Cellular Trendz

AT&T’s network capacity is strained
AT&T’s networks have become more efficient than they used to be (remember the chaos that ensued when the first few generations of iPhones came out and the network was over-burdened in large cities?), meaning it delivers more bandwidth over the same infrastructure and spectrum. Even so, as Bloomberg Businessweek points out, they’ve sold so many [...]

Used cell phones for price comparisons
The number of people using their mobile phones to compare product prices while shopping is soaring. A new report shows half of smart phone and tablet users utilize the practice to wield greater control over the purchase process. The most mobilized of shoppers, the Mediapost story on the GfC report says, “are leveraging their device [...]

Smart phone screens getting bigger and bigger
Last time we wrote about the ever-increasing size of smart phone screens, a 4-inch diameter was considered pretty sizeable. Not anymore. Says this Computer World piece, that’s just the beginning. Samsung’s Galaxy S II smart phone, one of the biggest challengers to the iPhone, is 4.3 inches, and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is 4.6 inches. The new HTC [...]

Social networking on smart phones outpaces gaming
We’ve noticed that the people who spent years mocking “gamers” have now succumbed to games’ online cousins: social networking. Even our Aunt Ada, never a fan of anything electronic, can’t wait to get home to check out what’s happening on Facebook, and once she gets the app on her iPhone, watch out! Who knows if [...]

iPhone drives wireless subscribers to Verizon
Remember when AT&T was the only carrier that allowed you to have a iPhone? Ah, the memories of being shackled to the company’s over-burdened network rife with dropped calls and wobbly signals. We knew folks who were counting down the days until they could jump ship and go to Verizon. And a lot did. The [...]

Learning requires play, and digital apps are following the data
Along with happiness research, another growing field seems to be the science of play. According to experts, children – and even adults – often learn more readily when what they’re doing is more like play than work. Enter a new generation of digital gadgets designed to help kids learn as they play. At the recent [...]

Paying with smart phones to become norm by 2020
Rarely pay your electric bill – or buy a pack of M&Ms — on your iPhone? According to more than two-thirds of technology insiders, that will change by 2020, when most consumers will pay their bills with smart phones instead of with cash and credit cards. That was the result of a survey released last [...]

“Wearables” are coming to a store near you!
Ever joked around about how someday soon, we’ll all have cellular devices – or at least microchips — implanted in our arms? Well, the following trend is yet another example of how close we’re getting to that kind of sci-fi reality. According to this story in All Things D, there’s an array of tiny gadgets [...]

Wireless industry breaks recycling record
On a recent night, a group of friends gathered at a mountain house and celebrated the last weekend of ski season. They were drinking copious amounts of beer, and someone mentioned the necessity of recycling the bottles. Someone else said, “Whatever – I recycle more every day than you guys do in a month.” Far [...]

Cell phones are piling up in landfills – along with toxic chemicals
Smart phones are the most popular consumer electronic product and that’s only growing as more and more people become wireless users each year. And, as wireless users replace their phones with new ones at an increasingly rapid rate – in search of the ever-more-sophisticated smart phone – the number of phones going to landfills is [...]