Hey, you! Need a new smartphone? Or how about an e-reader? No? You’re all stocked up on electronics gadgets? Hmm. And here we have all these nifty devices to try to convince you that you absolutely must have. What’s a 2013 Consumer Electronics Show exhibitor to do? It seems this year’s CES is kind of a snoozefest because we’ve had most of our itch for electronics scratched by products already on the market. And that market, it’s a-saturated. [More]
smartphones
This Year’s Consumer Electronics Show Might Be A Yawn Because We’re Content With What We Have
By 1.8.13
Polaroid’s Fotobars Will Let You Print All Those Photos Of Feet & Cats From Your Smartphone
By 1.3.13
You might not be able to buy Polaroid film easily anymore, but the company is planning a comeback by way of all those photos of food, feet, pretty clouds and of course, cats that you take and store on your smartphone. Because the world should — nay, must! — see a visible display of your smartphone photo skills, Polaroid is launching a bunch of Fotobars so you can edit and print your mobile works of art. [More]
Here’s A Bunch Of Stuff That Might Actually Be Cheaper In The Months To Come
By 1.2.13
For lots of things you buy, the general trend is for prices to increase over time. But there are some things that forward-looking folks claim will drop in price — at least for a bit — in this, the year 2013 CE. [More]
Hyundai Testing Functionality That Would Let You Lose Your Car Keys And Your Phone At The Same Time
By 12.28.12
Don’t know about you, but if I’m going out somewhere, I often need to pad my schedule for the inevitable 3-minute hunt for either my keys and my phone (both of which were right here a second ago). Now the folks at Hyundai want to make it so people like me will only have to lose one device. [More]
Galaxy S3 Does Everything Better Except Stay Out Of Toilet; AT&T Saves The Day
By 12.26.12
April has always been pleased with AT&T’s customer service, but a recent experience delighted her so much that she just had to write to us and share the love. She upgraded to the Samsung Galaxy S3 from an iPhone 4S, and was very pleased with the new device, finding it vastly superior to the iPhone. One thing that the Galaxy isn’t better at, though, was staying out of her toilet. Her phone went “splash,” and she didn’t have $600 lying around to replace it. So she wrote to a selection of AT&T executives and made her case. [More]
Food Companies Have Figured Out How To Market To Kids: Smartphones, Duh
By 12.21.12
If you’re suddenly hearing things from your kids like, “Mommy, can I please have a [insert food item child has never, ever asked for before]?” just look at the piece of electronic gadgetry in your child’s hands. Food marketers have wised up to the fact that kids these days are getting smartphones younger and younger, and subsequently becoming glued to the devices early on. Ah, nothing like a captive audience to get your ad campaign across. [More]
Retail Managers: You’ll Get More Product Info From A Smartphone Than A Sales Associate
By 12.19.12
Times used to be, you had a question about a product and needed information about it, and you asked the sales associate at the store. But now it’s not just consumers who stay home to online shop who are finding the best information and prices about items they’re shopping for, even retail managers say customers in a store are better off turning to their smartphones to get info, rather than asking a sales associate for help. [More]
Report: Amazon Preparing To Debut Its Own Smartphone In 2013
By 12.18.12
Amazon already has big box stores scrambling to compete with its massive online business, and now it seems the company might be gearing up to terrify smartphone makers with its own device. A new report claims the retailer will be debuting a device sometime in the middle of next year. It’ll be manufactured by Foxconn and go for between $100-$200. [More]
Sprint Salesman Won’t Sell Me iPhone 4, Says My Fingers Are Too Fat
By 12.18.12
The salesperson at Alex’s local Sprint store really didn’t want to sell him an iPhone 4. That phone is old and stuff. Alex knew what he wanted to replace his broken phone: a free phone. Well, a subsidized upgrade with no out-of-pocket cost, anyway. He needed a new phone. He was broke. There was an upgrade on his account. He just wanted a working smartphone. So began the salesman’s campaign to get Alex to buy a Galaxy S III instead. [More]
iPhone 5 Case Does The Opposite Of What A Smartphone Case Is Supposed To Do
By 12.10.12
Ilya just got a new iPhone 5, and a $35 case from Incase to go along with it. The problem is that the case sort of did the opposite of what protective phone cases are supposed to do: it damaged his phone, instead of protecting it from damage. [More]
Has Your Nexus 4 Toppled To The Floor?
By 11.26.12 — Updated: 1.28.13
Blaine ordered the new LG-made Nexus 4 smartphone from Google. He really liked it…right up until the scratch-proof glass coating and curved back made it topple off a cloth-covered ironing board and onto the floor, shattering the screen. The bumper case that would have prevented this disaster is, of course, backordered. Consider yourselves warned, Nexus 4 owners. [More]
Sorry, You Can’t Buy Nexus Devices With Your $350 Google Play Store Credit
By 11.19.12
Michael’s plan seemed like a really great idea at the time he hatched it. He wanted to make sure that he would have the money for a Nexus 4 set aside, so he purchased $350 worth of credit for the Google Play store. The phone’s available for sale there, so this made perfect sense. Until the phone actually launched. When he could finally get through to place his order, he learned that Play Store credit specifically couldn’t be used on Nexus devices. Oh, no. [More]
Your Warm Little Smartphone Makes A Perfectly Cozy Incubator For Bacteria
By 10.23.12
Ladies and germs, you can wash your hands and refuse to touch the bathroom handle at work without a paper towel as often as you want, but you might be cradling a veritable incubator of bacteria right up to your face all day long anyway. Those warm little constant companions of ours, smartphones, could be spreading bugs nobody wants. [More]
It Gets Worse: Galaxy Nexus Takes 3.5 Months To Show Up Using 2-Day Shipping
By 10.23.12
Just a few hours ago, we shared Dan’s complaint about Google Play and its inability to ship him a phone. Jameson responded to our call for stories about Nexus orders gone wrong shortly afterward, sounding a little guilty: maybe he could have saved Dan and other customers all this trouble. See, he ordered a Galaxy back in July, and it took three and a half months and a lot of wrangling with Google to get it to show up. [More]
ATM Turns Those Old Electronics From Dust-Covered Clutter To Cold Hard Cash
By 10.23.12
Every time you get a new phone, what do you do with the old one? While some consumers do their due diligence and find a place to recycle their phones, old tablets and mp3 players, some of us just stick them on a shelf where they collect dust. A new machine called the ecoATM has come up with a way for people to dispose of their unwanted devices and get a little cash in the process. [More]
Apparently Stealing Smartphones Is A Thing We Need To Worry About Again
By 10.22.12
Although you can never be too careful, there was a time where it felt like it was okay to be a bit relaxed about someone stealing your phone. After all, basically anyone has access to some kind of relatively smart phone if they really want one, even if it’s not the one with the latest bells and whistles. But in some U.S. cities, smartphone robberies are on the rise again. [More]
Verizon’s iPhone 5 Math: Using The Same Amount Of Data Faster Counts As More Data
By 10.17.12
We keep hearing about a wi-fi bug that leads to iPhone 5 owners racking up huge data bills when they thought they weren’t on the mobile data network. When Matt contacted Verizon about it, the ever-helpful customer service representative told him that it was just because the iPhone 5 is a 4G LTE device. This is probably the cause of many data complaints that new smartphone users have, but isn’t the case for Matt. He says that he hasn’t changed his browsing habits: using the same amount of data in a shorter amount of time doesn’t mean that he uses more data. At least, not according to the math that everyone except Verizon uses. [More]
Banks Working On Linking Up Their Payment Systems To Make Person-To-Person Mobile Transfers Easier
By 9.12.12 — Updated: 9.8.16
The way younger generations are glued to their smartphones, there’s almost nothing they can’t do with the swipe of a touch screen. Old-fashioned things like writing checks or even paying a roommate with cash is such a bother to some, but yet transferring money to other people with apps hasn’t really caught on like the banking industry figured it would. That’s why the nation’s big four are discussing how they can link up their payment systems to make it easier for consumers to send money via mobile devices or even emails. [More]
