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 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 -

Samsung squeezed past Apple in consumer satisfaction for smartphones

Apple may have owned Christmas, but Samsung won the year when it came to satisfying shoppers with its phones. The latest stats from the American Consumer Satisfaction Index, which surveys 70,000 consumers every year, show Samsung slightly beating out Apple by two points with a satisfaction

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,

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

Report says nearly 30% of Black Friday online sales came from smartphones and tablets

If you saw a can’t-miss Thanksgiving or Black Friday discount on an item and made the purchase on your smartphone or tablet, you are part of a quickly growing set of consumers, according to Adobe. The company’s latest data shows that nearly 1 in 3 online purchases on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday happened on mobile devices.

The best 2014 Black Friday smartphone deals we’ve seen so far

Black Friday is still two weeks away but retailers have already started hyping the huge sales they’ll be having for personal electronics, including some of this year’s hottest smartphones. Below we’ve listed the best Black Friday 2014 deals we’ve seen for smartphones so far this year from a wide variety of big box

The Galaxy Note Edge and its cool curved screen is out on November 14

The Galaxy Note Edge is one of the most exciting phones we’ve seen this year. Its spec sheet closely resembles the Galaxy Note 4, but it comes with an always-on curved screen section down the right-hand side, spilling the display over the edge of the phone. It incorporates shortcuts, handy tools, and a notification bar. It

Blackphone is working on the Blacktablet, so you can keep your movie collection private

Blackphone, the smartphone brand which promises to take privacy and security seriously, is reportedly developing a tablet built on the same principles. The news comes from Jon Callas, the Chief Technology Officer for Silent Circle, a firm which collaborates with Geeksphone to produce the Blackphone. He told CNBC, “We are working on a

The Manual For Verizon’s Next Flagship Droid Phone Just Leaked

Word around the ol’ phonegeek rumor mill was that Verizon and Motorola were prepping to release a new high-end Android phone to freshen up the Droid lineup — and whatdya know? The entire manual for just such a phone has leaked.

So far, at least, it looks like the rumor mill nailed this one: Just as whispers predicted, the

Samsung has two more Galaxy Alpha iPhone competitors cooking

Samsung may soon introduce two more Galaxy Alpha smartphones with real metal frames. Recently, specifications for the Galaxy Alpha A5 and A3 leaked on the FCC’s website and now press renders have also surfaced. It looks as though these Alphas will feature the same hybrid design of plastic and metal, as well as mid-to-

Virgin Mobile Offers Smartphones With No Data Plans

We've got to hand it to Virgin Mobile: This one's either brilliantly obvious or just plain crazy. The Sprint-owned carrier is offering the option for smartphone owners to use their devices without a data plan.

Virgin Mobile now offers a $20 plan that includes 300 minutes of talk time, unlimited texting and zero

Google Unveils 3 Budget Smartphones for Android One

Google announced the first three smartphones that will be part of Android One, the company's initiative to bring affordable Android smartphones to developing markets.

Each of the three devices, manufactured by Micromax, Spice and Karbonn, has a 4.5-inch display and will first ship in India.