Over the years, Sprint has introduced non-phone devices such as USB modems, PC cards and "mobile hotspots" that connect other gadgets to 4G, but people continued to clamor for compatible phones.

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Theoretically, you could spend all your online time linked in some way to your Google experience, both on your PC and on your phone and someday on many other gadgets as well, including your car.

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This is the main reason why HP decided last week to get out of the PC business and focus instead on software to power all these gadgets.

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He trotted back out Windows Surface, a touch-screen PC inside a table that uses sophisticated cameras and software to synchronize with other gadgets.

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Smartphone devices, which have PC-like functions and links to social networking sites, have reawakened consumers' appetite for gadgets.

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