Relief is a little iffy for contract-free customers thirsting for smartphones. Weak quarterly earnings for prepaid carriers, like leader MetroPCS, TracFone, and Cricket-owner Leap Wireless, are making the ability of these second-tiered carriers to act effectively as alternative smartphone providers to the big-four operators a little murkier. Why? As CNET Senior Writer Roger Cheng noted, …

Finally. After months of waiting and watching Apple’s iPad 2 dominate, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is ready for the UK, delivering robot-hungry Brits a sweet, dripping spoonful of Android Honeycomb goodness. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 starts at £399 for the Wi-Fi only 16GB model from Currys and PC World, who have it exclusively for the rest of the month. …

Make international calls and pay for them through iTunes via Vonage’s Time to Call App. Lance Whitney/CNET iOS device owners can now make international calls and pay for them through iTunes courtesy of a new app from Vonage. Released yesterday, the free Time to Call app is geared toward people who need to make quick calls around the world. The …

An iphone app launched by the Ministry of National Defense of the People’s Republic of China. SCMP Pictures (HANDOUT) The Chinese government has released an official app for people (both domestic and oversees) to keep tabs on what the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is up to. There’s just one catch: you’ll have to jailbreak your iPhone to use it. One …

Google has lashed out at Apple, Microsoft and other companies, saying that leading tech companies are ganging up on Android, with the aim of driving up the prices of Android devices through crafty patent acquisition and endless lawsuits. In a ferocious blog post entitled ‘When patents attack Google’, Google senior vice president and chief legal officer David Drummond accuses companies …

Most smartphone subscribers in the U.S. use far less data than they are allotted by their wireless provider, but data hogs, who are likely to bust through those caps, and frugal data nibblers know where to find the best deals. It’s only been a year since AT&T eliminated its all-you-can-eat mobile data plan and adopted a tiered offering instead. Earlier …

Not all 4G networks are created equally. Just look at MetroPCS. MetroPCS The prepaid provider and Verizon Wireless may share the same 4G technology, Long-Term Evolution, but the two have little else in common. It’s a fact well known in the industry but less clear to consumers: MetroPCS’s 4G service is significantly slower than the one Verizon is offering. “The …

Though you can’t shake a smartphone this summer without hitting someone writing a BlackBerry obituary, AT&T is not even close to attending a funeral. Today, the carrier announced that it was adding three new BlackBerry devices to its roster, starting with the BlackBerry Torch 9810 later this month. It’s all very good news for worried BlackBerry fans, who could see …

Despite raking in more revenue than expected, Clearwire’s losses mounted in the second quarter as the company looked to add more customers, it said today. The company also announced a shift in technology direction, stating it will deploy a 4G flavor technology called LTE. Clearwire posted a quarterly net loss of $168.7 million, compared with a loss of $125.9 million …

Pre-pare yourself — the HP Pre 3 lands in Britain this month. HP has confirmed the sequel to the mildly popular Palm Pre 2 will bring the new webOS software and apps to the UK before the end of August. The Pre 3 is the successor to the Pre 2, packing a speedier 1.4GHz processor, 3.6-inch screen and more spacious …

Ready for a curve ball from BlackBerry? Photos have emerged of the BlackBerry Curve 9360, a new phone mysteriously left out of the big BB launch this morning. The BlackBerry Bold 9900, Torch 9810 and Torch 9860 were announced today alongside international variations. But the 9360 was conspicuous by its absence. BlackBerry launched the three new phones this morning, and …

TORONTO–To celebrate the announcement of the new BlackBerry OS 7 devices, RIM put on a special event for BlackBerry fans tonight to come check out the new models. Select media were also invited, and of course, we jumped at the chance to get a closer look at the BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930, BlackBerry Torch 9810, and BlackBerry Torch 9850/9860 because despite …

commentary If you’re thinking about picking up one of those fancy new BlackBerrys, let me explain for a minute or so why that may not be a very good idea. AT&T will sell the BlackBerry Torch 9810, one of several BlackBerrys coming out in the coming weeks. AT&T Research In Motion finally answered the pleas of the BlackBerry faithful for …

NBC Universal gave Comcast a boost in the second quarter as the cable operator announced a 16 percent jump in profits. Comcast also said it lost fewer pay-TV subscribers and saw broadband subscriber growth surge, besting its phone company rivals. Net income rose to $1.02 billion, or 37 cents a share, from $884 million, or 31 cents a share, a …

Apple’s iPad 2 Apple Rumors about the iPad 3 are ramping up again, with one report claiming the next version of Apple’s tablet could launch as early as Thanksgiving. A story in yesterday’s Taiwan Economic News cited industry executives as saying they estimate Apple will release the iPad 3 “by this Thanksgiving or next year.” Whether its next tablet reaches …