BARCELONA, Spain–With Samsung holding a dedicated launch event in March for its flagship Galaxy S4, Mobile World Congress is perhaps something of a sideshow, but that doesn’t mean the phone giant hasn’t got a raft of things to show off in Barcelona. The big boy in Samsung’s range is the Galaxy Note 8. At 8 …

HTC quietly confirmed today (or should I say quietly and brilliantly?) that its custom Sense 5 interface will come to select 2012 Android smartphones. A post on the company’s Facebook from last week tells of multiple models which should expect the new HTC experience. A number of 2012 models should see HTC Sense 5. HTC (Facebook) More HTC coverage Best …

T-Mobile USA managed to grab more customers last quarter, but that achievement didn’t translate into higher revenue. For the fourth quarter, the company saw a net gain of 61,000 customers, compared with a net loss of 526,000 customers a year earlier. The overall news, however, was mixed. The number of prepaid customers grew for the sixth quarter in a row, …

The lights have come on — it’s time to go home. Mobile industry trade show Mobile World Congress is winding down, with new phones and tablets and software dominating the headlines. But what does this year’s show tell us about what to expect at MWC 2014? The standout trend of this year’s show that has the potential to be fully realized …

Now playing: Watch this: Firefox’s new mobile OS in action on the Geeksphone Peak 1:38 Top MWC phones Hot new phones of MWC LG Optimus G Pro Slick-looking Huawei Ascend P2 Nokia Lumia 720 hands on ZTE’s Grand Memo goes large Ubuntu OS is classy, sleek The rise of Firefox OS This simple phone could save your life BARCELONA, Spain–Although …

W3C CEO Jeff Jaffe Stephen Shankland/CNET BARCELONA, Spain–You’re used to the Web on your PC. You’re getting used to it on your smartphone. So what’s next? Publishing and automobile industry players have just begun spinning up efforts at the World Wide Web Consortium, said W3C Chief Executive Jeff Jaffe in an interview here at Mobile World Congress. So don’t be …

Like the look of that fancy new HTC One, do you? Can’t say I blame you. If, however, your contract still has a way to go, or you’re not prepared to shell out for a brand new handset, then don’t worry. HTC’s Sense 5 UI — that it slathers over Android 4.1 Jelly Bean — is coming to older handsets, the company …

Now playing: Watch this: Virtually indestructible sapphire smartphone screen 2:28 BARCELONA, Spain–The smartphone screen on the iPhone above may look like it’s made of glass, but it isn’t. It’s made of sapphire. That’s right, the same aluminum oxide compound (AL2O3) better known for brilliant blue gemstones that dangle from ears and throats and can cost a small fortune. But this …

Google today pushed out a new update to its YouTube app for iOS that lets users push videos to game consoles, certain TV sets, and other set-top boxes. A new “send to TV” feature lets users pair the mobile app with a compatible set-top box or TV set. Those videos then show up on the TV, and the controls and …

BARCELONA, Spain–At MWC 2013, much of the buzz was predictably about new smartphones, tablets, and mobile operating systems. Behind the scenes though, another movement stirred. Gear that places humans and sophisticated technologies in extremely tight proximity, almost approaching the cybernetic, was everywhere. The cybernetic devices of Mobile World Congress (pictures) +3 more See all photos The trend of people integrating …

Now playing: Watch this: Asus PadFone Infinity turns phone to tablet 1:30 BARCELONA, Spain–Given the highly successful year tablets enjoyed in 2012, their overall dismal showing at CES was that much more of a disappointment. I came in expecting to see 2013’s “Nexus 7” (not the actutal next Nexus 7, but another small, awesome tablet) and Transformer Infinity. Instead, tablets …

In my kitchen I have this great Fluance speaker dock — well, great except that it doesn’t have Bluetooth. If I want to listen to music, I have to plop my iPhone onto its 30-pin connector. Or not, if I plop an Auris onto it instead. This Kickstarter-spawned gizmo can turn that dock into a Bluetooth speaker, able to play …

(Credit: MHL Consortium) By some estimates there are now over 220 million Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL)-compliant devices in the world, but what is it all about and do you really need it? At its most basic, MHL is an industry standard for physically connecting your mobile device to your TV. But there are a few things about MHL that make …

Amazon pissed off a few iOS-based Kindle users today. The online retail giant this morning warned iOS users not to download the latest update to its Kindle app because of a glitch that wiped an existing customer’s entire library from the device. However, Amazon had released another update by this afternoon that resolved the issue. After downloading the initial update, …

Clearwire is tapping into the $800 million pool of financing Sprint has offered the company in a move that will likely make it more difficult for Dish Network to continue its bid for the carrier. Clearwire said Thursday in a statement that it will take $80 million in financing from Sprint, which already owns a 51 percent stake in Clearwire, …