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The mobile payments technology just took a big leap forward with Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile announcing Isis Mobile Wallet. This "tap to pay" technology can turn many of your credit cards and loyalty cards into virtual versions that will only require a tap at Isis-compatible merchants. To get started, you'll need one of the 15 Isis-ready smartphones, including the Samsung Galaxy S4 and several Droid devices, with Near Field Communication, or NFC, and an enhanced SIM card. You'll also need the free Isis Android app from the Google Play Store and have an idea of which cards are participating in the new technology, such as American Express and Chase. You'll also have the option of adding money to your Mobile Wallet by linking a bank account or debit card. The NFC technology on your smartphone will allow an Isis Mobile Wallet short-range wireless communication feature, known as "SmartTap," between the Isis app and the Isis terminal at the ...

While the new iPhones frenzy was going on over the past few weeks, they were not the only games in town. At least three of my pockets had one of the Motorola Droids trio that certainly deserve some attention. Verizon Wireless sent a box full of Droids just as the the iPhone mania was heating up and I have been exploring and enjoying these Google and Motorola-branded devices so much that I haven't had a hankering for the new iPhone 5S. My FedEx box contained the Motorola Droid Maxx, Droid Ultra and Droid Mini. Let's just say I was surrounded by droids, which represent the newest creation from Google and Motorola since they agreed to join forces in August 2011 after Google put $12.5 million on the table. I think we all knew that something big would come out of this partnership, with Google's Android empire and Motorola's reputation for quality hardware. The Droid Maxx is certainly the flagship out of this trio and it has the features to prove it. Right off the ...

I have been enjoying the company of the BlackBerry Q10 for the past couple of weeks. Some might think this smartphone is too little and too late. I think it's a lot of innovation and I hope it's not too late. My soft spot for the BlackBerry platform goes all the way back to the trackball or roller ball, and the scroll-wheel days. These devices set the standards for security and email management and were considered the "must have" mobile phone during its heyday, especially for enterprise customers. Now fast forward a decade and the BlackBerry is fighting for survival among the iPhones, Samsung Galaxies, Motorola Droids and a host of other newcomers. But the latest BlackBerry, the Q10, with the QWERTY physical keyboard for us that remember the good old days, is quite a smartphone and I wouldn't count BlackBerry out just yet. The Q10 is running the new BlackBerry 10 operating system, which is supposed to propel the BlackBerry devices into the future of smartphon...

Update: The Samsung Galaxy S IV is coming to AT&T, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and possibly Verizon Wireless soon. T-Mobile is offering an early-bird "sign up now" option to be notified for updates about the Galaxy S IV. The long-awaited Samsung Galaxy S IV finally took the stage tonight at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. While the BlackBerry 10 platform had the spotlight for a while, The S IV will now bask in the limelight with a long list of innovative features. It did not disappoint us. Right off the bat at the Radio City Music Hall event, Samsung President of Mobile Communications J.K. Shin took the stage and pitched the innovative feature of automatic scrolling and Smart Scroll/Pause using eye tracking, a unique feature among smartphones currently on the market. For example, a video you're watching will pause when you look away. According to Shin, the Galaxy S IV is slim at 0.31 inches, or 7.9mm, and he refers to it as a "life compan...

I have been feeling a little like Dick Tracy lately, as I walked around with a Sony SmartWatch on my arm. There is a certain cool factor about this device, which was on loan from Verizon Wireless. The SmartWatch functions as an extension of your Andriod smartphone or tablet and will allow you to read text messages and view social network updates, as well as check the time and date. The latter should be a "duh" moment; of course it'll give you the time and date. I was up and running in no time, which allowed me to leave the Android smartphone in my pocket for most tasks. The SmartWatch makes a Bluetooth connection to Android devices. After downloading a SmartWatch Liveware manager app from the Google play store, you're off and running with Facebook and Twitter updates, the weather, text messages and other features that have smart watch apps available. After digging around in the Android app store, I discovered SmartWatch apps for eBay, Web Cams, games, and get t...

I have been in smartphone wonderland for the past few weeks. C Spire Wireless took me there with the Samsung Galaxy S III and the Motorola Photon Q. Both of these devices are on C Spire's 4G LTE network. I could stop right here and say these smartphones are what dreams are made of, but you need to know the details. With one in each pocket , I found myself reaching for either the Galaxy S III or the Photon Q, depending on what I was doing. Galaxy S III close to perfect To keep it simple, the Galaxy S III is just plain nice. The spacious 4.8-inch Super AMOLED display makes other devices seem small, including my iPhone 5, which did grow in height from the previous iPhone models. This fine example of a smartphone runs Android 4.0.4, also know as Ice Cream Sandwich. It has been working out and shaping up since the Galaxy S II appeared about a year ago. The Galaxy S III can be packed with 32 gigabytes of memory, compared with 16GB for the S II, and has beefed up to a d...

Update: Apple Inc. is releasing guidelines to developers for an "Add to Passbook" badge that can be incorporated into their apps and websites for devices running iOS 6. After a few days with the iPhone 5, I figured it was time to go shopping with the Passbook app as my guide. This mysterious app included with iOS 6 will organize gift cards, coupons, passes, tickets and more, with the idea of making your wallet a lot thinner and lighter. But it requires a few advance maneuvers before you head out to the store or look for your boarding passes. It's not as automatic as you would think. The first thing the Passbook app will want to do is connect to the App Store through iTunes and this where things can come to a standstill a hurry, as there are numerous reports from iPhone 5 users about connection difficulties. You might see the dreaded "can't connect to iTunes" message. I experienced the same problem with the Passbook app and iTunes, until ...

The iPhone 5 has started out with a bang, as pre-orders were sold out in around 60 minutes on Friday. So now, we can probably expect lines of fans when the retails stores open their doors on Sept. 21. AT&T announced a sales record for the iPhone 5 over the first weekend of pre-orders, making it their fastest-selling iPhone ever. Some of the hype so far has been all about the revolutionary - for Apple at least - 4-inch display. I say for Apple only, because the iPhone 5 joins several other smartphones with 4-inch displays that have been on the shelves for a while. These include the Samsung Galaxy S, which arrived in mid 2010 and the Motorola Atrix, which made its debut in January 2011. And let's not forget the Google Nexus S 4G1 that came along in April 2011, or the Nokia 808 PureView in February. But perhaps the biggest area of discussion about the iPhone 5 has centered around the redesigned dock connector. The 30-pin connector is history, replaced by a smaller Lightning...

Today is the big day for Apple Inc. to show the world the next iPhone, which might be called the iPhone 5. This device will be the sixth generation of the iPhone since Jan. 9, 2007, when Apple unveiled the original iPhone to revolutionize the mobile landscape. When the original iPhone arrived, most the mobile handset manufacturers, such as Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, HTC, RIM's BlackBerry and other were using QWERTY or alphanumeric keypads, along with small displays and navigational buttons. There has been some early attempts at touchscreen technology by Nokia, IBM with the Simon Personal Communicator, Ericsson, HP, Palm and a few others. But the first-generation iPhone got everything right and brought in a new era of touchscreen displays, icons, digital keypads and something called apps in 2008. Now today's smartphones are just as smart and innovative as the iPhone and it's going to be tough for Apple to stay ahead of the pack and continue to hit home runs. There are t...

The new Windows 8 devices announced by Samsung includes a smartphone, a tablet and two versions of notebook. Samsung has announced several Windows 8 ATIV devices at a conference in Berlin, Germany. They include two notebooks, a tablet and a smartphone that will be a part of Samsung's new brand for its Windows-based devices. The smartphone, called the ATIV S , will run the Windows Phone 8 operating system with a 1.5 gigahertz dual-core processor. It'll have a 4.8-inch display and an eight-megapixel real camera, along with a 1.9 MP front camera. The 2300mAh battery is quite impressive in size, which put the ATIV S in the same arena as the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx, which has a 3300mAh battery. The ATIV Tab tablet will run Windows RT, which will use ARM-based processors. It'll have a 10.1-inch display and will come with a five-megapixel rear camera and a 1.9 MP front camera. According to Samsung, the ATIV Tab will boot up instantly and will come with Office Home and ...

I believe Samsung Electronics of America might have a winner with the new Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet, which was announced on Wednesday and available for purchase the next day. That's about the shortest roll out of a product that I've seen. So let's get right to it. The iPad is standing ready to defend any challenger and the Galaxy Note 10.1 just might be a threat, or at least earn a lot more respect than some of the other challengers like the Galaxy Tabs, the Motorola Xoom, the G-Slate and several other contenders. Just to refresh your memory, the first Galaxy Note that arrived on the scene around February with a 5.3-inch display, was more smartphone than tablet. The Galaxy Note 10.1 seems to be more tablet than smartphone. The Android 3.2 operating system, or Honeycomb, on the previous Galaxy Note is now Android 4.0, or Ice Cream Sandwich, on the new Galaxy Note. The old and new share still share the unique S Pen stylus, but it has been redesigned on the Galaxy Note 1...