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The company announced today that it now has 100 million worldwide users taking advantage of its free phone calls, texting, and photo-messaging services. It's not clear if those users are actively using the service or have just signed up. Still, the company claims to handle over 2 billion minutes of calls and 6 billion messages every month. An average of 10 million calls are placed each day.  Viber has established itself as a true competitor to Skype, the popular VoIP service now owned by Microsoft. Viber works across iOS, Android, and a host of other mobile platforms, and allows users to communicate with others for free. In addition to announcing its milestone, Viber said today that it has launched a new version of its service for Nokia's Lumia line of Windows Phone 7 devices. The app allows owners to place free HD-quality phone calls and hold group-messaging sessions. Users can also send out free text and photo messages. To further commemorate its milestone, Viber announced th...

The new Nokia Lumia 1020 smartphone is worth paying attention to, but not for the reason you've heard. The key figure in Nokia's ads and marketing is 41 -- as in, the number of megapixels of the Lumia's camera. That's a crazy number, triple what any other manufacturer except Nokia itself with its 808 PureView (which runs the old Symbian operating system, as opposed to the Lumia's Windows Phone 8) has ever put into a smartphone. The thing is, the number of megapixels, while important, is vastly overrated in evaluating smartphone cameras. Where it matters most is in maintaining sharpness at large sizes. Now, when was the last time you printed a poster from a photo taken on your phone? In fact, photos that pixel-dense can be a problem in real life; they take up lots of storage space and don't lend themselves easily to sharing. So now that we've disposed of that, here's what's important about the 1020: the camera. Nokia has included several feature...

The new Nokia Lumia 1020 smartphone is worth paying attention to, but not for the reason you've heard. The key figure in Nokia's ads and marketing is 41 -- as in, the number of megapixels of the Lumia's camera. That's a crazy number, triple what any other manufacturer except Nokia itself with its 808 PureView (which runs the old Symbian operating system, as opposed to the Lumia's Windows Phone 8) has ever put into a smartphone. The thing is, the number of megapixels, while important, is vastly overrated in evaluating smartphone cameras. Where it matters most is in maintaining sharpness at large sizes. Now, when was the last time you printed a poster from a photo taken on your phone? In fact, photos that pixel-dense can be a problem in real life; they take up lots of storage space and don't lend themselves easily to sharing. So now that we've disposed of that, here's what's important about the 1020: the camera. Nokia has included several feature...

Nokia may offer entry-level Windows Phone 7.5 devices by year's end, according to DigiTimes. Citing the usual "industry sources," DigiTimes said the new phones would be aimed at consumers in emerging markets, who are considered more price-sensitive. The hardware requirements for Windows Phone 8 are stricter than those for its predecessor, demanding a dual-core processor and support for near-field communication (NFC). Those features would be difficult to add to more entry-level and mid-level phones, according to the sources, prompting the need for less pricey Windows Phone 7.5 devices. (Credit: Josh Miller/CNET )