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BARCELONA, Spain--With another 2 billion people hooking up to the Internet in the next five years, there's plenty of room for another mobile operating system, Mozilla Chief Executive Gary Kovacs said today in a sales pitch for his new Firefox OS.

Apple and Google have led the way in the smartphone market but can't cover the whole thing, he said in a speech to thousands at the Mobile World Congress show here, though he didn't mention the companies by name.

"I find it impossible to understand how 3, 4, 5, or 6 billion people are going … Read more

Sprint subsidiaries Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile finally joined the LTE wave today by acquiring their first devices compatible with Sprint's growing network. Though both carriers carry WiMax handsets, Sprint began phasing out that network in favor of LTE last year.

Virgin's Samsung Galaxy Victory 4G LTE is another member of the company's ever-expanding Galaxy family. Its feature set shows that Virgin continues to up the ante on its smartphone lineup.

Running on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, it has a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, a 5-megapixel camera with HD video capture, a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, … Read more

Sprint today announced that the rugged and waterproof Kyocera Torque will arrive on March 8. Priced at $99 with a two-year service agreement, the Torque is the first "Ultra rugged" 4G LTE handset with Sprint Direct Connect push-to-talk service.

Previously introduced back in January, the Kyocera smartphone features a 4-inch IPS display and dual-core processor. Whereas the typical rugged smartphone is hampered by older versions of the platform, the Torque runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. This is good news for anyone who has grown accustomed to the Holo theme of Android and its added feature set. … Read more

Vodafone, the European wireless carrier that owns 45 percent of Verizon Wireless, isn't sure if its stake will change in a year's time.

Speaking to The Wall Street Journal in an interview published today, Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao said "I don't know" if it's possible for Vodafone's stake to be changed a year from now, but he's willing to keep an open mind "on everything."

Vodafone and Verizon Wireless combined forces in 2000. Since then, Verizon has watched its star soar and its need for help from Vodafone wane. Verizon … Read more

As I write this, CNET writers from three countries are traveling to Barcelona, Spain, to bring you the best of the annual Mobile World Congress trade show.

If you're a smartphone fan, you probably know that Mobile World Congress (MWC) is a big deal. And if you don't know about it but still love gadgets and technology, there are very good reasons why you should care. I'll explain.

To put it simply, MWC is the most important wireless trade show of the year. It's bigger than CES (where, no … Read more

The Chinese phone manufacturer, ZTE, has teamed up with Nvidia to launch a line of quad-core smartphones slated for midyear or earlier. These handsets will feature the Tegra 4 chipset, which was unveiled last month during CES 2013.

Based on ARM Cortex-A15 architecture, Tegra 4 is expected to be much faster and more powerful than its predecessor, which was based on ARM Cortex-A9.

Tegra 4 also features six times as many graphics cores (bringing the total to 72) than its predecessor.

Along with building these quad-core devices, ZTE announced that it plans on making one phone that will also feature … Read more

Early this morning, while most of the West Coast slept, Google took the next steps in introducing Google Glass to the world.

A sleek website, highlighted by a crisp, new video, started to answer basic questions about the device for the broader world. How does it look? What does it do? Can I use it while dancing with a ballerina? (You can.)

Along with the new glimpses of Glass came a contest designed to lure early adopting enthusiasts in the United States. The simple request: "Using Google+ or Twitter, tell us what you would do if you had Glass, … Read more

"OK Glass."

Those are the two words that Google showed today will initiate a variety of commands for its Glass computerized eyewear.

In the Google Glass "How it Feels" video, people speak the words "OK Glass" and then pick from a list of featured voice commands to send a message, record a video, take a photo, launch a video-chat hangout, conduct a search, check the weather, or get driving directions.

The demo is a concrete illustration of how Google is evolving its technology from a mere search engine to a constant personal companion that augments your mind. … Read more

Wireless carrier T-Mobile expanded its prepaid offerings today with the nationwide launch of GoSmart Mobile, a budget wireless service targeting consumers interested in low-cost unlimited plans.

The service, which has been in beta mode in nine markets since December, is geared toward consumers more interested in voice and text services than high-speed Internet access. As such, GoSmart's target audience includes younger people, college students on a budget, and those with incomes between $30,000 and $40,000 a year, GoSmart Marketing Director Shailendra Gujarati told the Seattle Times.

"We are looking at customers whose predominant needs when it … Read more