Google officially launched its Google Voice integration for Sprint on May 6, giving Sprint customers the option of getting Google Voice calling features on their Sprint phones with only minimal setup. Although my personal experience has so far been smooth, others have reported frustrations, including being thrown into account limbo after a Sprint customer service …

The cost of broadband globally has dropped around 50 percent in the past two years, according to data out this week by the International Telecommunications Union, but such access is still beyond the income of many around the world. As individuals may still be getting hit with high bills for broadband Internet, the ITU said that the overall drop was …

Nokia could be about to launch the Nokia N9 smart phone. An authentic-looking video has appeared online, courtesy of Pocket Now, which shows a phone very similar to that we speculated over last week. The sleek, shimmery video doesn’t do anything useful like give the phone a name, except to say it’s part of the N series, so it could …

Earlier this week I broke down some of the elements it takes to create an outstanding cell phone screen. Coincidentally, this week is also SID 2011, a conference in LA devoted entirely to display technology. Toshiba’s LCD panel pictured above is one gem on exhibit. It boasts a 720×1,280-pixel HD resolution on its 4-inch screen, which gives it a pixel …

A recent smart phone user-experience study suggests Android narrowly edges out the iPhone for the usability of their apps, though it’s a close call. The analysis was conducted by Jacob Creech from IntuitionHQ.com, who works with usability testing and experience design, after he read some disparaging comments about Android. Though he has more experience with Apple iOS devices, he set about …

On a recent bus ride, I saw a guy use his smartphone to shop for a Porsche on eBay. It might sound silly, but he’s not alone. Apparently, shopping for cars and car parts this way is part of a growing trend; on eBay Mobile, 90,000 parts and accessories and 2,000 cars per week sold during the first quarter of …

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play Kent German/CNET Already available in markets around the world, the highly anticipated Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is finally hitting the States, courtesy of Verizon Wireless, starting on May 26 for $199.99 with a two-year contract (requires voice and data plan). Preorders will begin on May 19 through the carrier’s Web site. Introduced back in February at …

Google hopes its revamp (right) offers up a cleaner layout for finding links. Google Google released an update to its Google Search app for iPhone today, claiming that the new and improved app is up to 20 percent more responsive than the previous version. Interestingly, Google has decided that one of its signature features slows down performance and might erode …

You need what we all need? More space. More space to stretch our legs under cramped office tables; to pandiculate unabashedly beyond the confines of pokey bedrooms; to lope luxuriously past the boundaries of our modest plots. That, and have more space in the memory of our phones, which is where the Seagate GoFlex Satellite comes in. The GoFlex Satellite …

A recent job posting from Apple hints at a possible budding relationship with Sprint that could bring the iPhone to one of the leaders in 4G technology. Stop it, AT&T, a blog focused on “activism against bandwidth caps and monopolistic behavior,” has uncovered a job posting that may strengthen earlier rumors that Sprint is closer to having an iPhone running …