Mobile/Wireless

Wed, August 03, 2011 - After Friendster, MySpace, Faceook, and Twitter, does the world really need another social network? If you're asking Google, the answer would seem to be a resounding: Sure.

Wed, June 22, 2011 - Firefox, Opera, and a horde of mobile upstarts give iPhone, iPad, and Android users plenty of alternatives

Tue, June 21, 2011 - Last month, Microsoft took the wraps off "Mango," a significant update to Windows Phone 7. Mango includes more than 500 new features that are designed to improve multitasking and to make apps and the OS work together more efficiently. Mango essentially takes the most likable features of Windows Phone 7 and improves them with new features, tweaks, and refinements. Mango is coming this fall, and it will be free for all Windows Phone 7 customers.

Fri, June 17, 2011 - You're sitting in your hotel room and you need to connect your laptop to the Internet to get some work done. But while many hotels offer free Internet access, you're staying in one that thinks of it as comparable to the room's minibar, charging you a small fortune to get online.

Thu, June 02, 2011 - Ladies and gentlemen, we are witnessing the most anticipated match in the history of smartphones for the heavyweight championship of the world. Are you ready? For those watching around the world, let's get ready to rumble!

Tue, May 31, 2011 - How quickly the world of smartphones has changed. Two years ago, a story about the best models would have featured the iPhone and some BlackBerry handsets, with Android-based phones scarcely mentioned. One year ago, the iPhone would have been front-and-center, with a mix of BlackBerry and Android phones in the supporting cast. But in 2011, Android is king, and even in the volatile world of smartphones, it seems likely to dominate for some time to come.

Mon, May 30, 2011 - With 4G smartphones hitting the market in a big way, we decided to test a couple of devices to get an overall sense of how 4G compares with 3G, how specific devices perform and how the underlying networks differ.

Mon, May 23, 2011 - Managing mobile devices entails a level of complexity unheard of in the traditional enterprise world of Windows desktops. MDM software needs to control devices from multiple manufacturers, running different versions of as many as five operating systems, tied to carrier networks with their own particular constraints.

Wed, May 18, 2011 - The T-Mobile 4G Mobile Hotspot ($80 with a two-year contract) joins a growing group of mobile hotspots that fit in your pocket and allow several Wi-Fi enabled devices to connect to the Internet via a single mobile broadband connection. (For background on this growing category, read our feature on stand-alone versus phone-integrated hotspots.)

Thu, May 05, 2011 - Environmentally-friendly, "green" phones started popping up about two years ago, with the Samsung Blue Earth and the Sony Ericsson GreenHeart feature phones debuting in the summer of 2009. Initially, I thought it was a bit of a gimmick. But here we are in 2011, and the green phone has made a comeback in the form of the Samsung Replenish ($50 with a two-year contract with Sprint; price as of 5/5/2011). Running Android 2.2, the Replenish is one of the first eco-friendly smartphones. While you might feel like a better person for buying an eco-friendly phone, the Replenish is largely underwhelming.