3G

Five years of the iPhone

Five years ago today, at exactly 6 p.m. in each time zone, the original Apple iPhone went on sale in the United States. At the time I was outside the Apple store in downtown San Francisco witnessing tech history being made. And even though I've been to scores of other product launches since June 29, 2007, I can still recall the day vividly.

Editors' note: This story was originally published on June 29, 2011, but has been updated with the iPhone 4S.

The sidewalk in front of the Stockton Street store that evening was absolutely mobbed and a line of eager buyers stretched around the corner and out of sight. Indeed, as I was waiting to pick up our review model, I was nearly flattened against the store's glass wall when the enormous crowd began to surge toward the entrance.

Finally, as the magic hour struck and the doors opened, a line of applauding employees welcomed the first buyers. The line began to cheer "iPhone!, iPhone!" and a few minutes the first guy exited with his handset held high. I quickly sneaked inside to pick mine up and then hurried back to CNET's office with Donald Bell for a long night of writing the review (relive our review in real time!). Yet, that was after Brian Cooley got to take it out of the box on video.

How to enable 3G streaming on Tweetbot through secret screen

Did you know there is a Super Secret Settings menu in Tweetbot for both iPhone and iPad? Don't worry, not many people did. While what the settings actually do in the secret screen may not be all that obvious, there is one setting you might want to take a look at changing.

In the aptly titled Super Secret Settings screen you can enable the streaming of your Twitter feed over 3G. Up until the discovery of this setting, streaming in Tweetbot was only allowed over a Wi-Fi connection. Streaming your Twitter feed means you'll see tweets in real more

iPhone 5 to be true 3G/4G world phone, says analyst

The iPhone 5 will not only offer a major refresh but expand its appeal around the world, according to one analyst.

The sixth-generation iPhone is expected to sport three big improvements, says analyst Shaw Wu. Picking up intel from suppliers, Wu sees a new form factor, a slightly larger screen, and 4G LTE support built into Apple's next flagship phone. These features should help the upcoming iPhone outscore the iPhone 4 and 4S at picking up new customers and enticing existing ones to upgrade.

Other reports and various rumors have pointed to a redesigned body, a 4-inch screen, and more

Software company hopes to speed up mobile connections

Smith Micro Software, a company that normally stays behind the scenes of mobile service carriers, has released an iOS product that aims to let consumers connect to Wi-Fi in lieu of clogged networks.

The company today announced its NetWise SmartSpot tool, which switches users to Wi-Fi when it's available and switches back to networks when the Wi-Fi is out of reach, highlighting a need for mobile companies to address massive data usage that slows down service.

Data traffic bottlenecking has been an issue for some time now as consumers become accustomed to more data-heavy services and features like video more

Lenovo offers no-contract mobile broadband for ThinkPads

Lenovo ThinkPad users who need 3G access can now get it without having to cough up money for a lengthy contract.

Available starting today, Lenovo Mobile Access is a service built into select ThinkPad Classic and ThinkPad Edge laptops for customers in the U.S. and parts of Europe. The service is geared for customers who may need mobile broadband access from time to time but don't want to be saddled with expensive monthly fees.

Lenovo ThinkPad owners can buy a "Time Pass" costing just $1.95 for 30 minutes of access allowing 30MB of data, or $8.95 more

Microsoft creates a social network for students

It's time to share your searches, stream original content and earn good Karma:

With all the news focused around Facebook, Microsoft just quietly launched its own social network for students called So.cl (pronounced "social"). It's different from Facebook and Google Plus in that it is focused around search. What students search for on So.cl is shared with other So.cl users -- and it can be shared on other networks like Facebook. The idea is to give students a quick and easy way to share information found through searches.

Hulu has unveiled 10 original and exclusive shows more

Nvidia, Intellectual Ventures scarf up wireless patents

Nvidia and Intellectual Ventures, a fund that acquires intellectual property, have bought about 500 wireless patents focused on LTE, 3G, and 4G.

The companies acquired the patents from IPWireless.

It has been a bull market for patents. Google acquired Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion largely for its patent portfolio. Microsoft recently paid AOL $1 billion for patents. And beleaguered companies such as Kodak can get top dollar for patents. Meanwhile, analysts are valuing Research in Motion on patents too. Patent lawsuits among big players such as Oracle, Apple and Samsung abound.

Terms of the Nvidia and Intellectual Ventures purchase more

T-Mobile Prism 3G set debut in early May

How does T-Mobile follow up its most powerful Android smartphone to date? With a budget-friendly 3G handset right out of 2009, of course!

According to details passed to TmoNews, the carrier is on the verge of announcing the T-Mobile Prism 3G for Sunday.

Aimed squarely at first-time smartphone buyers, the Prism is expected to run Android 2.3 Gingerbread and feature a 600MHz processor. Additional specs include a 3.5-inch (480x320) display, a 3.2-megapixel camera, 2GB RAM, and 512MB ROM. As the name suggests, the Huawei-manufactured Prism 3G works on T-Mobile's 3G network. Incidentally, Nokia made a Prism more

Would you pay for a shared data plan?

Verizon is looking to appeal to data-hungry users by introducing shared data plans this summer.

Speaking at yesterday's conference call on first-quarter earnings, Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo confirmed the company's intent to introduce such plans in the next few months. And Verizon is expecting these plans to fuel growth.

"There's going to be other categories that drive the growth of wireless in the future, as I said, we will be launching our data share plan in mid-summer this year," Shammo said, according to a transcript from Seeking Alpha. "We believe that, that plan, the way we more

Sprint rumored to add more cities for 4G LTE coverage

Although Sprint has been playing catch up with its competitors in securing 4G LTE markets, internal documents imply that the mobile network may be further along in its quest than previously thought.

According to the technology news site TechnoBuffalo, which received the documents, it seems that Sprint's Network Vision campaign has been in progress in Akron, Ohio; Chicago; Fort Worth, Texas; Nashville; New York; Rialto, Calif.; and Stockton, Calif., since last year. This means that these markets could possibly be next on the list to get 4G LTE activation.

In January, Sprint announced its plans to launch its 4G LTE service more