TMo - 5/8 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Aug

Dead-End Giveaway: Design Our New 404 Page, Win A T-Mobile LG G2x

Posted by David Ruddock in Contests / Giveaways, G2x (p999), LG, T-Mobile

Last Updated: August 28th, 2011

Warning About Copyrighted Images: Guys, we're loving the responses for the contest so far, but we need to make something clear: we will not accept any entry that contains a copyrighted image or work - period. We are serious about plagiarism, and if we find you've used an image without permission, your entry will be disqualified until the offending material is removed. Thanks!

The Prize

Alright, we heard from a lot of you that social contests just aren't up your alley sometimes - so we've listened. Our latest contest gives you the chance to win a T-Mobile LG G2x (courtesy of NVIDIA and Android Police) using only your super-awesome design skills.

Jul

T-Mobile Doubles "4G" Network Speeds To HSPA+42 In 56 More Markets - Check If You're In One Of Them

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in 4G, News, T-Mobile

Last Updated: July 13th, 2011

T-Mobile's faux 4G network, also known as 3G HSPA+, is receiving a major update today in 56 more markets, which should double the maximum theoretical data throughput from 21MBps to 42MBps for compatible HSPA+ devices.

In addition to increasing connection speeds, T-Mobile is promising improved network capacity and reliability in the upgraded areas.

These areas are:

Allentown, Pa.
Anderson, S.C.
Asheville, N.C.
Ann Arbor, Mich.
Baltimore, Md.
Barnstable, Mass.
Bellingham, Wash.
Bloomington, Ind.
Boise, Idaho
Boston, Mass.
Bremerton, Wash.
Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Conn.
Brunswick, Ga.
Carson City, Nev.
Charlotte, N.C.
Charlottesville, Va.
Chico, Calif.
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
Eugene, Ore.
Flagstaff, Ariz.
Flint, Mich.

Jul

HTC: EVO 3D, Sensation 4G (And Global) Bootloader Unlock Will Roll Out In August - Sort Of

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Development, EVO 3D (Shooter), HTC, News, Sensation / Sensation 4G (Pyramid)

HTC has finally laid out a timetable for the release of software updates on phones that will allow the unlocking of device bootloaders. It sounds like HTC will be utilizing a system similar to Sony - which uses a web-based tool as part of the unlock process. Why? HTC states that while the OTA software update allowing unlocking will start rolling out in August, the actually ability to unlock phones won't be ready until early September. So, at the earliest, your EVO 3D or Sensation 4G will be unlockable in about 2 months.

Unfortunately, there's another caveat: HTC hasn't exactly made it 100% clear that August is the date for the release of said software update for the EVO 3D and Sensation 4G.

Jul

[Deal Alert] HTC Sensation 4G For $130 With New Two-Year Agreement At Wirefly

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Deals, News, Sensation / Sensation 4G (Pyramid)

If you want to get one of the hottest phones on T-Mo for the lowest price you can find, then you should probably head over the Wirefly where you can score the HTC Sensation 4G for $130 with a new two-year agreement. This is quite the deal, as Amazon Wireless and T-Mobile are both still selling this handset for $200.

Still not sold? Take a look at what you'll get for that one-thirty:

4.3 inch qHD Super LCD display
1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor
768MB RAM
1GB built-in storage
8MP rear camera, VGA front camera
Android 2.3 with Sense 3.0

As you can tell by those specs, this phone is definitely no joke.

Jun

Nielsen: Android Data Usage Only Averages 0.6GB A Month - Do Tiered Data Plans Make Sense?

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Editorials, News

Nielsenwire released new smartphone figures this morning, with a focus on data consumption. Topping the list of the data consumers amongst the smartphone OS's was, of course, Android.

The average Android user utilizes 582MB (or roughly .6GB) of data per month - far less than what is allocated by any of the major carrier's plans. We often hear about consumers becoming feisty over data plan tier-ification or throttling, but how many people do these caps and throttles actually affect? According to Nielsen, less than 3% of smartphone users average data consumption exceeding 2GB per month. Now, this is combining all platforms - though Android obviously makes up the majority.

Jun

T-Mobile Just Released A Pretty Cool Daily Deal App, "More For Me" - Though We're Not Sure Why, Exactly

Posted by David Ruddock in Applications, News, T-Mobile

Update: Don't install this app until it gets an update - it will turn your GPS on every 10 seconds to update your location info, and won't stop unless you Force Stop it from the Manage Applications screen. It was at 68% on my phone's battery usage menu after 6 hours of doing little with my phone aside from checking e-mail sporadically. Yuck.

Have you ever wanted an app that aggregates your favorite daily deal and special offer services into a single, location-based list? I certainly have. Oddly enough, T-Mobile has launched just such an app, called "More for Me." We've all seen carrier-branded applications before, like Verizon's VCAST app store (and their veritable crappy cornucopia of other apps), but most of them suck.

May

[Deal Alert] LetsTalk.com Memorial Day Sale

Posted by David Ruddock in AT&T, Deals, News, Sprint, T-Mobile, Tips & Tutorials, Verizon Wireless

Last Updated: May 30th, 2011

Update Memorial Day: Well, Amazon prices didn't drop today. Our Amazon rep hasn't gotten back to us to confirm, but @AmazonWireless has tweeted that the "all 4G phones free" sale wasn't real, so I'm writing off the Amazon part of this sale as a hoax. :(

LetsTalk.com

Deals - we got 'em. While Amazon is having their own Memorial Day Android handset sale over at Amazon Wireless, LetsTalk.com wasn't about to be outdone. Here's the most relevant (not all-inclusive) deals, including the 20% off coupon code for Verizon phones (the code is: 7c7f3319) (prices that beat Amazon's are italicized, and we've provided Amazon's prices for comparison).

May

T-Mobile: The G2x Will Get Gingerbread By Summer

Posted by Cameron Summerson in G2x (p999), News, T-Mobile

Earlier this month, we got a hold of a Gingerbread leak for the LG G2x, and all seemed pretty official with that build, so we expected to see an official announcement fairly soon after. It's been a few weeks now, and while nothing concrete has surfaced from T-Mo, we now have a little more info on what's gong down:

Yeah... summer is pretty vague. Is that the beginning of summer? Or the end? We can't say for sure - but at least we have a little better idea of when the update may actually hit.

[Twitter via TmoNews]

May

T-Mobile Is Getting A Triad Of New Android Phones On June 8th: HTC Sensation, Samsung Exhibit 4G, And Samsung GT2

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Exhibit 4G, GT2, News, Sensation / Sensation 4G (Pyramid), T-Mobile

It looks like June 8th is going to be quite a day around T-Mobile, because three new Android devices should be hitting the shelves. Among the three devices is the HTC Sensation - the highly anticipated 4.3 inch beast that rocks Sense 3.0. Not to distract from the others that are dropping at the same time, though, here is a spec-sheet rundown of each.

Samsung GT2

As the lowest-end of the three devices, the GT2 is a sequel to the Samsung Gravity T, but this time it's packing Android under the hood.

3.2 Inch display
Slide-out QWERTY keyboard
800MHz processor (they call it "impressive" - ha!)
3MP rear camera
Android 2.2

While this phone clearly isn't breaking any records, it appears that the younger generation may be the target audience for this text-centric device.

May

[Rumor] Samsung "Exhibit 4G" Coming to T-Mobile?

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Exhibit 4G, News, Rumors, Samsung, T-Mobile

Last Updated: May 16th, 2011

Today, the crew over at TMoNews scored some shots and a few details of a new Samsung device, unofficially dubbed the "Exhibit 4G". As to not waste any time, let's get straight into the specs (keep in mind this is all unconfirmed):