Google’s European boss made it clear how important the mobile space is to the search giant, as he said smartphones will make make desktops second-class citizens in three years. “In three years time, desktops will be irrelevant,” said John Herlihy, Google’s VP of global ad operations, during a Digital Landscapes conference. “In Japan, most research…
Verizon on track with LTE rollout
Get ready for 4G folks, as Verizon said it is on schedule to roll out its next-generation mobile broadband network using Long-Term Evolution technology. In an interview with Network World, Verizon Wireless CTO Tony Melone said the company has been “pleasantly surprised” by the readiness of the infrastructure, and that deployment is “looking better each…
TigerText: The iPhone texting app for cheaters
Even if you’re not a billionaire athlete, sometimes it would be great to have text messages go away. A new iPhone application, TigerText, promises to delete those messages after a set time. TigerText is reportedly not named after that golfing guy and it doesn’t really send text messages exactly. Instead, senders and recipients have to…
AT&T expands MicroCell availability
If you have poor AT&T service in Georgia, South Carolina, San Diego or Las Vegas you may be in luck because the carrier is making its 3G MicroCell available to more customer. The femtocell uses your wired Internet connection to essentially create a miniature cell tower in your home or business and customers can switch…
Sprint pushing WiMax to more markets
Sprint is moving along with its WiMax deployment and said the 4G service would be in major cities like Boston, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. by the end of the year. The third-largest carrier is expected to blanket 120 million people by the end of 2010 and this should give it a sizable…
T-Mobile stops bleeding subscribers, kind of
T-Mobile USA gained 371,000 subscribers for the fourth quarter but the majority of these were the less-lucrative prepaid customers. The company is still squarely in fourth place with 33.8 million customers, while Verizon and AT&T remain the big dogs with 91.2 million and 85.1 million subscribers, respectively. Sprint’s customers have been leaving in droves over…
MetroPCS snags Samsung Caliber
The Samsung Caliber is not going to blow away an iPhone or Droid but it appears to be a solid choice for MetroPCS customers. The Caliber has a 3.2-inch touchscreen, 3-megapixel camera, 3G, full HTML browsing, a microSD slot, and the widget-tastic TouchWiz user interface. Unfortunately, it’s only EV-DO Rev. 0, so the data connection isn’t…
Bell, Rogers, and TELUS Complete Two-Way Video Call Trials
The big three Canadian carriers have just completed interoperability tests for two-way video calling, which had previously been limited to only those who were on the same network. The standardization will also allow Canadians to make video calls outside the country. Bell and TELUS first began offering video calling when they announced the launch of…
Hi, I’m Marin and I’ll be your editor
I thought it would be prudent to do a proper introduction as I’m the new guy and you’ll be seeing my mug around here a lot. I’m a tech reporter who’s written about mobiles for InformationWeek, CNET, Androinica, Know Your Cell and various other sites. I’ve spent a ton of time thinking about smartphones and…
AT&T tops 3G speed test
It looks like AT&T’s network upgrades are paying off, as the carrier’s 3G network bested Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon in PCWorld’s 13-city mobile data test. The report said AT&T’s download speeds were 67 percent faster on average than its competitors, with an average download speed of 1410 kbps and 773 kbps upload. This is a…