The cast of “Star Wars Episode VII” sits with director J.J. Abrams in a photo released Tuesday. Lucasfilm Wonder no more, “Star Wars” fans: The cast of the upcoming “Episode VII” has finally been announced. In a post on StarWars.com Tuesday, Lucasfilm and Disney spelled out who will star in the film, which is planned …

Now playing: Watch this: GeeksPhone Blackphone keeps your calls and data off the… 1:12 A few more details about the supersecure Blackphone surfaced on Monday, most notably that Nvidia’s 2GHz quad-coreTegra 4i chipset will power the privacy-focused handset. The processor, which is based on ARM’s Cortex-A9 r4 CPU, contains 60 GPU cores, and an integrated i500 LTE modem. Blackphone’s maker, …

Microsoft’s new head of devices, Stephen Elop. James Martin/CNET Former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, starting his new job as head of Microsoft’s devices group Monday, doesn’t see the Nokia name sticking around for long at Microsoft. “Nokia as a brand will not be used for long going forward for smartphones,” Elop said in a Q&A on its Conversations blog (recently …

Screenshot by Lance Whitney/CNET Microsoft has unveiled its first Nokia ad since officially taking ownership of the Lumia lineup. In a spot titled “Not Like Everybody Else,” Microsoft touts the “colorful” aspects of Nokia phones. We see a lone Nokia phone owner outfitted in a yellow jacket, red hat, and red gloves as he travels through a black-and-white world. The …

EE is now in 200 towns and cities CNET EE has signed up nearly 3 million phone fans to 4G, as the UK’s first 4G coverage reaches 200 towns and cities. In the first three months of the year, EE signed up 889,000 4G customers, taking the total number to 2.9 million people. Rhyl in Wales is the 200th place …

Angela Ahrendts, the former CEO of Burberry, joins Apple this week to oversee its retail operations. Leon Neal/Getty Images Angela Ahrendts might not, at first glance, fit in with Apple’s jeans-and-button-down dress code. But the former CEO of British luxury retailer Burberry Group could be just what the consumer electronics maker needs to spruce up its retail operations. In October, …

Brian Bennett/CNET As expected, the BlackBerry Z3 will go on sale in Indonesia soon. BlackBerry announced the news Monday, saying that the handset, which comes with a 5-inch display and runs the latest BlackBerry 10 version, 10.2.1, is now available for preorder. The smartphone will officially launch on May 13. The BlackBerry Z3 was first unveiled at Mobile World Congress …

Samsung’s Galaxy S5. Andrew Hoyle/CNET Samsung may unveil a higher-end version of its flagship Galaxy S5 phone come June. The rumored Galaxy S5 Prime will offer a sharper display and beefier processor, according to Asia Today, which cited information from unnamed industry sources. As reported by Sammobile, the phone would bump up its screen resolution to 2,560×1,440 pixels from the …

Rovio Angry Birds maker Rovio had a somewhat down year financially in 2013, but it wasn’t necessarily due to poor business performance, the company says. Rovio generated 156 million euros ($216.3 million) in revenue in 2013, up slightly from the 152.2 million euros it nabbed in 2012, the company announced Monday. Net profit on the year was down to 26.9 …

Geeksphone The Revolution is ready for some updates, Geeksphone announced on Monday. The smartphone lets users choose to run either Google’s mobile operating system Android or Mozilla’s Boot2Gecko — the open-source browser-based OS that’s better known as Firefox OS. The Spanish company is putting finishing touches on Android 4.4 KitKat and the Android-based CyanogenMod 11. The company said that the …