Samsung Note annotates tablet lineup
Samsung has introduced a new tablet, a new smartphone and a combination of the two – the Galaxy Note – at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin.
Samsung said the Note represented a new category with its 5.3in HD Super Amoled display, ignoring the fact that Dell has been unsuccessful with a 5in Android device – discontinuing the Dell Streak last month. Read more
Motorola Photon takes 4G honours
I felt a bit of a simpleton for loving the kickstand on the HTC Evo 4G more than many of its far more sophisticated features, but such love is more justified with the new Motorola Photon. You see, rather than just propping up the device to watch video on an airline tray table, this 4G Android smartphone has an “intelligent” kickstand, which means it can do rather more. Read more
Smartphones infused with superpowers
The Samsung Infuse is the thinnest 4G phone to appear, with the biggest screen and deserves membership of this year’s superphone category of more advanced smartphones. Qualifications for entry into those ranks can be 4G, dual-core processors, bigger, better screens or the debut of major new features. This week’s Personal Technology column in the FT’s Business Life section looks at the Infuse’s qualities and those of Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Play and the Motorola Atrix 4G. Read more
If consumers like iPad-like devices, and they also like smartphones, what could be even better than a Padfone?
That was the thinking at Asus, which on Monday unveiled its latest invention ahead of the Computex trade show. Read more
Martians – at least the popular science-fiction kind – might have felt quite at home at the annual Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona this week. Google’s green Android robot was everywhere and almost all of the new smartphone and tablet devices that I came across were running one of the Android family of operating systems. Read more
Atrix 4G laptop has smartphone behind it
Smartphone makers have been claiming for some time that their products are becoming as powerful as PCs, but with its new Atrix 4G phone, Motorola is actually proving its point by turning it into a laptop. I have been trying the Atrix 4G for the past week, most of the time docking it to a screen-and-keyboard laptop accessory that uses the guts of the Atrix for processing, memory and internet connectivity. The combination is unusual, but on the whole, works well and is being offered by AT&T in the US in an attractive package deal. Read more
First impressions of Sony Ericsson’s ‘PlayStation phone’
Tonight at the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, Sony Ericsson has finally unveiled the Xperia Play – colloquially known as the ‘PlayStation phone’ after months of leaks and rumours online. Read more
INQ finally unveils its Facebook phone
So, the Facebook phone is finally here. Or at least, the device which seems to have sparked all the speculation: the INQ Cloud Touch, nine months in development, and its qwerty-keyboard cousin, the Cloud Q. Read more
Kyocera Echo:Twice as nice?
Smartphones – except the iPhone until relatively recently – have always had the capability to ‘multitask’ – run more than one application at the same time.
This comes in useful if you want to switch between applications quickly, or if you want to jump from one to another without having to close the first down. Read more
HTC Inspire 4G phone – video review
Taiwanese handset maker HTC began 2011 with an announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas of three flavours of 4G phones for the leading operators in the US. The Thunderbolt should appear on Verizon’s LTE network by the spring, Sprint’s Wimax network will feature the Evo Shift and AT&T ‘s HSPA+ network has the Inspire from February 13. I have been testing the Inspire, which is very similar to the Desire HD, available in Europe and Asia. Read more
| About this blog | Blog guide |
Richard Waters has headed the FT's San Francisco bureau since 2002 and covers Google and Microsoft, among other things. A former New York bureau chief for the FT, he is intrigued by Silicon Valley's unique financial and business culture, and is looking forward to covering his second Tech Bust.
Chris Nuttall has been online and messing around with computers for more than 20 years and since 2004 has reported from the FT's San Francisco bureau on semiconductors, video games, consumer electronics and all things interwebby.
Maija Palmer has been writing about technology for the FT since 1999 and is fascinated by cybercrime, privacy and all the other issues of the information society. Based in London, she covers European tech companies and hopes that they won't all get acquired by American rivals.
Robin Kwong is the FT's technology, media and telecoms page editor in London. Formerly he was the Taipei correspondent and wrote about the companies that manufacture the vast majority of the world's computers and gadgets. He is interested in the intricacies of the technology supply chain and how China is increasingly changing the tech landscape.
Tim Bradshaw is the FT's digital media correspondent, and has just moved from London to join our team in San Francisco. He has covered start-ups such as Twitter and Spotify, as well as the online ambitions of more established media companies, such as the BBC iPlayer. He also covers the advertising, marketing and video-game industries. Tim has been writing about technology, business and finance since 2003.
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