While wandering around midtown Manhattan last Thursday afternoon, I was attempting to keep track of the Yankees opening day game versus the Tigers via the MLB.com At Bat 2011 app on my iPhone. As you can imagine, data reception sucked; several times, the app told me it couldn't access the network. Thanks again, AT&T. I thought for a second about using my iPad by connecting to a local Wi-Fi network. But first I would have had to have identified a public network, then hope Safari could handle the interstitial sign-up pages (which it often can't). Even if I connected successfully, once I wandered out of that particular hotspot coverage area into another I'd have to go through the entire Wi-Fi hotspot location, identification and sign-up rigmarole. Feh. I pocketed my iPhone and just poked my head into the varying bars along my walking route to keep track of the action. Perhaps once the HSPA-Plus "4G" iPhone 5 likely coming later this summer might alleviate some of AT&T's data network problems. In a year, however, local Wi-Fi hotspots could be as easy to connect to as a cell network, thanks to an almost ignored announcement last month concerning a new set of Wi-Fi specifications.

Sometimes less is more. In the Triple Flip smartphone concept's case — we'd happily take a dumb phone over this mishmosh. For the love of ponies, let's hope Nokia's partnership with Microsoft to make Windows Phone 7 smartphones doesn't end up anything like this.

A transparent photovoltaic film that lives on top of traditional displays could provide substantial amounts of power to mobile devices. By substantial, we mean that as long as you spend enough time outside, you might never have to charge your phone ever again.

"Add oil, rice and bake in an oven on low heat" sounds like the start of a recipe, but it's actually one of the many semi-legitimate fixes for broken or damaged smartphones (or other similar gizmos). Surprisingly, the crazy fixes can even match the crazy stories of how people break or damage them. The following is a somewhat light-hearted list of fixes for smartphones that we have complied for your reading pleasure. Some have come from the technical support desks of the manufacturers and some have come from individuals who claim success. While we wish you success in your own fixes, we still have to say: try this at home and you do so at your own risk.