photo credit: Green Cell Phone Manufacturers

RIM BlackBerry scored the worst in GoodGuide’s list of green cell phone manufacturers. According to an article by Wendy Koch, USA Today, BlackBerry only earned a 3.3 rating, mostly for the company’s environmental record. Nokia took top honors, with Samsung coming in second. Apple’s iPhone also scored in the lower half of the manufacturers, again not because the material in the iPhone is toxic, but because Apple itself has problems with its “ethical policies and performance.” Nokia scored as the top green manufacturer. 26 of 30 of the top cell phones scored were made by Nokia, each scoring 7.7 or 7.6 out of a possible 10 points. Nokia C6 scored best overall. This is pretty impressive.

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photo credit: Top Virtuous Cell Phones

Wonder what impact your cell phone has on the environment? GoodGuide has just published a report rating the top 5 “virtuous” cell phones. The ratings are based upon not only environmentally safe practices, but also takes into consideration the social attributes as well? “Social attributes?” you may ask. This rating has to do with the safety and labor policies of the company manufacturing the cell phones. GoodGuide ranks individual models and manufacturers on 3 levels: health, environment, and social attributes. 576 phone models were rated.

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photo credit: Universal Cell Phone Charger

Mobile phone users in the European Union will soon have universal chargers for many of their devices. According to an article by Don Reisinger, CNET.com, “DigitalEurope, the continent’s largest digital tech organization, has delivered a sample of a universal mobile phone charger to European Commission vice president Antonio Tajani. The EU said that the sample now paves the way for consumers to get their hands on devices that support the universal charger in the very near future.”

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photo credit: Pay-by-Smartphone

Rumor has it that Apple is planning to introduce pay-by-phone on the next generation of iPhones and iPads. The new technology would allow you to use your iPhone or iPad to pay for products or services just like using your credit card. This could effectively reduce the number of plastic credit cards you need to carry in your wallet. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: Nokia Windows 7 Rumor

Rumors are flying at the close of this year. There is of course the ever-present rumor that Verizon will have the iPhone. Also in the rumor mill is that Finnish cell phone manufacturer, Nokia, will be releasing a Smartphone based on the Windows 7 Phone platform. Nokia is reportedly in negotiations with Microsoft about producing a Nokia branded Windows 7 Smartphone. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: Group Texting - all for FREE

Last week Groupflier announced the release of its free group texting service. It allows any group, club or community of friends the ability to send one text message to one number and have it go to everyone in the group, absolutely free. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: Unlimited Free Texting

Tired of going over the limits of your cell phone plan? At least with texting, there is a solution. With mobile broadband access, you can download apps to give you unlimited texting. It is no surprise that these apps are some of the most popular apps downloaded. Many of these free apps come with ads, but it is a small price to pay for a new phone number that delivers unlimited texting to your cell phone. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: Droid vs. Apple

Spansion, a maker of flash memory chips, filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Samsung earlier this month. Spansion and Samsung are just adding fuel to the already heated Smartphone patent wars raging in this country. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: Nokia vs. Apple

Apple is fighting for all its worth. The mighty Apple is in the middle of lawsuits with Nokia, HTC and Motorola, to name a few. Nokia and Apple are currently in court, each claiming the other violated patent infringements. The 2 companies have been suing and countersuing since 2009. It doesn’t look like it’s going well for Apple though. According to an article by Dean Wilson, TechEye.net, the International Trade Commission (ITC) is backing Nokia in the lawsuit with Apple. Read the rest of this entry »

photo credit: Cuban Cell Phones?

Cuban authorities are unhappy with the freedom that texting provides their citizens. When Raúl Castro allowed Cubans to contract for prepaid mobile phone service in 2008, I’m sure he didn’t imagine that two years later these devices would be used to broadcast news censored by the official press. Despite Cuba only having one telecommunications company, ETECSA, Cubans are finding ways to keep in touch via cell phones. Read the rest of this entry »