Moto X pre-orders begin with US Cellular

Motorola unveiled the Moto X smartphone yesterday and as we had learned, the handset is expected to come available with a wide variety of carriers. Motorola did say the price would be $199 for the 16GB model and $249 for the 32GB model, however the carrier specific release dates have yet to be revealed. We are expecting the handset to arrive in late-August, however it looks like US Cellular has since opened up pre-orders.

Those pre-orders have landed with the expected price point and US Cellular has the Moto X available in white and black. Or as Motorola has dubbed the colors; Woven White and Woven Black. The key with the US Cellular availability comes with the storage though and at present the carrier only has the 16GB model showing as available.

That $199.99 price point will apply for current customers looking to upgrade, however there is a bit of good news for new customers and those adding an additional line. For those two options US Cellular will have a $75 “Switcher Bonus” available which brings the price of the phone down to $124.99. Also, for those curious, US Cellular has noted the full retail pricing as being $699.99.

In addition, US Cellular is also included a Motorola Boom Bluetooth headset for those who move forward with a pre-order. That being said, while the price is detailed and the free headset is being included we have yet to see anything specific in terms of a shipping date from the carrier.

In the meantime, we did spend some time with the Moto X yesterday and have both a hands-on post and also an everything you need to know style post that should answer most, if not all of your questions. Of course, those looking to the specs and features will also be able to get all those details from our Moto X announcement post.

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Isis eyes Mobile Wallet national availability later this year

Near Field Communication or NFC-based mobile payments might start showing up over counters anywhere and everywhere as Isis starts rolling out its Mobile Wallet system nationwide later this year. Isis is a mobile commerce joint venture created by T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T to implement a system for tap-to-pay and redemption transactions at counters.

Isis started a trial run last October in Salt Lake City, Utah and Austin, Texas, partnering with Mastercard, Visa, Discover, and American Express. The trial was considered a success, prompting Isis to make plans to expand their coverage nationwide. Research group Aite Group estimates that by the end of the year, 1.3 million stores will have mobile payment systems.

Data gathered from the trial run showed that use of the Isis Mobile Wallet averaged more than 10 per month. Most of the transactions were made in cafes, gas stations, grocery stores, convenience stores, and quick service restaurants. Isis CEO Michael Abbott promised to incorporate the feedback from the test into the next generation of the Isis Mobile Wallet, which is set for national availability later this year.

Users need an NFC-enabled Android smartphone as well as a SIM-based “security element” to be able to use the Isis Mobile Wallet system. Currently, only a total of 35 devices from the three joint-venture carriers are certified as “Isis Ready”, with more to follow. Phones running iOS, Windows Phone, and Blackberry 10 will eventually also be supported in the near future.

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Galaxy S4 vs iPhone 5: Apple wins the pricing battle on AT&T

When announcing Galaxy S4 pre-order details on Thursday, AT&T puzzled potential Galaxy S4 buyers with that unexpected $249.99 on-contract price.

Probably anybody keeping tabs on smartphone news, us included, expected the handset to cost $199.99 on-contract with AT&T (and every other carrier in the region) at least at launch. After all, that’s what previous Galaxy S models cost when they were released in the U.S., with pricing going down in the months after their launch.

But what’s really unexpected is to see the Galaxy S4’s on-contract price surpass the cheapest on-contract iPhone 5, currently Apple’s latest iPhone model. The 16GB iPhone 5 costs $199.99 from the same carrier, with a similar two-year contract, or $50 less than what AT&T is planning to charge for a 16GB Galaxy S4 model.

So far we have two American carriers going official when it comes to Galaxy S4 pricing, AT&T and T-Mobile – with the latter, both the Galaxy S4 and iPhone 5 will cost $99 upfront and off-contract, followed by a number of installments of $20/month – and it will be interesting to see how much other mobile operators will charge for Samsung’s new flagship device.

Why would AT&T, or any carrier price, the base subsidized Galaxy S4 model at $249.99? Unofficially, carriers would rather have subscribers choose any smartphone but the iPhone, even if they still need to carry the iOS device in order not to lose customers. So why price one of the most coveted Android handsets of the year higher than its most important rival?

Is AT&T trying to get some of its money that it pays for Galaxy S4 shipments back from future subscribers faster? Is AT&T trying to take advantage of the increased interest in the Galaxy S4 and make a quicker buck off of the first Galaxy S4 sales? We have no way of answering these questions, and neither AT&T nor Samsung commented on the price of the device.

The New York Times reminds us that the Galaxy S4 costs more to produce than the iPhone 5, according to IHS iSupply:

It is unclear why the Galaxy S 4 costs more than an iPhone. Samsung’s last flagship phone, the Galaxy S III, matched the iPhone’s price. Jan Dawson, a telecom analyst at Ovum, pointed out that according to estimates by IHS iSuppli, a components research firm, the parts for the Galaxy S 4 cost more than the iPhone 5’s. The S 4’s bigger screen, new processor and new sensors are adding to its cost, according to iSuppli.

What if it isn’t AT&T’s fault here? Is Samsung simply interested in maintaining its Galaxy S-based profits by hiking the price of the latest model in order to make up for increased production costs? Or is Samsung trying to increase its margins? Whatever the case, the higher the Galaxy S4 cost for carriers, the higher the on-contract price of the device would be. Again, we can only speculate on this Galaxy S4 price issue because we still need more pricing details for the U.S. Galaxy S4 versions.

We’ll have to wait and see what Verizon and Sprint will ask for the Galaxy S4 to see whether U.S. buyers will indeed have a Galaxy S4 pricing issue on their hands or not.

We will also remind you that, at this time, we have no idea how much the Galaxy S4 will cost in the U.S. – we’re talking full price here, for those buyers that don’t like contracts, or aren’t eligible for upgrades. The 16GB iPhone 5 costs $649 in case you were wondering.

Speaking about full prices for the handset, we’ll notice that the cheapest UK Galaxy S4 pre-order price for an unlocked handset is £529.98 (or $804), while the unlocked iPhone 5 costs £529 in the region.

On the same pricing note, a U.S. Samsung contest that lists the Galaxy S4 among the offered prizes, currently lists the retail value of the handset at $650, although before at least two publications noted a cheaper retail value for the device in the rules section of the contest, $579. So we’ll ask again, did Samsung recently raise the price of the Galaxy S4?

In the Android universe, where new Android handsets arrive every few months or so, carriers and retailers often offer good deals even on high-end devices in the months following official launches. So the Galaxy S4 price will go certainly down in the coming months. Is that why carriers and/or Samsung would be interested in pricing the handset at $249.99 on contract at launch?

Comparatively, the latest iPhone generation sells for the same price, with very few exceptions, with U.S. carriers and retailers, from launch until the next model arrives.

Will you be paying $50 extra to buy the AT&T Galaxy S4, or are you waiting for the price to go down? What if other U.S. carriers (excepting T-Mobile) will also ask $249.99 for a subsidized 16GB Galaxy S4?

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Sprint Epic 4G Touch can now be upgraded to Jelly Bean through Kies

 

In a surprise announcement, Sprint has now revealed that users of the Epic 4G Touch smartphone can go and upgrade their handsets to a newer version of the Android operating system. To be more specific, the Sprint Epic 4G Touch smartphone can now be upgraded to Jelly Bean, most likely version 4.1, and those who wish to do so on their own phones can get the said update through Samsung Kies.
In the case of most other smartphone models, upgrading to later version of the Android operating system means only going through the Settings menu to initiate an over-the-air (OTA) software download. However, for the Sprint Epic 4G Touch, using Samsung Kies is not only recommended, but pretty much required by Sprint itself. According to information from the carrier regarding the software update, it is “due to file size.”
In any case, this Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update is surely going to be good news for all users of the Sprint Epic 4G Touch smartphone. That is, unless, those users have lost their USB cables somehow and can’t find replacements. In which case, they won’t get in on the update.

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Half of the UK now covered by EE’s 4G network

The UK is still lagging pretty far behind when it comes to 4G network coverage. We currently only have one carrier, EE, and only major towns and cities have access to fast 4G internet speeds.
Even though 4G has been available in the UK since last year, large parts of the country are still stuck without a choice of network speed. Fortunately things are slowly starting to improve, and EE is apparently more determined than ever to have you covered.
Today the company has announced that 13 additional locations now fall under its 4G network. The new high speed area now includes: Bradford, Bingley, Doncaster, Dudley, Harpenden, Leicester, Lichfield, Loughborough, Luton, Reading, Shipley, St Albans and West Bromwich.

This brings the total number of regions supported up to 50, which EE claims now covers around 50 percent of the UK’s population. A further update is expected by June, bringing 4G to an additional 30 towns and cities by the start of summer.
It’s great that the UK is finally starting to see the coverage required to really be considered a 4G country, now all we need is a little competition to make the prices a little more reasonable.

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