Amazon's Instant Video client for the iPhone and iPad has received an update Thursday, bumping version number to 3.0 and bringing out several improvements to streaming video quality.
Users can now stream Instant Video content on their iOS device through their carrier's cellular network while controlling their mobile data usage settings. In addition, the ability to watch video streams in high-definition has been added, too.
T-Mobile USA, the self-proclaimed “Uncarrier,” on Wednesday launched a new family plan promotion which starts at $100 per month for two lines with unlimited 4G LTE data (2.5GB per line with no sharing required), with an additional $40 per line cost on up to ten people.
Additionally, the Deutsche-Telekom owned carrier is again offering four lines for $100 with ten gigabytes of 4G LTE data. That particular offering used to be available before and has grown to become T-Mobile's most successful promotion.
As soon as iOS 8.1 hit two days ago, I immediately went about checking out a pair of new features I care about the most, Text Message Forwarding and iPhone Cellular Calls.
As a quick reminder, Text Message Forwarding lets me mirror text messages sent to my iPhone in the Messages app on the Mac or iPad. With iPhone Cellular Calls turned on, I can finally make and receive phone calls on my other Mac and iOS devices through my iPhone's cellular connection.
But something was amiss, or so I thought, because I just couldn't get either feature to work. While attempting to enable Text Message Forwarding, the system prompted me to enter a confirmation code my Mac was supposed to generated, but didn't.
Likewise, trying to enable iPhone Cellular Calls yielded a FaceTime error message saying my devices must use the same iCloud account, even though I was using FaceTime without any problems before.
Having spent a few hours restoring my devices as new, reseting network settings, changing settings on my router and checking the status of iCloud services, I eventually came to the same realization as did the other affected users: Text Message Forwarding requires you to use an email address and for iPhone Cellular Calls to work properly, FaceTime must be signed in with your Apple ID.
Amongst the many new features included in the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3, we've come across an interesting one specific to the cellular models. It's a new pre-installed, Apple-branded SIM that allows you to switch seamlessly between participating US and UK carriers.
We've seen a number of Apple-filed patents pertaining to such an invention over the years, with some even speculating that the company was looking to become a wireless provider. But it appears it just wanted to make it easier to use the iPad with short-term data plans.
If you have just updated your trusty iPhone to the just-released iOS 8.0.1, chances are you may have ended up with a device that can't connect to the cellular network (shows No Service in the status bar) or read fingerprint data through the Touch ID sensor on the iPhone 5s, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. As you could imagine, social media is awash with complaints from disgruntled users who are venting their frustration over the cellular and Touch ID issues.
At any rate, your best bet is to steer away from this update until Apple address the situation and releases a fix. Not everyone is affected, of course, but keep in mind we have no real indication as to how widespread those issues are because Apple, at the moment, isn't talking much.
That's why we're asking you, our readers, to tell us whether iOS 8.0.1 has broken cellular connectivity and Touch ID for you.
T-Mobile, the nation's fourth-largest wireless provider, on Tuesday announced it's doubling LTE data when you add a tablet to your smartphone plan.
Moreover, the firm said it's increased the number of lines supported by its family plan accounts to ten.
These changes arrive just as the Deutsche Telekom-owned carrier yesterday unveiled a new $5 per month option quadrupling the amount of high-speed LTE data included in the Simple Starter plan from 512 megabytes to two gigabytes.
With precisely nineteen days until the alleged September 9 iPhone 6 unveiling (notably, Apple hasn't denied the rumor) and three days after refreshing its Family plans, the nation's third-largest wireless carrier, Sprint, has introduced a potentially disruptive and new unlimited plan.
Specifically, the new plan is offering unlimited talk, text and data in exchange for sixty bucks per month. How cool is that?
Quickly, do the math in your head — that's $20 less compared to Sprint's closest competitor T-Mobile. By the way, T-Mobile promptly responded to Sprint's announcement by promising to treat switchers to a year of free unlimited LTE data.
Jump past the fold for the full reveal...
Apple's upcoming iPhone 6 could feature support for faster LTE-Advanced networking which promises theoretical download speeds of up to 300Mbps. A claimed iPhone 6 logic board photo suggests Apple may have opted for the slower 150Mbps LTE-Advanced by replacing Qualcomm's MDM9615 chip in prior iPhones with a MDM9625 part.
Originally announced back in 2012, the MDM9625 chipset supports upload and download LTE-Advanced data speeds of 150Mbps versus the MDM9615 chip found in the iPhone 5s, iPhone 5 and iPhone 5c which tops out at 100Mbps.
A handful of the world's carriers have only recently begun rolling out LTE-Advanced so Apple may have opted to support only the 150Mbps LTE-Advanced in anticipation of the faster 300Mbps roll-out...
"Leaving my office last week, I pulled alongside a bus covered with yet another ad for AT&T’s 'Best-Ever Pricing' for families," writes T-Mobile USA's outspoken CEO John Legere in a blog post Monday.
As is his wont, Legere couldn't resist offering a scathing critique of AT&T's family plan, calling it "funny" because "their deal is no deal at all" compared to the pricing of T-Mobile’s Simple Choice Family Plan.
Regardless, Legere went on to announce a new competitive offering which will be launching later this month to give a family of four a total of ten gigabytes of high-speed LTE data (2.5GB each) in exchange for a cool hundred bucks per month. By comparison, AT&T's “Best-Ever Pricing” offers four lines for $160...
This is kind of interesting. The FCC's Office of Engineering & Technology issued new labeling guidance on Friday, saying that manufacturers can do away with the awful FCC ID etchings found on the backs of iPhones and other devices with integral screens.
Until now, the FCC has asked that any equipment requiring FCC certification sport a nameplate or etched label listing its FCC ID and other info. But with devices getting smaller and more complex, it wanted to update the requirement for the digital age...
Deutsche Telekom-owned T-Mobile USA, the nation's fourth largest wireless carrier, on Thursday announced it's started gradual deployment of Voice Over LTE (VoLTE) technology, starting with Seattle.
The move comes just as rival AT&T last Friday brought both VoLTE and HD Voice technologies to select markets and as Verizon Wireless pledged to roll out VoLTE later this year.
That major U.S. telcos are racing to have VoLTE ready at this particular moment in time may have something to do with Apple's expected launch of the iPhone 6 this Fall, alongside iOS 8 which is said to support making voice calls over high-speed LTE networks out of the box...
AT&T has announced on Monday plans to launch in-flight 4G connectivity as early as late-2015, a technology it touts could be more reliable than in-flight Wi-Fi already made available on some flights in the US.
To deliver the new service, AT&T plans to build an air-to-ground network in the US, based on global 4G LTE standards, to "provide fast speeds and efficient utilization" of spectrum already owned by AT&T.