Yahoo! News: Cellular Phones

Cellular Phones

• Nokia revises 2009 market share down to 34 pct (AP)

  AP - Nokia Corp. on Friday revised its global market share estimate for mobile phones in 2009 to 34 percent, from an earlier 38 percent, and said it expected no growth this year.

• Opera Mini 5 Beta Released for Android Phones (PC World)

  PC World - Do you want to try a different browser on your Android phone? The folks at Opera Software announced a beta version of the Opera Mini 5 browser that provides a PC-like browsing experience on smartphones and other handheld devices that run on the Android platform.

• Verizon Expects a 4G Smartphone Earlier Than Planned (NewsFactor)

  NewsFactor - Verizon Wireless hopes to debut its first 4G smartphone in the middle of next year, months earlier than planned, a company executive revealed Wednesday. The new handset will debut about three to six months after its Long-Term Evolution network launches, Verizon Wireless CTO Anthony Melone told The Wall Street Journal.

• Bing for Motorola's Android Phones Is a Bad Idea (PC World)

  PC World - If you like bloatware, you'll love the idea of Motorola pre-loading Bing services onto its Android phones in China. Otherwise, pray that the partnership between Motorola and Microsoft never comes stateside.

• Will Verizon 4G Mean the End of "All You Can Eat" Data? (PC World)

  PC World - Verizon Wireless expects to have its first 4G smartphone out by the middle of next year, but the subtext is you may end up paying more for your wireless data.

• Opera Mini 5 Released for Android-Powered Smartphones (NewsFactor)

  NewsFactor - Opera Software launched an Android version of the company's Opera Mini 5 mobile browser Thursday that promises to significantly improve page loading and speed on compatible smartphones. The beta release continues the company's campaign to increase the visibility of its browser on a global basis.

• Android Keeps Climbing in Mobile OS Share (PC Magazine)

  PC Magazine - Industry research firm comScore has unveiled the latest round of wireless industry numbers, and it's looking better and better for Google's smartphone OS.

• Opera rolls out mobile browser for Android (Reuters)

  Reuters - Opera Software unveiled on Thursday a version of its Mini mobile browser for use on cellphones running on Google's Android software.

• Motorola to Put Bing Search on Android Phones (PC World)

  PC World - Motorola will start loading Microsoft's search and map services onto its Android smartphones in China, bringing more non-Google services to the phones amid a row between Google and China.

• Prototype $200 Tablet Runs Android, Chromium OS, Linux (PC World)

  PC World - $200 tablet PCs have been something of a pipe dream. There was the Crunchpad, which was supposed to be $200, but that didn’t last very long, coming out as the $400 Joo Joo. If what Freescale showed off at Mobile World Congress becomes reality, though, the dream may finally come true.

• Hands On with Opera Mini for Android (PC Magazine)

  PC Magazine - Norway's Opera Software on Thursday launched the latest beta of its Opera Mini browser, Opera Mini 5, for the Android platform. We got our hands on the new beta and took it for a test drive.

• Android Dominates, Windows Mobile Plummets, iPhone Stagnant (PC World)

  PC World - The results are in from comScore for the most recent quarter for smartphone usage in the United States. With smartphone use up 18 percent over the previous quarter, topping 42 million users, Google's Android mobile operating system stands out as the dominant winner for this quarter.

• China Mobile investing $5.8B in Chinese bank (AP)

  AP - China Mobile Ltd., the world's biggest phone company by subscribers, said Wednesday it was investing $5.8 billion in a Chinese bank as part of a plan to develop mobile phone banking and business services.

• IBM, universities target easy-to-use cellphones (Reuters)

  Reuters - IBM has started a two-year research program that aims to make cellphones easier to use for groups including the elderly and the illiterate.

  
  

• 3G Buildouts Push up Mobile Network Investment (PC World)

  PC World - Mobile networks may not be getting upgraded as fast as some subscribers would like, but carrier spending on infrastructure is expected to rebound slightly this year after falling in 2009.

• LG Elec launches Android-based smartphone (Reuters)

  Reuters - LG Electronics Inc, the world's No. 3 mobile phone maker, on Wednesday launched a smartphone based on Google's Android operating system in South Korea, as it seeks to boost its relatively weak smartphone line-ups.

• Maine gov cool to cell phone health warnings bill (AP)

  AP - As a proposal to require health warnings on cellular phones got a fresh legislative review Tuesday, Gov. John Baldacci made clear his opposition but stopped short of threatening a veto.

• Android native development kit updated (InfoWorld)

  InfoWorld - Developers of the Google-backed Android mobile application platform have released revision 3 of Android NDK (Native Development Kit), which complements Android SDK by enabling developers to build performance-critical portions of an application in native code.

• NFL signs mobile phone deal with Verizon Wireless (Reuters)

  Reuters - The NFL has signed a four-year agreement with Verizon Wireless to show live games and highlights on mobile phones in a deal U.S. media reported was worth $720 million.

• Report: Google Working On Android-Based Set-Top Box (PC World)

  PC World - Google has teamed up with Dish Network to offer a set-top box based on the Android operating system, the Wall Street Journal reports. The box is said to be operated via a keyboard and will serve YouTube videos straight to a TV set.