Alcatel offers the Venture to Virgin Mobile's prepaid crowd, an Android smartphone that includes a QWERTY keyboard, Gingerbread, and a 2-megapixel camera. Here's Phone Scoop's full review of this $99, no-contract smartphone.

HTC has released the source Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich kernel for the Vivid, Sensation, and Sensation XE. HTC began rolling the Android 4.0 update to these three devices recently, and the kernel will help developers adjust their apps/services to work better on these phones. The code can be downloaded from HTC's developer web site.

Speculation was rife (on the TechRadar Facebook page) that Apple was set to buy Facebook/Stark Industries/the Moon/a volcano base with its near $100 billion of cash, but it seems that Apple has made a rather boring sensible decision and announced that it has authorised a $10 billion share repurchase program which is set to take place in 2013. In ...

Samsung's flagship 2011 Android phone received a glowing 5/5 score when we reviewed the Galaxy S2 earlier this year. And it was no surprise - Samsung packed a very powerful and capable processor plus a very nice camera into an unbelievably slim case. Samsung published endless press releases about its ever growing global sales figures, which can only ...

Reuters is reporting that a judge in Mannheim, Germany has suspended a slide-to-unlock "utility model" suit that Apple has filed against Samsung pending the outcome of a separate trial in a Munich court.

According to Barrons, Research In Motion's stock is up today for no obvious reason. There is chatter, however, that Samsung is looking to possibly make a $1.5 billion investment in the company, and that it is considering making its own BB10 OS devices once RIM brings the platform to market later this year.

Samsung has announced it will begin offering its Galaxy Ace Plus smartphone starting March on 17 in the UK. The entry level handset offers a speedy 1GHz processor to power Google's Android Gingerbread operating system as well as Samsung's own TouchWiz user interface. The Galaxy Ace sports a 3.65-inch HVGA touchscreen display that shows off photos and videos ...

Nokia has confirmed via a FAQ published on its Nokia Connects web page that its Lumia-branded Windows Phone smartphones will get tethering support soon. Nokia says the update will be available for its 800 and 710 via a Zune update and that its 900 and 610 smartphones will have tethering support enabled by default when they start shipping.

Three UK is now offering a white and silver Galaxy Note from Samsung to its customers. The Note, a smartphone-tablet hybrid device, boasts a massive 5.3-inch Super AMOLED HD touchscreen and supports the use of an advanced smart pen for input. For more, check out our full review of the Samsung Galaxy Note smartphone here.

According to J.D. Power and Associates, Apple yet again has taken the top spot in the 2012 U.S. Wireless Smartphone Satisfaction Study. For the seventh consecutive time, Apple tops the list in overall customer satisfaction, especially when it comes to ease of operation and features. HTC is second, with Samsung in third, below the industry average. Palm, ...

T-Mobile has decided to pull the plug on its Sidekick 4G smartphone and is, for now, putting the Sidekick line of smartphones on hold until further notice. Our friends at The Verge reached out to the carrier and were told "While the T-Mobile Sidekick 4G is being retired, it doesn't mean we are discontinuing the T-Mobile Sidekick line. T-Mobile continues ...

Flipboard today announced that it has modified its app for Apple's iPad to take advantage of the third generation tablet's Retina display. Flipboard offers a magazine style view of news feeds and social media streams that is complete with photos and sharing functions.