In the early days of the smartphone, physical keyboards were the way to go if you wanted the phone for messaging or email. That’s why the Palm Treo and the early BlackBerrys proved popular back then because of their full QWERTY keyboards. The trend has carried onward to today’s smartphones, with devices like the Samsung …

Dell will hand out its Venue Pro to its employees who currently carry BlackBerrys. Bonnie Cha/CNET Dell is looking to market its own smartphone as an alternative to the BlackBerry and is starting the push with its own employees. The PC maker will give its BlackBerry-carrying employees new Venue Pro smartphones in return for their existing phones. The transition is …

Those clever boys and girls at Google have done it again, making the Google Instant real-time search engine available for Android 2.2 and iPhone iOS 4 handsets. Google Instant for Mobile is supposed to be available only in the US, but you can have a go with it right now by logging onto an account with the language set to …

…And that was Bruce Hornsby and the Range, with the classic That’s Just the Way It Is… “some things will never change”. Speaking of things that never change, tune into North Norfolk Digital radio for new show Mid-Morning Matters, presented by broadcasting legend Alan Partridge. Alan’s living up to his catchphrase, “Back of the net” — the Inter-net that is! …

All of the worst things that have ever occurred were allowed to happen because someone didn’t say, “No, I won’t stand for it.” Well, mark this day in your calendar, Cravers, because we’re saying no right now, and we’re saying it to on-screen logos on our HD TV channels. And broadcasters can ignore us at their peril, because we’re as …

Apple’s iPad may be gnawing into traditional laptop sales like a hyperactive beaver through a riverbank full of birch trees, but, like the iPhone before it, the full potential of the touchable tablet only really becomes obvious when you start adding third-party apps. The seductive slab has its own section in the iTunes App Store, where you’ll find our top …

Vodafone has launched Freebees, a selection of pay as you go tariffs that reward you with free Internet access, texts or call time when you top up your phone. There are three Freebee tariffs. ‘Get Text and Web’ will give you 300 texts and 500MB of Web access for free every time you top your phone up with £10 of credit. …

A handful of leaked Verizon documents are providing clues as to when customers can expect to see the carrier’s first two Android-based world phones. Motorola Droid Pro Nicole Lee/CNET First up, we have the Motorola Droid Pro, which looks to be carrying an attractive $179.99 (after $100 mail-in rebate) price tag. Although Verizon hasn’t committed to a specific launch date, …

Our admiration of Japan knows no bounds — we frequently wish we lived in the land of vending machines and tentacle porn. Chalk up another reason to move east: two Sharp Android 2.2 smart phones that offer no-glasses 3D visuals in the style of the Nintendo 3DS. Sharp has rolled out two mighty-sounding Galapagos 3D handsets in Japan, the touchscreen-only …

The Apple iPhone 4 may be a contender for the Greatest Gadget of the 21st Century, but you can’t eat your dinner off it. That’s where Table Connect comes in, a convergence of furniture and phone that lets you control your apps and games on its surface — if it’s really real, that is. Cynics suggested the iPad was a …