U.S. Cellular’s Samsung Profile is an eerily familiar messaging phone. Although it’s purpose-built for texting, it’s quite basic when it comes to other communications. However, if phone calls and text messages are your primary interest, the Profile is a good fit. There is an e-mail app you can download and a service you can opt …

Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization has started testing its wireless broadband technology, which uses existing TV antennas, at the first National Broadband Network roll-out site of Smithton in Tasmania. The system, named Ngara, works by installing antennas on existing TV broadcasting towers that transmit wireless broadband to households through their existing TV antennas, although slightly modified as some …

LG is bringing its Android A-game with the leak of a super-slim phone codenamed the LG B — just a day after news of the world’s first dual-core phone, the LG Optimus 2X. Leaked photos of the LG B show it’s slimmer than the wafer-like iPhone 4, currently the the world’s thinnest smart phone at 9.3mm. The blurry-handed tipster also reportedly …

The public spat between Level 3 Communications and Comcast continues, as Level 3 now urges federal regulators to impose conditions on Comcast’s merger with NBC Universal. On Thursday evening, Level 3 sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission and U.S. Department of Justice, asking the agencies to impose conditions on Comcast’s impending merger that would require Comcast to allow …

T-Mobile has yet to deliver its Dell Venue Pro Windows Phone 7 handset, but a version of the device for AT&T passed through the Federal Communications Commission this week. We also saw a mess of Samsungs (of course) and the Huawei Ideos, aka the T-Mobile Comet. Because the FCC has to certify every phone sold in the United States, not …

Google Maps 5.0 for Android is here. The graphics are now vector-based, which means files are smaller so maps load faster, and they’re now packed with data, including 3D buildings. You can even find your way when you don’t have an Internet connection. This latest version of Google Maps now runs on vector-based graphics. You know when you swipe across …

If you like Yelp, but you’re after much more granular information on food and drink, then Spork is just what you need to fulfill your craving. This iPhone app (and its companion Web site) lets you simply enter any food or drink item and then populates a list of options nearby, most of them with ratings and comments by other …

A new Android-based handset from LG leaked to the blogosphere yesterday, introducing the world to the LG “B.” We know very little about the device at this point, save for the fact that it is gunning for the world’s thinnest smartphone, even slimmer than Apple’s iPhone 4. First found on Phandroid yesterday afternoon, the phone was later confirmed by the …

Remember the Babel Fish? As fans of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” will recall, it lived in your ear and immediately translated whatever language a person was speaking into whatever language you could understand. Word Lens for iPhone works just like a Babel Fish, except it doesn’t live in your ear, and it translates only printed text, not spoken …

Christmas is an expensive time, especially when you’re shopping for a gigantic slab of new TV. But have no fear, for CNET UK is here to help you save your precious pennies, giving you the skinny on the latest, greatest and most festive TV deals. Reclaim your VAT with Sony For starters, may we present Sony’s ‘Get the VAT back’ …

Timed to coincide with today’s release of the Nexus S, Google made good on its promise to launch an update to its Google Maps app. Now available in the Android Market, Maps 5.0 offers a few major improvements over its predecessors. First up is the 3D capability, which lets users see a simulated skyline for more than 100 cities around …

Today we’re proud to announce the release of our first iPhone app — strike up a fanfare, band leader, it’s Crave from CNET UK! We’ve designed the app to make it easier for iPhone users to read all the great stuff we put in the Crave section, watch Crave videos, listen to our podcast and browse our photo galleries with …

An illustration of the ‘PaintPot’ tutorial application written with Google App Inventor for Android. Google Anyone can now be an Android app designer. Google’s App Inventor, which was previously available to people only on request, is now free for anyone who wants to create their own Android smartphone apps. Part of the Google Labs playground, App Inventor offers you a …

I’ve often felt that 99 cents is the magic number for iOS games. At that price, it’s an impulse buy; I’ll grab it without a second thought. Even if I wind up not liking the game, hey, it was only a buck. If you feel the same way, you’ll appreciate this: EA Mobile has cut nearly every game in its …

CES 2010 was a lightweight show when it came to cell phones and smartphones. That’s often the case with CES, as mobile devices have to share the stage with bigger products like 3D televisions and futuristic robots. That’s set to change at CES 2011 of course, but we wanted to take some time and take a look back at the …