Archive

I often run into issues playing video media on mobile devices. It's been something that has haunted me since the days of Windows Mobile on the Palm Treo -- remember those early smartphones? Believe it or not, it's still an issue years later with current tablets and smartphones. The problems that I'v...

The year is starting out with what may turn out to be significant changes in the mobile operating system market, with open source software playing a significant role just as it has in enterprise software, virtualization and cloud computing. With fading heavyweights and interesting new challengers, t...

HP brought Enyo -- the open source object-oriented JavaScript framework for webOS -- out of beta this week, six months after the ill-fated operating system was contributed to the open source community. Enyo 2.0 now has a community of developers, a broad set of cross-platform user interface widgets, ...

HP's decision to open source its webOS mobile operating system may have met with some early cheers from observers glad to see the company's indecision come to an end, but much of that relief has been increasingly tempered by sentiments of a darker kind. "WebOS is doomed to fail" read one headline.

HP announced Friday it will contribute webOS to the open source community. The decision seals the fate of the operating system, which HP acquired when it purchased Palm for $1.2 billion in April 2010. Since then, the Pre smartphone line running webOS flickered out, and HP's TouchPad tablet, launched...

Amid continued traction for Android, there have been a number of other developments for mobile operating systems based on Linux. Given my support for and belief in Linux and open source software, you might expect me to be bullish on the prospects for all of this mobile and device Linux. However, bas...

Linux will dominate the non-smartphone mobile device market by 2015, a study by ABI Research indicates, and Google will likely play a prominent role in this. "Linux-enabled mobile devices, led by the success of Google's Android and upcoming Chrome OSes, will comprise 62 percent of the operating syst...

With its $99 price, the new Android-based Motorola Backflip clearly stands apart from Apple's iPhone on more than just appearance. Both are smartphones, to be sure, and both are offered through AT&T. They also provide many of the same features and functionality. However, in addition to their dif...

With its $99 price, the new Android-based Motorola Backflip clearly stands apart from Apple's iPhone on more than just appearance. Both are smartphones, to be sure, and both are offered through AT&T. They also provide many of the same features and functionality. However, in addition to their dif...

The lawsuit Apple filed this week may target smartphone maker HTC, but Cupertino is likely shooting for much bigger prey. Specifically, Google is the real focus of Apple's wrath, said Chris Hazelton, research director for mobile and wireless with the 451 Group. Based on the details of the lawsuit, "...

Three months after Nokia announced its N900 smartphone, the device has arrived in the United States. The N900 runs on the Linux-based Maemo platform, and Nokia's hype around it raises questions about whether the company plans to replace its older Symbian platform with Maemo. Meanwhile, rumors that N...

Sprint is adding another Android phone to its lineup -- the Samsung Moment. The Moment, which has an 800 MHz CPU, will be available from Nov. 1. Meanwhile, Gartner predicts that Android installations will surge, putting it in second place after Symbian by 2012. The Moment runs Android 1.5 Cupcake. I...

While apparently iPhones rule the mobile ad marketplace, Android phones are making rapid headway and could soon overtake BlackBerry devices. Mobile adverting marketplace AdMob on Thursday released a report indicating that 40 percent of the devices accessing its mobile ad network are iPhones. However...

After nearly two years of anticipation, Garmin and AT&T announced Tuesday that the long-awaited Garmin Nuvifone G60 will become available in the United States starting Oct. 4. Billed as "the navigation phone" for its integration of phone capabilities with GPS functionality, the Linux-based devic...