Hot on the heals of this morning's news that the iPhone 5 would be landing on Strata Networks soon, comes word that the popular handset can also now be used with Solavei, a US-based prepaid provider.
The carrier sent out a press release this afternoon announcing that it has begun offering nano Sim cards, meaning you can now hook up Apple's latest handset to its $49/month unlimited everything plan...
Back in January, T-Mobile (USA) CEO John Leger called AT&T's network "crap" during the carrier's CES keynote, rhetorically asking the audience "Does anyone use AT&T in New York City? Is anyone satisfied with their service?"
AT&T didn't take too kindly to Leger's comments, and now, 2 months later, it has fired back with a new print ad that started hitting The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and several other major publications yesterday...
Per a rumor out of China, Apple won't release a new iPhone at its upcoming summer developer conference. Instead, Tim Cook & Co. are thought to be targeting an August 2013 launch for both the iPhone 5S, a specs upgrade, and an inexpensive iPhone model, aimed at emerging markets that sell mostly unsubsidized handsets. And for the first time, the next iPhone will be Apple's first truly world phone capable of supporting a bunch of flavors of fourth-generation Long-Term Evolution (LTE) radio technology, including China Mobile-compatible TD-SCDMA network...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaPMmniK4o4
Forget Google's self-driving cars, here's something totally different and unique. Researchers at Oxford University have developed a new auto-drive technology drive by Apple's iPad which allows drivers to hand control of the wheel to the robot system to drive itself. Unlike Google's self-driving cars, this technology combines the best of both worlds: drivers can control their vehicle themselves, but the iPad can optionally take over when the system determines it knows a route.
They built the tablet into the dashboard of a Nissan Leaf and the driver can activate the autonomous driving mode with a single tap. Of course, this technology is still in its infancy and far from commercialization. Currently, the prototype navigation system costs a whopping £5,000, or about $7,500, but researches believe that over time it will work its way down to about just a £100, or approximately $150. I've included a bunch of interesting clips just past the break...
Planetbeing, known best for his work on the new evasi0n jailbreak, is also a developer of apps and tweaks. He helped write the popular IntelliScreenX tweak, and has an app called Signal, among other things.
And this afternoon, an update for Signal—aptly-named Signal 2—popped up in Cydia. Planetbeing announced its arrival on Twitter, saying that the new version now works with both CDMA and GSM devices.
So what does it do?
Faced with intensifying pressure as it vies for supremacy in the highly competitive smartphone market - fighting chief rival Samsung and other vendors left and right - Apple has reportedly softened its stance on carriers and has shifted in how it goes about doing business with the world's wireless carriers, or so thinks one particular wireless industry executive.
Instead of putting on the 'our way or the highway' posture in its dealings with the people who are pushing the iPhone to wireless subscribers, Apple is "a little less arrogant than they used to be," according to France Telecom-Orange CEO Stephane Richard. Here are some choice quotes...
Oh, what a difference a month makes. That could be the message from new research giving Android the lead in U.S. smartphone sales during the three-month period ending in January 2012.
Apple's iOS had held the U.S. smartphones sales lead up through December. The new data gives Android 49.9 percent of domestic smartphone sales, with iOS taking second place with 45.9 percent.
The new standings means Google's mobile software added 6.4 percent of U.S. sales, compared to a year ago. Meanwhile, the lock on U.S. smartphone sales fell 4.7 percent from the same period in 2011. The flip-flop on the No. 1 and No. 2 spots was linked to a Sprint price cut for Samsung's Galaxy S3 during the final three months of 2012...
Just as an online petition to re-legalize unlocking has surpassed 100,000 signatures in the United States, meaning the White House must issue a response, Apple's phone-locking is under heavy fire in Hong Kong, where a local carrier alarmed watchdogs that it lost big money over the policy. Having discovered that the iPhone 5 wasn't functioning on its fourth-generation network, Hong Kong Telecom (HKT), a unit of telecommunications operator PCCW Ltd., filed court documents and is now seeking to contest the practice...
Ahead of the official iPhone launch on its network later this year, the nation's fourth-largest carrier T-Mobile USA on Tuesday said a new GoSmart prepaid service is now available via some 3,000 reseller stores nationwide. According to Reuters, users can purchase a SIM kit and simply bring their own GSM device to the service. Unlimited voice and messaging costs $30 a month.
For an additional five bucks, you get to browse the web. A $45 plan with five gigabytes of 3G data is also available. These are all month-to-month plans, meaning you can cancel the service anytime without getting penalized...
U.S. carrier AT&T today expanded its 4G LTE coverage in several markets and now word has reaches us that the company has signed an interesting roaming deal with The Cloud to offer travelers free access to 16,000 Wi-Fi spots in the United Kingdom. The Cloud is a BSkyB-owned Wi-Fi hotspot provider and the agreement entails up to one gigabyte of free roaming data.
RIM has always bested the iPhone and other handset vendors with reasonable service terms that typically include free or inexpensive messaging and data for BlackBerry users traveling abroad. While Apple's dealings with the world's carriers don't included these benefits, it's nice that one of the most important carriers globally is now appeasing to its customers with a fair roaming deal...
U.S. carrier AT&T Tuesday announced that it is expanding its fourth-generation Long-Term Evolution (LTE) radio technology in Denver, Boise, Nassau and Suffolk counties while making it available in Gainesville. The carrier continues to poor billions in network expansion as it races rival Verizon Wireless for LTE coverage. According to AT&T, its 4G LTE currently covers 288 million people in the United States...
Sprint's implementation of the fourth-generation Long Term Evolution radio technology has been spotted being deployed in certain parts of San Francisco, New York City and Washington, D.C., all major metropolitan markets. Apple added an additional 36 LTE carriers with the January 28 release of the iOS 6.1 software for iPhones, iPads and iPods.
Sprint on its part during January 2012 lit up LTE towers in 58 markets (here and here). This is a notable improvement because previously only those in neighborhoods in San Francisco could see Sprint's LTE signal, although coverage in San Francisco is spotty because Sprint has just begun deployment...