Editors’ note: The Apple iPhones 5S and 5C have been announced. Is it everything our rumors hoped for? Check out our hands-on review here. iPhone rumors are like flies at a summer picnic: they’re nearly unstoppable. Collected in one batch are all the iPhone 5S/6 rumors CNET has reported so far, with some commentary on …

Almost half of Android users are now taking a bite out of Jelly Bean, according to Google’s Android developer dashboard. Looking at all Android devices that visited Google Play during the seven days ending September 4, the dashboard pegged Jelly Bean’s share at 45.1 percent. Version 4.1.x alone snagged 36.6 percent, leaving version 4.2.x with 8.5 percent. As Jelly Bean’s …

Xiaomi’s latest Android handset, the Xiaomi MiPhone 3, will come in two flavors. Buyers can choose to either get the Nvidia Tegra 4 model, which sports a quad-core 1.8GHz Cortex A15 processor, or the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor clocked at 2.3GHz. Most of the other specs are the same for both models, such as the amount of RAM (2GB), …

Boingo has gone live with a hot spot that aims to take the hassle out of connecting to wireless networks. The Wi-Fi provider announced Thursday the launch of its next-generation hot spot at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. Dubbed Boingo Passpoint, the new hot spot promises a variety of benefits to mobile users. Courtesy of roaming agreements between different carriers, you’ll …

There have been a number of leaks concerning the iPhone 5S (and 5C), but we’re yet to have a good look at the fingerprint scanner. Well here are what purport to be the first decent shots of it, as featured on Apple’s next handset. The pics come from an Australian teenager named Sonny Dickson, who has well-placed sources in China …

PayPal wants you to ditch your wallet in favor of its mobile payments app, but it knows it can’t compete with your credit cards unless it’s got something extra — like promises of discounts and food. The company released its redesigned mobile payments app on Thursday, boasting $100 worth of in-store deals, more food spots offering the “order ahead and …

The BBC has updated its iPlayer app for Android, letting you download shows to your Google-powered device. The feature has only been available on the iOS version of the app before. The updated app is live now on Google Play. It should be made available in the Amazon App Store in the next few days, senior product manager David Berlin …

With the launch of the Galaxy Gear smartwatch, Samsung has declared that it’s done being a follower. Whether the market will agree is unclear. Samsung has had a bit of an inferiority complex when it comes to mobile. It’s the world’s biggest handset vendor, but Samsung is forever compared to Apple and often found to be lacking in one way …

It’s the start of the month, and you know what that means: Google spills the (jelly) beans on how its Android operating system breaks down. And Jelly Bean has jumped a few per cent. It now accounts for 45.1 per cent of all Android devices. That’s up 5 per cent on last month. Google counts Android 4.1 and 4.2, but …

SAN DIEGO — The man least likely to root for a Microsoft rally is now the company’s biggest cheerleader. Esteemed venture capitalist Marc Andreessen told the developer audience at Qualcomm’s Uplinq conference here that the entire technology industry should be rooting for Microsoft’s success in the smartphone wars. Earlier this week, Microsoft purchased Nokia’s phone business in a $7.2 billion …

Following Lyft’s simultaneous launch in three cities last week, Uber is offering free UberX rides in a trio of cities, the company said Thursday. The two car-sharing services, which let users order cars from a smartphone app, continue to go head-to-head in US markets, but Uber is clearly trying to make a point: It’s not afraid of some competition. Related …

Enter the Galaxy Gear. Samsung is raising the bar for what a smartwatch can be, aiming for functionality closer to that of Google Glass. You can answer phone calls, control Galaxy Gear with your voice, take pictures, and share content — just like you would on a smartphone, but you don’t have to pull it out of your pocket. Galaxy …

Samsung’s Galaxy Note 3 phablet and Galaxy Gear smartwatch are expected to land in the US in early October, wireless carriers revealed late Thursday. T-Mobile said it will would launch the devices on October 2, while AT&T indicated that pre-orders of the Galaxy Note 3 would ship “around” October 1. The phablet will be available on AT&T for $299 with …

BlackBerry wants to cut a deal to sell itself to a prospective suitor before November rolls around, according to the Wall Street Journal. Citing “people familiar with the matter,” the Journal reported late Wednesday that the Canadian phone maker has already been chatting with parties interested in buying all or part of the company. A list of potential candidates has …

Telefónica is getting one step closer to launching its 4G LTE network in Spain. Telefonica Alcatel-Lucent, a Franco-American network equipment maker, announced Thursday it had reached a deal with Telefónica to help build out a 4G LTE network in Spain. Alcatel-Lucent will deploy 8,000 base stations as part of a 4G LTE overlay network built on top of Telefónica’s existing …