Galaxy S4 Mini leaked for Verizon

For Big Red customers looking for a new phone that's a bit more svelte than today's average Android phone, The Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini with a big fat Verizon logo has been outed in some leaked pictures over at Engadget, We're going to assume that the SCH-i435 will be the same basic Mini as the world version Alex had a look at last June, though it's always possible Verizon has done a little tweaking here and there.

While the Mini won't satisfy anyone's need for raw specs, we found it a decent performer, though slightly hampered by a less than stellar screen. But being one of the few phones available under 4.5-inches, that may be a trade-off many are willing to make. It looks like Verizon is betting on just that, and the S4 Mini should be a great seller if it's priced accordingly with a new agreement. 

Of course, nothing is official until Verizon says it's official, and we'll keep an ear to the ground for more news on this one. After the break there's one more picture that gives a good impression of the overall size compared to the iPhone 5. For more images and details, including comparisons to its bigger bother, be sure to have a read of our Galaxy S4 Mini review.

Source: Engadget

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Verizon quietly introduces 500MB 'Share Everything' data tier

Amidst a flurry of news today, Verizon made a simple change to its "Share Everything" plan structure that added a new lower-cost tier with a smaller data bucket. Possibly a reaction to AT&T's new lower-tier plans, Verizon now offers a 500MB plan at $40 per month, undercutting the previous bottom-end 1GB plan at $50.

Now with the way Verizon structures its plans, you'll still be paying $40 per month additionally to have a smart phone on the account. With the change, the new absolute bare bones entry point on the carrier will be $80 (plus taxes and fees) for a smart phone with unlimited talk/text and 500MB of data. More choices are nice, but we'd really prefer if they dropped their prices a little bit along with it.

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Verizon introduces low-cost data plan, still pricey

Verizon Wireless today added a new low-cost tier to their Share Everything monthly plan that, ironically, ends up costing more, at least more than its competitors. This change comes just a week after AT&T announced a similar low-cost option on their tiered shared plans.

It is no secret that in the world of carriers, when one carrier does something, others are sure to follow with something in an attempt to compete. Unfortunately, they may not always be in the same direction. While carriers like T-Mobile have taken the path towards unlimited data, AT&T and Verizon go the opposite direction and just introduce more low-cost tiers. Or at least they try.

Verizon’s Share Everything offering delivers a single packet of data across a number of devices. All tiers have unlimited voice calls and text messaging. The new plan offers a 500 MB of data for $40 a month, just $10 shy of their 1GB offering. Each smartphone connected to the plan will cost an addition $40, or $10 for a tablet. All in all, a customer would pay at least $80 a month for 500 MB of data on one smartphone, but $90 for the same setup but with 1 GB.

Depending on whom you ask, it might be a huge saving. But it still puts Verizon as the most expensive option in similar offerings from other carriers, like T-Mobile, who doesn’t charge for 500 MB. Not that AT&T’s new Mobile Share tier actually does any better. It charges $20 for 300 MB data and $50 for each smartphone, ending up with $70 per month.

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Vodafone UK offers unlimited calls and texts on PAYG

1GB, unlimited calls and texts for £30, 2GB for £40​ on new PAYG plans.

Vodafone UK has announced some new additions to its Pay As You Go line-up today. The new "Vodafone Red Freedom Freebee" gives customers unlimited calls and texts — much like the contract-based Vodafone Red service — with the option of 1GB of data for £30, or 2GB for £40. That's a large amount of money to be spending on a pre-paid service plan, but it also gets you access to a greater data allowance than some other carriers are offering, in addition to unmetered calls and texts.

Vodafone has also tweaked its other PAYG offerings, allowing customers to get unlimited texts on a £10 "Freebee" deal, as well as 1GB of data from a £20 bundle.

The operator's PAYG announcements follow the launch of new, competitive pre-paid prices from rival Three.

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Sprint flips on 4G LTE in 41 new locations

Sprint today announced that's it's turned on LTE data in 41 new locations. Some of them we already knew about, a good many we didn't.

The additions give Sprint a total of 151 LTE-capable markets.

Here's what's new:

• Baraboo, Wis.
• Beaver Dam, Wis.
• Brownsville/Harlingen, Texas
• Bronx/Brooklyn, N.Y.
• Columbus, Miss.
• Daytona Beach, Fla.
• Durham, N.C.
• Dyersburg, Tenn.
• Faribault/Northfield, Minn.
• Fayetteville, N.C.
• Fitchburg/Leominster, Mass.
• Flint, Mich.
• Fort Lauderdale/Pompano Beach/Deerfield Beach, Fla.
• Grand Rapids, MIch.
• Greenville, N.C.
• Greenwood, MIss.
• Holland, MIch.
• Homosassa Springs, Fla.
• Jackson, Tenn.
• Jacksonville, Fla.
• Kokomo, ind.
• Laredo, Texas
• Lebanon, Pa.
• Morgan City, La.
• Nacogdoches, Texas
• Oakland, Calif.
• Ocala, Fla.
• Palm Coast, Fla.
• Philadelphia
• Ponca City, Okla.
• Port Charlotte/Punta Gorda, Fla.
• Portland, Ore.
• Rocky Mount, N.C.
• Saginaw, Mich.
• Salinas, Calif.
• Springfield, Mass.
• Tulsa, Okla.
• Tupelo, Miss.
• Wausau, Wis.
• Wilson, N.C.

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Sprint’s LG Optimus G might reach end of life status soon to make room for the G Pro

It’s not a secret that LG has always been one step behind its mortal enemy, Samsung, when talking about the Android market. But sometimes it’s like the Optimus makers are not even trying to get ahead.

You can take LG’s late 2012 flagship, the Optimus G, as the perfect example. Despite having the makings of a real blockbuster, the 4.7-incher sold a mere 1 million units in its first four months, according to official statements.

The thing was released in Korea and Japan in October 2012 and then Canada and the US a month later. After that, nothing. No European launch, no nothing. Until a few weeks back, when it was finally announced that the phone was due for a rollout on the old continent. This time, with Jelly Bean out the box.

Needless to say it’s way too late for the Optimus G to make any kind of waves in Europe, but get this – Sprint, one of the two US carriers selling the phone since last fall, might already be planning to axe it. That’s far from official news, but there are a lot of signs that basically set it in stone.

For starters, Sprint held a promo back in February which allowed customers to buy an Optimus G and get one for free. That kind of deal screams sales flop and it’s pretty uncommon to see high-end phones part of such promos. Also, it signals that maybe the carrier is desperately trying to clear out stocks to make room for something else.

But what could the “something else” be? No prize for getting the correct answer there. It’s most likely the Optimus G Pro, which LG unveiled a while ago in Asia and said it’ll launch globally come Q2.

True, the G Pro and first-gen G are pretty different, but, given LG’s not so hot reputation in America, you don’t want to have two of their phones in your line-up if there’s the slightest chance people can get them confused.

And the kicker comes via XDA, where Android Police tracked multiple posts whose authors claim to have inside information according to which Sprint’s Optimus G will hit end of life status very soon. There are even photos to prove it, but naturally you’ll have to take it all with a grain of salt for now.

Do you think Sprint would only add insult to injury in this Optimus G fiasco if it were to pull the phone out of the market just five or six months after its release? Or, given the G Pro might launch soon, is this the right call to make?

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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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Sprint Galaxy S4 apparently spotted at the FCC, global roaming support included

 

The Galaxy S4 will be available in the U.S. from a variety of mobile operators, including the Big Four, but also regional carriers. The Sprint Galaxy S4 version has been already spotted with the FCC and it’s apparently going to offer global roaming features.
The Galaxy S4 models spotted at the FCC are the SPH-L720 and the SCH-R970. The first one is awfully similar to Sprint’s Galaxy S3 model number (SPH-L710,) while the latter could be the Galaxy S4 version heading to U.S. Cellular and Cricket. The two carriers also stock a Galaxy S3 version, model number SCH-R530.
What’s interesting about the Sprint model is that it will sport global roaming support. The SPH-L720 comes with CDMA, LTE, GSM and WCDMA 850/1900 support.
Obviously, we’re still waiting for most U.S. carriers to formally announce the arrival of the Galaxy S4. During its first Unpacked media event of the year, Samsung said the phone will hit stores in late April, and at the time we wondered whether U.S. carriers will launch the device around the same time with international mobile operators.

The Galaxy S4 will hit Europe first (on April 26 in the UK,) but it will be quickly followed by at least one U.S. launch, T-Mobile’s. The carrier confirmed that the phone will be available to customers come May 1, for $99 off contract, although monthly installments to pay for the phone in full will be included.
What carrier are you buying the Galaxy S4 from?

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Three UK to launch its 4G LTE network in Q4 2013

It looks like those who are looking to take advantage of their LTE-enabled devices in the UK will have to stick with EE and its expensive data plans longer.
During Three UK’s earnings conference call, its CEO Dave Dyson said that the company’s Ultrafast network, which maxes out at HSPA+, has been getting great feedback from customers. Hence, they’re not in any rush to roll out LTE and want to promote the Ultrafast network instead.
According to Dyson, Three will take a wait-and-see approach on how other mobile operators, such as O2 and Vodafone, will position their 4G LTE service. After winning their LTE bids in the UK last month, we have yet to hear from O2 and Vodafone about their launch plans.
As for Three, the earliest that we’ll see the service being introduced is in Q4 2013 in areas with the highest demand for mobile internet. When it does go live, Three promises that 3G customers won’t be charged extra to access the 4G LTE network. We’ll see in six months or so whether that will be the case or not.

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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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Leaked: list of first cities to get T-Mobile LTE on March 26

On Tuesday, March 26, T-Mobile will flip the switch on its LTE network in seven cities across the US. See the list here.

It took them forever (plus a botched sale attempt to AT&T), but the fine folks at T-Mobile are finally ready to light up their Long Term Evolution network. The grand opening will happen on March 26, and we’ll be accompanied by the official launch of T-Mobile’s new Uncarrier brandingand new unsubsidized plans.

While the details of the Uncarrier campaign have been thoroughly leaked already, we didn’t know until now the markets where T-Mobile will first roll out its 4G LTE network. Today, that final mystery has been dispelled, thanks to a report from the guys at TMoNews that lists the seven cities that will get T-Mobile LTE on March 26:

• Las Vegas, NV
• Phoenix, AZ
• San Jose, CA
• Houston, TX
• Washington, DC
• Kansas City, MO
• Baltimore, MD

If you own a Galaxy Note 2 from T-Mo or if you brought your own LTE device to the network, you’ll get to experience high-speed wireless speeds without lifting a finger. Another way to get in is to wait for the launch of the Galaxy S4 or the HTC One, two great LTE handsets slated for release in late April.

We’ve had clues about some of the markets in this list (Las Vegas for instance, since CES in January), but confirmation is always welcomed. Now, all we have to do is wait till Tuesday for the official details.

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FCC approves T-Mobile, Metro PCS deal, says it will “serve the public interest”

FCC chairman Julius Genachowski has approved of Deutsche Telekom plans to acquire MetroPCS saying it will “serve the public interest” Tuesday afternoon.

News of the planned acquisition surfaced in October 2012, which would make for a stronger wireless carrier in the US. With regulatory obstacles out of the way, the new corporate entity will merge all PCS, AWS-1 and 700MHz spectrum licenses across 248 Cellular Market Areas.

MetroPCS and T-Mobile will continue to operate under separate business units in their respective markets. That is, until 2015 when the two operators will consolidate into one single cellular network. FCC chairman Genachowski made a statement praising the deal below:

“With today’s approval, America’s mobile market continues to strengthen, moving toward robust competition and revitalized competitors. We are seeing billions more in network investment, while the courts have upheld key FCC decisions to accelerate broadband build-out, promote competition, and benefit consumers, including our broadband data roaming and pole attachment rules. Today’s action will benefit millions of American consumers and help the U.S maintain the global leadership in mobile it has regained in recent years.
“Mobile broadband is a key engine of economic growth, with U.S. annual wireless capital investment up 40% over the last four years, the largest increase in the world, and few sectors having more potential to create jobs. In this fast-moving space, of course challenges remain, including the need to unleash even more spectrum for mobile broadband and continuing to promote competition and protect consumers. The Commission will stay focused on these vital goals.”

The deal should, as FCC chairman Genachowski noted, help strengthen America’s mobile market. Good things for T-Mobile are coming as it strives to become the “uncarrier“. Hopefully with this deal we’ll begin to see the telecom monopoly begin dying down.

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AT&T offers Android 4.1 download for Sony's Xperia TL

If you're still waiting for AT&T to update yourSony Xperia TL to Android 4.1 and patience isn't your top virtue, the carrier is now letting you download Jelly Bean yourself.

While connected to Wi-Fi, you can scoot on into the settings and choose "About phone," then select the software update to get things rolling.

Easy peasy. You can check out the fullAndroid 41. Jelly Bean features here.

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Sprint starts rolling out Jelly Bean update to Galaxy Tab 2 10.1

Who’d say no to a Jelly Bean treat – even if it’s offered a bit late? The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 WiFi received its update back in January, and if you own the 4G LTE variant of the tab on Sprint, we’ve received confirmation from the carrier that it is now rolling out Jelly Bean to its Tab 2 10.1 customers
It might take up to a few weeks for the Over-the-Air update to hit your tablet, though once you’ve received the update notification, the installation itself will only take a few minutes. Alongside Jelly Bean features like Google Now and expanded notification, your Tab 2 10.1 will get a slight UI makeover.
Take note that once you’ve made the jump to Android 4.1, you are likely to lose the tab’s screenshot shortcut, a feature that’s apparently quite popular amongst owners of the WiFi variant. In case you didn’t know, you can take a screenshot by pressing and holding the power button and volume down on the tab at the same time.

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Refurbished AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 2 on offer for just $.99 with contract, today only

Let’s face it, smartphones are expensive. Even with carrier subsidies, high-end handsets can easily set you back hundreds of dollars. If you want the best, without paying top dollar, AT&T is now offering the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 for $.99.
As you probably already guessed, there is a catch here. AT&T’s offer is for a refurbished model with a 90 day warranty. You also will be required to sign a two year contract. Additionally, the deal is only for today, so you better make your mind up about it quickly.
So is it worth it going the refurbished route? That’s honestly up to you, but keep in mind that refurbished handsets are brought back to original standard and often enough there is really no way on the surface to tell that it isn’t a brand new device. Of course some people just like the peace of mind of knowing they are the first person to use their phone.
AT&T is offering the handset in both white or gray, and is even throwing free shipping into the offer. This is a great way to get your hands on a quad-core 5.5-inch monster of a phone, without having to put hardly anything down upfront. Especially when you consider the normal price for a new handset from AT&T is $299.99 with contract.

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Report: AT&T offers fastest LTE speeds, Verizon tops coverage

Wondering which carrier has the best 4G LTE service in the US? You may want to pay close attention to the latest report by mobile analytics firm RootMetrics, which have conducted 4G LTE performance tests in 77 markets with 725,000 collected data samples in the second half of 2012. Here’s the result.
When it comes to raw 4G LTE speeds, the study said that AT&T manages to trump the competition. On average, the download and upload speeds on AT&T’s LTE network reached 18.6Mbps and 9Mbps, while the average numbers for Verizon were 14.3Mbps and 8.5Mbps, respectively.
Sprint is number three on the speed list, as it clocked an average download speed of 10.3Mbps and 4.4Mbps up. T-Mobile won’t officially roll out its LTE service until later in the year, but its HSPA+ network delivered an average of 7.3Mbps and 1.5Mbps speeds.
According to the report, Verizon — not surprisingly — has the most extensive LTE footprint, with RootMetrics finding no difficulty in accessing Big Red’s LTE network in all 77 markets. Meanwhile, AT&T’s LTE network was only present in 47 of them, and Sprint in 5 markets. But remember that the tests were done last year, so the landscape may have slightly changed.
In the markets where LTE has officially gone live, they were able to connect to Verizon’s LTE network 93.2% of the time and AT&T’s and Sprint’s 81.7% and 50.2%, respectively. Both AT&T and Verizon fared well in the speed consistency tests, but overall, Verizon has the lead thanks to its wider coverage.

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AT&T REAFFIRMS COMMITMENT TO UNLOCKING

The issue of unlocking cell phones has been receiving a lot of press lately. Despite some recent objections from the White House, under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act it is still illegal to unlock a cell phone without prior consent from a wireless carrier. And on Friday, AT&T (T) went on record and reaffirmed its commitment to unlocking smartphones if certain requirements are met.

Joan Marsh, the company’s vice president of federal regulatory affairs, notes that the recent ruling has “very little impact on AT&T customers.” She goes on to explain that the carrier will unlock smartphones “if we have the unlock code or can reasonably get it from the manufacturer,” adding that AT&T will unlock a device for any customer whose account has been active for at least sixty days, is in good standing, has no unpaid balance and is not locked into a two-year service agreement.

If all of the requirements are met the carrier will unlock up to five devices per account per year.

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