FreedomPop, provider of “freemium” services including free broadband and 4G, has announced a mobile service that gives users free voice, text and data usage without a contract. The FreedomPop Overdrive Pro mobile 3G/4G hot spot. FreedomPop FreedomPop’s new service will give users a guaranteed 500MB of 4G data for free, unlimited texts, and 200 voice …

Samsung’s long-rumoured Galaxy S4 Active has entered the realm of officialdom at last, and will be out in the UK this summer, Samsung has confirmed. The S4 Active is a rugged version of the regular S4, aimed at outdoorsy types who don’t want a phone that’ll faint at the first sight of dust or water. The phone has a sealed …

Big Red faithful who have long been craving a physical keyboard’s reassuring typing touch, this is your moment. Verizon will begin offering the new BlackBerry Q10 smartphone in stores starting next Monday, June 10 — but eager beavers can preorder theirs starting Thursday. Related stories: BlackBerry Q10, fully reviewed BlackBerry’s white Q10, up close Typing on the BlackBerry Q10 Verizon …

Pictures purportedly showing Nokia’s photo-centric ‘EOS’ smart phone have appeared online, suggesting the long-rumoured mobile will play host to a gigantic camera unit. The photos appeared on Chinese-language site WPDang, and appear to have been sent to the site by an anonymous tipster. The photo above shows a device that looks just like a normal Lumia phone, but has a …

BlackBerry is working with other handset manufacturers to get its BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) service preloaded on to their phones, according to a top executive. BlackBerry announced that BBM would go cross-platform at its annual conference last month. (Credit: Brian Bennett/CNET) “There is interest from other handset makers,” BlackBerry chief operating officer Kristian Tear told CNET in an interview on Wednesday. …

Editor’s note: See update at the bottom of this post. A developer who provides iPhone hacks claims to have discovered code in iOS that suggests Apple is helping the top three U.S. wireless carriers throttle data speeds for all iPhone and iPad customers. Joseph Brown, operator of the Web site iTweakiOS, claimed — in a post that has since been …

With violent street thefts of smartphones and other mobile gear continuing to be a problem, top law enforcement officials from New York and San Francisco will meet with Apple, Google, and other manufacturers next week to discuss possible tech solutions, such as a “kill switch” that would render stolen devices worthless. “With 1.6 million Americans falling victim to smartphone theft …

People with visual impairments just got a new champion in the cell phone world. Odin Mobile launched on Wednesday with a vision of bringing specialized cell phones to customers with limited eyesight. Accessibility features — inputs meant especially for those with special needs — are baked into nearly every cell phone and smartphone, but the three handsets that Odin Mobile …

The U.S. carriers weren’t particularly enthusiastic when selling BlackBerry’s debut next-generation product, the BlackBerry Z10, but you can expect them to get louder with the follow-up Q10. That’s according to BlackBerry Chief Operating Officer Kristian Tear, who spoke to CNET on the day of the Q10 launch. T-Mobile is the first to offer the Q10, which hit stores on Wednesday, …

The 4K/Ultra HD (UHD) market in Australia is getting a boost, with Chinese brand Hisense launching three new models, as promised late last year. The 84-inch XT900. (Credit: Hisense) The company’s flagship is the 84-inch XT900, an edge-lit LED panel with a 3840×2160 resolution. The XT900 has built-in Wi-Fi, time shifting and PVR functions, as well as #D and smart …

Word has it that Sprint is looking to debut its own high-end large-screened Android 4.1 smartphone, according to Engadget. Sources familiar with the matter have given Engadget a host of photos and specs on the alleged ZTE-made device — supposedly named “Vital.” In addition to running on Android’s Jelly Bean, the phone is said to have a 5-inch HD display, …

Electronics manufacturer Sony ended a relatively quiet period today by announcing a new Xperia M smartphone. Judging from its dual-core processor and 5MP camera, clearly the Xperia M is a midrange Android handset and not in the same class as the company’s Xperia Z flagship device. That said, Sony seems to have crafted the Xperia M with a similar amount …

Bose is scheduled to hold an event in New York today to show off some new products. I won’t be there because I’m out of town, but I was in the Venice airport today (on my way back to New York) and spotted a couple of new Bose products in the Bose store and decided to snap a few photos. …

Rumours are starting to swirl around the new iPad and iPad mini. Reports suggest the iPad 5 will arrive next, with the iPad mini held back until later in the year. According to the industry-watchers at DigiTimes, the next tablet from Apple will be a new full-sized iPad in the autumn, going into production next month. The next version of …

Smartphone shipments will finally outshine those of feature phones this year, says research firm IDC. Smartphones are expected to carve off a 52.2 percent slice of all mobile phones shipped in 2013, leaving feature phones with a 47.8 percent share, IDC said Tuesday. Smartphone shipments are projected to hit 958.8 million this year, a 32.7 percent jump from the 722.5 …