Panasonic’s a name the European smartphone market hasn’t heard in quite some time. Hoping to make a comeback, Panasonic has announced their plans for a lightweight, super thin smartphone they’re calling the Eluga. Unveiled at the Panasonic Convention 2012, the Eluga will feature:

NFC is a technology slowly gaining widespread adoption and today LG has announced their plans for developing NFC tags (similar to Sony’s Smart Tags) for activating specific functions on their Optimus LTE Tag smartphone. The Optimus LTE Tag was launched in Korea today and features NFC connectivity along with:

Barnes & Noble isn’t happy that the Kindle Fire has gobbled up tablet market share while their Nook Tablet is the better spec’d tablet. While the Nook Tablet costs only $50 more than the Kindle Fire, it looks like that $50 makes all the difference. To better compete against the Kindle Fire, Barnes & Noble has decided to release an 8GB version of their Nook Tablet at the same price as the Kindle Fire. According to an internal Walmart document obtained by The Verge, this 8GB Nook Tablet is set to hit stores this Wednesday.

Earlier in the month, LG teased a largely square device with quite the interesting aspect ratio. We weren’t planning to get any official information on this device until Mobile World Congress but it looks like LG could’t keep this behemoth under wraps. Yesterday LG officially announced their 5″, 4.3 aspect ratio Optimus Vu. We now have a good look at what this device will offer besides its large square frame. You can expect the LG Optimus Vu to be packing:

Welcome to Monday’s Apps For Kids, a new Cult of Android feature where we take a look at kid-centric apps. Many of us are parents with kids who seem to know their way around our mobile devices better than we do. With the Android Market having over 400,000 apps, it can be quite a daunting task trying to find apps appropriate for our young tech enthusiasts. With Monday’s Apps For Kids, we hope to make that task easier by suggesting an array of topics and apps that have been kid tested and parent approved. So grab whatever crayon is lying around and get ready to write down a few apps worth checking out.