InVisage camera phone image sensor: Mobile snaps get usable

InVisage hopes to give camera phones a kick up the image quality with its new sensor technology, dubbed QuantumFilm. The start-up promises its sensor will be four times more efficient at capturing light than traditional silicon-based chips. This means it can increase resolution or dramatically reduce noise in low-light. Could this be the start of …

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T

LAS VEGAS–T-Mobile USA said it will soon have bragging rights as the nation’s fastest 3G network. But will the claim to fame help the company attract new customers? Executives at the CTIA trade show here on Tuesday outlined the company’s network upgrade plans to a technology called HSPA+ that will effectively triple its network download speeds on its 3G wireless …

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Hands

Now playing: Watch this: Motorola i1 (Sprint Nextel) 1:34 LAS VEGAS–Earlier on Monday, Motorola and Sprint introduced the Motorola i1, the first push-to-talk Google Android smartphone due to launch on Sprint Nextel’s iDEN network. Later that evening, the companies hosted a small dinner to offer the media some hands-on time with the device. Like a number of other Nextel handsets, …

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Sprint unveils first 4G phone

LAS VEGAS–To no one’s surprise, Sprint kicked off CTIA 2010 here by announcing its first 4G phone. The HTC Evo 4G is not only the carrier’s first WiMax cell phone–previously the carrier only has offered 4G laptop cards and the Samsung Mondi–but also the first commercially available 4G handset with a major U.S. carrier. The Evo runs Google Android OS …

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Mobile phone buyback offered at carrier stores

With literally hundreds of millions of mobile phones piling up in U.S. homes, how to profitably recycle these devices is a pressing question. Start-up eRecyclingCorps on Tuesday is scheduled to announce that its customer Sprint is offering a phone buyback program in which consumers can get money for older phones when they upgrade to a newer model. eRecycling Corp has …

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Samsung SCH

Every year at CTIA, the show’s organizers hold an Emerging Tech Awards contest to pick the best products at the show. Samsung entered its previously announced Strive and Sunburst phones in the contest, but then it threw the SCH-U820 into the ring. When we arrived in Las Vegas, the SCH-U820 was nowhere to be found, and Samsung representatives declined to …

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Skype Mobile coming to Verizon’s BlackBerry, Android phones

Skype Mobile will arrive on select Android and BlackBerry phones this Thursday. Skype Back in February, we read between the lines of a joint Skype and Verizon announcement to deduce that a much-coveted Skype app for BlackBerry was in the works. On Tuesday at CTIA 2010, the two companies took the podium again with a hard release date to share. …

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Wi

LAS VEGAS – In the next few years it will be difficult to buy a new smartphone that does not have built-in Wi-Fi for speedy Net access, according to a report that ABI Research and the Wi-Fi Alliance published Tuesday. Today, about half the smartphones sold have Wi-Fi. By 2014, the forecast goes, about 90 percent of smartphones will offer …

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AT&T execs want more spectrum, lighter regulation

LAS VEGAS–AT&T executives are pushing the government to allocate more spectrum for wireless broadband and back off on regulation in order to keep the mobile broadband growth engine revving. Ralph de la Vega, head of AT&T Mobility and the new chairman of CTIA, and Randall Stephenson, the CEO of AT&T, each spoke at the CTIA 2010 wireless trade show here …

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Poll: do energy ratings sway your purchasing habits?

With this year’s Earth Hour bearing down on us like a stampede of light bulbs heading for the off switch, we’d like to take your pulse on Energy Rating labels: do they affect your purchasing decisions and for which products do they matter to you? Currently, the Federal Government’s Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts measures the energy …

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BlueAnt unveils new T1 headset

BlueAnt just upped the ante in the Bluetooth headset wars with the BlueAnt T1, which it announced prior to the start of CTIA 2010. The headset promises a few upgrades over the BlueAnt Q1, like Wind Armour Technology, which promises to deliver clear audio in wind speeds up to 22 miles per hour. The T1 is also meant to be …

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Palm Pre Plus, Pixi Plus headed to AT&T

LAS VEGAS–At CES 2010, AT&T revealed that it would add two Palm WebOS smartphones to its lineup. On Monday, we learned the identities and prices of the upcoming devices. The Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus will be available from AT&T in the coming months (no specific release dates were given) for $149.99 and $49.99, respectively, with a two-year contract …

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AT&T snags Dell Android phone

Dell Aero AT&T The wait for the Dell smartphone in the United States is finally over. Monday, AT&T announced the Dell Aero, the first domestic mobile Dell device and AT&T’s second Google Android handset. Based on the previously announced Mini 3, the Aero features a candy-bar design with a prominent touch screen and few physical controls. AT&T hasn’t released many …

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Can 4G wireless take on traditional broadband?

The 4G revolution in wireless won’t just make Web surfing on your mobile phone faster; it could help you say good-bye to traditional cable and DSL broadband. Clearwire’s 4G WiMax service, currently the only 4G wireless service on the market, offers average download speeds between 3Mbps and 6Mbps, which are comparable with many DSL and cable modem services on the …

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Does Google care about Android fragmentation?

Fragmentation remains one of the touchiest subjects for Google Android users and developers, with various official builds and different screen sizes all playing part in determining which apps your phone can handle. Currently, four versions of the OS are available: 1.5, 1.6, 2.0, and 2.1. Though the typical consumer and new Android owner may not know there are multiple iterations …

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