ANDROID

Following success in the United States, Starbucks will introduce its mobile payment app for more than 700 stores across the United Kingdom and Ireland beginning next month.

Ice Cream Sandwich will debut before the end of the year, but features like the Android Beam and a zero shutter lag camera may not be enough to get iPhone users to adopt the popular mobile operating system. For starters, the new system will only be available on the Galaxy Nexus when it launches.

Amazon's Kindle Fire might end up being one of the most wanted items of the holiday season, and not just for tablets. It's $200 price tag has people's attention, but Kindle Fire is not like many of the tablets out there now. The Android tablet world has long suffered from comparisons to the iPad because iPad was the first tablet computer.

When the Apple iPad 3 hits the shelves next year, there could be several tablets that severely undercut its $500 price, but, until then, there are really only a few tablets that you would want to pick up to tide you over.

Keyboard lovers can begin their mass exodus from the Motorola Droid 3 with the debut of Samsung's Captivate Glide from AT&T. T-Mobile's MyTouch 4G Slide has been out for a few months, and its keyboard is one of the best, but it goes for $200 with a two year contract.

Droid Bionic preceded the Razr by only a few months, but it's already been out-muscled by its newer, faster, thinner more expensive big brother. Both devices are exclusive to Verizon and they are two of the most expensive devices out there.

Many new Android smartphones have come out in the past two months, and several more will debut this shopping season, but the ten best are right here. From the Droid 3 to Galaxy S2 to the Droid Razr and Rezound, all the major releases are here, but there might be a few surprises too.

The smartphone market is seeing a rapid growth as new devices are being released every now and then. Apart from the advanced specifications, the manufacturers are increasing the screen size of smartphones.

Every year Black Friday brings many limited time offers and so called door-buster deals to shoppers around the U.S., but this year, the best deal is the $100 iPhone 4. Once the iPhone 4S came out, the iPhone 4 price dropped to $100 and it might be the best smartphone deal out there.

Samsung's Galaxy Nexus could go on sale in the U.S. in the next week, and when it does, it will mark the beginning of the Android 4.0 era. Android 4.0, nicknamed Ice Cream Sandwich, is more than just a software update because Google has added many new features and even changed some of the basic functions that run so many smartphones out there.

Samsung Galaxy s2-iPhone 4s comparison has competitor hitting back in the funniest Ad to hit TV in a long time.

Barclays Capital said its research still points toward Apple Inc. continuing to innovate in the iPad category with an iPad 3 launching in the March 2012 timeframe with an HD screen, Siri integration and a faster processor.

A few common thoughts to consider before you buy.

Samsung has released a 4G version of their ever expanding line of tablet computers, and the Galaxy Tab 8.9 is now on the AT&T network for just under $500 with a two year contract. Compared to the BlackBerry PlayBook, the Tab 8.9 looks to be superior because it's larger, is 4G enabled and runs the Android system.

Motorola's Droid Razr has been out for a couple weeks now, and if you're still on the fence, here are 10 things you need to know about the device before buying. First, it costs $300 with a new two year contract from Verizon.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion and Spanish telecom Telefonica are teaming up to test a payment system that turns a mobile phone into an electronic wallet and identity card, the companies said on Wednesday.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus Prime fans had braced themselves for the leaked Dec.8 release date on the Verizon Wireless networkbut , a new Best Buy ad featuring the phone points to an earlier release date on Sunday.

BlackBerry's PlayBook in on back order from Best Buy because the price has been dropped to just $200, but for this weekend only, another tablet computer is being offered for just $200, the Motorola Xoom. Verizon is selling the 10-inch Xoom tablet at a subsidized price because it comes with a two year data contract. Xoom runs the Android system, has front and rear-facing cameras and is both Wi-Fi and 4G enabled.

Facebook is said to be teaming up with smartphone maker HTC to develop an Android based phone codenamed Buffy. But there is also a rumor (started by an industry analyst) that Amazon is poised to get itself into the smartphone business, possibly one running the Microsoft system. These two Internet powerhouses could be facing off in the smartphone arena if Buffy and the Kindle Phone come to fruition.

Apple will displace Hewlett-Packard as the world's top PC maker in early 2012, Canalys estimates. The report lumped tablet sales in with PC sales, arguing that tablets have redefined the personal computer.

When the Galaxy Nexus debuts, it will feature a voice typing function that allows for writing emails, texts or any kind of writing to be done with the human voice. Samsung's Galaxy S2 has this type of feature already, as does the iPhone 4S. But those two devices also talk back, with iPhone 4S' Siri being the most capable in that area.