Mobile

AT&T;: Ban on unlocking phones won't affect our customers

AT&T said today that its customers shouldn't fear the law against unlocking phones because the carrier will do the unlocking for them.

As part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the Library of Congress has ruled it illegal for people to unlock their own phones, a decision that has irked consumer advocacy groups and prompted a petition to the White House to throw out the ban. The law, however, won't have any effect on AT&T customers, the company said in a blog post today.

"While we think the Librarian's careful decision was … Read more

Facebook phone rumors resurface with HTC Myst specs

Freshly leaked details for an upcoming HTC Myst seem to confirm rumors of a new "Facebook phone."

Specifications obtained by Unwired View line up nicely with previous chatter for the so-called Facebook smartphone. Reportedly, HTC and AT&T will again collaborate on an Android smartphone targeted at Facebook addicts. It's still unclear, however, how soon such a device would arrive on store shelves.

Hardware details for the HTC Myst apparently include a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor, 1GB RAM, and 16GB of internal storage. Additionally, the handset could feature a 4.3-inch 720p HD display, a … Read more

HTC scores patent victory over Nokia in Germany

HTC and Android have both emerged as victors in a patent squabble with Nokia in Germany.

The District Court of Mannheim ruled today that HTC did not violate two Nokia patents in question, according to the IDG News Service.

The two cases stem from last May, when Nokia filed lawsuits against HTC, BlackBerry, and Viewsonic, citing 45 different patent violations among the three sued companies. HTC has been seeking licensing fees from the three companies for using the technologies described in the patents.

Nokia had accused HTC of infringing on its EP0812120 patent, which details a "method for using … Read more

Judge: We can't rely on what Apple tells court in privacy suit

Apple must detail for a court what it's doing to produce documents in a privacy suit, a judge ruled, saying he has already "refereed" this particular dispute and that he can no longer believe what the company tells him.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal issued the order March 6 after the plaintiffs in the case accused Apple of withholding documents it had been ordered to turn over. He noted that while the plaintiffs "presented to the court little more than suspicions that Apple has withheld responsive documents," Apple provided enough evidence on its … Read more

Foxconn won't be investing in Sharp after all, report says

It looks like Foxconn won't be investing in Sharp after all, according to a new report from an Asian newspaper.

The two companies, which have been talking to revise an earlier agreement, won't reach a new deal by a March 26 deadline, according to Reuters, citing an Asahi report. The publication said Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou informed Sharp's bankers that there'd be no deal this month but that he'd again consider an investment after Sharp creates a new business plan in the near future.

The Asahi newspaper didn't say where it got the information, … Read more

Apple, Samsung to offer wireless phone charging, claims report

Owners of the iPhone 5S or Galaxy S4 will be able to charge their phones wirelessly, claim the folks at DigiTimes.

Based on "industry sources," Taiwan-based DigiTimes said today that the next-generation iPhone will use wireless charging technology developed by Apple. But the sources couldn't say whether the phone would be built with the wireless charging feature or rely on an attached accessory.

Samsung's Galaxy S4 is expected to support the Qi wireless charging technology, which already is used by Nokia and other mobile vendors. The S4 may not include the capability itself but instead require … Read more

Android phones susceptible to freezing cold boot attacks

The next time you're looking for your misplaced Android smartphone, check the freezer. It's possible, however unlikely, that someone is trying to hack into your data using a new FROST attack method.

Researchers at Friedrich-Alexander University in Germany have learned that it is possible to access personal information on Android 4.0 smartphones using a chilling technique.

Called FROST, or forensic recovery of scrambled telephones, it amounts to placing the phone in temperatures of -15 Celsius for roughly 1 hour. After removing from a freezer, you must repeatedly power on and off the phone and hold down the … Read more

BlackBerry Z10 to hit AT&T; stores on March 22, report says

BlackBerry will put its flagship BlackBerry Z10 smartphone on sale on March 22 through AT&T, according to Bloomberg.

That will be the first day that the Z10 hits the U.S. market, Bloomberg reported, citing two unnamed sources.

Many are keen to see how well the BlackBerry Z10 does in the U.S., which is still BlackBerry's largest market and a key indicator of its long-term prospects. The company has so far had a good start in Europe and Canada, but the U.S. will be a major test of the resilience of the BlackBerry name.

There … Read more

Apple ups lead over Android among business users

The iPhone and iPad continue to outshine Android devices among businesses both large and small, says a report from cloud storage company Egnyte.

Among the 100,000 Egnyte customers tracked for the new report, iOS has carved out an increasingly higher share while Android's slice has dipped of late.

Egnyte sells online storage, file sharing, and other cloud-based services to businesses of all sizes. As such, the company is able to determine which mobile operating systems its customers use to access its services, which it did so for this latest report.

As described by TechCrunch, early data from Egnyte … Read more

The phone subsidy is paid off, so why is my monthly bill still high?

I've got news for you, Ask Maggie readers. The cell phone toting public in the U.S. has been hoodwinked into continuing to pay high service fees on devices even after we have paid for the devices in full.

Wireless operators tell us their expensive early termination fees are to recoup the subsidy paid for our phones if we leave the service before our contracts expire. That may be so. But why doesn't the price of our monthly services get reduced once that subsidy is paid? This is the question I answer in this edition of Ask Maggie. … Read more