Fun fact: Christmas Day actually is one of the top traffic days of the year for this little site. That makes sense when you stop to think about it. Lots of folks are getting new Android toys. And lots of folks are searching for things about their new toys. And that means there are lots of folks who are finding us for the first time. By that same token, they're also finding you. Your...
At CES 2014 we at Mobile Nations teamed up with our friends at Geek Beat to bring you #CESlive, a unique live broadcast running every day from the show floor at CES 2014 — and CES 2015 is going to be even bigger than before. For #CESlive 2015 you can add Tom's Guide to the mix, with Editor-in-Chief Mark Spoonauer joining Geek Beat's Cali Lewis and John Pozadzides and iMore's Rene...
OK, maybe you will believe it. Maybe you stuck with us through all four days of #CESlive coverage last week from Las Vegas (to say nothing of the work we put in before the show even started). Maybe you hung on every word John P and Cali Lewis had to say from the each of the 80 or so interviews we did from the Mobile Nations/GeekBeat booth in South Hall. Maybe you even stuck around until...
There's something about having your big giant head hanging high over South Hall at the Las Vegas Convention Center that makes a guy feel a little self-conscious. Never mind that it's actually a pretty good picture of me. (And those are pretty rare.) Never mind that I'm pictured with an outstanding group of people. (It's such a fun, talented group.) Never mind that it's our jobs to be...
Iterative steps in hardware and software, and a new colorful shell choices Just a handful of months removed from the release of the original Nubia 5, ZTE is refreshing the brand with the Nubia 5S and 5S Mini. Being so close to the release of their predecessor, it's not surprising that these two devices don't differ heavily in their software and hardware. The dimensions of the Nubia 5S...
Your phone goes through a lot at a show like CES, so gear up! It’s the last day of CES 2014. People are heading home. Stalls are being taken down. Feet are being dragged. Batteries, both human and otherwise, are drained. Well, most batteries. When we got to our freakin’ sweet stage in South Hall a few short days ago, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for the show, we were greeted by a giant...
Nikon has big glass and new ways to share what it sees with your smartphone in 2014 John P and Dan spend a few minutes talking with Zurab from Nikon about the new Nikon gear at this year's CES. From nine (count 'em — nine) new Coolpix models to the new D3300 DSLR, Nikon has something for everyone. And their new Wifi models will connect right to your Android so the pictures you take can...
There's really not much to say about Wednesday night's Mobile Nations-GeekBeat meet-up in Las Vegas other than this: PBR. Beer Pong. Cali Lewis. Bull riding. Five kinds of pizza. Cali Lewis. Michael Oddo's awesome Android tattoo. Showgirls on the Vegas strip. Cali Lewis. Kevin Michaluk falling off the bull. Rene Ritchie falling off the bull. Phil Nickinson falling off the bull. The bull...
MakerBot's new Replicator line makes 3D printing easy You have to watch Cali and Kevin spend 10 minutes with Bre Pettis from MakerBot. Not because it's about Android (it's not) and not because it's the future of mobile (it's not) but because it's cool as hell. MakerBot's new Replicator line of 3D printers was unveiled at CES, and hard to put together and even harder to use 3D printers...
The end is nigh, and our guys in Vegas are packing their swag bags and beginning to head back to their respective corners of the globe. But before the stage comes down, join us at 11:30 PST for the final day of #CESLive -- we'll be sitting down with Olloclip, MyCaseBuilder, Monoprice and more as CES 2014 comes to an official close. Parting will be such sweet sorrow. After five days on...
Electric Drive It's been an odd development over the past few years, but car manufacturers are now among the biggest exhibitors at CES. With giant and massively expensive booths you'll find Sony and Samsung along with Ford and Audi. BMW, too, has a huge presence at CES 2014, taking up the entirety of the parking lot outside the south hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. They built...
BBM me baby, one more time Cali and Kevin sat down with Alex Kinsella of BlackBerry to discuss the companies plans for the future of BlackBerry Messenger 2.0. With BBM Channels having recently officially launched on BlackBerry devices, Alex speaks about bringing them to Android along with QuickShare, which will allow sharing of contacts and attachments, as well as integrate directly...
Honey, I shrunk the TV truck Cali and Kevin got to sit down with Philip Nelson of NewTek to discuss how they were able to pack what used to fit in a whole truck all inside of one rather small box. While it may not be Android related, it is some amazing tech, and to be honest we all love great technology -- right? NewTek was kind enough to sponsor CESlive this year, and we are extremely...
Kevin Michaluk, Rene Ritchie and Phil Nickinson joined Smartwatch Fan's Adam Zeis on this special edition #CESlive podcast to talk Pebble Steel and smartwatches galore at CES 2014. We've seen plenty of awesome devices (and some not so much) and we'll still have plenty of coverage to come. This one's quick so give it a watch and hit up the comments with your thoughts. Oh, and don't...
TVs are always a big deal at CES, with manufacturers pushing ever crazier combinations of visual technology into eye-catching prototypes and future production devices. But aside from the dizzying visual tech on show from the likes of Sony and Samsung, Chinese manufacturer Hisense has been showing off its new Vidaa smart TV platform, based on Android, with full Google Play support. Vidaa...
Think your 5-inch phone is big? Here's a handset from China carrying a tablet-class display The 5.7-inch Galaxy Note 3? Tiny. The 5.9-inch HTC One Max? Petite. Sony's 6.4-inch Z Ultra? Dwarfed. Meet the Hisense X1 handset, on show at the Chinese manufacturer's CES booth in Las Vegas today. With a gargantuan 6.8-inch 1080p display, the X1 is almost as large as some of the smaller Android...
While the team in Las Vegas is taking a few extra hours to recover from a late night of mixing and mingling at last night's Mobile Nations/GeekBeat.TV meetup, the east is already gearing up for the penultimate day of #CESLive. If you joined us last night at PBR Bar inside the Planet Hollywood, thanks for coming out, and be sure to Tweet, Instagram and send smoke signals of your photos...
Paying off your ETF, dropping all phones to $0 down and launching wideband LTE T-Mobile let us in on its plans for Uncarrier 4.0, the latest in its initiatives to shake up the U.S. wireless industry, at CES. Along with the requisite swearing and competition bashing that come with T-Mobile CEO John Legere being on stage, the magenta network unveiled a few new carrier initiatives and gave...
"It's way over the top" This year's keynotes at CES came to an epic conclusion tonight with the announcement of the WWE Network. Yes, World Wrestling Entertainment, which has long existed as a mainstay of pay-per-view, is coming to the web. The service will consist of a 24/7 live streaming service of original content along with a massive on-demand library of past content. Also included...
T-Mobile and AT&T agree — faster is better One of T-Mobile's big talking points during their CES presentation was about the speed of their data network. They made it a point to show how their network was substantially faster than AT&Ts or Verizon's, and went as far as joking about Sprint's network performance with one-liners any Internet commenter would be proud of. They pulled...