As mobile experts, we do everything we can to look at every new device subjectively. You may hear us cracking jokes on a live show or voicing our personal opinions in editorials. But when it becomes time to get serious, when it's review time, we look at a phone (or tablet) from not only our own perspective, but as many others as possible – the perspective of the target demographic, the perspective of the general consumer, the standpoint of a power user, a modder or even a first-time buyer. We all look at a new phone differently. When we pull it out of the box and tear the plastic off, ...

It was difficult not to be impressed with Sony at CES. In fact, it's hard not to be impressed with the company now. It didn't necessarily steal the show in Las Vegas this year, but it was definitely among the several companies that made some rather large waves at the trade show that is less and less about mobile technology each year. At CES 2013, Sony unveiled a host of new consumer electronics. Among those new products were two new phones, the Sony Xperia Z and Xperia ZL, both of which quickly turned some heads. The two flagships from Sony offered all of the best specifications every ...

Google Glass is the latest consumer electronics product from Google -- though you can't buy it just yet. More than hardware, Google makes a lot of money from selling advertising space. A lot of money.  You'll see ads when you look at search results, on websites that have partnered with the search giant, in Maps -- all over the place. It's not quite as bad as some originally thought -- they never released a "free phone" paid for entirely with advertisements like some had predicted. Google has kept the same model they introduced with smartphones on tablets, televisions, and other products ...

Android is such a complex robot. You know, I still find it funny when trolls use the phrase "Android is open" without really understanding what's really open and who really gets benefited from this in the Android ecosystem. I'll tell you this much, the last person to get anything out of it is you as a customer, and that’s rather shameful considering that you’re paying for the phone or tablet. I'll give you a quick example: If you wanted to buy an HTC One right now, it won't be cheaper than a Nokia Lumia 920, and I'm even considering the date that the Lumia 920 was launched. Why is ...

You're not going to see it advertised on billboards or during your favorite television program. Your local cell phone store isn't going to tell you about it either. It's something quite remarkable, and something that even the mighty Google couldn't do. Let's get some background under our belts, shall we? GSM is a wonderful technology. It has opened the world to mobile communications. That's basically what the acronym stands for -- Global System for Mobile Communications, originally Groupe Spécial Mobile. Using systems based on this technology, a subscriber can place their "identity ...

Sometimes you have a feeling that grows on you so gradually that it's hard to pinpoint just when you finally became acutely aware of it; you have the dim sense that your clothes aren't fitting as well as they used to, and then one day it finally clicks – you got fat. I've been writing about Windows Phone for years now, and while it's sure felt like a lot of what I've been sharing with you has been about Nokia, it's only recently started to register with me just to what extent Nokia's been dominating the platform. That's been especially clear in 2013, as while we got a single new Huawei ...

I need a beer, and I'm sure many of you need a drink as well. If this was five years ago, I'd be by my second pack of cigarettes, and it has to do with how furious I am right now. Let me explain why: For starters, I wish I could express in words how long it took me to love Android. My first device was a Google Nexus One, and man, even though I started off at the right foot, it rarely ever felt that way. What a gorgeous phone and what a great experience overall, as long as I didn't turn it on. Froyo and Gingerbread were just stale and cartoony no matter how much I tried to love the device. ...

One billion is a large number. If you had a billion one dollar bills and lined them up end-to-end, you could give them to me and I'd retire tomorrow.  Seriously though, you could wrap them around the Earth at the equator -- almost four times. One billion is a very large number. Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt, is pretty optimistic about Android. One would imagine that any CEO of any company would be relatively optimistic about whatever their employer produced. In this case, it's a little more than simple optimism. Eric Schmidt thinks that Android is on track to surpass one billion units ...