Call me a sucker for the holiday season, but at this time of year I just can’t get into mowing down zombies and blasting TIE fighters. I need games that put me in a more, well, merry frame of mind. Thankfully, the App Store has no shortage of holiday-themed entertainment. I’ve rounded up five festive …

We missed the FCC filings for the past couple of weeks, so this week’s listing will be extra-long. We noticed quite a number of Samsung phones as usual, as well as a few ZTE and Huawei handsets. Because the FCC has to certify every phone sold in the United States, not to mention test its SAR rating, the agency’s online …

There was a lot of hue and cry last month when Verizon raised its early termination fees for “advanced devices” to $350, and understandably so. Even with $10 decrease with each month of service, that’s quite a large sum to pay in case you need to get out of your contract before the time is up. It appears the FCC …

Why live in the boring normal world when life seen through your phone‘s camera is so much better? That’s the approach taken by Layar, the augmented-reality app. Rather than augment the image on your phone’s screen with a single layer of information, as is the case with the Nearest Tube app, Layar lets you browse through numerous different layers created …

While Motorola Droid owners are prepping to get Android 2.0.1 delivered to their smartphone in the coming weeks, HTC Droid Eris users might be wondering, “Hey, what about us?” Well, the good news is that there is an update coming. The bad news is you’re going to have to wait a bit longer. Verizon said Friday that it plans to …

Google We learned on Thursday that Verizon’s Motorola Droid will be getting an update to Android 2.0.1 to address camera and voice reception issues. Today brings news that all 2.0 devices will be updated to this version before the year is out. As of right now, the only other known 2.0 handset is the Milestone, also from Motorola. This update …

Verizon just informed us that Google released an SDK for Android 2.0.1 Thursday, which means those who have a Motorola Droid can expect a free over-the-air upgrade to their phone in the “coming weeks.” Some updates include an improvement to the camera’s auto-focus and the phone’s voice reception. There’s still no news on the exact dates the new firmware will …

Where’s the Grinch? In this uninspired game, only his hand appears. Grinchmas, indeed! Oceanhouse Media Maybe I’m feeling extra Grinchy today because stupid iTunes keeps timing out when I sync my iPhone, but I don’t like Grinchmas. In this new game from Oceanhouse Media, you’re a disembodied Grinch hand that flings snowballs–or presents, if you’re in more of a “Merry …

On Wednesday 2 December, at a small gathering in its Media Village in west London, the BBC launched Freeview HD, with all the modesty and quiet pride we’ve come to expect from the corporation. After a brief explanation of what was involved, we finally got to see some of the early hardware and the live service as it was going …

Nokia on Wednesday announced that it’s going all in for 2010, taking the Symbian user interface “to a new level” and delivering the first Maemo 6 “mobile computer” in the second half of the year. Nokia N900 Internet Tablet with Maemo 5 (Credit: Nokia) If that’s not enough, the Finnish company is boosting the relative amount of touchscreen and QWERTY …