Acer claims its new 4.8-inch Android smartphone has the “soul of a tablet.” Seriously? At that size, maybe they should just call it a tablet, soul and all. We also discuss the Dell Venue Pro, Motorola Olympus rumors, the burgeoning 4G market, and all the latest reviews. Now playing: Watch this: Dialed In 152: Soul …

Verizon Wireless grabbed headlines with its LTE announcement today, but MetroPCS always will be able to claim the first commercially available LTE in the United States. And today it expanded that coverage to CNET’s hometown of San Francisco. The “4G” service, which launches today, will overlay about 80 percent of the carrier’s existing CDMA footprint in the Bay Area. Indeed, …

It’s finally here: Verizon will launch its LTE network this Sunday. After more than a year of hype, the company is finally launching its so-called 4G wireless network that uses a network technology known as Long Term Evolution or LTE. Starting December 5, the new network will be live in a number of markets including New York, Chicago, LA, and …

Like its smaller sibling, the Teatro for iPhone, the Zero Chroma Vario case features a sturdy, multiposition stand that folds flat when not in use. Zero Chroma Everyone has a different definition of the perfect case. Personally, I usually look for the cheapest option, which for my iPhone 4 meant this $3.69 plastic job from Meritline. Then I found the …

Though Telstra, Optus and VHA account for the majority of mobile phone subscriptions in Australia, there are a number of low cost alternatives available. Could choosing an MVNO for your mobile save you money? MVNO stands for Mobile Virtual Network Operator. Simply put, an MVNO is a company that buys service from one of the big telcos who own the …

The rumored Sony PlayStation phone has been spotted again, this time getting captured in video form. A Greek gadget blog has roughly 2 minutes of blurry footage of someone reportedly playing with the device. Although we never see the phone opened up to reveal the gaming controls, it appears to be a real working model. According to Techblog.gr, the handset …

The Federal Communications Commission is set to finally vote on rules this month that will keep the Internet open, but the fight may continue as neither side in the Net neutrality debate is expected to be completely satisfied with the outcome. As expected, early Wednesday, the FCC staff circulated an agenda for the agency’s December 21 meeting stating that it …

The 3D bandwagon rumbles on, with Cowon the latest to leap aboard. It’s just announced the Cowon 3D portable media player, a 4.8-inch thingummyjig for watching videos in three dimensions without glasses. The glasses-free 3D plays 1080p high-definition video — though we don’t know the screen resolution — as well as serving up a diet of music, ebooks and photo …

Looking for a cheap pint and the chance of a decent conversation without having to shout over dreadful hits of the day? There’s an app for that. The Wetherspoon Pub Finder, spotted by Frackulous, seeks out your nearest Wetherspoon’s on your iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Cheers. The primary function of the app is to search for nearby Wetherspoon and …

Tests conducted by Nokia Siemens Networks confirmed that Apple has included support for the Network Controlled Fast Dormancy technology developed by Nokia to reduce network congestion and improve battery life in iOS 4.2.1. The NCFD technology works by keeping smartphones in a perpetual “intermediate state” and “makes the network and the handset work together to create the best conditions for …

Nokia plans to stick with Symbian as its main business phone platform even when MeeGo, its new top-end operating system, is released. On Tuesday, Nokia business smartphones chief Ilari Nurmi told ZDNet UK that Nokia had “great converged device plans based on the MeeGo platform” and that there were “different types of needs and wants in the enterprise market,” but …

On Call runs every two weeks, alternating between answering reader questions and discussing hot topics in the cell phone world. Almost every day we’re presented with a new study that tracks the success of various smartphone operating systems. Like so many pre-election polls, they make grand conclusions about which OS is ahead and which is not. And like so many …

Aussie electronics entrepreneur Ruslan Kogan today unveiled what he describes as a “revolution in online shopping”— a preorder option for electronics called LivePrice. (Credit: Screenshot CBSi) According to a press release from Kogan, LivePrice will offer customers the opportunity to buy a product well before it’s manufactured for a heavily discounted price. This retail price will increase during the different …

While Avatar may have had the public mildly excited about 3D movies, it was the Nintendo 3DS that had people throwing conniptions about the possibilities of “glassless” 3D. Sharp has demonstrated a 3.8-inch, 800×480-pixel display that would be perfect for use in future versions of the Nintendo 3DS. (Credit: Nintendo) To capitalise on this interest, Sharp has shown off two …

Android will storm past Nokia and the iPhone to become Europe’s number one smart-phone platform in 2011. This is according to an IDC analyst, the wonderfully named Francisco Jeronimo, speaking to Bloomberg. At the moment, Android phones are behind Nokia’s Symbian and the iPhone in terms of Western European shipments, but that’s going to change next year, if Jeronimo has …