Brian was really excited to open up and play with his new toy, an unlocked phone that he ordered on sale from Newegg. But the box arrived on his doorstep and…. no phone. The bluetooth headset that he had ordered was there, but not the phone. He grew impatient with Newegg’s investigation when the missing phone wasn’t his fault, and managed to get their customer service to do the right thing and get the phone into his hand, at the sale price. Only neither of their promised refunds–of the original purchase price, and of the difference between the original price and what Brian paid for the replacement phone–have come through. [More]
phones
The Case Of The Newegg Investigation, The Missing Refund, And The Vanishing Unlocked Phone
By 5.23.12
Ways To Minimize Cell Phone Radiation Exposure
By 6.1.11
If you’re freaked out by the World Health Organization’s announcement that cell phones are possibly carcinogenic to humans, you should know that there are measures you can take to minimize your exposure to radiation without abandoning your beloved electronic leash. [More]
AT&T Has $6 Billion Bet Riding On T-Mobile Merger
By 5.13.11
AT&T must be pretty sure that its much-criticized proposed merger with T-Mobile will go through, because if regulators block the deal it will be out $6 billion. [More]
Phone Tips For People Who Hate Phones
By 4.9.11
For people who’d rather live their lives by email and text messages, pressure to participate in actual phone calls can be an unreasonable burden. Lifehacker offers valuable tips to neutralize the annoyances phones can foist upon you: [More]
T-Mobile Store Can't Explain Why You Can't Have This Deal: You Just Can't
By 1.13.11
Kevin and his wife tried to take advantage of a buy one smartphone, get one free promotion that T-Mobile e-mailed them about. At the time, Kevin was at the end of his contract and eligible for a full upgrade. His wife was a few months away from her full upgrade, but willing to pay a fee to replace her non-working phone. Because Kevin’s wife wasn’t yet eligible, the local store refused to honor the promotion, even after corporate intervened. [More]
How I Stopped Verizon From Swallowing My $100 Rebate
By 12.30.10
The Verizon computer nearly tricked Joshua out of a $100 rebate with some mathematical Three-Card Monte, but he made like a human calculator and stood firm, arguing his way into getting the fair price. [More]
Skype Outage Leaves Millions Searching For Landlines
By 12.22.10
No, it’s not just you. A Skype “supernode” outage has left millions of users without access to the popular Internet phone service. According to company engineers, the problem may last a few more hours, and video calling may not be available until even later. [More]
Keep Your Small Dog Info To Yourself; The Person Calling You Doesn't Need To Know
By 9.13.10
Here’s a weird possible scam going around. Our reader Chris writes, “Every day for the past week, I’ve been getting an automated call that asks me, ‘This is Survey 2010. Do you have a small dog?'” [More]
Radio Shack Screws Up My Pre-Order, Threatens To 'Burn' My Gift Card
By 9.3.10
Corey pre-ordered a phone at RadioShack, placing a whopping $50 down on the handset of his dreams. Once the phone came in, the clerk couldn’t find a way to sell him the phone without charging an extra $200. When Corey withdrew his order, the clerk told him he’d “burn” the $50 gift card as a result. [More]
Call Phones For Free Through Gmail
By 8.25.10
Gmail is rolling out a new service that will let you call phones in the US and Canada for free right from your email. [More]
Simple Mobile Unlimited Data Plan Is Of Course Secretly Limited
By 7.26.10
Simple Mobile, a reseller of T-Mobile cellphone service, offers a $60 “unlimited everything” plan that includes unlimited data. To no one’s surprise, there is a hard cap on the unlimited data according to Howard Forums and our tipster Eric. Naturally you can’t find that limit anywhere on their website, and if you exceed it you’re asked to pay $10 for an additional 100 MB of data. [More]
What Are The Best Smartphone Apps For Motorists?
By 6.30.10
Maybe I can’t play Plants vs. Zombies while I drive (or maybe I can!*), but that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of useful apps for the average driver. In its August issue, Consumer Reports reviews a bunch of apps for motorists, both free and paid, that promise to help you remember maintenance dates, get the correct info after an accident, or find your car in a big parking lot. [More]
Palm Holds Fire Sale, Almost All Apps Half Off
By 6.21.10
Palm, which is a smartphone company that is not Apple, has halved the prices of almost all apps in its U.S. app store until July 9th. Although I called it a fire sale, mocoNews thinks maybe it’s a way for HP to “say that Palm devices are here to stay.” Either way, if your phone uses Palm’s webOS then this is a great time to pick up some apps at a big discount. [More]
Microsoft Takes Back Its Naughty Ad For The Kin
By 4.17.10
Perhaps in an effort to show that the iPhone isn’t the only super sexy young hip fun phone out there, Microsoft had a bit of a misstep recently with a commercial for the Kin that seemed to promote sexting, the act of sending graphic content via camera phones (aka the ultimate fear of teenagers’ parents everywhere). [More]
Don't Believe The Phone Call That Says Your Card Has Been Deactivated
By 3.22.10
Nick received an automated call from some scammy outfit this morning that told him his debit card had been deactivated. The scam looks simple enough, but it’s probably worth looking at as a reminder to others. [More]
Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 Causing Developers To Ditch Projects
By 2.18.10
For some developers of mobile phone applications, Monday’s announcement of Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 7 software may mean putting an end to their slates of in-the-works projects. [More]
AT&T Stuck My Girlfriend With A Data Plan She Didn't Want
By 2.16.10
David says he lent his girlfriend an old smart phone, then AT&T forced her into a data plan for which she had no desire. A story on Endgadget proves he is not alone. [More]
Google Not Done Yet With Direct-To-Consumer Phones, According To Motorola
By 1.28.10
Motorola told its investors today that it’s working on building an Android phone for Google to sell directly to consumers alongside the HTC-built Nexus One. There are no other details yet, other than that it should be released in 2010, according to Motorola’s co-CEO Sanjay Jha. [More]
