SMARTPHONE

After much speculation, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the first device in the U.S. to run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, will land on Verizon Wireless Thursday, December 15.

Mekeeda Austin, 13, wrote a letter to Santa asking for two items for Christmas this year: A BlackBerry smartphone and the real-life Justin Bieber. As ridiculous as these requests were, Austin went one step further; She told Santa, Remember...two of these, or you die.

Chipmaker Intel is combining four divisions under a new mobile and communications unit in a bid to catch up in smartphones and tablets, where it has so far failed to gain traction.

Apple's iPad 3 is rumored to be launching in February, but the holiday season is here now, so perhaps you should pick up a brand new Motorola Droid Xyboard 10.1 instead. While we can only speculate on what features the iPad 3 will have, we know exactly what we are getting with the Xyboard 10.1.

Apple fans are complaining about iPhone 4S' half-baked Siri, the personal, voice-controlled, intelligent assistant, prompting everyone to wonder when the technology giant will unveil iPhone 5 and what improved features it will carry.

Armed gang members who stole more than $3 million (£2million) in holiday spending money from the Dubai Royal Family while it was being loaded into a car are currently on trial.

Niels Munksgaard, Nokia Director of Portfolio, Product Marketing and Sales, apparently said in an interview with Pocket-lint on Tuesday that young people today have had enough of the iPhone and are confused by Android phones.

Long-Term Evolution (LTE), or sometimes called 4G, seems to be the new buzzword for all smartphones and carriers as it offers lightening fast internet speeds compared to the existing networks.

The highly anticipated Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the first smartphone to be launched with the new Android 4.0 operating system, also called Ice Cream Sandwich, has been released overseas and is rumored to be available in stores in the U.S. on Dec. 15.

Google's new Ice Cream Sandwich update for the Android mobile operating system has dozens and dozens of new features, so it's less of an update than an entire renovation. Some of the main selling points have been features like the Face Unlock facial recognition security feature and the (now cancelled by Verizon) option to use Google Wallet to turn your device into a debit card

Samsung Galaxy Nexus is coming to U.S. on Dec. 15, according to the latest rumor, which cites a Verizon store as saying.

Early adopters, this is the battle you've been waiting for. Samsung Focus S and HTC Titan are two of the best smartphones out there with the Microsoft system running their insides. Windows Phone 7 replaced Windows Mobile as Microsoft's mobile operating system in 2010. Now, with an updated 7.5 version, called Mango, the Windows Phone system is ready to duke it out with the likes of Android and Apple.

Goldman Sachs also predicts in a research note that Amazon will sell between 15.5 and 20.5 million Kindle Fire tablets in 2012, the product's first full year of availability and despite a likely release of Apple's newest tablet expected in 2012, the iPad 3.

No one could have ever imagined that a flock of 'angry' birds who are out on a vengeance will keep smartphone and tablet users so busy that its Finnish developer Rovio Mobile will be persuaded to launch different versions of the game.

The Chinese government has allowed the iPhone 4S to be sold in mainland China and could be in stores by mid-December in time to bring in big bucks for the Christmas holiday.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus, world's first smartphone to run on Android 4.0 aka. Ice Cream Sandwich, will hit Australia on Wednesday but there's no news from Verizon Wireless yet about the smartphone's U.S. launch date.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus is yet to hit U.S. shores officially but some lucky Android fans seem to have already acquired the highly anticipated Ice Cream Sandwich-powered smartphone from Best Buy and Verizon retail stores over the weekend.

Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) shares are expected to touch $70 in 2012 as it is poised to benefit from the strong demand for smartphones and tablets, and from increased spending on wireless infrastructure.

Raymond James has lowered its profit estimates of telecom giant AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), which is facing several regulatory roadblocks in its $39 billion deal to acquire T-Mobile USA, a subsidiary of Germany's Deutsche Telekom.

The highly anticipated Samsung Galaxy Nexus has been released in the UK, Japan and Canada, while customers in the United States have been eagerly awaiting its release. The latest Google Android phone will runs only on the Verizon network and is rumored to be hitting stores in U.S. on Dec. 15.

Microsoft Corp appointed a new head for its mobile phone software group on Monday, as the company continues to search for ways to extend its dominance in the PC market to the fast-growing and highly-competitive smartphone business.