Andrew’s OtterBox Defender case (not pictured) for his iPhone 3Gs protects his phone tirelessly, but it’s seen better days. After using it for about a year, he noticed some ordinary wear problems with the case, including a missing headphone jack flap. When he contacted the company about their warranty requirements, they simply turned around and shipped him a new case. [More]
smartphones
Verizon Sells Me Phones That Don't Work, Won't Give Me One That Does
By 11.19.10
John bought a Droid in April, but the smartphone stopped working after a few months. He went in to get a replacement, touching off a bizarre chain of events that included an attempted upsell to an iPad. [More]
Why Does AOL Instant Messenger Mobile Use Text Messages Without Telling Me?
By 10.28.10
Heather tells Consumerist that has AOL Instant Messenger installed on her smartphone, but doesn’t really use it. Lately, she’s left the program running more often, and made an alarming discovery: she was charged for 800 text messages, even though she didn’t send 800 text messages. The culprit? AIM, of course. Each IM to and from her phone was charged as a text message. [More]
I Don't Want To Give Up My Droid X For Forced Switch To AT&T
By 10.22.10
Nick is one of the current Verizon customers whose contract has been transferred to AT&T due to Verizon’s acquisition of Alltel. He writes that he would be okay with this if AT&T actually offered a phone comparable to his current Droid X, and if he didn’t have to pay $200 for the sort-of-comparable phone they’re offering, the Samsung Captivate. [More]
MyTouch Finally Getting Android's Latest Update
By 10.18.10
T-Mobile MyTouch phone owners have felt like second-class Android citizens, having to sit back and listen to the bragging from Droid owners who have been enjoying the 2.2 version of the operating system — known as “Froyo” — for months. But Froyo, which adds speed, Flash support and tethering, has finally graced some MyTouches with its presence. [More]
Microsoft Reveals Its 'Me Too' Smartphone
By 10.12.10
Sick of not having a horse in the smart phone race, Microsoft has conjured up its own iDroidBerry, the Windows Phone 7. [More]
Sprint's Premium Data Plan For Samsung Epic Has Slower Upload Speeds Than Regular 3G Phones
By 9.20.10
Yesterday, the blog Explain the Fee noted that Sprint customers with the new Samsung Epic 4G, who have to pay an extra $10 a month for a premium data plan, are reporting upload speeds slower than phones they had 3 or 4 years ago–with upload limits seemingly capped at 150kps. [More]
Walmart's New Cellphone Plans Are Great If You Skip The Data
By 9.14.10
Yesterday, Walmart announced that starting next week it will offer a new wireless plan under its own brand, but running on T-Mobile’s network. The rates are good compared to national carriers: $45 per month for unlimited texting and minutes, and $25 per month for each additional line. There’s also no contract, and you pay the bill at the end of each month instead of loading up a pre-pay account. It’s one of the better family-style deals available, except for one thing: the data plans are actually more expensive than AT&T or T-Mobile. [More]
Day 5 Of Our Verizon Data Outage With No Explanation In Sight
By 9.8.10
Micah tells Consumerist that he and his wife just signed a new Verizon contract and bought new smartphones–a Droid X and a Droid Incredible. They’re both heavy smartphone users, but weren’t too worried about a recent data outage… until it stretched on for four days. Verizon can’t explain what suddenly went wrong, or fix the problem. This is sort of the opposite of the provider’s current “Rule the Air” ad campaign. [More]
Sony's Got A PlayStation Phone In The Works
By 8.12.10
Sony Ericsson has apparently got a heck of a digital rabbit inside its magic hat. Engadget reports the company is set to introduce a PlayStation phone, which will lack a keyboard but have a small touch pad in addition to controls much like that of a PSP Go. [More]
Verizon May Introduce Tiered Data Plans As Early As Next Week
By 7.21.10
One month ago, Verizon Wireless’s CFO hinted in an interview that the company might follow AT&T’s lead and replace unlimited data plans with tiered ones. Now Engadget is reporting that the switch might come on July 29th. Because this is just a rumor so far, there’s no word yet on whether Verizon will offer the same 200 MB / 2 GB split as AT&T or whether it will grandfather in existing unlimited customers. [More]
Apple Engineers Sleeping At Work To Fix Antenna Problem
By 7.17.10
When Steve Jobs says Apple, Inc. is going to “work our butts off” to solve the antenna problems on the iPhone 4, what he really means is… engineer slumber party! Bloomberg reports that Apple has moved cots into the engineering department, and cars have been in the parking lot overnight as the employees work on a fix. [More]
Steve Jobs: All Smartphones Have The Same Problem, But Here’s A Free Case
By 7.16.10
Mr. Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, has announced his solution to the iPhone 4 duct-tape-antenna-situation. Free case! Or a refund! [More]
Use This Chart To Pick The Best Smartphone
By 6.30.10
Lifehacker reader Apollo Clark has put together a matrix that compares seven of the most popular and/or feature-packed smartphones on the market, as well as the iPad for some reason. If you’re planning on trading up to a fancy new phone/multimedia device in the next couple of months, it’s worth checking out to see which phones best align with your wish list. [More]
Manufacturers To Market To You Via Messages Hidden In UPCs
By 6.22.10
Stickybits is a social network that combines your phone’s camera, a web connection, and UPCs to leave virtual notes and images scattered all around you like invisible sticky notes. The important question, as always, is can it be used to sell stuff? Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Campbell’s, Frito-Lay, and Ben & Jerry are all planning to find out in social media campaigns this summer, reports Brandweek. [More]
Verizon Wireless May Follow AT&T, Drop Unlimited Data Plans
By 6.22.10
When Verizon Wireless begins to introduce plans for its next generation data network later this year, don’t expect to see any all-you-can-eat unlimited offerings. In an interview with BusinessWeek, the company’s CFO said the company will likely have to change how it bills for data consumption as more data-hungry smartphones and apps enter the marketplace–and that means tiered data plans similar to the ones AT&T has introduced to help control data consumption. [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]
Sprint Charges A $10 Monthly Awesomeness Fee To Own The HTC EVO
By 6.9.10
The HTC EVO is a sophisticated and pretty sweet smartphone that runs on Android and is exclusive to Sprint. That’s all pretty normal. What isn’t normal is that Sprint is charging EVO owners a $10 fee above the cost of their normal data plan–an unlimited data plan–and no one at Sprint can really explain why. Promotional materials claim that the fee is for a “richer data experience with an advanced processor,” which makes no sense. They might as well call it an “awesome phone fee.” [More]
