Today, Mossberg takes a look at the lukewarmly anticipated Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista. It’s an odd little beast of a review, its flat, monotonal surface covering a bed of barbs. (Most of ‘em are true.) Here’s the sharpest one (bold is mine):
SP1 doesn’t resolve some of the most annoying flaws in Vista, including slow start-ups and reboots, and a security system that nags you too much and requires add-on anti-virus software. I guess these problems will either never be fixed fully or will have to wait for SP2.
That’s a Stinger. Missile.
It not only basically calls Microsoft inept, each bit is an unspoken comparison to OS X. SP1 has, however, gotten better than its RC, which we tested a couple months ago. Whereas it took 30 percent longer to transfer files over the network than regular Vista in our test, Moss says transfers took half as long. Recovery […]

Original post by matt buchanan

newVideoPlayer(”android_new_ui_4.flv”, 463, 387,”");The first iteration of Android wasn’t the prettiest phone OS by a longshot. However, today’s release of the refreshed Android SDK shows a UI that has more than a bit of polish. We took screens, but you should also check out the details, like this video showing smooth, animated transitions. Good on them: Some have speculated that’s where most of the iPhone’s charm comes from. See for yourself.

Original post by Adrian Covert

BlackBerry guts
(Credit: CNET Networks/John Lee)

TechRepublic has done it again, this time cracking open the BlackBerry just in time for the raging speculation about its maker’s reliability. News.com’s running an excerpt of the dissection of its very tidy innards here: “Photos: Cracking open the BlackBerry.”…

Original post by Emily Shurr

Vodafone makes itself known at GSMA.
(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)
The GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, is winding to a close, but that doesn’t mean mobile phone news have stopped streaming in. The third day of GSMA 2008 saw AMD announcing big plans for mobile phone processors, …

Original post by Nicole Lee

Stories like this pop up from time to time, but it never ceases to amaze how crazy ass lawsuits end up tying up our legal system. In this case, Best Buy customer Raelyn Campbell purchased a $1100 laptop from a DC area store along with the absurd $300 extended warranty. When her on/off switch broke later that year, she returned to the store to get a repair.
Best Buy claimed that the laptop would be up and running within 2 to 6 weeks. After about two months she received numerous calls from the repair center assuring her that the laptop would be out of the shop in no time. To make a long story short, the laptop was