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  • Samsung Brings its Military Phones to First Responders

    Wed 11:06am By Rich Brome
    Samsung has introduced its third generation of Tactical Edition smartphones designed primarily for military personnel. For the first time, they support AT&T's FirstNet network and will be available to first responders. Also for the first time, there are two…
  • AST Delivers 5G to Ordinary Phone From Space

    Tue 10:12am By Rich Brome
    AST SpaceMobile has achieved another important testing milestone by successfully making a 5G phone call on an unmodified Samsung Galaxy S22 via its BlueWalker 3 test satellite currently in orbit. The phone was located in a cellular dead zone on Maui, Hawaii.…
  • iOS 17 Officially Available

    Mon 1:12pm By Rich Brome
    The final version of iOS 17 is now available to download. iPhone users with an iPhone Xr/Xs or newer (including the iPhone 11 series, 12 series, etc.) can now go to Software Update in Settings to upgrade to the new OS. iOS 17 was announced in June and has a…
  • T-Mobile Buying Low-Band Spectrum from Comcast, as Comcast Launches its own 5G Network

    Sep 13, 2023, 11:08 am By Rich Brome
    T-Mobile has reached an agreement to lease and then purchase radio spectrum licenses from Comcast worth $3.3 billion. The licenses are for 10 MHz of bandwidth around 600 MHz (band 71). T-Mobile already uses band 71 to provide blanket coverage. As one of the…
  • Apple Watch Series 9 Detects Finger Gestures, Brings Siri On-Device

    Sep 12, 2023, 4:17 pm By Rich Brome
    Apple has announced Apple Watch Series 9, a major upgrade of the internal components to enable new features. The new S9 chip includes a quad-core neural engine with twice the machine learning performance. This enables the Siri voice assistant to run locally on…
  • iPhone 15 Series Goes All-In on USB-C and Dynamic Island

    Sep 12, 2023, 3:19 pm By Rich Brome
    Apple has revealed the iPhone 15 series, which moves to a USB-C connector and brings several key features from last year's Pro models to the more-affordable standard models. These include the pill-shaped sensor cutout in the display that Apple calls Dynamic…
  • HMD to Launch its Own Phone Brand Alongside Nokia

    Sep 12, 2023, 9:59 am By Rich Brome
    HMD Global, the company that took over the Nokia brand in the phone space, plans to launch its own brand of phones. HMD Global CEO Jean-Francois Baril published a post saying that "we are establishing an original HMD brand. You can expect to see a new…
  • Apple to Continue Using Qualcomm Modem Chips in iPhones

    Sep 11, 2023, 8:27 am By Rich Brome
    Apple has extended its contract with Qualcomm to supply 5G modem chips for iPhones through 2026. Apple has been attempting to develop its own 5G modem chips, and purchased Intel's phone chip business in 2019 for $1 billion to further that effort. While rumors…
  • Cricket Launches More Affordable White-Label Phones

    Sep 8, 2023, 4:52 pm By Rich Brome
    Cricket has started selling two additional phones under its own brand, adding to what was already the largest lineup of white-label phones among US carriers. The Cricket Magic 5G offers 5G for just $140, while the Cricket Icon 5 is a 4G Android phone for just…
  • Apple Issues Urgent iOS Patch for Major Security Vulnerability

    Sep 8, 2023, 8:37 am By Rich Brome
    Apple has released iOS 16.6.1 for iPhones, which fixes an "actively exploited zero-click vulnerability". All iPhone and iPad owners should update their OS software immediately, as this is one of the most severe types of security issues. The vulnerability can…
  • Google Teases More of Pixel 8

    Sep 7, 2023, 2:51 pm By Rich Brome
    Google has posted an official page on its web site for the forthcoming Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro, and Pixel Watch 2. The page includes a few photos plus a short video with a all-around views of both phones. Side-by-side shots show a significant size difference…
  • Gabb Refines its Kids Watch

    Sep 6, 2023, 9:00 am By Rich Brome
    Gabb has announced its newest watch for kids, the Gabb Watch 3. The new model offers significant upgrades from the Watch 2, including full text messaging (via voice or keyboard), wireless charging, and Bluetooth pairing (to the parent's phone). It's also more…
  • Apple Commits to Arm Through 2040

    Sep 6, 2023, 8:30 am By Rich Brome
    New filings related to Arm's planned initial public offering (IPO) reveal that Apple has signed a deal with the company that "extends beyond 2040". Apple licenses Arm chip technology which it then customizes to create the A-series processor chips that are the…
  • Anker's New Wireless Chargers and Power Banks Charge Faster

    Aug 31, 2023, 11:56 am By Rich Brome
    Anker has announced seven new MagGo wireless chargers and two new Nano power banks, all with faster charging than its previous-generation products. The new MagGo series fully supports the new Qi2 standard based on Apple's MagSafe. That means they support full…
  • Google Kills Pixel Pass Before Delivering Promised Device Upgrades

    Aug 31, 2023, 8:16 am By Rich Brome
    Google has ended its Pixel Pass subscription bundle after just 22 months, even though the offering was advertised as including a new phone after two years. The news comes as Google prepares to announce a new lineup of Pixel phones (presumably the Pixel 8…
  • Fairphone 5 Goes Higher-End

    Aug 30, 2023, 10:02 am By Rich Brome
    Fairphone has revealed the Fairphone 5, the next version of its sustainability-focused line of Android phones. The Fairphone 5 has better specs than past models, including dual 50 megapixel cameras (normal and wide) and a 90 Hz OLED display (6.46-inch, FHD+).…
  • Google "Accidentally" Posts a Photo of the Unannounced Pixel 8 Pro

    Aug 30, 2023, 9:33 am By Rich Brome
    A page on Google's own Store web site briefly featured an image clearly showing the company's next flagship phone. The photo was labeled "A person takes a call on a Pixel 8 Pro phone in Porcelain." That phone has yet to be announced. Google historically…
  • Sonim XP10 Reaches T-Mobile

    Aug 29, 2023, 10:05 am By Rich Brome
    Sonim's flagship rugged smartphone, the XP10, is now available in some form from all three major US carriers. It launches today for T-Mobile business customers, after launching first on AT&T and more recently with Verizon. The XP10 supports sub-6 5G on both…
  • TCL Brings NXTPAPER Display Tech to Phones

    Aug 29, 2023, 8:44 am By Rich Brome
    TCL has announced a new line of phones that employ NXTPAPER, the company's unique display technology that attempts to offer a "full color paper-like visual experience". Most obviously, the displays have an anti-reflective matte finish. A total of ten extra…
  • T-Mobile Updates its REVVL Affordable 5G Phones

    Aug 24, 2023, 3:44 pm By Rich Brome
    T-Mobile has launched updated versions of its REVVL 6 series of affordable 5G phones. The new REVVL 6x 5G and REVVL 6x Pro 5G are similar to their predecessors, with a few upgrades like double the storage (now 128 GB on the 6x and 256 GB on the 6x Pro). That…