CTIA's annual Wireless show is taking place in beautiful New Orleans this year, and we're expecting a variety of announcements — new phones, apps, and services are all on tap. The action kicks off in earnest on the afternoon of Monday, May 7th with events from AT&T, Verizon, and Mastercard, but you can expect news throughout the week. On Tuesday, look for liveblogs of a keynote session by FCC chairman Julius Genachowski and a roundtable featuring AT&T's Ralph de la Vega, Sprint's Dan Hesse, T-Mobile's Philipp Humm, and Verizon's Dan Mead!
Is video the future of voice?
At CTIA Wireless 2012, carriers and partners were lukewarm on the promise of HD voice but excited for the future of video calling.
ZTE Nova V8000 coming to Cricket this summer with Android 4.0 (hands-on photos)
ZTE is showing off a low-end Android 4.0 handset that the company says is headed to Cricket. The Nova 4.0 V8000 has a 4-inch WVGA screen, 8-megapixel camera around back, 1GB of RAM and 4GB of ROM, and runs on a single-core Qualcomm S2 processor clocked at 1.4GHz.
HTC Car StereoClip Bluetooth dongle (hands-on)
The HTC Car StereoClip (Aux) accessory is a USB flash drive-sized Bluetooth dongle that will receive wireless audio from your phone and pass it off to a speaker with its male 3.5mm headphone jack.
AT&T's Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket HD will not be released
AT&T has canceled the launch of the Galaxy S II Skyrocket HD announced at CES.
iCache Geode hands-on: an iPhone case to replace your wallet
The iCache Geode is a digital wallet iPhone 4 / 4S case that promises to replace your plastic credit and loyalty cards with digital equivalents. The case has an E Ink display on the back for displaying reader-friendly barcodes and it has a programmable universal credit card.
Sprint Direct Connect Now confirmed: Android app brings push-to-talk to regular smartphones
Sprint will be releasing a Direct Connect Now app for Android smartphones that offers interoperability with its push-to-talk service.
AT&T to start testing small, short-range cell sites this year to boost network coverage
AT&T has announced it is going to start testing small cells for use on its network. The miniature, short-range cell sites can be deployed at a fraction of the cost of a traditional tower.
Cadillac to include iPad-based CUE training manuals with new XTS sedans
Cadillac has announced that it'll be giving away iPad training manuals with purchases of the all-new XTS full-size sedan. The company is also beefing up its call centers and training dealerships to make the CUE customer support experience better.
Hillcrest Labs brings a better motion engine to phones (hands-on)
Hillcrest Labs' motion control technology is coming to smartphones and tablets.
Hands-on with the Clarity Pal, a 25db feature phone
Clarity is a division of Plantronics whose tagline is "Smart for seniors," and its latest product falls directly into that niche. Dubbed the Clarity Pal, its main feature is an audio "boost mode" that cranks up the volume to 25 decibels so that the hard of hearing can still use a phone
Unnecto Quattro hands-on: an unlocked dual-SIM Android phone for under $200 (video)
The Unnecto Quattro is a dual-SIM Android phone that will cost under $200 unlocked when it's released later this year. The phone has a 480 x 800 LCD screen and a 650MHz processor.
RIM could keynote CTIA show in October, good timing for BlackBerry 10 launch
CTIA show director Rob Mesirow says that RIM could keynote its fall Enterprise & Applications show, which is timed well for a BlackBerry 10 device announcement.
Can Carrier IQ's new Chief Privacy Officer build a 'culture of privacy'?
Carrier IQ is no stranger to privacy issues in the mobile space after last November's discovery that its software was being improperly logged by HTC and the subsequent fallout. Today, the company announced that it has hired on a new "Chief Privacy Officer and General Counsel," Magnolia Mobley. We sat down with Mobley and Carrier IQ's Andrew Coward to discuss her new role in the company and where Carrier IQ is going now that it has a much more public face than before.
Nano-SIM update: Apple design modified to fix concerns, standard will be decided this month
SIM maker Giesecke & Devrient notes at CTIA that Apple's proposed nano-SIM design has been revised to prevent jamming in larger slots.
Wilson Electronics Sleek 4G-A wireless signal booster hands-on
Wilson Electronics is showing off its newly upgraded Sleek wireless signal booster at CTIA, the Sleek 4G-A, and we just got a chance to check it out in person.
HTC Evo V 4G and Evo Design 4G hands-on photos
Neither the just-announced HTC Evo V 4G on Virgin nor the HTC Design 4G on Boost Mobile are new. Both are Sprint devices that are being brought down to the pre-paid MVNO in a move that Sprint says is a part of a new trend where it will move top-tier devices into the low-range on pre-paid once they've spent some time in the market
Kyocera Rise and Hydro hands-on: Android 4.0 smartphones for the budget crowd
Kyocera released the Rise and Hydro today, two new budget smartphones for the US market.
Droid Incredible 4G LTE hands-on photos and video
Droid Incredible 4G LTE hands-on
Clarion Next Gate hands-on: car-friendly entertainment, courtesy of your iPhone
We got a chance to test out Clarion's Next Gate, an in-car infotainment system that's powered entirely by your iPhone.
MasterCard introduces PayPass Wallet, a single login for buying things everywhere
MasterCard introduced PayPass Wallet today at CTIA, a new service for buying things online.
CTIA Wireless 2012: an inside look at the US mobile industry's biggest week
CTIA has tweaked several aspects of its Wireless show this year, so here's what readers can expect from the revised event.