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LAS VEGAS – AT&T Inc. is adding cell phones running Google’s Android operating system to its lineup, bringing what could be the iPhone’s greatest rival into the fold of the device’s sole U.S. carrier.

AT&T’s head of consumer services, Ralph de la Vega, said Wednesday that AT&T plans to sell five Android phones from Dell, HTC and Motorola during the first half of this year. De la Vega was speaking at an event Wednesday ahead of the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Android is shaping up to be the strongest challenger to Apple Inc.’s iPhone — more than 30 million of which have been sold in the past 2 1/2 years.

With AT&T’s announcement, the four largest U.S. wireless carriers will offer phones running Google’s software. There are about 20 such phones on the market, including ones made by Motorola and HTC and Google Inc.’s own Nexus One, which was announced Tuesday.

Also Wednesday, De la Vega said AT&T will sell phones running Palm Inc.’s WebOS operating system in the first half. Palm offers two phones with that software, the Pre and the Pixi. Both have been offered in the U.S. only by Sprint Nextel Corp.

Dell has already built versions of its phone, called the Mini 3, for carriers in China and Brazil. Its efforts to expand to the U.S. market is part of its effort to diversify. Its main customers, U.S. corporations, have slowed spending on technology since the economic meltdown of 2008. Once the largest PC maker in the world, Dell has slipped to third behind Hewlett-Packard Co. and Taiwan’s Acer Inc. The one bright spot in the business, the consumer PC division, has become less profitable as people have leaned toward inexpensive portable computers.

Calling it their “superphone,” Google unveiled the Nexus One on Tuesday, marking the online search giant’s first leap into the smartphone market.

The phone, which goes head to head with Apple’s darling of the market, the iPhone, is sold only through a Web store operated by Google and, unlike the iPhone and most other current smartphones, is available either with or without mobile service.

“We are very happy to be able to offer a choice,” said Mario Queiroz, Google’s vice president of product management.

T-Mobile is the initial service provider. Verizon in the United States and Vodafone in Europe will be coming on board later, and more operators are expected.

Already available Tuesday, the phone costs $180 with a contract or $530 unlocked, leaving the phone open to other carriers.

Among the Nexus One features Google announced at an invitation-only event at its California headquarters was text without typing. A voice-enabled keyboard allows users to send texts, e-mails or Facebook updates by speaking into the phone.

It is a global-system device with a 3.7-inch touchscreen, 5-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi connectivity, an accelerometer and a compass, according to Google. Click here to read more.. »

(CNN) — These days, it seems that most Americans carry three things in their pockets or purses at all times: keys, a wallet and a phone.

But, in the not-too-distant future, you may be able to leave the wallet and the keys behind.

The mobile phone is staging a coup.

Some analysts say that within five years, mobile phones in the United States will be able to make electronic payments, open doors, access subways, clip coupons and possibly act as another form of identification.

These futuristic uses for phones are becoming reality in countries like South Korea and Japan, which typically are ahead of the United States when it comes to mobile technology.

A 963-person survey by Forrester Research, for instance, found that 15 percent of Japanese mobile phone users make payments and purchase products in stores with their phones.

The ideas have been tried in the United States too, but with less success.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, banks and cell phone makers started conducting trials with U.S. customers. Limited groups of people were given the ability to scan their phones to make payments, enter stadiums and access public transit.

Those phone-forward guinea pigs didn’t like the new functionalities as well as expected, and the ideas never took off on a commercial scale, said Ed Kountz, a senior analyst at Forrester.

But Kountz said there’s now resurgent interest in merging phones with wallets and keys. In 2009, people are more dependent on their phones than they used to be.

“I think it is different this time around,” said Kountz, who believes that phones in the United States will be used to make mobile payments within five years.

“The overall utility of cell phones has expanded, and more consumers are using the data aspects of cell phones,” he said. Click here to read more.. »

(CNN) — Smartphone cameras are pretty basic. Often they won’t zoom. They don’t have aperture settings. Usually there’s no flash.

But thanks to a growing slate of photography apps, simple mobile-phone photos can be transformed into interesting pieces of art. They’re the new Polaroids — far from high-end but offering a sort of irreverent charm.

Here are three fun photo apps to help you transform dull iPhone or Android photos into something your friends will want to check out. Click here to read more.. »