box. In iOS 7, as you may have already …

Our sister site CNET Asia has given the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 the review treatment, calling the company’s massive new mobile ‘the best phablet in the market’. The third generation of Samsung’s Note smart phones gets an Editors’ rating of four stars out of five in the review, which praises the bright and vibrant 5.7-inch 1080p display, as well as …

Jason Cipriani/CNET When Apple unveiled iOS 7 during its annual World Wide Developers Conference back in June, one of the first features shown off was a background that moves as you move your phone. The feature, called Parallax, shifts the point of view of your background image and icons to match how you’re holding the phone. Instead of being a …

BlackBerry is going private. Say hello to the new BlackBerry Z30. BlackBerry BlackBerry said Monday that it had entered into a deal with a consortium led by Fairfax Financial Holdings that valued the company at $4.7 billion. Under the deal, shareholders would receive $9 a share in cash, a slight premium to the $8.23 that the stock is currently trading …

Jason Cipriani/CNET When Apple announced that the iPhone 5S was going to come with the ability to capture slow-motion video, I was excited. Slowing down films of my kids has always been something I enjoyed doing, but I had to use various third-party apps or import the clips into iMovie in order to accomplish it. Now, with the iPhone 5S …

Microsoft has made a new version of its Surface Pro tablet, that it claims is 20 per cent faster than the previous model. Microsoft Surface Pro 2 The Surface Pro 2 has new Intel Haswell chips, and features a kickstand that folds out to extra angles, in a bid to make the tablet more comfortable to place in your lap. …

Apple has broken analyst estimates and reported a record-breaking 9 million iPhone 5s and 5c models sold in the first weekend. Plus, 200 million users upgraded to iOS 7. Nine million new iPhones sold on launch weekend. (Credit: Apple) In a statement released on Monday in the US, Apple announced it has sold a combined 9 million units of its …

Apple still relies on arch rival Samsung for the chips powering its iPhones, it seems. The A7 SoC (system on chip) beavering away inside the iPhone 5S is made by Samsung, according to Chipworks. Apple signed a deal with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) earlier in the year, so we were expecting a shift away from Samsung for the iPhone’s …

Microsoft has lifted the lid on its next generation of Windows tablets, revealing the Surface 2, the Surface Pro 2 and a host of accessories. The Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2. (Credit: Microsoft) As predicted, the RT has been dropped, with the Surface 2 now the only bottom-tier device. These devices have a full HD widescreen display, a Tegra …

EE has the fastest 4G in the UK, tests suggest — while O2 and Vodafone’s speeds lag behind slightly, but are very similar to each other. The data comes via mobile analyst firm RootMetrics, which says it conducted 11,000 tests across London, in the five days following the launch of O2 and Vodafone’s new 4G networks. The average speed achieved …

Even as BlackBerry’s fate remains up in the air, details of new, lower-end phones emerge. The “Americano,” an all touch-screen BlackBerry that looks like a Z30 with cheaper parts, popped up over the weekend, courtesy of BlackBerry news Web site BBIN. On Monday, BGR posted a picture of “Kopi,” another low-end device that is supposedly more affordable than the budget …

Unswayed by a lack of shopper interest, Microsoft is forging ahead with its Surface tablets, creating a thinner, lighter sequel to last year’s Surface RT. Announced alongside the full-fat Windows 8 Surface Pro 2, Microsoft says it has dramatically increased processing speed for the Surface 2, and has also bolted on a 1080p display — a step up from the …

Microsoft was too slow to embrace the mobile phone, and was too preoccupied with Windows, which held it back, departing CEO Steve Ballmer has admitted. But, ever the optimist, he said Microsoft’s small market share in mobile meant there are plenty of opportunities for growth, the BBC reports. Ballmer was speaking to Wall Street investors and analysts. He possibly wasn’t …