Attaching smileys to instant messages, texts, and e-mail can be a fun and easy way to add character to your messages. Whether you’re trying to convey extreme joy 😀 or sorrow :'(, there are some extra smileys built into your Android phone’s keyboard that you may not know about. However, finding them is just a …

More than two months later, and AT&T has finally allowed the BlackBerry Bridge software to be downloaded from BlackBerry App World, according to AllthingsD. Previously, AT&T customers were the only ones who weren’t able to download the Bridge application, which tethers the PlayBook to their BlackBerrys. This is the only way PlayBook owners could get secure access to BlackBerry e-mail …

Starting July 7, new Verizon Wireless customers can kiss unlimited data plans good-bye. But what do the pricing plan changes mean for existing customers? Can people really live without unlimited data? It’s been no secret that Verizon has planned to eliminate the unlimited data plan. The company’s executives have been saying it for months. So it was no shock when …

An anonymous RIM executive has released a scathing open letter that criticises every aspect of the BlackBerry-producing organisation, likening the PlayBook to a ‘Fisher Price toy’ and arguing that ‘Apple is nailing this’. Tech site Boy Genius Report received the letter, and claims to have verified that the author is indeed a RIM employee, though the site is keeping the …

Taiwanese companies involved in the manufacture of parts for the upcoming iPhone 5 and iPad 3 are preparing materials for production, ready for a September launch, with distribution commencing in October, according to tech site Digitimes. Companies like Foxconn are firing up the infernal machine, ready to turn ordinary bits of metal into thousands upon thousands of new, desirable iGadgets, …

The Conquer 4G should be a low-cost Android phone with support for Sprint’s 4G network. Phone Scoop The next 4G handset from Sprint is likely to come in the form of a midrange Samsung device called the Conquer 4G. Phone Scoop’s Eric Zeman noticed the Android-based device on Samsung’s Web site yesterday complete with specifications and images. This isn’t the …

LightSquared, the hedge-fund-backed start-up that plans to build a nationwide wireless 4G network using both satellite and land-based spectrum, today filed its official plan for reducing interference between its service and GPS navigation systems. LightSquared CEO Sanjiv Ahuja delivers a speech at CTIA 2011. Marguerite Reardon/CNET LightSquared acknowledged earlier this month that its initial network plan interfered with GPS navigation …

Nielsen Smartphone demand continues to surge as more than half of all recent cell phone buyers opted for one, Nielsen said today. Specifically, 55 percent of consumers who bought a new mobile phone from March through May picked a smartphone over a non-smartphone, according to a survey from the market researcher. That compares with 34 percent in the same period …

Now playing: Watch this: Samsung Trender (Sprint) 2:15 There’s been such a rush of Android messaging phones these days, we almost did a double take when we realized that the Samsung Trender was not one of them. Instead, the basic QWERTY slider runs on Samsung’s proprietary operating system, one that involves using tabs and grids instead of swipes to move …

U.K.-based Synchronica has signed a deal to acquire a Nokia unit that provides e-mail, instant messaging, and other software for cellular carriers. With the deal, announced late yesterday and expected to close in the third quarter, Synchronica will take over 10 operator contracts, including deals with all four major U.S. carriers and Rogers and Telus in Canada. Also as part …

HTC’s testing Android 2.3 Gingerbread on the Desire. The news comes via a status update on HTC’s official Facebook page, and means Desire owners hungry for some warm, cakey Gingerbread may not have long to wait. HTC had declared that it wouldn’t bring Gingerbread to the Desire, but just hours later it backtracked, saying that the hugely popular smart phone would …

How is the Android Market like McDonalds? What’s up with all of the missing Gingerbread updates? and What does Google Plus mean for ye Android faithful? Now playing: Watch this: Ep. 55: Over 4.5 billion served 35:11 Podcast Your browser does not support the audio element. Subscribe: iTunes (MP3) | iTunes (320×180) | iTunes (640×360) | RSS (MP3) | RSS (320×180) | RSS (640×360) EPISODE 55 …

HTC announced today that testing has already begun on the HTC Desire‘s Gingerbread update. The news comes less than two weeks after HTC promised a stripped-down version of Android 2.3 would indeed arrive. Readers may recall the recent dust-up when HTC claimed that due to size constraints it would be unable to deliver both Gingerbread and the HTC Sense user …

If you have an Android phone and you like to stare up your friends’ noses when you call them, then ring the party bell and do a little jig, because Skype now lets you do just that. A new update to the Skype app for Android allows video calls to other Android phones, computers and iPhones. Download the app from …

Though Sprint is best known as the country’s third-largest wireless carrier, the company does a lot more than just deliver voice and data service to your cell phone. Its network also powers M2M, or machine-to-machine, solutions that enable machines to talk to each other without a human getting in the way. Related link • Sprint VP on machines talking to …