Sometimes, you push obligations back for too long and they just pile up, week after week after week, until they never get done. Well, when we started the Pocketnow Weekly technology podcast just over one year ago, we decided that listener mail -your mail- was going to be a big part of it, and it's consistently added flavor to the show. But the last few weeks have been so packed with news that we've been forced to neglect our listener mailbag - much to the justified consternation of some of our loyal writers-in. So today, we're finally making good on a long-held debt: we're devoting an ...

MWC 2013 was crazy and boy do we have video to prove it! If you think it all goes right on the first take, you'd be surprised. Sure we could just get tongue-twisted, continue talking, and make our videos just like everybody else's, but we strive to make each of our videos worthy of the time you invest in watching them. Sometimes we get it right the first time, sometimes after the third or second try, and some footage just misses the final cut completely because it was plain-out terrible! In our third episode of Pocketnow Bloopers we focus on some of our fun moments at MWC 2013. Yes, it got ...

Watch today's Pocketnow Daily as we talk about Samsung's public Unpacked Event to happen in Times Square, New York. Then we talk about the HTC One winning the MWC 2013 award for best mobile device. Then we talk about HTC Sense 5 and which devices will get it soon. Microsoft is next as we talk about the live tile issues on Windows Phone 7.8. We then end today's show talking about our MWC 2013 wrap-up. All this and more after the break. Stories: - Samsung Announces Public Unpacked Experience in Times Square - HTC One Scores MWC Mobile Device Award - HTC Confirms Sense 5 Updates  - Microsoft ...

Technically, the Mobile World Congress may finish-up tomorrow, but with all the big smartphone and tablet events over, we're calling it a wrap. We've had a great time the past several days bringing you news of all the new hardware and software companies came to the event to promote, and as we now begin to recuperate and get back to business as usual, we wanted to take a look back on MWC 2013 and everything it brought us. The week leading up to the MWC was filled with rumors, as we should expect, and while some played out, others fell flat on their faces. LG really got things started early, ...

That $10,000 Android we looked at a couple weeks back, the Vertu Ti, might not have been the most impressive phone in the specs department, but it did have one killer feature: a screen made of synthetic sapphire. Single crystals of aluminum oxide like this have a Mohs scale hardness of nine, meaning you're going to need something in the same league of hardness as other sapphires or diamonds in order to scratch them. At the MWC this year, we got to check out a demonstration of just what kind of damage sapphire screens can endure. In the battle of glass versus concrete, concrete will almost ...

It has been a while since we've seen a proper dual-screened smartphone. Sure, we just looked at the fascinating YotaPhone, which is very interesting for what it does, but we're talking about phones with a pair of regular, full-color, full-motion screens. Following in the footsteps of the Kyocera Echo or Samsung Doubletime, we're now taking a look at NEC's Medias W, attempting to finally do this concept some justice. NEC's mechanism is a bit different from the elaborate hinges used on the Echo; when the phone is "closed", both screens are on the outside, and the whole thing measures about ...

Watch today's Pocketnow Daily as we talk about how Google doesn't seem to like the idea of building their own retail stores. We later talk about the rumored HTC Tiara, which proves that HTC is still committed to building Windows Phones. Then we talk about Nokia and their expansion plans, though instead of bringing more phones, they're clearly becoming more of a software company. The dual-screen Yotaphone is next, as we show you some hands-on coverage of the device at MWC 2013. We end today's show talking about how even Apple's Ad gurus admit that Samsung Ads are making a dent in their ...

We've seen Caterpillar-branded ruggedized Androids before, talking about models like the CAT B10 around this time last year. Caterpillar brought some new hardware to the MWC in Barcelona, and we swung by its booth to take a look. This time we're looking at the CAT B15, a thick, rubberized, chunk of an Android that's waterproof, dustproof, and just built to take a lot of abuse. There's Gorilla Glass up front to keep the screen looking nice, and unlike a lot of ruggedized smartphones, this one is actually running some modern software, in the form of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. These kind of ...

We've already shown you the new Lumias Nokia unveiled at the MWC, the Lumia 520 and Lumia 720, but the company also had a couple other handsets to debut. It may not be our usual cup of tea, but we decided to take a look at one of these cheaper options, the Nokia 301. We were especially impressed with some of the camera features that you'd normally see on a full-fledged smartphone, like the ability to stitch together a panorama. There's also a voice-assisted self-portrait mode, letting you snap a quick pic of yourself even though the hardware lacks a front-facer. This won't replace any ...

Hardware's a huge part of what to see at the Mobile World Congress, but when we stop gawking at all the full HD screens and next-gen SoCs for a few minutes, there's also a lot of great software to check out. Nokia announced some new apps of its own, which we wanted to give you a quick look at. First up we've got the Here apps, and while the apps themselves aren't new, the push to get them on non-Nokia devices is. Then there's Nokia Music Plus, a paid upgrade to the normal Music offering, giving you more control over what you're listening to and delivering higher-quality streaming. Check ...

Yesterday we got to hear ASUS announce its latest Padfone model, the Padfone infinity. With the new tablet/smartphone combo now official, we decided to go hands-on with the model to see for ourselves just what ASUS was able to put together. There are no basic changes to the Padfone concept this time around: you've still got a smartphone alongside a tablet dock, which must have the smartphone inserted in order to function. Like so many other flagship Androids we're hearing about lately, the new Padfone graduates to a five-inch 1080p display and employs a Snapdragon 600 SoC. The tablet dock, ...

The first Optimus G was a pretty nice little smartphone from a company that's really been hard to feel enthusiastic for over the years. At least, between misses like the oddball Optimus Vu and the low-to-midrange L series it dumped on the market last year, it was starting to feel like it had been a seriously long time since there was an LG smartphone worth getting excited about. Ultimately, the Optimus G was itself overshadowed by the Nexus 4, a cheaper version with the benefit of Google's software support, but had that not stolen some of the limelight, the Optimus G would have likely been ...

Samsung's Galaxy Note II is the gold standard when it comes to phablets, so of course we had to compare it against ZTE's new 5.7-incher, the Grand Memo. While the Grand Memo's screen isn't that much bigger than the Note II's the handset itself is noticeably taller. ZTE goes with a higher-resolution camera than the Note II's, but you pay for that with a much larger camera bulge. ZTE may get around to releasing a stylus, but even if it does, it won't have the high-precision Wacom digitizer used by the Note II, nor will there be a convenient place to store it on the phone itself.