SMARTPHONE

Panasonic Corp, which has warned it will post a $5.5 billion annual loss, will launch a smartphone in Europe next year, the latest Japanese maker to tiptoe late into a fiercely competitive market dominated by Samsung and Apple.

Asus followed up their criminally under-hyped Eee Pad Transformer with the Eee Pad Transformer Prime, and it's primed to knock the Galaxy Tab 10.1 out of the top iPad contender spot. Galaxy Tab 10.1 brought us the Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system back in June. Even then it was challenged by the Eee Pad Transformer, except nobody ever heard of Asus, and Samsung is a name brand

With the millions of iPhones, BlackBerrys and Androids sold in the U.S., the massive demand for data use is far exceeding the supply of spectrum - the range of all possible frequencies through which signals can be transmitted.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus fans in U.S. might be jealous of those in Canada as even though Verizon hasn't confirmed the U.S. release date, the smartphone has already hit stores in Canada, thanks to Virgin Mobile and Bell.

AT&T, the second largest U.S. wireless carrier, is on track to smash record smartphone sales in the fourth quarter as the company revealed on Wednesday that it has already sold six million smartphones in the first two months.

The battle between smartphones with near identical specifications is getting more intense day-by-day. Among those phones with similar features are the HTC Vivid and the LG Nitro HD. However, the Nitro HD outshines the Vivid, with a dual-core 1.5 GHz processor and its True HD AH-IPS display.

Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson said one of the desired reinvention fields of Apple co-founder, including television and textbooks, was photography. With the line between digital camera and smartphone blurring everyday, here comes a conceptual iPhone accessory that can transform your iPhone 5 (yes, you heard it right) into a snazzy, uber-cool, super-smart digital camera.

U.S. telecom giant AT&T, Inc. (NYSE:T) said it sold about 6 million smartphones in the first two months of the fourth quarter and expects to break the previous single-quarter smartphone sales record of 6.1 million, thanks mainly to Apple iPhone 4S.

Google Inc. is preparing to celebrate its 10 billionth download on the Android Market with a 10-day promotional offer that will see ten apps on sale for $0.10 throughout the offer period.

HTC Thunderbolt was Verizon's first 4G phone and Droid Razr is the newest entry in that category. Perhaps this isn't a fair fight, but given the Razr is double the price of Thunderbolt, perhaps there is room enough for Thunderbolt to pull off the upset.

Verizon might delay the launch date of Samsung Galaxy Nexus, one of the most anticipated Android smartphones this year, beyond Dec. 9, a move that could leave Android fans who are looking forward to using Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0 OS) speechless.

AT&T's Web site lists the HTC Vivid at $100 on contract and the LG Nitro HD at $150, and both devices have 4.5-inch screens to go along with AT&T's new LTE network. They both also feature eight megapixel cameras with 1080p video capture and speedy dual-core processors. While the Vivid is only a few weeks old, the Nitro is brand new, and just squeaks past the Vivid on a few key items

There will be no Google Wallet on Verizon’s upcoming smartphone Galaxy Nexus as the largest U.S. wireless service provider has blocked the mobile-payment application because of the security concerns.

A new, advanced component is expected to heat up the smartphone market and reduce the gap between digital camera and smartphone camera.Soon, consumers will not need to carry a digital camera separately for taking high-quality pictures, thanks to Sharp, which has unveiled the world's thinnest CMOS camera module with optical image stabilization for smartphones.

With news that Google Chrome is honing in on Internet Explorer for Web browsing dominance, now is a good time to see if Apple or Android has a better Web browsing system in place. Google Chrome is actually not used in the Android mobile operating system. However, Apple does use its Safari browser for its iOS devices. The Android Web browser doesn't have a name.

Research In Motion has unceremoniously dumped the BBX brand name it had chosen two months ago for its new BlackBerry operating system after a U.S. court embarrassed the beleaguered smartphone maker by slapping a temporary ban on its use.

The LG Nitro HD smartphone, made available on AT&T's networks on Sunday, is expected to face immense pressure from Samsung's Galaxy S2 Skyrocket, which, along with the HTC Vivid will be the first AT&T 4G LTE-capable smartphones.

Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ:RIMM) is said to have delayed the launch of its first BlackBerry 10 OS-run London smartphone by at least 3 months.

HTC Corp has no plans for now to change its fourth-quarter sales guidance, as shares in the world's No.4 smartphone maker tumbled nearly 7 percent on Wednesday on worries that a 30 percent drop in monthly sales may point to worse times ahead.

It's not a matter of if, but when the last big project from Steve Jobs will reach the hand of consumers. The debate varies from spring to summer or even fall, but most every qualified observer agrees -- the iPhone release date is coming in 2012. Among the best bets is an early summer unveiling with release soon to follow, keeping in Apple's release tradition that was broken with the iPhone 4S because the product simply wasn't ready yet.

Wireless service provider Verizon Wireless will not include Google Inc's payments app Google Wallet on its latest smartphone Galaxy Nexus this month, The Wall Street Journal said.