Pre-orders are open for the Sony Xperia S, with prices starting at £21.50 per month, Unwiredview reports. Aptly-named site buymobilephones has listed the Android-powered mobile with pre-orders for all major UK networks, including O2, Orange, Vodafone, Three and T-Mobile. The cheapest way to get the Xperia S for free appears to be with O2, which …

Well, that didn’t take long. AT&T appears ready to get back in the hunt for more spectrum, now eying smaller wireless rivals MetroPCS and Leap Wireless and satellite-TV provider Dish Network, according to The Wall Street Journal. The Dallas-based telecommunications giant is just two months removed from the collapse of its deal with T-Mobile USA, which would have given the …

Two years into a decade-long plan to free up wireless spectrum to handle an explosion in mobile data traffic growth, Washington politics are crippling the Federal Communications Commission’s ability to reach any of its goals. In March 2010, the FCC identified in its National Broadband Plan a dire need for more spectrum in the U.S. It outlined a timeline for …

If you’ve been keeping score, Barnes & Noble’s refurbished Nook Color e-reader has been selling for as low as $129. But, let’s face it, that’s last year’s model. The newer, more powerful Nook Tablet, which debuted just a few months ago, has held steady at $249. That’s why today’s deal is kind of a big, well, deal. Until midnight on …

Will Motorola Mobility’s smartphones get shut out of the German market? Probably not. But that is the latest breathless headline flying around the Interwebs. A German court ruled that Motorola’s smartphones infringed on Apple’s slide-to-unlock technology, or the swipe that your finger makes on your phone to get it out of its lock screen. As a result, the court has …

Smaller carrier U.S. Cellular has designs to serve up 4G LTE to an additional 14 states this year. By the second half of 2012, the wireless provider has said it will roll out cutting-edge 4G data infrastructure to “select” cities in multiple parts of the country: Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, …

Apple There is no shortage of stories that highlight the utility of Apple’s iPhone and this is certainly one of those circumstances. After several reports of an impaired driver heading westbound on I-84 near The Dalles in north-central Oregon, two officers decided to pull the man over, according to KVAL.com. The man was definitely impaired, but another challenge proved more …

Editors’ note: This is a guest column. See Roger Entner’s bio below. Spectrum is the fuel that runs wireless, and the country is quickly running out of it. In fact, the U.S. will run out of spectrum capacity to support wireless broadband networks in the next three to five years. That’s not just my opinion. The White House, the FCC, …

In a move designed to drive customers through Microsoft’s retail doors, and toward Nokia’s Windows Phone Lumia brand in particular, Microsoft will begin to sell the unlocked version of the Nokia Lumia 800 smartphone exclusively in its brick-and-mortar stores. About $900 will get you the Nokia Lumia 800 Entertainment Bundle, which consists of the unlocked version of the phone, the …

Barclays’ new money service Pingit lets smart phone users send cash to each other via an app. The bank is touting it as a simple way to split a bill or sort an IOU — there’s a daily limit of £300 that can be pinged via the service, with no fee for you to send or receive cash. Currently you …

The BBC has confirmed it will be broadcasting the London 2012 Olympics in 3D, but only bits of the games — including the opening and closing ceremonies — will be treated to the third dimension. The Beeb’s Roger Mosey outlined the broadcaster’s 3D Olympic schemes in a blog post, explaining that the ceremonies and the men’s 100m final will be …

After months of court wrangles with Apple, Samsung still can’t resist poking the bear by launching its 2012 range on March 6, the day before Apple’s much-rumored iPad 3 announcement. Samsung will officially launch its range of 2012 televisions at an event in New York and is expected provide more details on one of the most impressive entrants at this …

Chances are you’ve at least heard of the Samsung Galaxy Note, the big 5.3-inch mobile gadget that can either be used like a tablet or like a traditional cell phone. So said Samsung in its splashy Super Bowl ad that blatantly took a swipe at Apple fanboys. In the meantime, tech journalists are still arguing over where the Note, with …

Motorola has acknowledged a number of smartphones it expects carriers to fill up with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich in 2012. Joining the Droid Razr, Motorola Xoom, and Droid Bionic are new and notable handsets such as the Droid Bionic, Droid Razr Maxx, and Droid 4. As to when these particular models will see their respective updates, that will vary …

HTC is hoping a different tune may reverse its recent flagging fortunes. The smartphone vendor is working on its own streaming music service, according to a report from GigaOm. The service would purportedly become the default music client on HTC phones and tablets, and pricing and plans are getting worked out. An HTC representative wasn’t immediately available to comment to …