Look: Top 5 Smartphones At MWC

Hello trusty readers, today I present to you no fewer than 5 of the most amazing and confounding smartphones revealed at the great Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. These new models sport insanely high resolution cameras, multiple displays, and features that would make any phone geek drool with joy.

http://asia.cnet.com/top-5-smartphones-at-mwc-2013-62220664.htm

Check out the link for details, C-Net does a great job of breaking down the goods for each new device, you can even see a full spec sheet for each new phone.

Don't forget here at the Cell Phone Doctor we repair phones, buy used phones and even sell used phones at bargain prices.

Check It: "Fastest Smartphone In The World" Revealed

You may know Huawei as one of those evil-doing Chinese corporations that were accused of espionage last year, but to everyone else they may just be another smartphone manufacturer. The company announced at a press conference in Barcelona that it plans to release the "World's Fastest Smartphone." The Ascend P2 is considered the "Fastest" because of its insane network speed capabilities.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57571102/huawei-reveals-fastest-smartphone-in-the-world/

The catch: there are almost no phone networks that support those kind of blistering data speeds.

Don't forget here at the Cell Phone Doctor we repair phones, buy used phones and even sell used phones at bargain prices. 

Showdown: Apple vs. Samsung, Which Phones Are Most Reliable

Looks like the folks over at ZD Net have been busy getting down to the cold hard facts regarding the reliability of leading smartphones

http://www.zdnet.com/apple-v-samsung-what-are-the-most-reliable-smartphones-on-the-market-7000011677/

This article shows how some manufacturers have specific issues with a wide range of their phones: Samsung has microphone problems, Motorola pushes crappy bloatware and Apple always seems to have battery life problems. It is an interesting breakdown of seemingly "genetic" hardware faults, the same companies make the same design mistakes each time. Maybe after they read this they will decide to actually make a quality product?

Don't forget here at the Cell Phone Doctor we repair phones, buy used phones and even sell used phones at bargain prices. 

Strange: Cell Phone Germs As Art?

Chalk this one up to good old-fashioned strangeness: a professor at the UK's University of Surrey asked his class to perform an experiment with there phones where they would promote bacteria growth on them overnight and then view the results.

Turns out our phones may be a lot dirtier than we think.

http://news.cnet.com/2300-17938_105-10015818.html

This article details the visuals that were captured from the experiment, some of which are legitimately striking. It may make you slightly uncomfortable to actually see all of the bacteria that lives on and inside your phone; one man's gross-out is another man's art!

Don't forget here at the Cell Phone Doctor we repair phones, buy used phones and even sell used phones at bargain prices.  

iPhone 4S & 5 Current Top Selling Smartphones Worldwide

It may seem almost like common sense that the current flagship iPhone models would be the top-selling smartphones in the world, however with the rise of Android heavyweights like the Galaxy S III many thought that Apple's reign of terror would soon come to a close.

Not anytime soon.

http://www.tuaw.com/2013/02/20/iphone-5-4s-top-selling-smartphones-worldwide/

According to this article from Tuaw the iPhone 5 and 4S were the top selling smartphones worldwide for the fourth-quarter of 2012. The iPhone 5 itself commanded a staggering 12.6% of the market during the quarter, a margin that completely outshines the Galaxy S III's still impressive 7.1% stake.

Don't forget here at the Cell Phone Doctor we repair phones, buy used phones and even sell used phones at bargain prices.  

Cell Phone Data Helps Map Traffic Jams

Don't be alarmed, the government isn't watching your every move via tracking your mobile phone... just UC-Berkeley and MIT. The institutions published a joint study where they collected the anonymous phone records of over 680,000 Boston-area commuters through call logs spanning traditional commute hours. The data paint a vivid and nearly-beautiful picture of how traffic flows during peak hours around the city of Boston. 

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/02/cell-phone-tracking-system-reveals-how-traffic-jams-start/

This article form Ars Technica gives some background information on the study and serves to spotlight some of its surprising findings.

Don't forget here at the Cell Phone Doctor we repair phones, buy used phones and even sell used phones at bargain prices.  

6 Signs Smartphones WIll Replace PC's

Have you been wondering why you have that bog ol' clunker still sitting under your never-used home desk? The big tower, the loud fans, the seemingly infinite amount of time it takes to even turn the damn thing on. Why do we put up with crappy PC towers? Seriously, your phone may be closer to putting 'bessie out to pasture than you think.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eliot-van-buskirk/6-signs-smartphones-will-_b_2689271.html

This article over at Huff Post Tech details 6 different phenomena that give a pretty clear picture of how smartphones will replace PC's in the near future. Moore's law is a pretty obvious explanation, simple convenience and rationality is what will ultimately prevail however.

Don't forget here at the Cell Phone Doctor we repair phones, buy used phones and even sell used phones at bargain prices.  

Do Men Talk More Than Women On Cell Phones?

According to a new study mentioned in this USA Today article, when using their phones for commerce men talk significantly longer and faster than women.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/02/14/men-talk-more-than-women-on-cell-phone/1919549/

This data doesn't necessarily suggest that men talk more on their cell phones than men do, but it certainly made for a good article title. The data itself was aggregated from more than 200,000 phone calls and found that men spoke for about 13% longer than women did with an overall average call length of 7 minutes, 23 seconds. This data does contradict the popular notion that women gab away on the phone all day but, sexism aside, it is interesting.

Don't forget here at the Cell Phone Doctor we repair phones, buy used phones and even sell used phones at bargain prices.  

Global Cell Phone Sales Drop For The First Time Since 2009

In market-deflation news it looks like the fever dream that is the current cell phone market has finally broken a sweat. Tom's Hardware reports that in 2012 global cell phone sales dropped for the first time since 2009. 

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Global-Cell-Phone-Sales-Smartphones,21071.html

The statistics are a little tricky as research firm Gartner lumps all phones into the cell phone category then continues to segregate this category by smart phone, feature phone, etc. Smart phones themselves actually saw a massive rise in popularity last year, however the market as a whole did lose a little steam. Do not panic, it is entirely natural for such a market to lose traction at some point; some manufacturers may be feeling the heat a little bit however...

Don't forget here at the Cell Phone Doctor we repair phones, buy used phones and even sell used phones at bargain prices.  

Crazy: Transparent Smartphones On The Way

Can you believe it? Transparent display/body smartphones should be in consumer's hands from Polytron Technologies later this year. This article over at Gotta Be Mobile details just how this much-needed advancement in civilization could impact our lives.

http://www.gottabemobile.com/2013/02/12/transparent-smartphones-coming-in-2013-5-ways-it-will-impact-you/

Amazing, life-changing technology or tech-fashion blah? In other words, do we need our phones to be see-through or do we NEED our phones to be see-through?

Don't forget here at the Cell Phone Doctor we repair phones, buy used phones and even sell used phones at bargain prices.  

Scary: Smartphones and Tablets to Outnumber Humanity In 2013

Better start sucking up to our robot overlords.

According to this little tidbit over at The Escapist, smartphones, tablets, and other "internet connected mobile devices" will outnumber actual humans on earth sometime in 2013. The same article claims that smartphones will make up 50% of all internet traffic this year as well.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/122010-Smartphones-and-Tablets-Will-Outnumber-Humanity-in-2013

How will you weather the inevitable takeover of humanity by malevolent Blackberries and iPhone's? OK, maybe i am being a little cryptic, but I swear my Android keeps looking at me funny...

Don't forget here at the Cell Phone Doctor we repair phones, buy used phones and even sell used phones at bargain prices. 

Take A Look: 14 Most Influential Smartphones Ever

This slideshow over at Network World gives a great look at the history of the smartphone.

http://www.networkworld.com/slideshow/76952/the-14-most-influential-smartphones-ever.html

If you are interested in the precursors to your beloved daily communication device give this page a look; you may be surprised to find that there were years of smartphone production before the iPhone was released. Think about it, what if Apple hadn't pushed everyone's hand with their flagship destroyer? Would we still be wading in the deep muck of Windows Phone and Blackberry? Personally the thought makes me shiver.

Don't forget here at the Cell Phone Doctor we repair phones, buy used phones and even sell used phones at bargain prices.

Sneak Peak: Samsung's Early 2013 Release Benchmarks

It's that time of year folks, major smart phone manufacturers are gearing up to slowly leak details about their big releases for the first half. Samsung, the front-runner in Android devices, has leaked benchmark information for some of its upcoming releases.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Samsung-Smartphones-Processor-Bechmark,20880.html

The article from Tom's Hardware shares these details, some of them may be a little technical but if you are into smartphone specs this is definitely for you. In other new, the Galaxy S4 may be debuting as early as may this year.

Don't forget here at the Cell Phone Doctor we repair phones, buy used phones and even sell used phones at bargain prices.

Are Cell Phone Plans Taxed Too Much?

A new report cited in this article from Milwaukee BizTalk reveals that US cell phone bills are taxed at a uniquely high rate. 

http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/blog/2013/02/report-blasts-cell-phone-taxes-and-fees.html

On average, US wireless consumers pay an average of 17 percent in taxes on their cell phone bill; some states have rates even higher than this. Another interesting tidbit is the fact that these charges are not listed as taxes on your bill. Recently the state of Texas chose to sue Sprint over the companies desire to list the taxes separately from its charges on bills. 

Do you think cell phones should be taxed like this?

Don't forget here at the Cell Phone Doctor we repair phones, buy used phones and even sell used phones at bargain prices.

Interesting: Hacking SIM Cards, Subverting the System

This article from CNN shows just how controlled and oppressive cell phone technology can actually become. 

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/31/opinion/sutter-sim-revolutionary-abayima/

Imagine you live in a country where your government wants to keep its eye on you at all times. Maybe some embattled African nation where the established regime forces cell carriers to give them access to SMS systems in order to censor your text messages that speak out against such an oppressive regime. This is a reality for some individuals; imagine if your favorite communication tool were turned into a universal spying tool by your own government. Creepy.

Don't forget here at the Cell Phone Doctor we repair phones, buy used phones and even sell used phones at bargain prices.