2014 cell phone news

DeathRing, a Chinese Trojan disguised as a ringtone app, shipped pre-installed on some cheap Android phones and could not be uninstalled.

Tonino Lamborghini's 88 Tauri cost $6,000 for handcrafted steel and leather, with fewer than 2,000 made. What you actually get for the money.

Malauzai found iPhones held 66% of mobile banking accounts despite Android's 80% global share, and that iOS users were the more profitable customers.

Corning said Gorilla Glass 4 survives drops twice as well as the hardened glass then in use, and Samsung, LG, Motorola, HTC and Microsoft were lined up.

Photo-resurfacing app Memoir raised $5.5 million led by Redpoint's Ryan Sarver, taking on Timehop a year after its iOS launch.

Barilliance found 41% of purchases completed on a phone were researched somewhere else first, mostly on a PC, which changes how retailers should measure it.

Washington DC's Metro piloted $184 million in new fare gates that take a phone tap or a chip card, replacing readers more than 30 years old.

The Lollipop-era Maps rebuild brought material design plus in-app OpenTable bookings and Uber pickup estimates without leaving the map.

Nintendo confirmed a 2015 smartphone app built around Mii avatars, its first real step outside consoles after delaying the launch a year.

The Lumia 535 was Microsoft's first Windows phone without the Nokia name: five-inch screen, five-megapixel front camera, about $137 in emerging markets.

Former Apple CEO John Sculley launched Obi Mobiles, Android phones priced from $70 to $200 and aimed squarely at Xiaomi and Lenovo.

ETH Zurich researchers built an algorithm that reads hand gestures through the phone camera, letting you swipe, zoom and tap without touching the screen.

DynaOptics built a lens that zooms by sliding sideways instead of extending, a way to get true optical zoom into a phone thin enough to sell.

Outerwall's 1,100 eco ATMs pay cash for old phones and tablets on the spot, grading the device and checking it against stolen-device records.

A Zogby study found 87% of millennials keep their phone with them at all times and 80% reach for it first thing in the morning.

BlackBerry sold out its 200,000-unit Passport launch in hours, a real win for the company and still a rounding error next to Apple's weekends.

A University of Central Florida simulator study found drivers texting through Google Glass braked as late as drivers texting on a phone.

Dartmouth's StudentLife app read sleep, conversation and activity from phone sensors to track stress and depression against academic performance.

Albuquerque Public Schools built a free app that pushes lockdown, evacuation and snow-day alerts straight to parents for the schools they pick.

Kantar surveyed 20,000 people and found 42% now rank screen size among the top reasons they buy, as the iPhone 6 and Galaxy Note 4 pushed phones toward tablet size.

Flir's clip-on infrared camera turned an iPhone 5 into a thermal imaging device, bringing a tool used by firefighters down to consumer prices.

The week of September 2, 2014: California's first-in-the-nation kill switch law, an $819,000 FCC fine against T-Mobile over hearing-aid compatibility, and school cyber risks.

Comscore found only 35% of US phone owners download an app in a given month, even as phones and tablets took 60% of all digital media time.

Microsoft sued Samsung in 2014 over a missed payment under their 2011 Android patent deal, which pays Microsoft a cut of every Samsung device sold.

Navdy projected navigation, caller ID and messages from your phone onto the windshield, a cheaper route to a heads-up display than a factory option.

A USC study found most 21-to-30-year-olds see checking a phone in a meeting as fine, while under 20% of workers over 50 agree.

Google Workshop was a rumored tool for designing custom Nexus 5 cases and live wallpapers from your own photos and map locations.

VivaLnk's Digital Tattoo was a five-day skin sticker that used NFC to unlock a phone with a tap, aimed at people who skip the lock screen.

China had 527 million people browsing the web on phones in mid-2014, more smartphone users than the entire population of the United States.

Microsoft killed the Android-based Nokia X four months after launch, folding its designs into low-cost Windows Phone Lumia handsets instead.

Research found South Korean phone owners personalize their handsets far more than Americans do, and what that says about how each group uses a phone.

Samsung pushed back the Samsung Z, its first phone on the Tizen operating system, after promising a July 2014 launch in Russia.

Samsung's Smart Bike concept paired a phone with lane-marking lasers and a rear camera, putting navigation and a blind-spot view in the rider's hands.

India's Swipe launched the Konnect 5.0 in 2014, a 135-gram phablet with a 5-inch screen, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage, aimed at the low end.

Verizon matched T-Mobile and AT&T in 2014, letting bring-your-own-phone customers join More Everything for $30 or $15 depending on data.

Leaks pointed to a cheaper, slimmer Moto E arriving in May 2014: 4.3-inch screen, 6.2mm thick, Android KitKat, Brazil first.

Rumors in 2014 had Google building its own wireless network on Google Fiber, or riding Verizon and AT&T as an MVNO. What either route would mean.

Reports in 2014 said the White House was testing LG and Samsung handsets. BlackBerry held 3.1% of the market and denied it was being replaced.

Practical ways to get more years out of a phone: buy after the launch hype, use your warranty replacement, and protect the screen and battery.

A UAE charity auction sold the number 050-777-7777 for about $2.1 million. Why sevens command that price, and the catch that comes with the number.

Gionee's Elife S5.5, billed as the world's slimmest phone at 5.5mm, launched in China in March 2014. Specs, weight and where it went on sale.

Unlimited texting usually stops at the border. Why international messages sit under a separate policy, and how to check your plan before you send one.

Phones can catch viruses, but it is rare and mostly avoidable. Where the real risk comes from and the habits that keep your handset clean.

Most cell phones cannot take a collect call, and the ones that can charge for it. How reverse-charge calls work and what the alternatives cost.

The steps to cancel a cell phone contract, what early termination fees run, and the timing tricks that keep the exit from costing you more.