Verizon launched LTE in 6 new markets today, including locations in Kentucky, Michigan, and Colorado. This brings the total number of markets that are equipped with Verizon 4G LTE up to 497, which is just three shy of hitting that illustrious 500 mark. AT&T is in second, but they still have work to do in order to catch up, and T-Mobile just launched their LTE network, so they’re still spring training, so to speak.

Verizon plans to cover its 3G network entirely with LTE by the middle of this year, and they carrier said that their 3G network is already 95% covered by their LTE, so they only have a little ways to go at this point. If you’re wondering if you’re city has LTE, it most likely does, but if you’re not sure, Verizon has a full list of LTE-equipped markets in the US.

Last year, Verizon blew past its year-end goals for 2012, covering 417 markets by the middle of October with a year-end goal of covering 400 markets. That’s quite an accomplishment and proves that not only is Verizon willing to casually meet their goals, but they aim to exceed them.

Verizon celebrated the 2nd birthday of its LTE network back in December, and announced that 440 markets had the carrier’s faster LTE speeds. Currently, more than 40% of Verizon’s smartphones run 4G LTE, as well as 63% of all internet devices sold from Verizon. Plus, over half of all of Verizon’s mobile network and data traffic is over LTE speeds. That’s quite impressive to say the least, and while there will be an equilibrium with AT&T eventually, Verizon is making sure they stay on top for as long as possible.

VIA: Android Community

There’s wireless charging, as you’d expect from a device based on the Lumia 920, and NFC. That means the phone can be easily paired with wireless speakers and such, using Bluetooth 3.0 to squirt music across. Other connectivity includes WiFi a/b/g/n (2.4/5GHz) and microUSB.

Verizon Nokia Lumia 928 demo:

Nokia throws in HERE Maps, HERE Drive+, and HERE City Lens for easier navigation, along with the camera enhancements such as panoramic photos and animated GIFs. Optical image stabilization is included, just as Nokia demonstrated recently by strapping the phone to a remote-control helicopter, as well as a Xenon flash and Carl Zeiss optics. As for video recording, that’s supported at up to 1080p resolution.

The display, meanwhile, uses Nokia’s ClearBlack technology, and runs at 1280 x 768 resolution. It has a high-brightness outdoors mode, running at 500nits, and the super-sensitive touchscreen which can be used by gloves. The battery is a 2,000 mAh pack, and there’s 1GB of RAM paired with the 1.5GHz dualcore MSM8960 processor, and 32GB of user-storage.

Connectivity is impressive, with the Lumia 928 coming “Global Ready”: that means quadband GSM and UMTS HSPA for when you’re abroad, and EVDO/Rev.A and LTE for when you’re in the US on Verizon’s 4G network. It’s unclear whether Verizon will supply the phone SIM unlocked, however, for international use.

The Nokia Lumia 928 will hit Verizon on May 16, the company says, priced at $99.99 after a $50 mail-in-rebate, and assuming a new two-year agreement.

Interestingly, the Lumia 928 had been expected to debut at Nokia’s London event next Tuesday. Exactly what will be the star of that show remains to be seen, though SlashGear will be there to bring you all the details as they’re announced.

The report comes from Chinese media outlet CWW, and they’re saying that the mobile operator is hoping to seek approval of its LTE-TD network by May 17, which would see the official launch of the network sometime in August of this year. In the meantime, China Mobile has been preparing by releasing several LTE devices, as well as setting up multiple LTE towers.

China Mobile has already deployed over 200,000 LTE base stations across 150 different locations in China, and they have said that they would be prepared for a full launch next month, including a full range of LTE smartphones going up for sale, as well as MiFi devices being available as well.

China Mobile’s total user base reaches 726 million, and it’s leaps and bounds ahead of what China Unicom and China Telecom have, which is 251 million and 168 million subscribers, respectively. No matter what, it seems China Mobile is dead serious about LTE, and by August when the LTE network is expected to launch, China Mobile will launch its LTE in full force.

[via The Next Web]

The news puts Clearwire’s business back under the microscope, and is timely given the announcement by Dish Networks earlier today that it was bidding on carrier Sprint. Dish already had a standing bid in on Clearwire, though has blamed regulatory red-tape for the deal not going through, though the company’s chairman did confirm today that the offer was still standing and had not been withdrawn.

Clearwire currently offers 4G service in selected areas across the US, covering approximately 130m people by population. Although best known for its WiMAX network, the carrier has been building out an LTE network for the future; most recently, Sprint announced a plan to buy Clearwire in a deal worth $2.2bn.

According to the filing, Clearwire will discuss the proposed deal – exact terms of which have not been revealed – with Verizon (which it identifies only as “Party J”) and Sprint. The $1.5bn tag would be reduced by the current value of what Clearwire itself pays to lease the spectrum, something which the company has warned could be a “substantial” figure.

“On April 8, 2013, the Company received an unsolicited, non-binding written proposal from Party J, a strategic buyer, in which Party J offered to acquire Clearwire spectrum leases generally located in large markets that cover approximately 5 billion MHz-POPs at a gross price of approximately $1.0 to $1.5 billion, less the present value of the spectrum leases which could be substantial. The Special Committee will, consistent with its fiduciary duties and in consultation with its independent financial and legal advisors, evaluate this proposal and any other proposal and engage in discussions with each of Party J and Sprint, as appropriate” Clearwire SEC filing

Adding to the complexity of the spectrum shuffling is the ongoing bid by Japanese carrier SoftBank for Sprint. The purchase is contingent on Sprint acquiring Clearwire, among other things.

Meanwhile, AT&T says it intends to broaden its service even further, with 77 new markets set to get blessed with LTE by the summer. The network also has widespread HSPA+ coverage, it points out, for when users step outside of LTE service: in fact, AT&T says almost 100-percent of its existing network offers HSPA+.

Nonetheless, on LTE service alone, AT&T still finds itself behind Verizon. The CDMA carrier started its 4G deployment earlier than AT&T, and boasts more than 485 cities where LTE is offered.

Wireless isn’t AT&T’s sole plan for high-speed connectivity, of course. The company also revealed plans to take on Google Fiber, with a fiber network of its own in Austin. That, offering speeds of around 1Gbps, will be used as a test-bed for trialling new home and commercial internet technologies, though there’s no public timescale for when the rest of the US might get a taste.

The first ten cities to get the double-speed LTE are Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, and Sheffield. Trials in Cardiff have already been underway, with EE seeing higher than 80Mbps rates in its own testing; in a perfect, lab setting, the system could go as high as 130Mbps, though that would never be achieved in the wild.

To achieve all that, EE is doubling the 1800MHz spectrum its 4G service can use, up to 20Mhz. That means not only higher speeds but more capacity, something the carrier says will be vitally important as 4G adoption increases: its research suggests data traffic over the next three years will jump by up to 750-percent.

In response to the expected climb in demand, EE will also be trialling carrier aggregation before the end of the year, part of the LTE-Advanced feature set, which joins together spectrum in different bands for more performance. That will see the carrier make use of its newly-acquired spectrum holdings, bought in the recent UK 4G auction, in the 800MHz and 2.6GHz frequencies.

Meanwhile, there are also plans for voice over Wi-Fi (VoWi-Fi) along with video and voice calls over 4G/LTE (VoLTE), though there’s no timeline for their launch. The speed improvements will come at no extra cost to subscribers, as EE prepares itself for rival UK networks launching their own 4G service, something expected to happen within a matter of months.

Design, Performance, and Usability

We’ve already comprehensively covered the core proposition of the HTC One in our original review. Suffice to say, the appeal of the matte-finish metal handset hasn’t waned since then. Build quality keeps it at the top of the pile of Android devices in recent memory, for a start, and having weighed the One against the Galaxy S 4 at the Samsung phone’s launch, it’s clear that HTC has the edge in design and quality. One mild concern is the tendency of the white polycarbonate inset strip running the edge of the phone to pick up color smudges when we kept it in our jeans pocket, though these usually rubbed off.

Some of the details stand out after a longer period with the phone. BoomSound has a ridiculous name, but we can’t argue with the audio performance: we’ve found ourselves showing off more video, as well as reaching for the One in preference to other devices when it comes to consuming multimedia from services like Netflix, simply because the front-facing stereo speakers are simply that good. The power from the speakers is also incredibly useful when using the One as a navigation device in the car, while the screen they flank is no slouch either, with a combination of 1080p Full HD resolution and a color balance that’s refreshingly level rather than skewed to over-saturation.

HTC One walkthrough:

Sense 5 and the BlinkFeed homescreen – which pulls together news, Facebook, Twitter, calendar, and tips from the phone – continues to draw our attention, even with the gloss of newness taken off it. With its Flipboard-style feed of headlines and images, BlinkFeed makes for a great distraction, though we can’t help but wish HTC would hurry up and add offline caching of articles, the ability to add your own RSS feeds, and Google+/Google Now integration. The latter would arguably make the biggest difference; we like the low-noise way the One slots your upcoming appointments into the first page of BlinkFeed tiles each day, and it would make a perfect fit for Google Now suggestions.

Overall, Sense 5 combined with Android 4.1 performs well, and with the exception of Photosphere we’ve not really missed anything from the very latest version of Jelly Bean. AT&T’s version of the One includes a customized browser, but despite our initial concerns, performance actually improved over the stock phone. In SunSpider, the test of JavaScript performance, the European One scored 1,118.9ms versus the 1,035.1ms of the AT&T version (in SunSpider, faster is better). Overall, we had no issues with the One’s quadcore 1.7GHz Snapdragon 600 processor pulling its weight running apps, and even AT&T’s preloaded software – which includes DriveMode, Family Map, Locker, Navigator, Ready2Go, Messages, myAT&T, Smart Wi-Fi, YPmobile, and Device Help – are neatly clustered into a folder rather than scattershot across the app launcher.

It’s not all perfect, though. A lingering frustration is the black menu bar that often appears in third-party apps, where HTC has followed Android guidelines and dropped a dedicated menu key, but apps aren’t yet putting the three-dot softkey where it should be, tucked out of the way in the corner. That means you lose a stripe of your 4.7-inch screen to a single control (the functionality of which varies widely) but, more annoyingly, the on-screen keyboard shifts up to accommodate it.

That has at times played havoc with our typing, our thumbs not extending sufficiently to avoid the menu key and thus interrupting text entry. Admittedly, it’s not HTC’s fault, but it’s an ongoing annoyance that apps not adhering to the latest Android UI guidelines continue to hit the Play store.

Camera and Multimedia

HTC’s UltraPixel strategy has proved divisive, with the company chasing more light instead of more megapixels. We’ve covered how the One uses its 4-megapixels extensively in our review, but we also gave the smartphone its chance to shine out in the wild, taking it to the New York Auto Show last month.

Your average tradeshow is tough going on a camera, whether it’s a DSLR, a point-and-shoot, or on a smartphone. The lighting ranges from ridiculously bright, meaning you get masses of reflections and glare, to moodily dark, making details difficult to pick out and the threat of noise a constant. In-between, there’s all manner of colored lights that can confuse a camera’s sensor.

The NY Auto Show was no different, but the HTC One held its own for the most part. All of the photos and video from our coverage of the new Chevrolet Camaro Z28 and the Corvette Stingray was taken using the One, for example, with us also using the Zoe “highlight” feature that creates summary videos based on 3.6s snippets of video and burst-stills.

For the photos, despite the mixed lighting conditions, the quality was surprisingly high. Blur is noticeably absent, the One being able to stick to faster shutter-speeds and lower ISOs thanks to its greater appetite for light, and photos which combine well-lit areas alongside much darker ones are impressively balanced. The phone is fast, too: back-to-back shots are roughly as swift as you can repeatedly tap the on-screen button.

Video, meanwhile, looks great at 1080p Full HD resolution, with the same impressive low-light and mixed-lighting performance as for stills. However, the noisy show floor proved a challenge for the One’s stereo microphones at times, however: you can certainly make out speech compared to background noise, but it lacks the pinpoint clarity you’d get with a directional microphone or a dedicated clip-on mic.

Nonetheless, for immediacy and convenience, the One certainly held its own. At full resolution and in perfect lighting, HTC’s choice of big pixels rather than lots of them struggles somewhat, but in more everyday situations the convenience of being able to take low-light situations in your stride wins out.

The downside with the One – and, specifically, with Zoe photography, which simultaneously grabs 20 stills and 3.6s of Full HD video – remains how multimedia is managed, particularly off the phone. We’ve already highlighted how poorly that plays with auto-upload services, such as those offered by Dropbox, Google+, and Facebook, which basically fill your cloud storage with dozens of nearly-identical shots. The AT&T version is no different in that respect, and HTC desperately needs to step up and address offloading media with its HTC Sync Manager app.

While it’s at it, we wouldn’t argue with more themes and flexibility for the Zoe highlights system: the One’s automatically curated showreels, which come complete with transitions, filters, and background music. We’re still impressed by how neatly the One knits these together, but the option for longer clips (currently it’s 30 seconds only) and the ability to use your own music would make the feature considerably more useful. We’ve found people are much more willing to watch our photos and video when they’re stitched into a highlight reel, and so a greater number of presets (out of the box there are six to choose between) would make it all the more engaging.

HTC Sense, Zoe, and Highlights demo:

One advantage those looking to AT&T for their One will have is capacity. The carrier has the US exclusive on the 64GB version, other networks making do with the 32GB model, and given the amount of data Zoe photography creates, and that there’s no microSD storage option, that makes a big difference. It’s not a cheap way to boost capacity, though: AT&T is asking $199.99 for the 32GB One, or $100 more to double the memory.

Phone, LTE, and Battery

HTC’s BoomSound speaker technology means the One has no problems pushing out in-call audio, and happily performance on AT&T’s network matched up with that. We had no problems keeping a signal, even though HTC squeezes the One’s antennas into the tiny polycarbonate notches in the unibody case, and hardly a dropped call, even in areas where coverage was patchy.

We tested LTE performance in multiple locations where AT&T currently offers service, including New York City, Denver, Wichita, and San Francisco. Speeds ranged from as much as 39Mbps downloads and nearly 19Mbps uploads, location depending, though averaged out at 15.95Mbps down and 7.06Mbps up. In contrast, we saw peeks of 37Mbps down and nearly 11Mbps up on an iPhone 5 using Verizon’s LTE network.

LTE has a reputation for being power hungry, and while the One’s 2,300 mAh battery isn’t small, the fact that it can’t be removed – unlike, say, the battery in Samsung’s Galaxy S 4 – has left some wary of the quadcore smartphone. In practice, we’ve found the One has sufficient legs to last through the day, particularly if its power management systems are turned on. These put data to sleep after periods of extended inactivity, waking them only occasionally to check for new messages and other updates, as well as reducing screen brightness and enabling other frugal systems.

Over the course of a sixteen hour day, then, with a mixture of cellular and WiFi connectivity, we saw roughly 30-percent of the battery left. More patchy use of WiFi saw LTE take a greater toll, with 20-percent left after just over twelve hours. However, even when we forgot to plug the charger in overnight, the One proved frugal, only dropping a few percentage points thanks to the data throttling.

Wrap-Up

Nothing about AT&T’s version of the HTC One has changed our positive impression of the smartphone. In fact, native LTE support for the US has only improved our takeaway opinion: the One is beautifully constructed, slickly designed, fast, has thoughtful software tweaks – a few third-party app UI glitches aside – and a great, flexible camera.

The road ahead for HTC isn’t going to be an easy one. Samsung’s Galaxy S 4 is the specter on the near horizon, and for however much it may offer an evolutionary step up from its Galaxy S III predecessor, it comes with the might of the South Korean company’s prodigious marketing machine (and its equally massive budget). In contrast, the One sees HTC take a far greater risk than it has in recent years – in investment in construction, camera strategy, and software – and, for the most part, that pays off in the quality of the overall device.

The Samsung Galaxy S 4 is, if last year’s model is anything to go by, likely to be the default choice for Android buyers in 2013. However, the HTC One is arguably the more thoughtful choice. In AT&T form, it’s our favorite Android handset of the moment.

The router is made by Netgear, and it looks to be a rather small and thin router, with two antennae that tower above the device. Verizon says that the router is available for purchase right now, and it’ll cost you $99 after signing a two-year contract and sending in a $50 mail-in rebate. Or you can buy the router outright for $269.

If you’re already on one of Verizon’s Share Everything plans, you can easily add the router to your plan for only $20 per month. Of course, you might want to bump up the amount of geebees that you have, since connecting multiple device to the router is sure to take a hit on your data allotment, especially considering how fast Big Red’s LTE can be.

However, it’s rather odd to see Verizon promoting a router, but we suppose that the company’s mobile hotspot device may not have enough oompf for some users. Considering that the router can support up to 24 devices total at once, we have to say that it’s one device that you don’t see everyday, and it could be great for larger parties or work events where people need to stay connected.

The 12 other markets that AT&T announced today are Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, Arkansas; Fort Smith, Arkansas; Palm Coast, Florida; Lakeland-Winter Haven Florida; Fort Pierce, Florida; Mount Dora, Florida; Carbondale-Marion Illinois; Houma/Thibodaux, Louisana; Jefferson City, Missouri; Las Cruces, New Mexico; Binghamton, New York; and Temple/Killeen Texas.

While Verizon has the edge when it comes to the largest LTE network in the US, AT&T claims its LTE network is the fastest out of the two, claiming that users on the carrier’s LTE can reach speeds that are up to 10 times faster than 3G. Of course, that all depends where you’re at and how good your signal is.

AT&T now claims to be covering 288 million people with its 4G LTE network, and they plan to reach 300 million by the time 2014 rolls around. Back in December, Verizon boasted 250 million people were covered by their LTE network. We don’t know what the exact number is now, but we do know that over 470 markets in the US have Big Red’s LTE.

Formally called the Casio G’z0ne Commando 811, the new handset comes with an all-new look on top of the brand new LTE chip. Of course, it’s not the most beautiful phone to look at, but if it’s protection from rain, dust, drops, etc. that you’re looking for. the Commando 811 may be the phone for you.

It’s very similar to our recently-reviewed Kyocera Torque, only this newer version is getting a bigger screen, a front-facing camera, and possibly an upgrade to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean based on the new navigation-key arrangement at the bottom of the device. And of course, it’s got the black and red color scheme that Verizon is notorious for on its Android handsets.

Nothing is official yet, but we should be hearing from Verizon and Casio with an official announcement sometime soon. It just cleared from the FCC, so it should only be a matter of time before those that need a viable option for a rugged smartphone equipped with LTE will be able to grab the Commando 811 from Big Red.

[via Android Community]

We’ve already seen what LTE devices will be available on T-Mobile, but those devices are pretty much useless without the LTE network to go along with it. Of course, only seven markets in the US is nothing close to what Verizon and AT&T currently have, but if T-Mobile’s goal of 200 million people by the end of the year is met, the competition between the three of these carriers could heat up quick.

Earlier, it was said that T-Mobile’s LTE was detected in eight cities before the launch, including Denver, New Orleans, San Diego, New York, and Seattle, for which these cities weren’t officially announced by T-Mobile today. These cities may be markets that will see the flip being switched shortly, but T-Mobile didn’t include these cities in their announcement during today’s event.

However, before the official launch of the LTE, many T-Mobile users reported being able to access LTE in several cities such as Phoenix, Houston, and San Jose, which wasn’t all too surprising, considering that T-Mobile most likely wanted these areas live with LTE as the carrier made the announcement.

According to Engadget, several T-Mobile users have reported that they’re able to access T-Mobile’s LTE network in Phoenix, Arizona and San Jose, California. We already knew that San Jose was a city hosting T-Mobile LTE, but Phoenix is a new market that looks to be getting the LTE treatment from T-Mobile.

Some users are also reporting that the LTE is live in Houston, Texas, which would bump up the number of cities that we currently know will have T-Mobile LTE up to 10 (11 if you count the spotty coverage in Oakland, California). We should be from T-Mobile officially later on today when they’ll be hosting an event where the company is rumored to be launching several new items.

Most recently, T-Mobile is said to be introducing the iPhone officially to their network, as well as officially launching their LTE network, which the company announced would launch before the end of the month, so today seems like a viable day to do such things. Other than that, several other phones may come to T-Mobile, including the new LG Optimus G Pro and the BlackBerry Z10.

[via Engadget]

The LTE version costs $1,449, which is $150 more than the entry level variant at $1,299. Then again, it comes with twice the storage capacity, but that still only makes it a device with 64GB of storage. Then again, we could see some users upgrading to the 64GB model for the storage alone, with LTE being a nice perk that comes with the package.

Obviously, though, you’ll have to pay a monthly fee through Verizon if you want to use more than 100MB per month. According to GigaOM, $9.99 will get you an unlimited day pass. $20 per month will land you 1GB of data, $35 for 3GB, and $50 for 5GB. The free 100MB-per-month deal only lasts two years, so all LTE Pixel users will end up paying a monthly fee sooner or later.

Verizon customers can also add their new Chromebook Pixel to their existing Share Everything plan for only $10 per month. This allows Verizon customers to not have to pay more for data than what they’re already paying for. If you’re not familiar with the Pixel, it’s Google’s newest product and it sports a super high resolution 2560×1700 display, as well as an Intel Core i5 dual-core 1.8GHz processor and 4GB of RAM.

[via GigaOM]

OpenSignal, a crowd-sourced Android app for identifying wireless coverage, is reporting that eight cities in the US are equipped with T-Mobile’s LTE network: Denver, Las Vegas, Kansas City, New Orleans, New York, San Diego, San Jose, and Seattle, as well as a few spots in Oakland near San Francisco. Furthermore, OpenSignal suggests that T-Mobile will be offering LTE versions of the Samsung Galaxy S III and GALAXY S 4 at some point.

From the looks of it, T-Mobile isn’t hitting all the big cities at first, but they are tackling a few large markets, including New York. Usually when carriers first roll out their LTE network, they test it out on smaller markets before rolling it out to larger cities, but it seems T-Mobile is going all-in the first time around.

However, speed tests seem pretty comparable to what we’re used to. OpenSignal reports averaging around 25 Mbps download speeds and 8 Mbps upload speed, with a 40ms ping on average. T-Mobile would be the last major carrier to launch LTE in the US, but it said that they would be covering 100 million people by the middle of this year, and 200 million by the end of 2013, which seems like an ambitious goal.

[via PC Mag]

The carrier’s first two LTE devices will be the new BlackBerry Z10 and the Samsung Galaxy Note II. T-Mobile says its 4G LTE network will cover around 100 million people by the middle of this year, while they plan to cover a total of 200 million people by the end of the year. Verizon already covers over 275 million and counting, so we’ll see how long T-Mobile takes to catch up.

As for speeds of T-Mobile’s new LTE, some folks have already gotten a taste of what it’s like, and they seem rather respectable as far as what we’ve seen. Laptop Mag saw speeds has high as 58 Mbps on the download stream and 25 Mbps on the upload stream. However, with more people accessing the network, you probably won’t see those kinds of speeds on a daily basis.

While T-Mobile’s LTE network may not be up to snuff with Verizon’s or AT&T‘s as far as coverage goes, T-Mobile users will have a slight advantage. While Verizon’s phones use two chips in order to support both 3G and 4G LTE, T-Mobile devices only use one chip for HSPA+42 and LTE support, which can save tremendously on battery life.

[via Laptop Mag]

People in Barnsley, Chorley, Coventry, Newport, Preston, Rotherham, Telford, Walsall, and Watford will all be able to get online with EE 4G now. The carrier says that speeds in the range of 8-12Mbps are the average, though obviously that depends on where exactly you are.

By June 2013, meanwhile, EE has said it will have almost doubled its current total of 4G locations. Aldershot, Ashford, Basildon, Basingstoke, Blackpool, Bradford, Bracknell, Camberley, Colchester, Crawley, Doncaster, Dudley, Farnborough, Guildford, Horsham, Huddersfield, Leatherhead, Leicester, Luton, Maidstone, Milton Keynes, Oldham, Oxford, Reading, Redhill, Reigate, Sevenoaks, St Albans, Stevenage, Tonbridge, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Warrington, West Bromwich, Wigan, and Woking will all be active on LTE by the middle of the year.

Time is running out for LTE’s exclusivity, however. The UK’s 4G spectrum auction closed recently, with Vodafone, O2, and Three – among others – all picking up chunks] of the airwaves for their own LTE roll-out plans. They won’t be hanging around, either: the first active networks are tipped to go live by the summer.

That will ramp up the pressure, not only on EE’s coverage and speed, but on its pricing, something the carrier has been criticized for since launch. LTE currently commands a premium in the UK, but the expectation is that greater rivalry will force cuts as the market regains its competitive balance.

The choice of show is because GM sees its drive to adopt 4G as about more than just fitting off-the-shelf hardware: it’s about making the car another node on the network. While this isn’t the first time we’ve seen mobile hotspot functionality in a car, it is the tightest integration of that connection to the car’s underlying systems. That makes a big difference, Abram points out, when it comes to what you can actually do with the data that the car is producing, such as fuel efficiency, speed, direction, engine status, entertainment, and more.

For instance, there’s GM’s own mobile app which can be used to remotely control several of the features in the car: lock and unlock it from wherever you are in the world, sound the horn, and turn on or off the lights. With a persistently connected car, however, the app can also display real-time statistics, such as fuel levels.

It goes beyond time-saving measures, however. GM’s demo vehicle has three cameras on the interior and four outside, covering the front two passengers and the rear seat, and all four of the outward directions. They can be reviewed on the dashboard – handy, if you’re parking up and want to make sure you’re not too far from the curb – or streamed over the 4G to a smartphone or tablet. GM envisages rear seat passengers being able to hold Skype calls while being driven around, for instance, or the car automatically alerting you, complete with video recordings, if it’s hit or damaged while you’re away.

The potential for streaming also includes entertainment, using the 4G to push entertainment content to the dashboard (albeit only when you’re parked up). However, the concept car can also push its streamed video over WiFi to a tablet, so rear passengers could watch their own content rather than what’s on the integrated screens.

Not all of these features will be present when GM’s 4G cars actually begin to roll out to buyers; there won’t be cameras, at least not initially, for instance. However, the car company is hoping that developers will see the potential of being persistently online, and swiftly come up with new functionality to take advantage of that.

“We’ve taken one of the variables out of the equation,” Abram explains, pointing to the fact that those coders taking advantage of the APIs GM revealed back at CES will be able to make the assumption that drivers have a persistent data connection. One lingering question is exactly how much drivers will have to pay for actual data, or at least to access the service; Abram wouldn’t discuss fees, beyond pointing out that OnStar is a subscription-based service (current prices start at around $19 per month). That could have implications for how apps consume data, if it’s billed on a per-MB style basis.

That may well be an evolving issue, Abram points out, as drivers, GM, and developers get to grips with the potential of having 4G in your vehicle. The infotainment chief hopes that the key apps users are familiar with and already consider essential – Pandora, Spotify, and others – will transition over to the GM system, but also that we’ll see new and imaginative software that takes specific advantage of the context that you’re in a vehicle.

GM needs developers to there, but meanwhile it will be tailoring its connectivity message across its various brands. That’s going to take some careful explanation, Abram says, differing not only on a marque by marque basis, but by individual cars too, depending on the priorities of their target audiences. For instance, GM’s current message around the Chevy Sonic is to do with smartphone integration, while for the CUE system the focus has been on how interwoven it is through the car.

Standard 4G will begin showing up in 2015 model year GM vehicles from Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac, with AT&T providing its LTE network, on US and Canadian forecourts sometime in 2014. However, the company plans to expand the service across Europe and other territories in time.

That’s down to a selection of chips that are actually up to 50-percent smaller than the current models, despite adding in far more band support. Power consumption has also been reduced, with Qualcomm claiming up to a 30-percent saving, while heat output is also cut.

Radio performance takes advantage of Qualcomm’s new dynamic antenna matching tuner (QFE15xx), which is the first ever to be able to automatically adjust the antenna performance depending on environmental constraints and how the user is actually holding the device. Effective not only for 4G use but 2G/3G, across the 700-2700MHz bands, the new tuner works alongside an integrated power amplifier and antenna switch that’s easier to install and accomodate on tight circuit boards.

Finally, there’s the RF POP QFE27EE, a stacked chipset combining a multiband power amp and antenna switch, the SAW filters, and duplexes. It will be interchangeable, too, allowing for manufacturers to choose between creating devices that work on a smaller subset of LTE frequencies – such as for specific carriers or regions – or a broad, global-roaming LTE implementation.

The huge increase in frequencies selected by 4G carriers worldwide has broken the market for devices down into an array of incompatible phones. Handsets like the iPhone 5, for instance, come in three different variants – outwardly identical, but with differing radio and antenna implementations - suited to different sets of networks, and the expectation that 3G device users had of being able to simply swap SIM cards and get up and running on a different carrier no longer applies.

For Qualcomm and manufacturers, meanwhile, the new RF360 radio is a way to simplify production: now a single SKU can be offered – potentially tailored by software and RF POP selection to suit the whims of carrier lock-down – rather than multiple iterations of the same device. The first products to use the RF360 Front End Solution will show up in 2013.

Vodafone splashed more than $790m on spectrum, including two paired 800MHz chunks, and three 2.6GHz chunks. Everything Everywhere (EE) came in second, spending almost $589m on four chunks (two in 800MHz, two in 2.6GHz), closely followed by O2, which spent $550m for two 800MHz chunks.

That left Three with a £225m spend on two 800MHz chunks, and finally Niche Spectrum Ventures, with £186m on three chunks in the 2.6GHz spectrum. MLL Telecom and HKT (UK) Company failed to acquire any spectrum.

Next up comes the “assignment stage,” where the companies bid on where exactly within the bands they’ve bought their new spectrum will be. In all, 250MHz of spectrum was awarded, which Ofcom points out is roughly equivalent to two-thirds of what radio frequencies are currently in use by operators. That process will begin imminently, Ofcom says.

It shouldn’t take long, either, since estimates for the first rival LTE services to take on EE’s network in the UK are by spring or early summer 2013. There won’t be full roll-outs until 2017, however, so expect patchy 4G concentrating on the larger cities, at least for the foreseeable future.

Of course, even if Verizon isn’t taking the One, that doesn’t rule out a variant of the phone for its network. The carrier has stuck to its DROID branding, for instance – including the well-esteemed DROID DNA by HTC – and it’s possible that is holding out for a specially named version that would fit with that.

However, the news is good if you’re on other carriers around the world. In North America, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Cincinnati Bell, and Best Buy will all be offering the One in the US, while Rogers, Bell, TELUS and Virgin Mobile Canada will offer it in Canada.

In Latin America, there’ll be support for the various América Movil regional networks, Movistar Venezuela, and Entel Chile, among others. China will also be getting the HTC One, with China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom all in line for the phone.

As for Europe, in the UK there’ll be availability across O2, EE, Orange, T-Mobile, Vodafone, Three, Carphone Warehouse, and Phones4U. EE has already confirmed that it will be offering the One for £69.99 ($108) on a £41 per month, 24 month package (1GB mobile data; unlimited UK calls and texts). Onto mainland Europe, and there’ll be support from Vodafone, T-Mobile, Orange in various countries, and then further afield into Russia, the Middle East, and Africa.

We’ll update as we get more pricing information from other operators.

UPDATE: Straight from the carrier itself: “Vodafone will be offering the HTC One for sale from 15th March 2013, with pre-order opening two weeks before.”

UPDATE: Clove.co.uk lets us know: “The price is £425+VAT and the device is available in Silver or Black colours with 32GB of internal memory.” Shipping is “expected” to begin on the 15th of March – looks like a lock!

Unlike Sony’s VAIO Duo 11, for instance, LG has opted not to include a trackpoint nub in the middle of the keyboard; instead, if you want to to interact with Windows 8, you’ll have to reach up to the touchscreen. Still, you do get a clever auto-sliding mechanism, opening up the display and revealing the keyboard.

As for the display itself, that’s an 11.6-inch IPS LCD panel boasting 178-degree viewing angles. Connectivity includes USB, an HDMI port, and a microSD card slot, as well as the LTE radio and the usual WiFi and Bluetooth. LG has previously claimed that the H160 will run for up to ten hours on a full charge.

What LG isn’t discussing is pricing, nor specific availability outside of Korea. It’s also perhaps telling that the company is yet to announce any plans to make a Windows RT tablet; currently options for those wanting the ARM-variant of Microsoft’s OS – which trades app compatibility for power frugality – are limited, with Microsoft’s own Surface RT the best-known model.

March 27th looks like it will be a very busy day for T-Mobile. Not only is it planning on launching the T-Mobile Sonic 2.0 Mobile HotSpot LTE, but it will also be launching the Blackberry Z10 on the same day. The Blackberry Z10 will be capable of utilizing T-Mobile’s 4G LTE data network. The Samsung Galaxy S III LTE should also be released and will be fully capable of taking advantage of T-Mobile’s LTE network. Finally, there is the Samsung Galaxy Exhibit that is supposed to be the U.S. variant of the Samsung Galaxy S III Mini, however we don’t believe it should be touting any 4G LTE bands.

It has also been rumored several times that T-Mobile should be launching the iPhone on its network sometime around late March as well, although it doesn’t appear on the road map. It could be that T-Mobile is being very secretive about its iPhone launch because it plans on holding a separate, grand event altogether for it. T-Mobile has been left out of the iPhone game for a long time, with all 3 of the other major carriers selling iPhones on their networks while it had to compete without it.

It looks like T-Mobile will be fully stocked for its LTE network, whenever it decides to launch it. It can be any day from now, but we’re hoping that it’s sooner rather than later. T-Mobile is the last carrier to launch its LTE network, with AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and Sprint well on their way of getting their LTE network to cover as many people as possible. T-Mobile will be launching its LTE network in Las Vegas first, and moving onto Kansas City afterwards.

[via TmoNews]

States that currently have US Cellular’s 4G LTE service that will see an expansion include Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Currently, the carrier’s LTE coverage covers 61% of its customers in the US.

Some of the cities that will receive US Cellular’s 4G LTE coverage include Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska; Manhattan, Kansas; Eureka and Ukiah California. As far as what other cities are on the list to get the upgrade, US Cellular didn’t say, so cross your fingers and just hope that it’s your city that gets the faster service.

US Cellular currently offers 10 devices with LTE capabilities, including the Samsung Galaxy S III and the Galaxy Note II, as well as several Motorola devices. Unfortunately, there’s no word on when US Cellular will start knocking out its list of cities to get LTE, but we’re guessing we should be seeing steady roll-outs all year long.

The new modem can handle “virtually any” 3GPP LTE frequency band and combination, Broadcom says, including LTE FDD and TDD, and LTE-Advanced with carrier aggregation. There’s also backward compatibility with HSPA+, TD-SCDMA, and EDGE/GSM.

VoLTE (voice over LTE) is supported, naturally, and with a 40-percent power saving over a more traditional WCDMA voice call, while data rates of up to 150Mbps are possible.

Meanwhile, since LTE alone isn’t enough to satisfy the modern world’s connectivity demands, there’s also boosted “wireless coexistance” support. That helps cut down on radio interference between LTE, WiFi, and Bluetooth radios, meaning all three technologies can better cooperate in the same location.

We’ll have to wait a while before we actually see the benefits of the BCM21892, however. Broadcom says the new LTE chip is only now sampling to its customers, with full production not expected until 2014.

With these new areas now blanketed with 4G, this brings AT&T’s total LTE coverage to 141 markets covering some 170 million people. It’s always great to see AT&T expanding their network, but they’re still far behind Verizon in terms of coverage. Big Red currently covers more than 470 markets and over 270 million people.

However, Ma Bell seems to be picking up steam more and more as the months go by, with the carrier announcing new markets every week it seems, and as far as how many new markets get announced every month, AT&T is clearly on top, while Verizon is beginning to wind down a bit as it gets closer to completely blanketing its 3G network.

AT&T recently acquired Alltel late last month in order to bolster its spectrum and gain more customers. While Alltel wasn’t a huge carrier by any means, the acquisition saw a boost in AT&T’s spectrum and user base by a few million. And even though the carrier reported a huge net loss last quarter, they seem to be trekking on, announcing over the weekend that they saw record usage during the Super Bowl.

The pricing strategy is at odds with the only existing commercial 4G network operating in the UK, from EE. There, the strategy has been to charge a premium for faster access: although EE still offers Orange and T-Mobile UK contracts, subscribers on those plans only get to use the 3G networks at most. EE has been criticized for the expense of its agreements, along with the limitations of its data allowances, though given the captive audience there’s minimal motivation for it to be more generous.

That’s all set to change later in 2013, however, when the other UK carriers aim to have their own 4G service up and running. Three has already begun paving the way to what it calls “Ultrafast” connectivity with DC-HSDPA, of which there’s currently around 55-percent population coverage. That will continue to spread ahead of LTE, with 80-percent population coverage expected by the end of Q1 2013.

Beyond that, Three intends to add in 1800MHz spectrum to its DC-HSDPA service. The carrier is known for offering “true unlimited” data on some of its packages, the promise of which is likely to get speed-freaks drooling when you factor in LTE.

T-Mobile customers wanting to tweet, status update, upload, download, and otherwise share their real-life Super Bowl and Mardi Gras experiences in the digitalsphere will be happy to note that the carrier has determined areas around New Orleans where data and voice activity is expected to be high and has given the network a boost to ensure it can handle the extra load.

Likewise, to make sure that the T-Mobile users both inside and around the Superdome have access to the network, the carrier has installed a DAS (Distributed Antenna System) unit. The Weidenberg Park area will also benefit from what they refer to as COWs, which stands for Cells on Wheels. This will increase both voice and data load capacities in that specific area.

T-Mobile has also erected what it calls a Command Center, which is tasked with monitoring the network to make sure that all runs smoothly. Finally, it also has implemented special event parameters that will boost voice and data based on the fluctuating demand during the big events. As a service to customers, the carrier will also be provided a T-Mobile branded SUV that will roll around and serve as a charging station, as well as offering TVs and video games.

[via Android Community]

According to Novatel Wireless, the MiFi 5510L will share its 4G connection with up to ten WiFi-tethered devices simultaneously. There’s also VPN support, including VPN Pass-through for enterprise users, and SPI Firewall.

On the front there’s a display and touch-sensitive keys, and Novatel Wireless has added in real-time data use tracking so that subscribers can see exactly how much of their LTE allowance they’re chewing through. That’s particularly useful since the new Jetpack can be used with a Share Everything Plan, tapping into some of your overall data bundle pot.

The 5510L is the latest in a line of Verizon Jetpack-branded models, most recently the 890L of mid-2012. Whereas that mobile hotspot version promised up to six hours of active runtime on a single charge, the new Jetpack delivers up to eight hours of continuous use, so Novatel Wireless claims. Update: We missed a MiFi! The last Jetpack was, in fact, Novatel Wireless’ 4620LE in November 2012, a battery-boosted follow up to the 4260L. The 4620LE lasted for up to 10hrs of LTE use, rather than the eight of the newest 5510L.

Hardware and Design

For a mid-range handset, HTC has done a decent job with the One SV’s physical design. The back cover – removable, unlike many recent HTC phones – has the same soft-touch finish as we know from the 8X and One S, despite being plastic, while the scratch-proof Corning Gorilla Glass 2 up-front has smoothly curved edges which help the slightly angular sides nestle nicely into the palm of your hand.

Front and center is the One SV’s 4.3-inch display, using an LCD2 panel as per many other models in HTC’s range. It’s a bright panel, with decent viewing angles, but its resolution puts it at a disadvantage: at WVGA 800 x 480, it’s behind the qHD models in the same sort of price bracket, and leagues behind the 720p and 1080p displays other phones use (including HTC’s own DROID DNA, which has an excellent Full HD screen). The result is graininess from the clearly visible pixels, most noticeable when in the browser or viewing photos or video.

There’s a 3.5mm headphone jack on the top, alongside the power/standby button, while a microUSB port is on the bottom edge and a volume rocker on the right. We were slightly surprised by how slippery the One SV could be; placed face down, it quickly found a route off the edge of our sofa and onto the floor, though happily resisted the bump. On the plus side, it’s easily dropped into a pocket, and at 128 x 66.9 x 9.2 mm and 122g isn’t unduly bulky. The matte white back cover did pick up dirt and smudges easily, however, while the broad, ridged earpiece spanning most of the top bezel was an instant fluff magnet.

As for what’s inside the casing, the One SV runs Android on a 1.2GHz Qualcomm S4 dual core processor, with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of onboard storage. There’s triband UMTS/HSPA (up to 42Mbps down and 5.76Mbps up, network permitting) and quad band GSM/EDGE along with the LTE, together with WiFi a/b/g/n (2.4/5GHz), Bluetooth 4.0 (with aptX support), and NFC. A digital compass, GPS, GLONASS, accelerometer, proximity sensor, and light sensor round out the key features.

On the back, a nugget of metal surrounds the 5-megapixel camera and LED flash. As per previous phones, HTC uses a backside-illuminated (BSI) sensor for improved low-light performance, along with an F2.0 aperture, 28mm lens. The front camera runs at 1.6-megapixels, and shoots 720p HD video compared to the 1080p Full HD supported on the back. HTC slots in its dedicated ImageChip for pre-JPEG-conversion processing and swifter back-to-back photography.

While One X+ and 8X owners have to make do with what storage HTC gives them (or what they can muster from the cloud), those picking up a One SV can slot in a microSD card instead. Up to 64GB cards are supported; the removable cover also means you can switch out the 1,800 mAh battery, handy given that LTE can be a power-hog.

Software and Performance

If the display resolution is HTC’s first real goof with the One SV, the version of Android the smartphone runs is definitely the second. Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich is loaded, complete with HTC Sense 4.1, an inexplicable decision given Jelly Bean has been around since mid-2012. It’s Android as we know and, generally speaking, love, though you miss out on Project Butter’s interface-smoothing magic, and that’s a real shame on a handset already running mid-tier hardware.

Sense remains a mixed bag, certainly distinctive but feeling more than a little over-designed, certainly when compared to the crisp, near-minimalist simplicity of pure Android. First-time smartphone owners should find it reasonably user-friendly, however, and HTC preloads a number of applications, including Dropbox (which prompts you to set up an account and auto-sync your photos and videos with the cloud), Evernote, a video editing app, 7digital for music downloads, a flashlight, and others, most of which are familiar from a long line of HTC devices.

Familiarity is good, but we’re not convinced custom manufacturer skins and Android still make sense (excuse the pun), at least for users. HTC’s interface may help it differentiate from other Android OEMs, but it also introduces delays in owners receiving core OS updates. Given the One SV is a step or two behind on that front already, it means Sense is hardly welcome.

The other differentiator is Beats Audio, though the One SV doesn’t get the power-amps of more expensive HTC devices. Instead, it’s more of a custom equalizer, ramping up the sound – particularly the bass frequencies – in a way that suits dance, RnB, and other genres, but conversely mangles classical and jazz. Thankfully it can be turned off in HTC’s reskinned settings page.

The 1.2GHz dualcore S4 processor may not be the fastest chip around any more, but it’s capable enough for everyday use. We ran Quadrant, the Android benchmarking tool, and the One SV scored 4446, putting it just short of the HTC One X (which has a 1.5GHz quadcore).

Camera

Even for the midrange, 5-megapixels is beginning to look conservative, though we’re the first to admit that a good sensor performs beyond the sheer number of pixels it collects. Unfortunately, despite HTC’s choice of BSI chip and lens pairing, the One SV’s camera performance is middle-of-the-road.

It’s not that the camera isn’t fast; it loads quickly (though we’d still like a dedicated camera key on the side, as HTC’s Windows Phones get) and captures frames right when you tap the on-screen control. Simultaneous photo and video capture is supported, with both buttons shown at once, and if you keep your finger pressed on the shutter release, the One SV will keep snapping at 4fps until you’ve taken 60 shots.

No, what lets the One SV down is the fact that the resulting photos and video simply aren’t that great. The stark scenes of snowy London certainly weren’t the easiest of things to capture, but the HTC’s camera struggled unduly with contrast and exposure, shedding detail by the handful as it tried to balance the brighter and darker elements of the frame. Meanwhile, points of brighter color – the red “STOP” sign, for instance – lost their vitality as the One SV opted for a more muted reproduction.

Close-ups proved a little more impressive, with the One SV able to lock onto nearby subjects with accuracy, but again color temperature proved troublesome. Holding the camera still, we watched as the preview flipped between warm and cool settings, making capturing a decent frame a matter of perfect timing in hitting the button.

As for video, there’s some judder in the frame and the same exposure issues as affected stills show themselves in footage, too. Clips can be grainy, and colors flat and muted.

Phone and Battery

The One SV’s sizeable earpiece makes for loud calls, and our callers had no issues hearing us or being heard. Calls are only made over 2G/3G networks, not EE’s 4G LTE network (as per the UK model we were reviewing; in the US, the One SV is a Cricket exclusive), and you lose 4G connectivity for data while on a voice call.

LTE performance unsurprisingly varies depending on where you live; EE’s fledgling network has huge ambitions, but so far is limited to denser-populated patches of major cities. With only one bar showing out in London’s Zone 2, we saw high speeds of around 13Mbps down and up to 17Mbps up, though EE is certainly capable of faster. Still, it’s worth remembering that 4G isn’t the magic bullet for mobile data today, and in fact HSPA+ networks can still outshine it in some locations.

The mid-range specifications translate to only moderate draw on the battery, as long as you don’t make too much use of the LTE connection. HTC rates the One SV as good for up to 8hrs talk time or 12 days of standby, though it’s worth noting that those are 3G figures.

In practice, with push email turned on, automatic photo uploads, some media streaming and local playback, a little web browsing, GPS in Google Maps, and Facebook/Twitter checking, we got a day out of the One SV. Turn on the mobile hotspot, however, which allows you to share the HTC’s 3G/4G connection with WiFi-tethered devices like your laptop, and you’ll see the phone exhausted far quicker.

Pricing and Value

SIM-free, the HTC One SV will set you back £350 in the UK; Cricket will sell it to you, off contract, for $349, and then offer you month-to-month service on a rolling agreement. EE, meanwhile, will give you the One SV free upfront, if you’re willing to spend at least £36 per month over a two-year agreement. That only includes 500MB of data, mind; figure on spending £41 or £46 per month if you want 1GB or 3GB respectively.

Overall, then, it’s a cheap phone with expensive service, at least in the UK. Factor in that EE will sell you a Samsung Galaxy S III on the same monthly contract, albeit with a £49.99 one-time payment for the device, and the One SV starts to look out of place.

Wrap-up

You can certainly see HTC’s strategy: make a neatly styled, midrange device that balances battery life with the usefulness of 4G, and help push LTE connectivity out of the premium tier. Unfortunately, some of the company’s decisions – or, perhaps, the corners cut in order to meet the target price – take their toll on the One SV proposition overall.

We could live with the last-gen processor, and even the WVGA display only really proved glaringly disappointing when viewing media, but the lackluster camera is a serious blip. HTC first debuted its ImageChip technology with research suggesting mobile photography was one of the key factors buyers weighed in picking a new phone; unfortunately, that’s where the One SV falls most short.

Couple that – in the UK at least – with some expensive tariff pricing from EE that puts an altogether more appealing handset within easy reach, and the HTC One SV loses more of its shine. It’s not a bad device, but it demands too many compromises from cutting-edge users tempted by 4G, and can’t compete on price with more affordable HSPA+ phones on other networks.

That will change later in the year, however, with EE saying that it “will make 4G available for LIFE Mobile customers later in 2013.” Until then, subscribers will get the run of EE’s combined Orange and T-Mobile UK airwaves, which were coupled together back when the Everything Everywhere partnership was settled.

Details on the LIFE Mobile service itself have not been revealed, with Phones 4u saying that it will have more news – including pricing – closer to launch. However, the MVNO is described as “great value” and to “include data packages as standard.”

Thanks to the combined network, LIFE Mobile will be able to boast 98-percent 3G coverage of the UK population when it launches. Meanwhile, Phones 4u will continue to sell service from the existing UK network players – including EE – alongside its own LIFE Mobile options.

“Where we have two EE stores in very close proximity to each other – in some places they are just a door away – we have decided to consolidate” an EE spokesperson confirmed. “This makes commercial sense and will also help us manage the high levels of demand in our stores and improve the customer experience.”

EE – also known as Everything Everywhere – is the combined brand of T-Mobile UK and Orange, which began back in 2009. However, it was only late last year that physical stores lost their individual branding and were brought in line with the EE scheme; ironically, EE refurbished all its stores first and then apparently decided on which to close.

Staff in the affected stores are, for the most part, expected to be transferred to other nearby EE locations. Subscribers of the two networks began sharing each others’ airwaves back in 2010, but only new EE subscribers get LTE service.

For those in favor of such a deal, it’s said that the lure of international expansion is its potential to unlock a new market of smartphone-upgraders and push AT&T’s strategy of tiered data plans. AT&T’s thinking, so the suggestion goes, is that while European carriers still rely on voice call and SMS messaging revenue, it could carve itself a new business by pushing 4G adoption and more revenue from data plans.

On the flip-side, however, is the potential risk of diluting AT&T’s focus on the US market. There, while AT&T spars with Verizon for the biggest subscriber base, the segment grows increasingly cut-throat, particularly as the potential market for smartphone and/or data plan adopters narrows. AT&T also faces increasingly organized competition, with US rivals being acquired by foreign firms, such as Softbank’s grab of Sprint.

No confirmation of whether any talks have begun, or which exact carriers are in AT&T’s sights, could be garnered, the newspaper reports. It’s also unclear as to how well AT&T’s traditional US pricing strategy – which demands both an upfront payment for the handset as well as a two-year agreement – would work in the European market, where it’s common for devices to be free-on-contract.

Nonetheless, word from the top is that international expansion is pretty much a certainty. “I think it is inevitable” AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson told Texas Monthly [subscription required] earlier in January, when asked whether an overseas acquisition was on the cards to ensure the company’s growth.

A quick recap, if you’ve not been keeping up. Revealed at IFA 2012 last September, the Galaxy Camera blends a 16-megapixel camera with a 21x optical zoom together with Android as per the Galaxy S III smartphone. We had a mixture of AT&T and the recently-released Verizon versions of the Galaxy Camera, each using 4G LTE networks (there’s WiFi b/g/n, but we rarely took the time to hunt down local wireless networks) [Update: The Verizon version uses LTE; AT&T's maxes out at HSPA+]. Just about all of the regular Android apps run on the camera, including Instagram, but we stuck with Samsung’s default app, that can also record Full HD 1080p video.

Our thinking was that, rather than shooting in our normal style – swapping out memory cards and offloading media to a laptop whenever convenient – we would use the Galaxy Camera’s wireless connectivity to upload photos and videos directly to the cloud. By using Smugmug, which has a dedicated app for Android, we could automatically watermark each shot and keep all of the media together in a place where the whole team (whether physically present at CES or otherwise) could access it.

In practice, that turned out to be largely the way the team worked, at least in more time-critical situations. Tag-teaming on press conference coverage, one person could shoot content and pick the best of the images to upload, all wirelessly, while the other person could pull their preferred images from the Smugmug gallery. With product hands-on, there was no “which memory card were those photos on?” confusion, since the images had already been uploaded.

Functionality is useless if the quality is lacking, though happily that wasn’t our experience with the Galaxy Camera. For best results you’ll usually get the most ideal images from a DSLR, unsurprisingly, but heavy, bulky cameras aren’t especially suited to the booth-hopping of a show like CES. In fact, we were able to coax some decent results from the Samsung – our Pebble smartwatch hands-on photos were all taken with the Galaxy Camera, for instance – while the 21x optical zoom proved invaluable for getting closer to items on-stage during press conferences.

Pebble smartwatch photo samples:

The Galaxy Camera isn’t perfect, mind. We experienced the odd focusing issue, where the Samsung would be reluctant to lock onto close-up subjects. That could usually be addressed by repositioning the frame and trying again – or backing off a little altogether – but it was frustrating when it happened, and interrupted our workflow. The uploading process could also be fiddly; we were using the Smugmug app, through which we could choosing individual photos and videos to be uploaded to a gallery in the cloud, but each required separate selections.

It’s also not ideal to be jumping in and out of the camera app, picking content to be uploaded. Some sort of briefly-shown “Upload This” button shown displayed with the preview frame after each shot is taken would be great, as would easy onboard watermarking. A double-save – one lower-res copy for uploading more quickly, and a higher-res original kept on the memory card for later – would also be useful. It’s worth noting that most of our complaints could be addressed by apps, which the Galaxy Camera’s Android OS would make easy to install – not something you could say about most point-and-shoots.

So what have we learned? Our experiment to integrate the Galaxy Camera into our workflow isn’t over, with a trial-by-fire at CES highlighting some of the Samsung snapper’s shortcomings. We returned to an old-fashioned whip-out-the-memory-card style workflow at a couple of points, for instance, usually when there was a particularly urgent image we specifically needed. It proved difficult to edit the upload priority of content in the task list, forcing us to go manual with our offloads. Samsung’s onboard video editing app proved fiddly to use on the go, and we quickly reverted to more traditional editing once the footage was on our computer.

For its balance of convenience and performance, though, the Galaxy Camera has impressed us again. When time is of the essence – and when we’re incredibly excited to bring you the latest news, as soon as possible – the effectiveness of an online camera is demonstrable. We’ll be tweaking with alternative apps and maybe even cooking up some custom software of our own, just so that we can better embed the Samsung into the SlashGear system, so expect to see more photos and video shot on the Galaxy Camera through 2013!

Thanks to Samsung who loaned us a number of Galaxy Cameras, with no expectations as to whether/how we might use them at CES, or indeed subsequently report on them.

When you head over to the MetroPCS website, it shows a placeholder image that reads “We’re making some changes right now,” complete with images of hardworking Android bots, so we should see the website updated soon. The three new plans are priced at $40, $50, and $60 per month, with the three of them differing in their data offerings.

The lowest price tier offers the first 500MB of data at 4G speeds before dropping to slower 3G, while the next plan up ($50 per month) offers the first 2.5GB of data free. For $10 more per month, users can jump to the $60 plan and enjoy unlimited 4G data, never having to worry about throttled speeds. Customers will need a 4G LTE smartphone.

MetroPCS offers several nice smartphones to choose from, including the much-loved and wildly popular Samsung Galaxy S III, as well as the lesser known Admire 4G. The carrier’s handset offerings also include the Motion 4G and Connect 4G from LG, as well as ZTE’s Avid 4G phone, among others. Can’t quite afford the handset of your choice? MetroPCS now offers financing.

[via Android Community]

That’s down to incompatibility between the iPad mini cellular’s 4G modem and the LTE networks in operation in China, an issue that has affected usability elsewhere in the world since the 7.9-inch tablet’s release. Still, the 3G will be supported, making for easier connectivity on the move.

The cellular version is already up for preorder in China, in both black and silver, with pricing beginning at 3,488 Chinese yuan ($560) for the 16GB version. Apple’s online store gives no indication of specific release date, only saying that there’s currently no supply.

Demand for the iPad mini in China had been expected to be high, and according to Cook that strong interest is indeed panning out. The CEO has previously suggested that China is the next big growth market for Apple – not an unusual opinion in the consumer electronics industry today – and is visiting the country to meet with suppliers, regulators, and others to discuss Apple’s further expansion.

[via CNET]

Says T-Mobile, the plan is “perfect for video chat, streaming music/movies/TV and playing online games.” Of course, the plan comes sans-contract, one of its most alluring features. In addition to the unlimited data and 5GB at 4G speeds, the plan also offers unlimited talk and text. Obviously, one needs a 4G-capable smartphone for the plan.

For those who don’t do a lot of talking, T-Mobile already offers a plan with 5GB of data at 4G speeds for $30 per month, with the catch being that it only offer 100 minutes, along with unlimited text messaging. This particular plan is also limited to customers who acquired it through T-Mobile’s website or Wal-Mart. The $50 monthly plan only offers the first 100MB at 4G speeds.

T-Mobile offers a few different 4G-capable smartphones for their prepaid customers, including the Samsung Galaxy Exhibit, LG Optimus L9, the Galaxy S Blaze, and the Galaxy S II. On December 26, we reported that current rumors state the popular Galaxy S III with LTE support will be heading to T-Mobile sometime this year.

[via TmoNews]

This brings the total count of markets that AT&T 4G LTE is available in to about 135. Of course, it’s still way behind Verizon’s 470 (thanks to yesterday’s 29-market LTE rollout), but we still have to give it up for Ma Bell on making more and more of their customers happy with faster download speeds.

However, AT&T’s HSPA+ network is booming in the US, and while it doesn’t provide the speeds of LTE, it’s faster than 3G, and AT&T boasts that it’s covering more than 285 million people in the US, claiming that they have “3,000 more 4G cities and towns than Verizon,” but with a few asterisks next to it, obviously.

In related AT&T news, the carrier has announced today that they’re supporting the new Interoperability Compliance Program (ICP) that was introduced this week by the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), which is the industry association focused on supporting the next generation WiFi experience. AT&T claims that they’re one of the first carriers to support this new initiative.

The list of enhanced areas for coverage across the United States begins with New York, of course, working in The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island – and that’ll about catch em all. Next they’ve got areas throughout Newark, Boston and Cambridge, Mass., Springfield, Mass., Providence Rhode Island, Detroit and Warren, Michigan, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, and Tampa. Up top, to the right, to the left, and down to the bottom, that is.

This expansion has a $4 billion dollar plan attached to it (announced earlier this year) that’s growing the network at a high rate. This plan was announced earlier this year with only 10 months between its initial reveal and enhanced coverage for over 100 million T-Mobile users. As for the iPhone users out there in the USA, T-Mobile isn’t about to forget about you!

T-Mobile’s announcements this week include assurance that all of the metro areas listed above are able to work with the unlocked AT&T smartphones (not just the iPhone, any unlocked AT&T phone) to their pink network for “a significant speed boost … with most devices, while also saving up to $50/month compared to AT&T.” Of course AT&T will have something to say about that, but for now, T-Mobile claims the following:

“*Internal tests of unlocked iPhone 4S devices running over 4G (HSPA+) on our 1900 network recorded on average 70% faster download speeds than iPhone 4S devices on AT&T’s network. Savings based on comparison of T-Mobile $69.99/month Unlimited Talk, Text and Data plan against AT&T Unlimited Talk, Text, and 3GB Smartphone Data plan. Does not include taxes, fees or promotional offers. Plan features and limitations vary.” – Neville Ray, Chief Technology Officer for T-Mobile USA

Sound about accurate to you? Let us know if you’ve joined T-Mobile with your unlocked iPhone and if changing over has been a positive experience for you! Also have a peek at the timeline below to see more information on the possibility of a T-Mobile-carried iPhone in the mix for 2013!

Verizon cites a recent report from eMarketer, saying that smartphone users spend an average of more than 80 minutes a day fiddling around on their devices, and it’s most often spent browsing the web, checking social networks, and gaming, all of which require a mobile internet connection to function efficiently.

Because of that, Verizon has been on a roll lately. They just recently celebrated two years of having 4G LTE in the US, where the service is available to over 250 million people. They’re continuing to rollout the faster service across the US, and plan to blanket their entire 3G network with LTE by mid-2013, a date that’s actually not too far off.

Furthermore, they announced back in October that they flew by their year-end goals for 2012, noting that they ended up covering 417 markets with LTE, when 400 was their goal for the year. On the other hand, AT&T is planning to cover 300 million people with their own 4G LTE coverage by 2014, which they’re certainly working hard at, but are far behind Verizon’s coverage.

HKT Company Limited, MLL Telecom Ltd, and Niche Spectrum Ventures Limited (a BT Group subsidiary) round out the seven candidates. HKT is a subsidiary of PCCW, a Hong Kong based telecoms firm, while MLL Telecom is a UK telecoms company.

On offer are chunks of spectrum in two distinct bands. The 800MHz band – made available when the UK completed its transition from analog to digital TV broadcasting – is more suited to broad mobile coverage, while the 2.8GHz band has speed advantages; together, the new spectrum will increase the UK’s mobile capacity by roughly 75-percent, Ofcom suggests, and be capable of catering for heavy use in cities as well as cost-effective, widespread deployment in less populated areas.

Of course, six out of the seven bidders are playing catch-up in 4G. EE launched its LTE network a few months back, though the carrier – a combination of T-Mobile UK and Orange, though neither subsidiary brand offers 4G service itself – has been criticized for the price of its mobile plans. That may well be forced to change when 4G alternatives go live, however.

Ofcom decided to approve EE’s early start after deciding the potential benefits to consumers outweighed competition risks to rivals. That decision forced some unlikely partnerships; O2 and Vodafone, for example, have joined forces to partner on 4G infrastructure, though both will operate their own, independent LTE networks.