The invite to Apple’s iPad 3 announcement landed on our desk yesterday (alright, inbox), and it could reveal something interesting about the device. In the image Apple sent out, the device seems to be lacking a Home button. Seeing as Apple is keen on teasing in its invites what it’ll be unveiling — its invite …

Vodafone today unveiled six new plans and a range of bolt-on mobile-data options for its customers, sacrificing its Infinite-branded plans in the reshuffle. (Credit: Vodafone) Describing the new plans as “more simple and straightforward”, Vodafone’s amended options include six basic plans available on both 12- and 24-month contract terms and a range of add-ons allowing customers to choose how much …

How I envy today’s parents of young kids. Not too long ago, my family trips always included bulging, back-breaking backpacks stuffed with children’s books. Now, you can pack a 1.3-pound iPad (or an even lighter iPhone or iPod Touch) with enough books to go from here to there and back again. And not just static reproductions of kids’ classics, but …

When should you buy a laptop? That’s always a very difficult question–buy too soon after new technology hits, and you miss out on refinements and price drops. On the other hand, you certainly don’t want to spend upwards of $1,000 on a device that feels outdated just months later. It’s an even more difficult decision in the wake of Microsoft’s …

BARCELONA, Spain–I don’t tend to take much stock in promises of zero shutter lag; I’ve seen too many examples of hold-ups where there shouldn’t be were all claims true. So when I got the HTC One phones in my hand for some short and sweet camera tinkering, I was pretty surprised to see the camera capture and store the shot …

Now playing: Watch this: Mobile App Olympics 2:48 Nikita has been coding for two days straight, and it’s starting to show. It’s Sunday afternoon at the Mobile App Olympics, held just above the Smithfield chicken market in East London. Around 100 coders, designers and wannabe entrepreneurs are hunched over their laptops. They’ve been working since Friday evening on the iOS …

Designed extra-tough for extreme conditions, Sprint’s Kyocera DuraPlus will be available to consumers on March 11 for about $69.99 after you sign a two-year contract on Sprint’s Direct Connect PTT network and send in for a $50 rebate. As CNET’s own Brian Bennett reported, the device is designed to meet the U.S. military’s brutal survivability guidelines. It can “withstand exposure …

Andy Rubin dishes on Android tablets, we examine a bowl of jelly beans, and we discuss the exciting new devices coming out of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Now playing: Watch this: Android Atlas Ep. 87: Updates from Mobile World Congress 34:53 Podcast Your browser does not support the audio element. Subscribe: iTunes (MP3) | iTunes (320×180) | iTunes (640×360) | RSS (MP3) | RSS …

Although the sun has yet to set on Mobile World Congress, the dust has certainly settled. With all the phones, tablets, and other devices coming out of the woodwork during the first few days of the expo, it’s time we stepped back from the dizzying amount of products and take note of the few things that really made an impression. …

BARCELONA, Spain–Love Android or hate it, there’s no denying it’s been a hit with device makers and carriers. Exhibit A was on display at Google’s booth at the Mobile World Congress show here in Barcelona, Spain. Dozens and dozens of Android phones and tablets slid by on a curving track that looped them continuously. The collection featured some notable models …

BARCELONA, Spain–Nokia CEO Stephen Elop isn’t shy about who he’s going after with his Lumia Windows Phones. He has his sights set directly on Android. “Our focus is on competing with Android,” Elop said during a keynote address at the Mobile World Congress show here today. “We want to bring them to Lumia.” Elop struck a bullish tone when talking …

Now playing: Watch this: HTC One V 1:13 BARCELONA, Spain–When HTC announced its HTC One family of phones, it saved the HTC One V, the runt of the litter, for last. It may be less high-powered than its cohort, comprised of the HTC One X and One S, but it promises to be a good choice in its own right …

BARCELONA, Spain–H.264 is today’s leader when it comes to mainstream video encoding technologies, but it will have to share the stage in 2013 with a successor called H.265 that can squeeze a video into nearly half the file size. H.264, also known as the Advanced Video Codec (AVC), defines how a video can be compressed for reduced storage requirements and–very …

BARCELONA, Spain–Stephen Sneeden, product marketing manager for Sony Mobile, told CNET Asia in an interview here at Mobile World Congress that he predicts the company will likely only release quad-core Sony smartphones in early 2013. He does, however, state that this is just his assumption–the company will make the official announcements when it’s ready. “We’re going to join quad-core when …

BARCELONA, Spain–These days you’ll be hard-pressed to find people who remember when personal computers were luxury items that few could afford. Now smartphones are increasingly headed in the same direction, continuing to become cheaper and more ubiquitous for everyone, not just for the global elite. The mass market in question goes well beyond the budget-conscious living in developed markets, and …