Google to begin offering first Ara phones in Puerto Rico this year

The team behind Google's Ara phone, a modular handset with click-on components, plans to run its first market test of the concept device in Puerto Rico later this year.

If Ara becomes a commercial reality, it might upend today's specs-focused smartphone market. Ara consists of a base

Samsung Packs An 8-Core Processor Into Its New 5.5-Inch Galaxy A7 Smartphone

Last year Samsung released an eight-core version of the Galaxy S5, and now it has outed a dedicated octocore smartphone in its own right: the Galaxy A7.

Korean firm teased the phone in 2014 and showcased it last week, according to a report, but now it is official with dual 1.8GHz and 1.3GHz quad-core

Five ways to lower your smartphone data consumption

In the early days of cell phones, it was all about the minutes -- voice minutes, that is, because people used their phones to call each other. (Weird, right?) You had to limit your conversations or suffer the horrors of overage charges.

Today, it's all about the data. Even if your plan is "unlimited," there's almost always an

Samsung releases mid-range Galaxy E5 and E7 with Android KitKat

Samsung has released two new mid-tier members of the Galaxy family, the Galaxy E5 and Galaxy E7. The twosome will make their debut in India alongside the full-metal-bodied Galaxy A3 and Galaxy A5.

The Galaxy E7, the larger of the pair, is a 5.5 inch Super AMOLED display device that somewhat surprisingly will ship with Android KitKat with Samsung's Touchwiz UI -

Google lists 127 of the best Android apps in the world, and you need to try them all

If you were gifted a new Android device last week for Christmas and you’re having trouble figuring out where to begin, today is your lucky day. In fact, even if you’re a seasoned Android veteran, today is still your lucky day because Google has gone through the hundreds of thousands of apps in its Google Play app store and cherry

IBM reveals the differences between iOS and Android Christmas spending habits

IBM has been digging into the data to reveal some of our Christmas shopping habits over the holiday season, and as we’ve seen before it was iOS users who accounted for the bulk of the dollars spent over Christmas, despite Android’s larger share of the market in terms of device numbers. Out of all the online browsing done on Christmas Day on any platform, 57.1 percent of it was

Leaked images show first look at WhatsApp calling

In February WhatsApp promised that it would be adding voice calling functionality to its hugely popular instant messaging app, and if a bunch of leaked screenshots are to be believed then the functionality is almost here. The renders have been made by Sander Tuit of AndroidWorld.nl, based on hidden code found in the latest version of the app.

Kodak's finally making smartphones

For a while there it looked like Kodak's moment had come and gone, but the past few months have seen the imaging icon fight back from the brink of irrelevance. Now the company's planning to push a Kodak-branded smartphone, and thankfully it's not going to sue everyone in the business along the way this time. To be clear,

Thailand’s Government Claims It Can Monitor The Country’s 30M Line Users

Government officials in Thailand last year demanded access to chat app Line so that they could monitor conversations taking place in the country, and this week a politician claimed that they can now do so.

The Nation reports that ICT Minister Pornchai Rujiprapa told a press conference that the government “can monitor all

Samsung Releases Look At Me, An App For Kids With Autism

Over the past few years, technology has given educators and the parents of autistic children tools they could never have imagined before. Mobile apps and games help kids learn communication skills, while virtual reality can potentially teach them how to cope in different social situations. Many of these tools are created by independent developers, but as

The amount of personal data some Android apps collect is absolutely shocking

A new study looking at how mobile Android apps track smartphone users has revealed some interesting facts about Android applications, InfoWorld reports, finding that many apps collect plenty of personal data in an attempt to track users online and serve them targeted ads in the process.

Two French organizations, including the French National

Lost-Item Tracker Tile Arrives On Android

When Tile, the square-shaped lost-item tracker that attaches to bags, bikes, key chains and more, announced this fall that it had raised $13 million in funding (a combination of a seed round and Series A investment), the company said it had earmarked some of that money to be put towards hiring more Android engineers. Now that investment has paid off, as Tile today debuts support for Android smartphones, allowing a larger group of users the

OnePlus One gets kicked out of India, deal between Micromax and Cyanogen is the culprit

India is not the place to be right now if you want to sell a smartphone. Not only have Xiaomi handsets been banned from the country — even though they’ve been given a temporary reprieve — but now India is taking an equally hard stance against the OnePlus One, as reported by Medianama.

Dual-screen smartphone YotaPhone 2 is coming in December

Back in February, Yota showed off a new prototype of the famous dual-screened YotaPhone, and now the company has unveiled the YotaPhone 2 at an event in London. The second-generation YotaPhone has the same party trick as the original – an AMOLED screen on the front, and an e-paper screen on the

Microsoft Buys Email App Acompli For $200M, Will Still Support Gmail And Other Competitors

Just before Thanksgiving here in the U.S., a Microsoft blog post accidentally leaked the company’s intention to buy mobile email application Acompli. Though the blog post itself was pulled down, the URL still revealed the forthcoming acquisition. Today, the two companies are officially confirming the news, with the

Android Lollipop users warn of 'unusable' devices after upgrading

Users of Google's latest mobile operating system, Android 5.0 Lollipop, are warning others not to immediately upgrade, after experiencing broken apps, repeated crashes, and device slowdowns.

Many are reporting early issues with calling, failing Wi-Fi connectivity and sound quality — in some cases, audio fails to

Ericsson: Global Mobile Subscriptions To Hit 7.1B In 2014, 2.7B Of Those For Smartphones

Ericsson today released its latest Mobility Report, which tracks key figures that help us get a better understanding of the state of the mobile industry worldwide and what’s on the rise. As it turns out, the answer to the latter question is “everything.”

Globally we will tip the 7 billion mark for the total number of

BBM Meetings Turns The Messenger Into A Cross-Platform Virtual Conference Service

BlackBerry is rolling out a number of new enterprise-focused features and partnerships today, which is a sign that CEO John Chen is on the right track when it comes to effecting a workable turnaround for the beleaguered Canadian tech firm. Part of that is a new feature for BBM which should prove popular with enterprise users of the mobile

Google’s new Messenger app lands in Play Store with Material Design

If messaging via Hangouts fails to float your boat, or you’ve simply chosen to steer clear of Google’s communications app for reasons you’d rather not share, then the Web giant is hoping to tempt you with its overhauled standalone messaging app, which landed on the Play Store on Wednesday.

Android 5.0 Lollipop Review: Smartphone Edition

Google’s new Nexus 6 is officially available, and along with that comes Android 5.0 Lollipop. The latest version of Google’s mobile OS has already been accessible to those who’ve had a chance to experience the Nexus 9 tablet by HTC, but the Motorola-made Nexus 6 is the first smartphone to ship with Google’s latest OS. While much of what using the tablet version of the software is like is the same as what we find on the Nexus 6, the experience of using both kinds of devices is