Editors’ Note: An updated article entitled Why Ultra HD 4K TVs are still stupid was published on January 28, 2013. A few months ago, hot on the multitude of 4K TV announcements at CES, I wrote an article called “Why 4K TVs are stupid.” I was shocked, shocked to find so many angry, contrary opinions …

Late last year, Republic Wireless made a big splash by offering an Android smartphone with unlimited calling, texting, and data for the unheard-of price of $19 per month. There were a few catches, of course, most notably the phone itself: LG’s Optimus S, a small, decidedly entry-level model with a scratch-prone screen and slow processor. This month, the company dumped …

Snaps reportedly showing the iPhone 5‘s connector hardware have surfaced, hinting at a minuscule 9-pin dock for Apple’s next toy. The snaps appeared at French site Nowhereelse.fr, and show what could be the new connector alongside a USB plug, giving an impression of quite how small the new port is likely to be. While there’s no way of knowing if …

MoPix CEO Ryan Stoner has a novel way for independent filmmakers to get their work directly into the hands of their audience: turn the movies into apps. MoPix today unveiled a platform that will allow directors to create apps out of their movies. In addition to the film, the app can include DVD-style extras like behind-the-scenes footage, a photo gallery, …

Google has confirmed that Motorola Mobility will cut 20 percent of its workforce — around 4,000 people — and close up to a third of its offices around the world. The cuts, first reported by The New York Times yesterday, were confirmed by Google earlier today. “Motorola is committed to helping them (the employees) through this difficult transition and will …

On Sunday, Sprint will welcome its second Photon to the family. The Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE, with 4G LTE, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, jazzed up with edge lighting, goes on sale for $199.99 with a new service agreement. Preorders begin today. Related stories Motorola Photon Q pushes the QWERTY envelope Motorola Artix HD …

Apple The report, filed by Rene Ritchie at iMore, states that Apple will begin its U.S. preorders on September 12 while international orders should begin the first week of October, likely October 5. Shipments from preordered iPhones should reach customers about nine days later, according to the report. In years past, many customers who preorder their iPhones have received them …

How much would you be willing to pay for scrolling and multitouch on your phone? Well an expert witness for Apple reckons we’ll be happy to pay $100 (£64) for the features, which Apple is claiming Samsung stole for its own phones. John Hauser, a professor in marketing at MIT, said he surveyed consumers over the Internet, asking how much …

Now playing: Watch this: LG Optimus Vu is a phone on steroids. 2:11 The 5-inch LG Optimus Vu could arrive at a U.S. wireless provider in the next few weeks, fresh with support for a 4G LTE network. An LG press release (translated) indicates that the Android smartphone is due stateside at some point in the third quarter. LG doesn’t …

Now playing: Watch this: The heat over Verizon’s spectrum deal 3:14 There has been a lot of talk over the past year about spectrum shortages, spectrum interference, companies proposing mergers just to get their hands on spectrum and even spectrum auctions that will help bail the nation out of debt. But what exactly is wireless spectrum? And why are people …

Though it doesn’t boast any flagship specs, the ZTE Grand X is one of the more ambitious phones coming out of the Chinese phone manufacturer yet. CNET UK recently reviewed the handset, and was pleased to see that it ran a skinless version of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. In addition, it sports a dual-core 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 processor …

If you take CEO Thorsten Heins’ word for it, the next Research in Motion operating system — BlackBerry 10 — isn’t intended just for mobile devices, and is already drawing interest from other industries. In an interview with CNET, Heins said businesses in the health care and smart-grid fields have already expressed interest in using the operating system. The company …

Now playing: Watch this: LG L-Style phones 2:21 Back in February during MWC 2012, we first caught a glimpse of LG’s line of midrange Android handsets. The L7 boasted the best specs of the L-style family (it has a 1GHz processor, 4.3-inch display, and 5-megapixel camera), while the L5 followed close behind. Recently, CNET UK reviewed the most entry-level member …

Smartphones have become part of daily life but are often too delicate to withstand everyday abuse. Not so for the Sony Xperia Go, an Android handset built to shrug off treatment that would destroy typical mobile devices. CNET UK took the Xperia Go for a spin, a few dunks, plus crevice-clogging dust-ups to put this rugged machine through its paces. …

Research In Motion is trying to find suitors for a cloud-services provider it bought back in October, according to a report. According to Reuters, citing sources, RIM is trying to find buyers that would take NewBay off of its hands. NewBay, which RIM acquired back in October for a reported $100 million, offers cloud services to operators and device makers …