FEDERAL JUDGE DENIES CLASS ACTION STATUS OF VERIZON LAWSUIT

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia has ruled that Verizon customers who take issue with “fraudulent” cell phone charges must arbitrate individually with the carrier instead of filing a class-action lawsuit in court, Reuters recently reported. A group of current and former Verizon Wireless customers originally filed a class-action lawsuit arguing that it was “unconscionable” for Verizon Wireless to require customers to arbitrate any unfair charges in their contracts. According to Reuters, arbitration can often be viewed as favorable for a large company because it can be more expensive for consumers to file charges in courts individually instead of as a group.

CELL PHONE RADIATION MAY MAKE YOU STERILE

First it was brain tumors, now researchers are saying cell phone radiation can make men sterile. According to an article in the latest Journal of Andrology, recent reports have suggested there is a “possible link between cell phone use and semen quality.” One study performed on rabbits found that those who were exposed to a mobile phone emitting at 800MHz for 8 hours a day over 12 weeks had a decrease in sperm concentration just six weeks into the study. Sperm motility, or how properly a sperm can swim towards can egg, began to falter in the tenth week. Similar results were found in rats and mice, too.

Clinical studies have concluded that cellular use is “associated with decreased sperm concentration, motility, morphology, and viability.” According to Dr. Sandro La Vignera from University of Catania, exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation (EF-EMR) “reduces testosterone biosynthesis, impairs spermatogenesis, and damages sperm DNA.” Despite the evidence, however, the author concludes that more studies are still necessary.

NEW STUDY SAYS NO LINK BETWEEN CELL PHONES AND BRAIN CANCER

The results of a recent European study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute concluded that there is no connection between cell phone use and an increased risk of brain cancer, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. There were 1,000 participants in the study, including 352 people aged seven to nineteen who were diagnosed with a brain tumor between 2004 and 2008. The report “shows that a large and immediate risk of cellphones causing brain tumors in children can be excluded,” Dr. Martin Roosli, an epidemiologist at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute said.

The results are in contradiction of a recent World Health Organization study, which said that cell phones are “possibly carcinogenic.” However, the WHO report was shot down immediately by the Economist, which said it was not possible for cell phone radio waves to cause cells to mutate, and a second report in Environmental Health Perspectives that argued there is evidence “increasingly against the hypothesis that mobile phone use can cause brain tumors in adults.” One World Health Organization cancer epidemiologist, Kurt Straif, told The Wall Street Journal that the results from the latest survey may not be 100% accurate. “Participants with brain cancer may not have the best recall for how often they used their phones,” he argued.

EVIDENCE "INCREASING AGAINST" CELL PHONE CANCER RISK

Reuters is reporting that despite a recent move to classify mobile phones as possibly carcinogenic, the scientific evidence increasingly points away from a link between their use and brain tumors, according to a new study on Saturday.

A major review of previously published research by a committee of experts from Britain, the United States and Sweden concluded there was no convincing evidence of any cancer connection.

It also found a lack of established biological mechanisms by which radio signals from mobile phones might trigger tumors.

"Although there remains some uncertainty, the trend in the accumulating evidence is increasingly against the hypothesis that mobile phone use can cause brain tumors in adults," the experts wrote in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

Mobile phone use has risen hugely since the early 1980s, with nearly 5 billion handsets in use today, and controversy about their potential link to the main types of brain tumor, glioma and meningioma, has never been far away.

The largest study to date, published last year, looked at almost 13,000 mobile phone users over 10 years.

Anthony Swerdlow of Britain's Institute of Cancer Research and colleagues analyzed its results in detail but concluded it gave no clear answer and had several methodological problems, since it was based on interviews and asked subjects to recall phone use going back several years.

Significantly, other studies from several countries have shown no indication of increases in brain tumors up to 20 years after the introduction of mobile phones and 10 years after their use became widespread, they added.

LEAK: NOKIA'S FIRST WINDOWS PHONE PHONE

A video just surfaced showing Nokia CEO, Stephen Elop, foolishly asking a crowd of people to "put away their cameras" for the unveiling of something "super confidential," codenamed "Sea Ray." Naturally, a few people ignored the plea for "no pictures please" and, indeed, leaked the new device out to the blogosphere.

What is it? Why, it's Nokia's first Windows Phone. While it looks nearly identical to the just announced N9, the different LED placement on the back (in line with the same 8 megapixel Carl Zeiss lens) confirms it's a new device as does the additional hardware button (for shutter release, we presume) along the side. And the fact that it's running Windows Phone 7 Mango seals the deal.

ANDROID TABLET MAKERS DISAPPOINTED WITH SALES, SHIFTING BACK TO CELL PHONES

Cell phone makers that have entered the emerging consumer tablet market over the past year are now backing off according to a report from DigiTimes on Friday. Thus far only Samsung has been able to make a real dent in Apple’s stronghold on this new market, capturing a 10% share with its Galaxy Tab Android-powered tablet.

Samsung’s triumph was due mainly to the Galaxy Tab’s widespread distribution, and other entrants into the market have not been able to capture the same success. While 250,000 XOOM tablets shipped in two months and 500,000 PlayBooks shipped last quarter are respectable figures, it’s hard to call those products a success when Apple has sold 25 million iPads in just 14 months. As a result, companies that planned to attack the tablet market aggressively may now be pulling back some of that investment to focus on another new market: supersized smartphones. Android phones with displays sized between four and five inches have become increasingly popular since the launch of Sprint’s HTC EVO 4G, and it looks like handset makers may be better served to focus on that space while the market figures out whether or not if even wants consumer tablets.

CELL PHONES, ELECTRONIC DEVICES CAUSE INTERFERENCE ON FLIGHTS

A new study obtained by ABC News suggests that cell phones and other personal electronic devices might be causing electronic interference on airplanes. U.S. airlines all require that passengers power off any and all electronic devices, many claiming that “flight mode,” isn’t even allowed. Of course, if you’re like us, you may ignore those warnings and leave your phone on until the last possible second (or entirely with flight mode activated). The report, however, found that there were 75 different incidents between 2003 and 2009 where interference from personal electronics was possible. From ABC News:

Twenty-six of the incidents in the report affected the flight controls, including the autopilot, autothrust and landing gear. Seventeen affected navigation systems, while 15 affected communication systems. Thirteen of the incidents produced electronic warnings, including “engine indications.” The type of personal device most often suspected in the incidents were cell phones, linked to four out of ten.

During one flight, for example, autopilot disengaged at 4,500 feet. When pilots asked flight attendants to search the cabin for electronic devices, they discovered that one phone and three iPods were being used. After those devices were powered down, the flight continued without any incident. ABC News’ aviation expert, John Nance, isn’t convinced the electronics are to blame, however. “If an airplane is properly hardened, in terms of the sheathing of the electronics, there’s no way interference can occur,” he said. For reference, there are over 35,000 flights daily in the United States.

BALLMER SAYS OVER 500 NEW FEATURES IN WP7 'MANGO' UPDATE

Steve Ballmer revealed the Windows Phone 7 'Mango' update will have "over 500 new features" in a speech over in Japan today, where he also said that additional information about "who's going to be building Windows Phones" will be forthcoming at tomorrow's preview event as well. Combine that with an otherwise unsubstantiated rumor about Microsoft showing nine new Windows Phone handsets tomorrow, and it does seem like there'll be fresh hardware to go with the ripening software.

Neither the Mango release nor any devices on show will be coming to market any time soon, mind you, but it's nice to think we'll get to see what the future of Windows Phone will look like in physical as well as digital form.

CELL PHONES KILLING BEES

A new paper (PDF) from Swiss researcher Daniel Favre claims that part of the problem is our obsession with cell phones.

According to Favre, a researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, phone signals may confuse honeybees so much that they become disoriented before finally dropping dead. Favre and his team performed 83 experiments that recorded honeybees' reaction to nearby cell phones in off, standby, and call-making mode. The result: Honeybee noise increases by 10 times when a phone call is made or received. Normally, an increase in noise, or "worker piping," is used as a signal for bees to leave their hives. But in this case, it just makes them confused. Favre explains:

Worker piping in a bee colony is not frequent, and when it occurs in a colony, that is not in a swarming process, no more than two bees are simultaneously active (Pratt et al. 1996). The induction of honeybee worker piping by the electromagnetic fields of mobile phones might have dramatic consequences in terms of colony losses due to unexpected swarming.

A similar report in 2008 showed that bees won't come back to their hives when cell phones are placed nearby--another hint that handsets disrupt bee orientation. There isn't too much we can do about this without dismantling our cell phone culture, and that's never going to happen.

ANDROID OS RISES WHILE BLACKBERRY FALLS

Android’s U.S. market share is continuing to grow at the expense of RIM, Microsoft, and Palm, according to a new report from comScore that took a snapshot of the mobile phone market during the March quarter. The report found that Android powered 34.7% of all U.S. smartphones, up 6% from December 2010. RIM’s BlackBerry OS market share fell 4.5 points to a 27.1% share of the market, while Microsoft’s Windows and Palm’s webOS each saw a 0.9 percentage point decrease. Apple’s iOS market share jumped 0.5 points to a 25.5% share of the market, just behind RIM’s 27.1% grasp. Samsung remained the most popular mobile phone brand with a 24.5% share of the market, followed by LG (20.9%), Motorola (15.8%), RIM (8.4%), and Apple (7.9%). The report also found that 234 million Americans above the age of 13 used mobile devices.

SPRINT/GOOGLE VOICE INTEGRATION HAS MAJOR PROBLEMS, LITTLE SUPPORT

There have been a ton of complaints about the new Sprint/Google Voice integration. Some users of Google Voice are finding their accounts are suddenly deactivated due to a problem on Sprint's end. Others can't activate Google Voice at all.

But the fun doesn't stop there. Some users are having problems reverting back to their old number and having the service deactivated by Sprint. For international calls, one the major advantages of using Google Voice due to the low cost per minute, users are finding their calls are not routed through Google, but Sprint at the much higher per minute rate.

Google and Sprint clearly have their work cut out for them, but to Sprint's credit, customer service representatives that we spoke to did their best to research the situation and provide any assistance that they could. Unfortunately, the result is always the same -- reps at every level redirect callers to the Google Voice Forum, rather than an email or telephone support line.

It appears that Sprint does in fact know how to get in touch with Google, at least at the executive level. We received a joint response, sent from representatives of both companies. Surprisingly, their official position is that customers with Sprint-related Google Voice questions should contact Sprint directly. From our experience, Sprint representatives will then refer customers to Google, so that suggestion couldn't be less helpful. Unfortunately, there's no word on when we can expect these bugs to be resolved. In the meantime, it goes without saying that you should avoid activating Google Voice on your Sprint phone, unless the mobile gods have blessed you with multiple devices -- or you really don't care about being able to use your phone to actually make calls.

SAN FRANCISCO HALTS CELL PHONE RADIATION LAW

The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that The City's law requiring cellphone retailers to label each device's SAR level as tested by the FCC has been put on indefinite hold, with a watered-down version likely taking its place. The law used SAR values to determine radiation levels.

As Joel Moskowitz, director at the IC Berkeley Center for Family and Community Health, and even the FCC will tell you, the SAR value is a poor measurement of radiation intake for consumers:

"The specific absorption rate isn't a very useful measure because it's the peak reading on a variety of tests conducted on cell phones to measure their radiation, but doesn't indicate the average amount of radiation a user would generally be exposed to. You could buy a lower SAR phone, but on average it could produce more radiation than a higher SAR phone."

Although changes to the law have not yet been formally introduced, they'll likely result in retailers handing out "tip sheets" to customers that explain how to minimize radiation exposure from their new handsets.

WINDOWS PHONE 7 UPDATE ALL MESSED UP

The first Windows Phone 7 updated from Microsoft is apparently causing all kinds of issues. Some people are receiving updates, others are not. Some people are having the update hang at step 7 of 10 causing them to reboot and get the original firmware back, while others are hanging at step 6 and ending up with a bricked phone.

While the centralized update distribution was suppose to be a huge advantage over the carrier distribution of Android, Microsoft has failed miserably with very first one.

To top it all off, Microsoft had hinted that updates were suppose to come to all 'eligible' phones at the same time, however we are now learning carriers can opt to block an update as long as they allow the next one.

For a company that is behind in the mobile field, this is certainly not a good showing.

CELL PHONE USE CHANGES BRAIN CHEMISTRY

A study by the National Institutes of Health shows that less than an hour of cell phone usage can change the brains chemical activity. This raises the question of the health effects of cell phones and low level radiation.

Researchers urged caution in interpreting the findings because it is not known whether the changes, which were seen in brain scans, have any meaningful effect on a person’s overall health.

“The study is important because it documents that the human brain is sensitive to the electromagnetic radiation that is emitted by cellphones,” Dr. Volkow, the lead researcher, said. “It also highlights the importance of doing studies to address the question of whether there are — or are not — long-lasting consequences of repeated stimulation, of getting exposed over five, 10 or 15 years.” “Unfortunately this particular study does not enlighten us in terms of whether this is detrimental or if it could even be beneficial,” Dr. Volkow said. “It just tells us that even though these are weak signals, the human brain is activated by them.”

Most major medical groups, including the American Cancer Society, the National Cancer Institute and the Food and Drug Administration, have said the existing data on cellphones and health has been reassuring, particularly a major European study released last year by the World Health Organization that found no increased risk of rare brain tumors among cellphone users.

AT&T LAUNCHING 12 NEW ANDROID DEVICES IN 2011

While AT&T had the Apple iPhone exclusively, they only had a smattering of Android devices available. Now that Verizon, AT&T's largest competitor, is launching the iPhone, AT&T is getting serious about Android.

AT&T will begin with the Motorola ATRIX 4G, the HTC Inspire 4G and the Samsung Infuse 4G. In an alleged internal document published by Android enthusiast blog phandroid, AT&T mentions that it will launch 12 new Android devices this year. That works out to an average of one new Android device each month

RUMOR: SONY ERICSSON WORKING ON WINDOWS PHONE 7 DEVICES

Contrary to what beleaguered handset manufacturer Sony Ericsson has stated, they seem to be deeply invested in Windows Phone 7 OS. According to DigiTimes channel checks with Taiwan-based manufacturers reportedly reveal that Sony Ericsson does indeed already have Windows Phone 7 devices “in the pipeline,” despite the fact that executives have been careful with their words in recent history when discussing the platform. DigiTimes’ report does not include any information as far as specific devices, nor does it indicate when we might see new Microsoft-powered phones reach market from Sony Ericsson.

CELL PHONE TRADE-IN PROGRAM COMING TO AT&T JANUARY 23RD

Starting on Monday, January 23rd, AT&T will begin a cell phone trade-in program. All devices, whether AT&T or from another carrier, will be eligible for this program.

AT&T will allow the user to take a credit on toward a new purchase from AT&T, a check or have AT&T make a donation in the trade-in amount to a charity in the users name. There are no details on the buy back price of devices at this time, we don't expect it to be very much.

RUMOR: FACEBOOK PHONE REAL, SORT OF

There have been a lot of rumors about a so-called Facebook Phone in the last year, despite the fact that Facebook themselves firmly deny the rumor. In September, we heard that the Facebook Phone was going to be made by INQ and bundled with Spotify; a couple months later, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg said that there would be no one single Facebook phone, but that he wanted every phone to come with Facebook.

So which is it? A recent Bluetooth certification test has revealed that INQ is indeed working on a mobile phone called the Cloud Touch with Facebook pulsating at its core. The phone is described like this in the certification:

An Android smartphone built to make messaging faster and smarter. It’s designed around the way people naturally communicate and has Facebook built into its core. The homescreen features multiple entry points to different Facebook functions, while a dynamic widget displays a feed of status updates, albums, videos and photos.

That sounds like more than a casual integration with Facebook’s services. In fact, going by Zuckerberg’s statements, it sounds like the first handset of many baking Facebook’s core services deep into the OS and UI of a smartphone…. an interpretation given some additional credence by INQ’s quick response to the leak, which was to scrub any mention of Facebook from the Bluetooth certification.

It certainly looks likely that 2011 will see the release of at least one Facebook phone. The question is, are more yet to come, and how involved is Facebook itself in INQ’s handset? Only time and an official announcement will tell.

LG DISSES WINDOWS PHONE 7; OS STILL FINE FOR CERTAIN SEGMENTS

In a sit-down with the folks over at Pocket-lint, LG's marketing strategy and planning team director James Choi noted: "From an industry perspective we had a high expectation, but from a consumer point of view the visibility is less than we expected." Nothing too shocking there, but he followed up by noting that LG feels Windows Phone 7 "is absolutely perfect for a huge segment out there." Perhaps more shocking was this tidbit: "What we feel is that some people believe that some operating systems, mainly Google, are extremely complicated for them; but Windows Phone 7 is very intuitive and easy to use." He followed his not-terribly-subtle Android jab with a WP7 jab, oddly enough, noting that "for tech guys, [WP7] might be a little bit boring after a week or two, but there are certain segments that it really appeals to." What's left unclear is exactly how much support LG is going to give Microsoft after launching the Optimus 7, but we're guessing that next month's outlay at Mobile World Congress will be a huge indication.

ISRAELI CELL PHONE MAKER MODU JOINS THE DEADPOOL

Israeli cell phone maker Modu is closing its doors. Modu made a name for itself when it introduced the worlds smallest and lightest cell phone back in 2008, dubbed Modu. The Modu phone could take on different configurations depending on the accessories paired with it.

Back in November the company was expected to file an IPO, but with mounting debt, the company will be forced to close by mid February. Only a small sales force will remain to sell off the rest of the inventory.

According to reports, modu currently owes $123 million to investors and another $21 million to the Israel Discount Bank. Modu may also owe a substantial sum to former employees, who today filed a liquidation request with Israeli courts in an effort to recoup salaries they are allegedly owed.