4g - 20/35 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Apr

Verizon Has 565,000 4G LTE Subscribers, Will Speeds Start Suffering Soon?

Posted by David Ruddock in 4G, Carriers, Editorials, News, Verizon Wireless

Verizon released the first subscriber figures for its rapidly expanding 4G network today - presumably to highlight strong sales of the carrier's first 4G handset, the HTC Thunderbolt.

Of the 565,000 (500,000 is the number Verizon added to its subscriber base in Q1) 4G users, about 260,000 are utilizing Verizon's LTE service via an HTC Thunderbolt. This means that since the launch of the Thunderbolt on March 17, Verizon has been gaining over 100,000 new LTE subscribers a week. And with 4G devices like the Samsung DROID Charge and the Motorola DROID BIONIC on the way, it seems Big Red's 4G campaign is just getting started.

Apr

Verizon Expanding Its LTE Market To 6 More Areas Starting Today, For A Total Of 47

Posted by Cameron Summerson in 4G, News, Verizon Wireless

As of today, Verizon Wireless has announced plans to expand its 4G LTE market to 6 more cities, including Clarksville, TN; Hopkinsville, KY; Cleveland, TN; Columbia and Hilton Head, SC; Wilmington, NC; and the Greater Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania. These new additions will bring the total list of 4G covered areas to 47:

· Phoenix, Ariz.

· Los Angeles, Calif.

· Oakland, Calif.

· San Diego, Calif.

· San Francisco, Calif.

· San Jose, Calif.

· Denver, Colo.

· Washington, D.C.

· Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

· Jacksonville, Fla.

· Miami, Fla.

· Orlando, Fla.

· Tampa, Fla.

· West Palm Beach, Fla.

Apr

Official Gingerbread Build Leaks For HTC EVO 4G, Mirrored For The World To Enjoy

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in EVO 4G (Supersonic), Gingerbread 2.3, News, Sprint

It's been a few weeks since the deluge of Gingerbread builds leaked on March 27 (Droid X, Droid 2, Galaxy S i9000), but now another big dog is looking to join the party: a test Android 2.3 ROM for the HTC EVO has leaked and been posted to the XDA forums. A ton of people have taken the bait, with the thread already checking in at over 73 pages long - and it's only been up for about 6 hours.

I haven't had time to go through the whole thread, obviously, but user quocamole was kind enough to post a quick good/bad list:

some quick initial impressions:

good:
-2.3.3!

Apr

Samsung DROID Charge Shows Up On Walmart Site, Still Unannounced

Posted by David Ruddock in Charge (i510), Samsung

Verizon's doing about as well keeping the Charge under wraps as Sprint did with the EVO Shift 4G - and now, the Samsung DROID has shown up on Walmart's online wireless store, albeit only in the form of a stock photo:

For a phone that's still unannounced (technically), and reportedly being released tomorrow, Verizon doesn't seem too concerned with generating fanfare for its second LTE device.

After the release date flip-flopping on the Thunderbolt, it wouldn't surprise in the least if the Charge was facing a [sort of expected] minor delay.

Droid-life

Apr

Dual-Core HTC Sensation Official, Coming To T-Mobile USA As Sensation 4G This Summer

Posted by David Ruddock in HTC, News, Sensation / Sensation 4G (Pyramid), T-Mobile, Vodafone

HTC just announced via Twitter that the Sensation is a go - posting pictures on its Facebook page of the device at various seductive angles, as well as this video:

Did we mention it's coming to T-Mobile? And it'll be sporting an HSPA+ radio to take advantage of T-Mobile's 4G network. Unfortunately, it won't be available until this summer.

Earlier, Mobile Bulgaria (which, as of this writing, is down) stumbled upon a Vodafone product page for HTC's upcoming dual-core Android handset, the Sensation (aka the Pyramid). Availability for Europe and Asia will be throughout Q2 - no exact dates have been announced.

Apr

Sprint Motorola XOOM With WiMAX 4G Now Imminent

Posted by David Ruddock in 4G, News, Sprint, XOOM

Boy Genius Report dropped a piece of information this afternoon confirming a long-standing suspicion that the Motorola XOOM will soon be available on America's most budget-friendly carrier, Sprint - and it'll be packing a WiMAX 4G radio.

The tip came via Sprint store employees, who found XOOM case SKUs in the Sprint inventory system, along with an actual case in an accessory shipment, as shown below.

Pricing has not yet been made public, but expect some kind of subsidy to be available with a 2-year agreement.

Is the WiMAX-ified XOOM just what you've been waiting for? Or do you like your XOOMs cheaper, contract-free, with only the wi-fize and fewer gee-beez?

Apr

Editorial: Motorola XOOM Sales Estimated At 100,000 So Far - Does It Really Matter?

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Editorials, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News, XOOM

No doubt you've seen at least one mention of the 100,000-XOOM sales figure somewhere on the web today - and for me, it has reached the point of mild annoyance. From this number, all sorts of wild extrapolations and theories are being tossed around about Motorola's future, Android's future, and the viability of tablets in an Apple-dominated market.

Boy Genius Report took a step back, and presented a level-headed but clearly pro-XOOM take on the news:

So, according to Deutsche Bank, Motorola has sold 100,000 XOOM tablets in less than a month and a half, which is an average of over 75,000 units per month.

Apr

T-Mobile Launching Even More Plus Unlimited Plan For Just $59.99 A Month

Posted by David Ruddock in 4G, Carriers, Deals, News, T-Mobile, Tips & Tutorials

T-Mobile is starting to get aggressive with customer acquisition and retention, and in light of less than stellar fiscal performance and the news of the AT&T deal, it's not hard to see why.

On April 13, the carrier will begin offering a new off-contract smartphone plan, and it's a steal - for $59.99 a month (down from $79.99), you'll get unlimited talk, text and data*. But, there are some significant catches. The first is that you'll have to pay full retail for your phone of choice - the Even More Plus plan is a month-to-month affair.

The second is arguably worse - your data usage is technically unlimited, but after the first 2GB (as opposed to the current 5GB) your data speeds will be throttled down until the next billing cycle.

Apr

T-Mobile Bringing 4G HSPA+ To 10 New Cities, 42Mbps To Vegas, Orlando, and New York

Posted by David Ruddock in 4G, Carriers, News, T-Mobile

Merger be damned, T-Mobile is continuing the expansion of its (potentially short-lived) 4G HSPA+ network, having added ten new cities, along with promising to double download speed caps in some major markets. The cities that have recently had T-Mobile 4G coverage activated include:

Ames, Iowa
Anderson, Indiana
Battle Creek/Benton Harbor/Jackson, Michigan
Fort Collins-Loveland, Colorado
Lawrence/Manhattan, Kansas
Springfield, Illinois
Wichita Falls, Texas

The major markets receiving the upgrade to theoretical 42Mbps HSPA+ (note: there are no 42Mbps HSPA+ phones out there) will first be Las Vegas, Orlando, and New York, with Chicago, Long Island, and Northern New Jersey following shortly after.

Apr

Exclusive: Amazon To Introduce 4.3-Inch Dual-Core "Blaze" Smartphone This Summer [Leak, Pictures]

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in AT&T, News, Verizon Wireless

Last Updated: August 1st, 2012

Update: If you haven't caught on yet, you should probably check out the date on which this post was published.

This special Android Police project was brought to you by:

The amazing Grant Garrison, who tackled the design side
Jaroslav Stekl, who came up with most of the rest
Artem Russakovskii, who made sure everything went and looked perfect

Amazon's been making waves in the Android blogosphere recently with such new products as the Appstore and the Cloud Player, but it looks like they're not done yet; in fact, they're only just starting. According to the same source who tipped us about the Appstore a few months back, the company will be launching the Blaze, which looks to be a smartphone of pretty high caliber, come August - and in a sentence, there's a lot to look forward to.