Now playing: Watch this: Check your cell phone coverage 3:46 Late last year I told you about CNET’s new tool to accurately rate wireless coverage across the United States. With our partner Root Wireless, we’re able to show average signal strength, data throughput, dropped calls, and failed data connections for the four major carriers (AT&T, …

Patent No. 7,679,604–“Method and apparatus for controlling a computer system“–the broad motion-control patent I’ve been writing about this week, has passed through a number of hands over the years. First assigned to ArrayComm in 2006, it was subsequently handed over to Durham Logistics, a limited liability company which is itself managed by another obscure Las Vegas LLC called Memscom. But …

Another CTIA has come to an end, so it’s time for CNET to pass out our Best of CTIA awards. We had to make a tough choice this year and break away from our traditional categories; because most of the major handset announcements in Las Vegas this year were smartphones (you can blame Android for that) we consolidated the traditional …

CNET The big news this week was the leaked information uncovered by the folks at PadGadget about approved iPad titles already showing up in the Web-based version of iTunes App Store. Apparently Apple listed a few of the titles with its “XL” or “HD” versions that weren’t supposed to be unveiled until the April 3 iPad launch date. Some of …

Now playing: Watch this: Skype Mobile for BlackBerry and Android 1:29 Last Tuesday at CTIA, Skype and Verizon  jointly announced the Skype Mobile application is coming to select BlackBerry and Android phones on Verizon’s network. While only nine phones can currently run the app, Verizon and Skype are sure to add more phones to the mix. So if you don’t have …

After Apple introduced iPhone OS 3.1.3, complaints surfaced about the iPhone battery and problems with playlist syncing. Now, users are encountering a new set of problems and airing their complaints in Apple Discussions. Random freezes or shutdowns Random freezes and shutdowns were a major complaint for some users after upgrading to iPhone OS 3.1 last fall. The problem was the …

Moon Audio claims the Signature Titan was designed to outperform any speaker system in the world. It’s a strictly limited edition of three pairs, and each pair is hand-signed by the designer. Each pair will also be named after its buyer and once the third pair is built, the Signature Titan is history. Even by high-end audio standards the pricing …

The Galaxy Portal isn’t the latest Stargate spin-off, it’s Samsung’s new Android phone. Here is the first picture of the phone, available now from T-Mobile. We’re glad the Galaxy Portal gets a proper name — Galaxy Spica if you’re foreign — because it’s also called the i5700. That’s a reversal of the last Android phone the company made, the Samsung …

Though new phones rightfully get all the attention at CTIA, the accessories section of the show floor is well worth your attention. There you will find cases and phones purses of all sorts, plastic jewelry that flashes when you get a call, and other obscure products that you never knew existed. Much of it is silly, but once in a …

The mobile apps market has become a cash cow for carriers such as Apple but is turning increasingly competitive for developers trying to make a profit, according to a new In-Stat report. Mobile subscribers are downloading apps in ever increasing numbers as they learn more about the capabilities of their smartphones, said the report, released Wednesday. As the company that …