2008 US best cell-phone service

Verizon is a standout cell-phone carrier for most people, based on our exclusive best cell phone service survey of readers in 23 cities. The company received high marks from survey respondents in overall satisfaction and customer service, and service is available in most of the country.


Overall, cell-phone service has become significantly better, judging by the annual survey conducted in September by the Consumer Reports National Research Center. Contract terms for cell-phone service are less onerous, and there were fewer problems with call quality in this year's survey. The best carriers even came through after a hurricane hit one of our survey cities.

Sixty percent of readers were completely or very satisfied with their service. That appears to be a substantial improvement over 2007, even though we made some changes to our survey this year, including expanding the number of cities we rate and the coverage areas within them.


The improvement means cellular satisfaction is now closer to the average among all services we rate; it had previously been among the worst.


What's behind this surge in satisfaction? There were fewer problems with connectivity, the ability to widely receive service that's free of static and dropped calls. Overall, 42 percent of readers reported that they had no major complaints about service, up from 29 percent in our previous survey. In particular, they were less likely to cite as a top complaint the automatic extension of their cell-phone contract as a result of changing their service.


Carriers have curbed such practices because of increasing competition and the threat of consumer-rights legislation in Congress. Added pressure came from more than 100 class-action and other lawsuits coast to coast, including one by the Minnesota attorney general, and several key court rulings favorable to consumers.


In apparent response to the legal and regulatory action, all the carriers have stopped automatically extending contracts when consumers make changes to their service plan. And now all but Alltel reduce early-termination fees of $175 to $200 as the contract term progresses.


One of the biggest concerns identified by our survey was the high cost of cell service, the top complaint for 14 percent of respondents. Since we surveyed readers in September, before the onset of the economic crisis, that might not reflect today's heightened concern for reining in costs.


Our analysis of the carriers' pricing uncovered a cost-cutter you might not be aware of: pay-by-the-minute, or prepaid, service. It's offered by all major carriers as well as providers such as Virgin and TracFone. Some prepaid plans could save you a lot, especially if you use your phone infrequently or want unlimited voice calling. (See How to buy a prepaid phone.)


Our Ratings (available to subscribers) show that Verizon ranks among the top carriers in every city we surveyed, along with Alltel where it was rated. (Verizon was awaiting approval to acquire Alltel as we went to press.) T-Mobile was statistically on par with the top carriers in almost two-thirds of the cities where we were able to rate it.

Steve Jobs Confirms iPhone Has a Kill Switch

Reported by Jennifer LeClaire, newsfactor.com

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has confirmed that the iPhone 3G has a kill switch that can remotely remove software from the devices.

Jobs told The Wall Street Journal that Apple needs the capability in case it inadvertently allows a malicious program -- such as an application that steals user's personal data -- to be distributed to iPhones through its App Store.
"Hopefully we never have to pull that lever, but we would be irresponsible not to have a lever like that to pull," Jobs said.

Switch Not Used
Jobs' statement reveals Apple hasn't used the kill switch yet, but the company did remove an application from the App Store last week.

Apple removed the $999 "I Am Rich" application, which had the sole purpose of showing people the owner has money. The program creates a red icon that sits on the iPhone deck with a the words "I Am Rich" underneath. After the user activates the application, it glows on the handset like a ruby.

Apple initially approved the application, which bumps up against the pricing limit for applications sold on its App Store. The company was not immediately available for comment on why it decided to pull the plug.

Disappearing Acts
But the real controversy started when Jonathan Zdziarski, author of the books iPhone Open Application Development and iPhone Forensics Manual, discovered a URL buried in Apple's firmware. That URL links to a file dubbed "unauthorizedApps" where malicious or simply bad apps might go once they disappear from the App Store.

According to Zdziarski, I Am Rich isn't the only app to disappear. BoxOffice (renamed to Now Playing) and NullRiver's NetShare were also removed. But removing the applications from the App Store and removing them from a consumer's iPhone are two different issues.

"The kill switch is a very controlling gesture. I am not sure why Apple didn't disclose it up front as simply a security measure," said Avi Greengart, an analyst at Current Analysis. "Consumers will accept an awful lot if you let them know what they are accepting."

What Else is Apple Hiding?
In the past, Jobs has said he wants to be careful not to allow applications to bring down the network. Greengart doesn't see that as a major threat, especially since Apple is approving the applications.

However, Greengart said he's less concerned with the "heavy-handed and Big Brotherish" kill switch than the fact that Apple didn't disclose it in the first place. As far as he knows, no other mobile phone has a kill-switch capability.

"To my way of thinking, the issue is that you don't really know what your phone might be doing or not be doing," Greengart said. "I am not 100 percent sure what the capability is or is not. That is the problem. What is the capability? When might they use it? When wouldn't they use it? Is there anything else Apple is not disclosing?"

Women with long nails speak out against iPhone design

Original post by Gina Hughes: The Techie Diva

Most people either love or hate the iPhone's touch screen, and based on a report on the LA Times, women with long fingernails are among the haters. Why? Well, since the iPhone's touchscreen only responds to electrical charges emitted by your bare fingertips, women with long nails are left out in the cold. A woman interviewed for the article went so far as to suggest Apple was being misogynistic because it did not include a stylus for women and didn't consider womens' fingers and nails when designing the phone.

Honestly, though, this same argument has come up against keyboards, touch screen monitors, and anything else that involves the use of your fingers, so should every gadget maker change the design of its products to accommodate users with long nails, or should people with long nails learn to work around this problem like they have in the past? I'd love to hear what Apple has to say about all this, but I doubt they'll ever address this particular design flaw.

Personally, I'd rather have them focus on the real issues of the iPhone, like the lack of a video camera, extra storage, and better camera, but that's just me. Besides, there are styli out there that work with the iPhone just fine and are pretty affordable.

This all reminded me of an iPhone reviewer who had a hard time using the iPhone due to her long nails, and in her frustration she said, "I guess people who use Apple products are too cool for fingernails." But are we? What do you think?

iPhone 3G: Hits and misses

Original Post by Ben Patterson: The Gadget Hound

As expected, we got 3G, GPS, and lower prices. But some of the most exciting iPhone rumors—such as videoconferencing and additional iPhone models—failed to materialize. Also: Details on rate plans, contracts, and battery life.

First of all, let's talk turkey—specifically, the $299 price tag for the 16GB model and $199 for the 8GB version. Now, in a moment, you're going to find me grousing about what's missing in the new iPhone, but from the feedback I'm getting so far, people are thrilled about the lower prices. While $199 isn't exactly cheap for a phone, it's a bargain when you consider the features packed into the iPhone 3G. Expect lines around the block when it goes on sale July 11.

That said, AT&T just announced that the data plan for the iPhone 3G will run you $30 a month, a $10 premium over the original's EDGE-only plan, so keep that in mind while you're calculating your savings. And yes, you'll need to sign a new two-year contract with AT&T, even if you're a current subscriber.

Anyway, the iPhone looks pretty much like the iPhone of old—and while Jobs crowed that the new iPhone is thinner "at the edges" than the original, the iPhone 3G is, in fact, about 0.02 inches thicker than its predecessor. That said, according to the specs, the new iPhone is about 0.1 ounce lighter than the EDGE-only model.

About the glossy black (or white) backing … I'm not thrilled about it. The beauty of the old brushed-metal finish was that it was practically impervious to scratches—indeed, my old iPhone, which I bought last June and lives sans case in my pocket, has nary a scratch on the back. We'll have to wait and see how the new glossy backing holds up, but I'm not optimistic.

On the 3G front: Yes, the new iPhone will access data twice as quickly (at least) over AT&T's speedy HSDPA network than the original did over EDGE. Another advantage: You'll be able to browse and access data when you're on a voice call, even if you're not in Wi-Fi range.

But one of the chief advantages of 3G is that it's fast enough for music and video—though for now, there's no word on whether we'll be able to download songs, podcasts, or videos from iTunes over AT&T's 3G network. Still, that could change with a future firmware upgrade.

In terms of battery life, Steve Jobs is promising an acceptable 5 hours of talk time using 3G (which allows for simultaneous calls and data use, compared to voice-only over EDGE), along with 7 hours of video and 24 hours of music. In my experience, real-world battery life is almost always less than what they tell you in the specs, but I'll give Apple the benefit of the doubt. Of course, the battery is still sealed in the iPhone case—a major bone of contention for many users.

GPS-wise, I'm excited. Live tracking of your position on the iPhone looks awesome—watch out, Garmin—and you'll also be able to tag your photos with GPS coordinates. Oh, and Loopt has already announced a social-networking app that'll use GPS to pinpoint your nearest buddies. Finally, Jobs said that the iPhone turns GPS off automatically when it's not in use so as not to drain the battery. Nice.

As for rumors that didn't quite come true, take videoconferencing, which was the hot topic over the weekend thanks to a slew of (clearly faked) fuzzy photos. The thought was that the new iPhone would have a front-facing camera for video-enabled iChat, but no dice.

Another rumor: Wireless music and video syncing with iTunes, similar to what the Zune does with its PC software. Prying eyes thought they found hidden Mac OS code that would make wireless iTunes syncing a reality. Guess not.

And as far as a range of iPhone models goes, well ... as I predicted, Jobs is keeping it simple: 8GB and 16GB versions—no 32GB model, which is particularly disappointing—in black and white flavors. No "thin," EDGE-only iPhone, as some thought, and notably, it appears the original EDGE-only iPhone has been purged from the Apple Store. That said, the original iPod eventually spawned a whole range of iPod Nanos, Videos, Touches, and what have you, so we may see the same thing happen with the iPhone eventually.

And speaking of the iPod Touch ... no new models or prices. You'll be able to download the new 2.0 firmware to the Touch for $9.95, but that's about it.

On the services side, I'm pleased with the upcoming MobileMe, the revamped version of .Mac, which will now allow for push, over-the-air syncing of contacts from Address Book, events from iCal, e-mail and photos with the iPhone—and yes, Outlook users on Windows are included. Yes, MobileMe is still $99 a year—but that comes out to a little over eight bucks a month, not bad considering the 20GB of online storage (twice as much as you got with the old .Mac).

And let's not forget the App Store, which is coming in early July. We saw just a handful of games and applications during the keynote, but I'm excited already—especially with the games, which look amazingly polished for something on a cell phone. I'm expecting office suites, multimedia applications, IM, and social networking apps ... you name it. This'll be huge.

And one more thing ... there was no "one more thing" in Steve Jobs' keynote, dashing the hopes of those looking for a Mac tablet or redesigned MacBooks. This marks the second major keynote in a row where "one more thing" was nowhere in sight (three if you count the iPhone SDK roadmap address in March). Interesting.

Dior Cell Phone - Next HOT Cell Phone

Dior phone details surface from Gina Hughes: The Techie Diva

Good news, Dior lovers: More pictures, and details, of the upcoming Dior mobile phone have emerged. We knew the fashion house was introducing a luxury handset after images of the phone appeared online, but the pictures didn't really reveal anything about specifications, pricing and color.

Lucky for us, an article on the Wall Street Journal gives us a few more details regarding the designer phone, which will be initially available in Russia and China. The reason for this, according to Dior Chief Executive Sidney Toledano, is there's a bigger demand for luxury goods there, and consumers living in these countries really pay attention to color and design when buying a phone.

But don't be disheartened if you really want one, because this phone will work in most parts of the world, except Japan and Korea, where it isn't compatible with local wireless networks. Specifications are still a bit sketchy, but we do know the features on the Dior phone include a touchscreen, a camera, and special ringtones.

What really makes the Dior handset stand out though is the accompanying clip-on mini-phone that comes with the model. This unusual attachment called "My Dior" is about the size of a USB key and connects to the main handset via Bluetooth to make it easy for the user to answer any incoming calls.

As you can see from the picture above, the phone will be available in pink, red, and white when it goes on sale later this year for $5,000.

Google offers $10M in prizes for new cell phone software

Google Inc. is offering $10 million in prizes for people who build the best software to enhance the company's upcoming cell phone operating system.

The Mountain View-based company is developing a free cell phone software package that it says will make it easier to surf the Web over mobile devices. It also will give Google more opportunities to sell ads and services.

The operating system will be based on computer code that can be openly distributed among programmers, which Google hopes will encourage developers to create new software and improvements that could spawn new uses for smart phones.

Winning offerings could encompass simple aesthetic improvements like personalized home screens or more complicated social-networking programs that merge data from the Web — such as maps or personal Web pages — with data from users' phones — like contact information or the phones' geographic locations.

As part of the Android Developer Challenge, a panel of judges will pick 50 winners from entries received from Jan. 2 through March 3, 2008. In the first phase of the competition, those winners will each get $25,000 and be eligible for ten awards of $100,000 and another ten $275,000 awards.

The second phase of the competition will feature another $5 million in prize money.
Google did not specify how the applications will be judged. The company only said the winning programs will "provide consumers with the most compelling experiences."
Google also released a tool kit Monday for working on the new platform, which is to be released in the second half of next year.

Four cell phone manufacturers — Motorola Inc., Samsung Electronics Co., HTC and LG Electronics Inc. — have agreed to use Android in some of their phones. Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said he eventually hopes the software will be integrated into thousands of different devices.

Twenty-nine other companies have signed on as members of the alliance.
Android will compete with mobile operating systems made by Microsoft Corp., Palm Inc., Research In Motion Ltd., and Symbian, which is owned by Nokia Corp. and several other major phone makers.