Uber, a company that lets people request private car service in select cities, is trying to appeal to a less-affluent customers by using non-luxury, hybrid vehicles, according to a new report. According to Uber, which spoke with The New York Times in a story published yesterday, the hybrid service will kick off in San Francisco …

Samsung and Verizon continue their line of QWERTY keyboard phones in the Samsung Intensity III, a horizontal slider that this time has an edge of the rugged. The durable Intensity III passes military specification (8010F) for withstanding the elements, like heat and cold, fog, humidity, dust, and solar radiation. On the features front, the Intensity III is a feature phone …

U.S. smartphone users continue to favor Samsung phones and Google’s Android operating system, according to a report released today by ComScore MobiLens. The report surveyed more than 30,000 mobile subscribers over a three-month period ending in May, finding that Samsung has 25.7 percent of the market share as a manufacturer and Google’s Android has 50.9 percent of the market share …

How are you feeling? Your Samsung Galaxy S3 can now help answer that question with the new S Health app, available today. S Health records, tracks and shares health-related information like your weight, blood pressure, blood sugar level, and the calorific ins and outs of your diet and exercise. S Health is compatible with a variety of healthcare sensors such …

Announced just last week, the Nexus 7 tablet is already attracting patent-infringement claims. Google unveiled the Asus-built 7-inch device running Android’s new mobile OS, Jelly Bean, at Google I/O in San Francisco. However, Nokia alleges that the Nexus takes advantage of Wi-Fi technology covered by Nokia patents that neither Google nor Asus approached the Finnish handset maker about licensing. “Nokia …

Now playing: Watch this: Samsung GreatCall r220: A simple phone for seniors 1:43 Today, the mobile virtual-network operator known as GreatCall announced its latest cell phone for the elderly: the Samsung GreatCall r220. Also known as the Jitterbug Plus, this feature phone looks a lot more modern than older Jitterbug models. In addition to a big keypad and a clear …

Google’s magazine-style reader app is now part of the bundled package that comes with Android Jelly Bean, Android Central reports. Google Currents will join the likes of Gmail, YouTube, Talk and Maps in Android 4.1. That’s quite a prestigious position for the app, so well done Currents, consider yourself promoted. Currents will come pre-installed on devices shipping with Jelly Bean, …

Rumor had it that the HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE was likely to hit July 5, but now it’s official. Verizon just confirmed that the mighty little handset will show up in Verizon stores on Thursday for $149.99. Ever since the first Droid Incredible arrived a few years back, this compact yet capable smartphone line has charmed many a handset …

Nokia has a plan in its back pocket should a deal with Microsoft fall through, or the forthcoming Windows Phone 8 software update fail to generate interest, according to Nokia’s board chairman. Speaking on his debut television appearance, F-Secure’s founder and former chief executive Risto Siilasmaa, who became Nokia’s board chairman in May, defended the move to Microsoft’s Windows Phone, …

Amazon may have bought a 3D mapping company, which could signal the company’s desire to jump on the mapping service bandwagon where Google and Apple have been slugging it out. The company closed a deal to acquire UpNext, an up and coming 3D mapping startup, GigaOM reported today. Neither Amazon or UpNext has not confirmed the deal yet, but we …

T-Mobile experienced an hours-long disruption this evening that prevented many of its customers from accessing its data network. The outage, which seemed to have begun around 6 p.m. PT, did not appear to affect the entire network and was resolved around 9:20 p.m. T-Mobile customers began complaining on Twitter a couple of hours ago about a lack of Internet access: …

If you have a Sony Xperia S on the Three network, you can update it to Android Ice Cream Sandwich right now. You wouldn’t know it just to look at your phone though, as there’s no push notification alerting you to the fact. Instead, you’ll have to plug your phone into your computer to download the update. How very 2005. …

Screenshot by Antuan Goodwin/CNET Your car’s dashboard is probably home to a speedometer, a tachometer, a fuel gauge, and — if you’re lucky — a coolant temperature gauge. However, your car’s electronic brain (ECU) is actively monitoring dozens of parameters behind the scenes that you, the driver, could find useful. This is where diagnostics hardware and apps like Torque Pro …

App developers know how to plan ahead. Just in time for “The Amazing Spider-Man,” which swings into theaters July 3, Disney Publishing and Gameloft have released two very different, but equally great, movie tie-ins. The Amazing Spider-Man (Android | iOS, $6.99) delivers an action-packed gaming experience, while the Spider-Man AR Book HD for iOS ($4.99) — unappealing name notwithstanding — …

A new study has shed some light on how we use our smart phones nowadays, and it turns out they’re not so much phones as Internet and social networking devices. The study ranks phone features based on how much time we spend using them every day. Phone calls are fifth, with the average person being on the blower for 12 minutes …