Mobile

A drug dealer was convicted after his phone revealed his fingerprint. It wasn't from a log-in scanner, but rather an unfortunate side effect of a photo he took. Police in Wales seized a phone from a property they raided after receiving a tip-off ... that it was being used to sell drugs. The phone included the app called "WhatsApp," which is a very popular tool used to send private messages to friends. The app is prevalent among some users because the messages are encrypted in transit, meaning that the company behind WhatsApp is unable to hand over the contents to law enforcement ... (view more)

T-Mobile is the fastest, most reliable mobile broadband in the US according to a newly-published study. It seems some of its rivals struggled to cope with demand after switching to unlimited data plans. The good news is that speeds are increasing ... across the industry, with AT ... (view more)

Microsoft says it won't add any new features or devices for Windows 10 Mobile. It's a sign that hopes Windows 10 would revive the company's smartphone presence have largely failed. While what was then called Windows Mobile was once technically the ... most common smartphone operating system, it faded behind Apple's iOS and Google's Android as smartphones became more widely used. The attempt to relaunch under "Windows Phone" failed to make a breakthrough, and the system fell well under a one percent market share. The most recent figures suggest just one in every three thousand phones ... (view more)

T-Mobile is reportedly to let users on "Unlimited" data plans use 50GB of data a month before getting any slowdowns. That will be more than double the soft limit of rivals, though still won't satisfy some linguistic purists. At one point it was ... almost impossible to find an unlimited data deal on mobile devices, but a combination of competition and growing consumer demand as both tablet computers and streaming video become more popular has led the major companies to all offer an unlimited deal. However, there's still a limit of sorts, often called a "fair use policy." With each ... (view more)

Uber has ditched a policy that meant it could track a user's location for five minutes after the cab has dropped them off. The move could be related to a change in management. Until last November, users had the option to only give the 'ridesharing' ... app permission to access location data on their phone while they were actually using it. Following an update, users had to choose between giving permission for continuous tracking or having location details switched off completely. Customers Choose Between Privacy and Convenience The latter option meant that although the app would still work, users ... (view more)

T-Mobile is launching a special phone plan for seniors, following on from AT&T. The difference is that T-Mobile's plan covers data, making it more useful for smartphones. The T-Mobile plan allows for unlimited voice calls, texting and data use, ... albeit with some restrictions. Video playback is limited to standard definition, users can only share (tether) the connection with a computer at 3G speeds, and connections may be slowed if the user goes over 32GB of data in a month. (Source: t-mobile.com ) It's the same package available to all T-Mobile users, but at a special price for ... (view more)

Verizon has picked a creative way of making owners of the Galaxy Note 7 return the potentially dangerous handset. It's going to reroute outgoing voice calls and make users speak to its staff instead. It's the latest in a series of attempts to make ... sure all of the handsets are returned to Samsung. The company formally recalled the phone after multiple reports of overheating and even catching fire, something that's widely thought to be related to the battery design. Users Holding Out on Returns An original program asking owners to return the handset and offering a full refund had ... (view more)

Mobile users on "unlimited" data plans got a double dose of bad news this week. Verizon will be kicking the heaviest data users off the plan, while AT&T's remaining unlimited users face a price hike. Cellphone service providers have largely ... moved away from offering truly unlimited data plans over the past few years. That's partly because of a big increase in how much data mobile customers use, particularly as faster speeds made streaming video more practical. While new unlimited deals are almost non-existent, most providers have continued to allow people to keep existing ... (view more)

A $30 tracking device could make it easier to find lost wallets or other items, but there's a big catch. While the "TrackR" range works fine around the house, if you lose your wallet while away from home, you may be reliant on other people having ... subscribed to the service. The range is billed as being the smallest tracking devices on the market. It comes in two models: the $30 TrackrR wallet 2.0, which is a two millimeter thick credit card-sized device for putting into a wallet, and the $25 TrackR Pixel, which is a similar size to a quarter coin but a little thicker, designed ... (view more)

Samsung is to remotely block the controversial Galaxy Note 7 phone from recharging. It's an attempt to persuade users who've hung on to the potentially-exploding handset to return the device for a refund. The phone was officially recalled by Samsung ... after reports of handsets overheating and causing burns, and in some cases catching fire. While Samsung is yet to release an official report into the causes of the problem, independent analysis suggests the phone's thin design put too much stress on the battery . To date, around 93 percent of the Note 7's sold to the public have ... (view more)