Telephone

Joe Maring / Digital Trends I’ve seen a future where you may never need apps or to unlock your phone at all, yet still get everything you want done, plus more, and even faster than you can now. At MWC 2024, Deutsche Telekom and Brain Technologies showed off the concept of an appless phone, where actions we normally perform using them are instead handled by an AI concierge that lives on the device’s lock screen. The week before the show, I spoke to Brain’s founder and CEO Jerry Yue and had an in-depth demonstration…

ZTE ZTE has unveiled a bunch of new Nubia smartphones at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2024, which is being held in Barcelona, Spain. These devices are intended to be distributed in Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Each smartphone is designed to cater to a different type of consumer, including ZTE’s first flip smartphone. Although we may not see these devices in the U.S. any time soon, it is an interesting look at what other companies across the water are doing in the Android…

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends If the thought of flipping and folding a phone takes you back to your youth, or at least younger days, you aren’t alone. But what’s old is new again, and today’s phones are reimagining past forms with the touchable smartphone screens we love today. Right now, we’re seeing great deals on one of the best foldable phone lines out there, the Google Fold. Depending on the carrier and company offering the sale, the deals are slightly different, so we’ve arranged them for you in a way that will…

While today's best Android phones are quite secure as long as they remain locked with a passcode or biometrics like a fingerprint, by default those features only protect the front door. If someone picks up your phone while it's unlocked, there aren't typically any barriers that will keep them out of exploring everything from your contacts and emails to your photos. This can be particularly challenging when it comes to photos, since those are the things we like to show off the most from our phones. We've likely all…

If you’re like most people, you’ve probably amassed a drawer of unused electronics over the years. Many of these are probably smartphones — after all, carriers offer great promotions nowadays, giving you a chance to upgrade your device every two years without paying hefty fees. However, instead of letting your old smartphones collect dust (or worse, throwing them away), consider turning them into a makeshift security camera. There are plenty of great iOS and Android apps available that help turn your old smartphone…

A photo on an early camera phone. BBC There was a time, would you believe, when handsets weren’t smart. A time when pretty much all they could do was make calls, send text messages, and play Snake. At the start of this century, leading cell phone manufacturers of the day, Nokia among them, aimed to boost sales by pushing the boundaries of what a handset could do. Using the available technology of the day (this was, don’t forget, six years before the iPhone showed up), engineers stuffed a camera module into the…

Image used with permission by copyright holder You’ve snapped up one of the best iPhone deals and you’re eager to get the most out of your shiny new iPhone. One must-have accessory is the Anker Magnetic Battery which is currently 50% off at Amazon. Normally priced at $70, it’s down to $35 for a limited time only and is the perfect way of giving you more battery life while on the move. Here’s what else you need to know about it before you make a purchase. Why you should buy the Anker Magnetic Battery The best iPhones…

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends Samsung kicked off its glitzy Unpacked launch event with the promise of Galaxy AI, and it delivered a whole bunch of surprises —the practical and meaningful kind, to be specific. The Galaxy S24 series came out swinging as the only non-Pixel phone to run Google’s Gemini Nano model locally, opening the doors for a whole bunch of new AI-fueled features, some of which don’t even need an internet connection to pull off their magic. Yes, Samsung will charge money for some of these flashy AI…

Joe Maring / Digital Trends When you buy a phone today, your first decision is to decide which operating system you want: Android or iOS. We’ve seen other platforms come and go over the years, from Windows Phone to Palm OS, but Android and iOS remain your two sole choices in 2024. One of the last things I saw at CES 2024 earlier this month was a smartphone operating system that’s trying to be that third choice between Android and iOS. It’s called Apostrophy OS (also referred to as AphyOS), and I got to play around…

One "cha-chick" from your Android phone's shutter while you are shooting a photo of the local squirrel and it's gone. Meant to be like the camera shutter sounds of the past, it can still be annoying and might even sound if you have your phone's volume turned off. Can you mute an Android phone's shutter sound, though? As it turns out, the technique to turn off the shutter sound depends on what Android phone you have, it's brand, and even where you bought the phone. Here's the best bet for you, depending on your…