Google Maps is getting a handy Android update, allowing you to use maps without running up data charges. Oh, and Google is strapping cameras to hikers and aeroplanes. All good stuff as Apple reportedly prepares to drop Google Maps from the iPhone and iPad next week. Rumour has it that the company is expected to …

Android phones and iPhones pack pretty powerful processors — powerful enough, in fact, to deliver laptop-level performance, if only they had big screens and keyboards for your viewing and working pleasure. Enter the ClamCase ClamBook, a kind of laptop extension for Android and iPhone. It works like this: Your smartphone sits in a wired dock and drives the ClamBook’s screen …

Details of an LG “Snapshot” have found their way online this week suggesting that Sprint, or one of its postpaid partners, will offer the handset later this year. Features for the smartphone reportedly include a single-core 1GHz CPU, 768MB RAM, 4GB storage, and a 5-megapixel camera. Somewhat thin with an 8.8mm chassis, the LS730 also offers a front-facing VGA camera, …

Huawei promised CNET some 4G LTE action, and with the Huawei Activa 4G, the phone maker is ready to deliver. If you’re thinking this is the smartphone version of a certain yogurt with bifidus regularis, stop, because the Activa (pronounced “ACT-iv-uh”) is in fact Huawei’s first U.S. phone to get 4G, and it’s available starting today at MetroPCS stores. The …

The Apple iPhone has finally come to the prepaid market in the U.S., but is it really worth paying full price for the device when you can get it cheaper from a carrier that is subsidizing the cost? The short answer is “yes.” In this edition of Ask Maggie I explain why even with a higher upfront cost, a prepaid …

I look through the new iOS releases and popular apps several times a day to find hidden gems to talk about here at the end of the week. Usually I try to come up with a theme to tie them all together, but I’ve been tracking some games over the past couple of weeks that are all good, but can’t …

HTC’s crafted a dual-SIM phone — the HTC Desire V is a brand-new Android phone capable of handling two SIM cards at once, helping out those who travel abroad all the time. Unwired View reports that the Desire V has only been officially confirmed for Europe, specifically in Ukraine. HTC told me it has no plans at the moment to …

The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has decided on a new standard of SIM card. And things have gone Apple’s way. The new nano-SIM cards will measure 12.3 by 8.8mm, and have the same thickness as current micro SIM cards, VentureBeat reports. These are the specs Apple was gunning for, so Nokia and Motorola must be peeved. With modern mobiles …

We can’t get the Nokia Lumia 610 on our shores, but our CNET brethren across the pond has plenty to say on the handset we first saw at Mobile World Congress in February. Compact and tautly aimed at a youthful market, the multi-hued Lumia 610 is Europe’s least expensive Windows Phone yet, and as such, is a welcome addition to …

A lot of the protective cases we cover here at CNET tend to be designed for specific devices and often iOS devices. But Ecoxgear’s newly launched Ecoxpro speaker case doesn’t discriminate, accepting any device that will fit inside its waterproof chamber, which also has enough space to fit other personal items such as a driver’s license, car keys, and cold, …

Microsoft and Nokia have hit back at Google over claims they employ a ‘troll’ company to enforce patents and push up prices for consumers, the Guardian reports. On Thursday night Google filed a regulatory complaint with the European Commission, the US Department of Justice and US Federal Commission. The complaint claims Nokia and Microsoft “are colluding to raise the costs …

DALLAS–A top Verizon executive urged regulators here Thursday to get out of the way so that wireless operators can more easily buy and sell wireless spectrum on the secondary market. Verizon CTO Tony Melone addresses an audience at the TIA 2012 tradeshow in Dallas. CNET/Marguerite Reardon During a speech today at the Telecommunications Industry Association trade show, Verizon Chief Technology …

Virgin Mobile will be the next prepaid service to get the iPhone, Sprint Nextel confirmed today. Virgin Mobile follows Leap Wireless, which last week said it was getting the iPhone for its Cricket prepaid service. Like Cricket, the Virgin Mobile version of the iPhone won’t be cheap; the 16-gigabyte iPhone 4S will cost $649, while the 8GB iPhone 4 will …

Ready for the closest look yet at the shape of the iPhone to come? Then check out this video, which shows off the frame of the next generation Apple phone next to the current iPhone 4S. The video shows the backplate of the purported new iPhone, which is not only taller than the current model, but features a number of …

LinkedIn has admitted your account may have been hacked after security experts claimed yesterday that more than 6 million passwords had been leaked. “We can confirm that some of the passwords that were compromised correspond to LinkedIn accounts,” the company says in a blog post. The business-minded social network is continuing its investigation and taking steps to ensure those affected …