AT&T's official GoPhone prepaid policy has always officially prevented network data access for iPhones (and other 4G devices except for BlackBerry), but a tipster reports that will change tomorrow. The new policy adds 4G HSPA+ and LTE support as well as Visual Voicemail access to the GoPhone package, with customers able to bring their own device or buy a new one at off-contract unsubsidized prices. According to the details, existing customers with iPhones will be automatically updated with network access on June 21st, however they'll be able to call in and make the switch manually before that. The new features work on the $65, $50 and $25 monthly plans, however the two lower priced options will require data packages to work. You can get a peek at the leaked terms after the break, although we'd wait for an official announcement before picking up your 4G-capable handset and requesting service.

[Thanks, Anonymous]

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple, AT&T

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With Hong Kong boasting pretty much the fastest average internet speed on this planet, it's no surprise that the city is also one of the first to launch commercial 150 Mbps LTE Cat 4 service -- just right after SingTel's launch in Singapore earlier this month. Announced yesterday by CSL (who operates both one2free and the more premium 1010), its FD-LTE network takes advantage of the recently acquired 5MHz extended spectrum, in order to increase the capacity of 2600MHz from 2 x 15MHz to 2 x 20MHz. This upgrade is what enables Cat 4 download speed of up to 150Mbps on compatible devices, and it went live yesterday.

The company's 1800MHz spectrum will also get an upgrade from 2 x 10MHz to 2 x 15MHz in June, followed by another jump to 2 x 20MHz towards the end of the year. You'll find a live demo video (courtesy of RingHK) showing the performance difference between Cat 3 and Cat 4 after the break, with CTO Christian Daigneault claiming he's seen a speed increase of up to twice as fast in the lab.

Filed under: Wireless

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Source: Engadget Chinese, RingHK (Chinese), Huawei

Although ASUS recently delivered the $150 7-inch MeMo Pad and PadFone Infinity combo device, it's been a while since a premium Android tablet graced the lineup. A recent FCC filing from the company, however, reveals an unannounced K005 model equipped with the venerable Snapdragon S4 Pro (APQ8064) SoC clocked at 1.7GHz. Further details are light, but G4Games notes that it reveals AT&T-compatible GSM, CDMA and LTE connectivity and the model number suggests a 10-inch frame. Check out the FCC filing for yourself below and rest assured that we'll fill you in when we hear more.

Filed under: Tablets, ASUS

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Via: G4Games

Source: FCC

The Galaxy S 4 is now readily available in the US, but it hasn't had much sway with the prepaid crowd so far. Cricket should be addressing that deficit soon, as it just narrowed down its launch of the Samsung flagship to June 7th. The contract-free carrier is making up for being late to the party with a low up front price: customers can plunk down $55 to start an installment plan rather than pay the GS4's full $600 cost in one shot. Would-be adopters will need to live in one of Cricket's LTE coverage areas to pick up a GS4, but those who do may get a rare discount on a (mostly) fresh device.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Samsung

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Source: Cricket

Vodafone CEO Vittorio Coalo has conceded that the company is pushing back its 4G rollout to September. The decision was taken in order to ensure the infrastructure is "really ready," promising that Voda's service will be "better performing" than EE's Bacon-flavored LTE. Despite the late start, Coalo has laid down an aggressive timeline, demanding that 40 percent of the UK is covered in 4G before March 2014 -- which'll please those notoriously impatient technofreaks no end.

Filed under: Wireless, Mobile

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Via: Trusted Reviews

Source: The Guardian

Remember Yotaphone, the twin-display Android smartphone (color LCD in front, e-ink in back)? Today at CTIA in Las Vagas, Yota devices, the company behind the innovative handset, introduced Ruby, a sleek LTE hotspot with a small e-ink screen. We don't usually get too excited about such devices, but Ruby looks like something out of Jony Ive's workshop, with some interesting features to match. The design recalls the iPod mini but is made of white plastic instead of aluminum.

Along the top edge, you'll find the e-ink display and a two-way power switch -- slide it to the left and Ruby behaves like a secure hotspot, slide it to the right and it's a public access point. The e-ink screen shows battery and signal status, the number of connected devices and a smiley icon to confirm public mode. On the bottom edge is a trick flap that's both a micro-USB socket and a USB Type A plug depending on how it's positioned -- the micro-SIM slot is cleverly hidden behind it. A programmable RGB LED mounted behind the Yota logo completes the package on the front of the hotspot.

Ruby currently supports quad-band EDGE, plus HSPA+ and LTE for the European market, but the radio can be configured (in hardware) to support other bands. The 2100mAh battery powers the unit for about 16 hours of use (60 hours on standby) and can be charged to 70 percent capacity in about an hour. Yota's signed a few deals with carriers in Russia and Europe and the device is expected to become available to Russian customers in two to three weeks for about $120 (unsubsidized). No word on whether Ruby will land in the US (yet). Take a look at our hands-on gallery below.

Gallery: Yota devices LTE hotspot hands-on

Filed under: Wireless, Mobile

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If your city is one of the many that's part of Sprints ongoing LTE rollout (or will be soon), then the network's just announced three tri-band mobile broadband devices for your consideration. The hope, it seems, is that as different parts of Sprint's LTE spectrum become available (including spectrum from Clearwire), coverage and network performance of the devices will improve. The hardware offerings are Novatel's MiFi 500 LTE, the Netgear Zing Mobile Hotspot and 341U USB dongle, and are slated to be available by summer. No confirmed availability dates or prices just yet. Sprint also hints at tri-band LTE phones from Samsung and LG to follow. In the meantime, however, you'd better get set up with your Data Link and Static IP.

Update: We had a brief run-in with the three new broadband devices and without being able to field test at blazing LTE speeds we can only offer up impressions of their design. In short? They're all essentially what we've seen before with the MiFi's shape being our favorite because of its smaller but taller -- and ultimately more pocketable -- footprint. Gallery is just below.

Gallery: Sprint announces three tri-band LTE devices landing this summer (hands-on)

Brad Molen and Sean Cooper contributed to this report.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Sprint

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Via: Phonescoop

The last few years have been a tumultuous time for LightSquared, with the company's LTE plans facing one hurdle after another that eventually led to a bankruptcy filing. It looks like at least one company is now looking to buy its most valuable asset, though, with Bloomberg reporting that Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen has put a $2 billion offer on the table for the company's wireless spectrum. That's yet to be confirmed by either party, and Bloomberg reports that the offer is a so-called stalking horse bid, which could still let others put in a higher offer of their own. As Bloomberg also notes, this all comes at the same time that Dish is looking to buy Sprint for over $25 billion, both of which would need regulatory approval before going through.

Filed under: Wireless

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Source: Bloomberg

To this day, relatively few wireless carriers offer LTE at its loftiest 150Mbps speeds. We'll soon get to count NTT DoCoMo among those ranks, however. Alongside the launch of its summer phone lineup, the Japanese network has firmed up some details of its Xi speed-up plans. The initial rollout will focus on the major centers of Nagoya, Osaka and Tokyo, all of which should have 150Mbps access by the end of the year. While NTT DoCoMo hasn't settled on the frequencies it will use, Impress Watch understands that this could involve reusing 1,700MHz FOMA 3G bands to get around local spectrum limits. Regardless of the speeds, there should be a tangible improvement in coverage -- the provider hopes to more than double its Xi base stations from 24,400 in March to 50,000 by the end of 2013. Most of us won't reap the rewards of the upgrade, but it's good to know that Japan's biggest carrier will soon be a first-class 4G citizen.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

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Via: Impress Watch (translated)

Source: NTT DoCoMo (PDF)

LTE might be all the rage right now, but next generation mobile technology is already in the works. According to Korea's Yonhap News Agency, Samsung has successfully tested its 5G platform, pulling down data at 1Gbps in recent tests. The company apparently needed 64 antenna elements to pull the trick off, but says the technology will be available to customers by 2020 -- matching the European Commission's goal quite nicely. It may not be the fastest 5G test we've seen in recent months, but we're not going to scoff at progress.

Filed under: Internet, Mobile, Samsung

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Via: @Evleaks (Twitter), VR-Zone

Source: Yonhap News, Samsung Tomorrow

LTE TDD's not much of a thing in the US (other than on Clearwire), but it's widely used across Asia and in countries like Saudi Arabia. Still, many handset makers are just getting on board, and LG has launched its first smartphone with those bands -- an Optimus G variant -- on Saudi Telecom's network. LG said it would soon roll out that model along with other, as-yet-unnamed phones, equipped with the band (also known as TD-LTE) in Japan, Austrialia, India and North America. The Korean maker added that China will see the Optimus G this summer on China Mobile, which demoed a TD-LTE prototype of that model not so long ago.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, LG

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Source: LG

With the onset of MiFis, smartphone hotspots and other methods of tethering your computer to the 'net, USB modems aren't exactly the most popular devices on the block anymore. It doesn't mean they're not desirable to business folk, however, so most carriers keep at least one or two in their lineup. AT&T just introduced the Beam, its latest dongle from Sierra Wireless, which offers the usual LTE domestically (700/AWS) along with tri-band HSPA+ (850/1900/2100) and quad-band GSM / EDGE.

The key feature here is its built-in 96x64 black-and-white LCD panel, which displays signal strength, data usage and other stats. Finally, it offers mobile hotspot capability, GPS and microSD card support (up to 32GB), and will work on Win 8 / RT laptops and tablets. Dimension-wise, it weighs 1.91 ounces and measures a stout 1.97 x 2.58 x 0.46 inches (50 x 65.5 x 11.7mm). If that fits your purposes, the Beam can be all yours starting May 10th for $20 and a two-year commitment.

Filed under: Peripherals, Wireless, Mobile, AT&T

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Source: AT&T

Fans of the glossy white G Pro we reviewed back in March will be disappointed to know that the AT&T variant will only ship in black -- at the carrier's specific request. That restrictive color choice and the carrier's familiar globe on back thankfully appear to be the only two intrusions AT&T's made to the G Pro. It still evokes a sense of solid craftsmanship, despite the overall use of plastics. And, given that it's just slightly more compact width-wise than the GNote II, the G Pro actually feels better in the hand and doesn't confer a sense of instability or slipperiness so often encountered with Samsung's same-sized smartphone.

Gallery: LG Optimus G Pro for AT&T hands-on

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Google, AT&T, LG

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Sony's mash-up Xperia, the SP, is taking its transparent element light show to the UK today, giving budget-minded Brits one stylish and feature-packed mobile alternative. The 4.6-inch 720p handset, which is basically a Best of... edition of the Xperia S and P with an aluminum unibody, is shipping now at T-Mobile UK for £250 outright (about $387 USD), whereas Orange and EE are offering up the device for free with qualifying plans. If you want LTE, however, you only have one carrier option and that's EE -- a choice that'll have you shackled for a two-year period. As for O2 and Three, those carriers still have the SP listed as "coming soon," but it's safe to say you won't find a better bargain than *free.

*Nothing in life is free.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Sony

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Via: Xperia Blog

Source: T-Mobile Uk, Orange, EE

LG's F-series handsets may not be in the same class an HTC One or GS4, but we can't help but appreciate the solid specs and LTE-goodness baked into these mid-range devices. Following a debut alongside its F7 sibling at MWC, the F5 will begin trickling out to French retailers on April 29th. While there's no mention of US availability -- despite a recent leak pegging it for Verizon -- we do know LG will soon be pushing it out to parts of Asia and Central / South America. Aimed at markets new to LTE, the smartphone packs a beefy 2,150mAh battery, 5-megapixel camera, 1.2GHz dual-core processor and a 4.3-inch screen for showing off LG's skinned version of Android 4.1.2. If you're curious to give LTE a go and this looks like a winner, you'll find the full press release after the break.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, LG

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Better start working on those powerball exercises. If Samsung's Galaxy Mega was the thing you thought your life was missing, it's just landed at the FCC. Yeah, we know this isn't the first time, but this second go-round it's the LTE-sporting GT-i9205 model. The usual lab tests show little that we didn't know already -- unless you didn't know it had LTE Band 5, dual band WiFi, NFC or GSM 850 / 1900. As the 5.8-inch isn't 4G-enabled, this means we're looking at the bigger 6.3-inch version, but still no word on if, when or how a version might land on US shores. Still no harm in limbering up, though, is there?

Update: Upon further inspection, this variant only uses LTE band 5 (850MHz), which no US carrier currently uses. It's very unlikely this I9205 variant will hit the US.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung

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Source: FCC

The FCC told us that an LTE ready version of the Dell XPS 10 was coming, but there's nothing like official confirmation. In any case, it's here, and it runs on AT&T. Dell officially announced the variant's availability on its blog, identifying the radio the feds uncovered as a Qualcomm Gobi modem, a natural fit for the tablet's 1.5 GHz Snapdragon S4 CPU. The LTE option is only available for the device's 64GB configuration, and adds $100 to the price. Hey, nobody said getting LTE on your Windows RT tablet was cheap.

Filed under: Tablets, Dell

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Via: CNET

Source: Dell

There's not much surprise left to LG's Optimus G Pro reveal set for next Wednesday in New York. We've already seen the device slip through the FCC and recently had a previewed glimpse of the potential hardware. But thanks to a trusted source, we now have more insight into the the upcoming AT&T variant's specifications. Based on the official doc we had a look at, LG's managed to keep this US model mostly in line with its global sibling, porting over the same 5.5-inch form factor, 3,140mAh battery, 1.7GHz Snapdragon 600 processor paired with 2GB RAM, a healthy 32GB of internal storage (expandable via microSDXC to 64GB), 2.1-megapixel front-facing / 13-megapixel rear cameras, NFC and WiFi a/b/g/n. What has changed is the actual screen technology used: the AT&T G Pro employs a Full HD IPS panel as opposed to the True HD-IPS+ in the original. Additionally, and unsurprisingly, the device's radios have been tweaked, with the AT&T G Pro now supporting the carrier's flavor of LTE (700/1700 MHz), HSPA+21 (850/1900/2100 MHz) and quadband GSM (850/900/1800/1900 MHz).

Though it would be nice to see LG bump this up to a more current version of Android -- namely, 4.2.2 -- the AT&T model will likely ship with the more dated 4.1.2 Jelly Bean. Continuing further down the software track, carrier bloat looks to be at a minimum as only two automobile-specific apps are mentioned in the document: AT&T DriveMode and Navigator. Aside from that, LG's own software suite makes the transition, bringing along QSlide 2.0 (a multiwindow feature), Dual Recording (for the picture-in-picture effect), Tag+ for NFC, VuTalk (a note sharing app), QuickMemo, Notebook and the ability to preset the Home Key's LED. That enough of a preview for you? Stay tuned for the formal unveiling next week.

[Image credit: @evleaks]

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, AT&T, LG

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As part of our tour through Verizon's Waltham, Mass.-based Innovation Center this week, we were able to see a brief demo of the Thinx 4G LTE video monitor -- a product that was briefly teased at CES, but we've heard precious little about since. Essentially, this is a rather sophisticated 1080p video monitor, designed for small businesses that would prefer that their monitors do more than just capture reels of archived footage. Thinx's solution throws in an admin panel and a smartphone app; users can install the camera and then define hot zones for the sensor to keep tabs on. If and when a specific event occurs (e.g. 50 individuals cross a virtual line), owners can be alerted via SMS -- and, of course, they can then view only the footage pertaining to said event with merely a click.

Those apps (available for iOS and Android) will allow owners to look in live at any time, with recorded video automatically stored on the included 4GB SD card, a personal NAS or a cloud storage facility like Dropbox. Better still, the control panel supports multiple cameras for those trying to cast eyes over an entire office complex, and there's room for a 12V battery that'll keep it humming along "for a few hours" should the power cut out. Tom Thomasson, vice president of marketing at Thinx, told us that the product is slated to go on sale in the US during the third quarter of this year, and it's one of "over 30" new products that Verizon will help launch during the 2013 / 2014 time frame.

Filed under: Cameras, Wireless, Mobile, Verizon

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Source: Thinx