Smartphones

GADGET DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES

Gadget Ogling: Strange Cameras, Fast Charges, Racing Robots

HTC is stepping so far out of the box with the RE Camera, it's almost as if there was never a box to begin with. Instead of making us stare through a viewfinder, this minimalist device almost demands a return to older forms of photography, while still taking advantage of modern technology. It looks ...

HTC on Thursday debuted two new products for photography enthusiasts. One offering, the RE, is an L-shaped camera that doesn't have a viewfinder. The other is a new smartphone, the Desire Eye, which boasts a 13-megapixel front-facing camera for high-resolution selfies. With RE, HTC appears to be tar...

"Is that a phablet in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?" That may be the modern-day equivalent of the famous quip, thanks to the arrival of Apple's 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus. With its increased size and flexibility, the device not only has kicked off the "Bendgate" scandal, but also may be ...

Apple on Thursday closed a gap in its efforts to combat mobile device theft with the announcement of a service for checking the Activation Lock status of its iPhone, iPad and iPod product lines. The Find My iPhone Activation Lock requires that an owner's Apple ID and passcode be entered into an iOS ...

Microsoft on Tuesday pulled back the veil on the successor to Windows 8 -- Windows 10. Windows 10 is a combination of the best elements of the popular Windows 7 OS, along with some of the touchscreen-friendly features and functionality of Windows 8. Microsoft also kicked off its largest-ever open co...

If you haven't yet taken the iOS 8 plunge, you may not know what you're missing. True, iOS 8 has the familiar iOS 7 look and feel, but it's chock full of both new and improved features and functionality. And it's free. Some of the new features evoke a sigh of relief -- we've been waiting for these, ...

Think iOS 8 is just an expanded version of iOS 7? Take a closer look, and you might think again. For owners of iPhone models from the 4s to the 6 Plus, Apple has introduced not only improvements to familiar features but some altogether new -- and cool -- functionality. Best of all, it's all free. Th...

Apple's iOS 8 is a free upgrade for iPhone owners who have an iPhone 4s up to the new behemoth iPhone 6 Plus. On the surface, iOS 8 looks a lot like iOS 7, but when you begin tapping down into it, there are dozens of new features and tweaks. Most everyone can find a few new features they can put to ...

GADGET DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES

Gadget Ogling: Smart Wine, Wooly Sound and a Clever Light Bulb

I give LG a little flak for constantly releasing new smartphones, but here's one with a twist. LG is pegging the Wine Smart as its first flip-style smartphone. Yes, the compact style is back, only this time its fuel is Android, instead of whatever arcane OS manufacturers might dream up. I suspect t...

Apple on Thursday announced it's preparing iOS 8.0.2 -- which will include a fix for problems triggered by iOS 8.0.1 -- and plans to release it in the next few days. In a rare move, Apple on Wednesday suspended downloads of iOS 8.0.1, which aimed to fix problems uncovered after the launch of iOS 8.

When Apple -- which is clearly one of the world's best companies at design -- makes a misstep, it's amplified by a wild combination of user dismay and hater glee. Because there are millions of users and many haters, a design flaw can turn into an instant public relations tornado. Enter Bendgate, fea...

Another new Apple product, another "-gate" debacle. This time, it's bendgate. On the heels of the release of the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus handsets earlier this month has come an uproar over an unexpected weakness: In short, when stashed in a pocket of a tight pair of pants, the iPhone 6 Plus bends --...

BlackBerry on Wednesday officially launched its new square form factor smartphone, the Passport. This new handset has the size and shape of most national passports, which the company dubbed the "international symbol of mobility." The Passport is now available for $599 in an unlocked version, or abou...

Apple's Touch ID fingerprint scanner is a step up from passcodes for protecting iPhones, but it's far from totally secure, as a researcher showed on Monday. Lookout Mobile Security's Marc Rogers fooled Touch ID on Apple's new iPhone 6 by crafting a false fingerprint from a do-it-yourself forgery kit...

Hard on the heels of increased security measures in Apple's newly released iOS 8, Google this week confirmed that encryption will be turned on by default in the next release of Android. Android has offered encryption for more than three years, and keys are not stored off the device, so they can't be...

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