The Essential Phone may have made a huge misstep, with Andy Rubin showing that, while he knows how to make a slick phone, he may be behind the curve on carrier sentiment. Launched to no small amount of fanfare in late May, the Android smartphone puts refined design, cutting-edge technology, and modular extensibility at the fore. However, the bad news chaser is the network it'll be an in-store carrier exclusive with.
While you were probably sleeping, HTC took the covers off the new HTC U11. The company's latest flagship Android smartphone borrows the style of the U Ultra but promises to address the spec complaints many of us had about that phablet too. Here's what you need to know about the U11.
So you've seen the new HTC U11, you've fallen in love with its curvaceous glass body, and you want to get your hands on one. Luckily for you, we've got all the availability details you need, though you might not like them. Turns out, there's good news and bad for HTC's big flagship of 2017.
There's a lot riding on the HTC U11, the company's new flagship Android smartphone. As the name makes abundantly clear, the U11 is a phone which straddles the gap between two of HTC's existing lines. On the one hand, it's the successor to last year's HTC 10. At the same time, though, it's also part of the U series, borrowing liberally from the aesthetic of the HTC U Ultra launched earlier this year.
It's been a few years now since US mobile carriers Sprint and T-Mobile held negotiations over a merger between the two companies, only to eventually be shut down by government regulators. But now that some time has passed, along with a freeze on such discussions due to the recent spectrum auction, Sprint's parent SoftBank and T-Mobile's parent Deutsche Telekom AG are looking to revive their merger talks.
Each carrier has its share of drawbacks, but with Sprint, one of those drawbacks can certainly be network coverage. While Sprint usually offers the least expensive service, coverage can often leave something to be desired. If you find yourself in this position frequently, you may want to have a look at Sprint's new Magic Box network extender.
Google announced today that they were one step closer to "delivering RCS messaging to Android users worldwide." To this end, they've tapped into partnerships with Orange, Deutsche Telekom (parent company of T-Mobile), and Globe. These companies are officially "committed to launching RCS messaging powered by the Jibe RCS cloud from Google and will be preloading Android Messages as the standard native messaging app for their subscribers."
Today we're hearing a whopper of a rumor that could have pretty big implications for the US carrier space. SoftBank is apparently eager to see Sprint, one of its subsidiaries, merge with T-Mobile, but resistance from T-Mobile parent company Deutsche Telekom would make such a merger difficult. With Deutsche Telekom unwilling to sell its stake in T-Mobile, it sounds like SoftBank is prepared to put a lot on the line - namely, giving up its majority share in Sprint.
In a matter of just a few days, we've gone from two major US carriers offering unlimited data plans to all four. After the past few years, it seems very strange to say this, but unlimited data is back. This time around, though, these plans come with a lot of caveats, and it can be hard to keep things straight between AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint. So, if you're in the market for a new carrier and these unlimited plans have piqued your interest, which one should you go with? Hopefully this guide helps clear some things up.
In a rather interesting turn of events, Sprint has announced that it's purchased a 33% stake in Tidal. Rumors have been swirling for months about a potential Tidal acquisition, and while this isn't quite the same, it's still financial help at a time when Tidal is struggling.
![Confused Sprint, after killing 2,500 jobs, now says it’ll restaff call centers by 2018 [Update]](https://c.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/sprint-825x420.jpg)
Sprint has announced plans to "create or bring back" 5,000 jobs in the US, despite cutting a considerable number of jobs earlier this year. The news sees the carrier, which reported net losses of $142m in its most recent financial release, commit to adding to its American workforce by the end of its 2017 financial year. According to Sprint, the new roles "will support a variety of functions across the organization".
Samsung's decision to not just ask nicely for Galaxy Note 7 recall hold-outs to return the phone but brick it altogether has left some wondering "when will my Note 7 die?" Tired of waiting for remaining owners to come in for a refund, Samsung has opted to take more drastic actions. However, with the news that Verizon doesn't plan to release the new firmware, which prevents the problematic phablet's battery from charging, attention has turned to the other major US carriers to confirm when - or indeed if - their customers will receive it.
