The United States House of Representatives approved the Wireless Tax Fairness Act on Tuesday, an initiative that prevents new local and state taxes on wireless bills for the next five years. “We need to encourage the development and adoption of wireless broadband, not tax it out of existence,” Representative Zoe Lofgren said. The average tax rate on goods and services in the United States is 7.4% but consumers with wireless contracts pay an average of 16.4% in taxes and fees, WirelessWeek said. &#...

We just met with Motorola in San Diego during the CTIA Enterprise & Applications 2011 trade show to get a first-hand look at the newly announced Motorola ATRIX 2, and we love what we see so far. The phone is made of plastic, and while we generally prefer more high-end materials such as aluminum, it feels weighty and solid in the hand. We also appreciate that Motorola added a dedicated camera button this time around, which makes it easy to launch the camera app for quick photo taking. The ATRIX 2 is also e...

For the first time, the number of wireless devices connecting to cellular networks in the United States and its territories over the past six months has surpassed the country’s total population. A semi-annual survey conducted by the CTIA found that wireless subscriber connections now total 327.6 million while the population of the U.S. and its territories is now 315.5 million people. This means the wireless penetration rate in the U.S. in now 103.9% according to the CTIA, marking the first time that wi...

The CTIA recently filed a lawsuit in San Francisco, California in an effort to block the city’s “Cell Phone Right-to-Know” ordinance, which the CTIA says is misinforming consumers. The ordinance requires cell phone retailers to post information about cellular radiation next to devices, which the CTIA argues wrongly suggests there is proof phones cause brain tumors and pose other health risks. “The materials the City would require be posted and handed out at retail stores are both alarm...

Samsung has just announced that the product launch event at CTIA Fall planned for next week with Google won’t be happening. Here’s Samsung’s statement:Samsung and Google have decided to postpone the Samsung Mobile Unpacked event during the CTIA in San Diego, previously scheduled for Oct. 11. Under the current circumstances, both parties have agreed that this is not the appropriate time for the announcement of a new product. We would ask for the understanding of our clients and media for...

Samsung recently sent out press invites to an event on October 11th during which Google’s next Android iteration, Ice Cream Sandwich, and the Nexus Prime are expected to be unveiled. Samsung’s invite is titled “Google Episode” and it promises “a look at what’s new from Android.” We reported exclusively in June that the Nexus Prime is manufactured by Samsung, much like the Nexus S was, and we expect it will be packed with high-end hardware. Our sources said the device ...

The city of San Francisco has approved an ordinance that will require cell phone retailers to warn customers about the dangers of cell phone radiation, the Los Angeles Times reported on Thursday. The ordinance, which was passed in a 10-1 vote, asks that phone retailers “post general warnings” about risks. It’s unclear what exactly will be required of the retailers, and researchers have flip-flopped on whether or not there are any real risks associated with mobile wireless devices. On May 31s...

Mickey Mouse and pals stepped aside this week in sunny Orlando, Florida to make way for the latest and greatest gear wireless companies had to offer. After a killer Consumer Electronics Show in January and an action-packed Mobile World Congress in February, we wondered if our favorite brands had enough juice left in the tank for CTIA Wireless 2011 this week. While there weren’t quite as many announcements as in other shows this year, we definitely saw some exciting new devices showcased by companies lik...

We met up with LG on Tuesday to check out its inductive Wireless Charging Pad, which it hopes will compete against competitors like Powermat. During our hands-on, we weren’t able to test the device — it seems someone forgot to charge the charger — but we were able to get a feel for its size, weight and some of its features. The Wireless Charging Pad has a power indicator that alerts you just how much power is left, and LG says it takes about two hours to charge itself up fully. All you have to do on...

We stopped by Kyocera’s CTIA booth to get a second tour of the dual-screen Echo from Sprint. The device, which will be available on April 17th for $199.99 with a 2-year agreement, really does have some innovative features. Applications and games that are optimized for the echo can leverage the second screen to display an enormous, thumb-friendly keyboard, provide more on-screen information, and enhance game-play. Kyocera assured us that the hinge on the device is ready for battle, and should stand up to...

After our initial caffeine-fueled lap around the Orange County Connection Center, we made the rounds one more time to collect some videos for your scrutiny. One device on our hit-list was the HTC HD7S, AT&T’s third Windows Phone 7 smartphone. If you’re a Windows Phone fan, this one is sure to be up your alley. Its 4.3-inch screen was bright and its build was solid thanks to thick plastic and metal accents. We do feel the design is getting a bit stale, though, given that it has a body that̵...

We swung by Samsung’s booth at CTIA Wireless on Wednesday to get some more hands-on time with the Sidekick 4G, soon to launch on T-Mobile. Somewhere in the back of our minds we still had the stigma that the Sidekick was a dead messaging phone of yesteryear, but that’s not really the case. The Sidekick 4G rocks Android 2.2 (Froyo) with a custom user interface that has more neon than a 1980′s themed frat-party, and, believe it or not, that’s actually what makes the phone pretty compellin...

We hit every booth on the show floor yesterday for a first go at every new phone and tablet we could find. Today, we made the rounds again, like the mad men we are, to shoot some video of the newest phones and tablets. Now, we present you with video of the LG G-Slate, which is headed to T-Mobile soon with a $529.99 price tag. The G-Slate has a real premium feel to it thanks to the metal back side, and its display was large and bright even under the lights here. While it’s not as sexy as the Samsung Gala...

T-Mobile’s G2x could shape up to be one of T-Mobile’s hottest smartphones when it launches, so we figured we’d swing by LG’s booth again to bring you a closer look at the G2x and its beefy hardware — this time on video. As we said in our initial hands-on, we found the G2x to be seriously fast thanks to the 1GHz dual-core  Nvidia Tegra 2 processor under the hood. But while the phone was fast, the plastic back felt a bit cheap and we wish there was more metal or texture to give it a m...