Carriers - 22/217 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jan

LG Optimus G Pro Announced For Japan: 5-Inch 1080p LCD, 3000mAh Battery, And 1.7GHz Quad-Core Snapdragon S4 Pro

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Carriers, LG, News, NTT DoCoMo, Optimus G Pro

When the specs of the supposed LG Optimus G Pro leaked last week, it seemed almost too good to be true – like one of those fanboy wishlists you see populating forums and sub-Reddits across the web. Now Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo has announced the device as part of its DoCoMo Next 2013 Spring lineup, and the reality matches the leak quite well.

The LG Optimus G Pro will be following the trend of big and beautiful screens. It's another 5-inch 1080p display, and the bezel is razor thin. There is a faster 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro inside to push all those pixels, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage with a microSDXC card slot, and a massive 3000mAh battery to keep it all chugging along well into the night (well, maybe the late afternoon).

Jan

Exclusive: How To Root NTT Docomo's LG Optimus G

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Development, NTT DoCoMo, Optimus G

The Optimus G on Japan's Docomo network is an interesting device, as it ships with a mandatory access control system that basically prevents remounting system, reading boot, executing tasks with root privileges, and things of that nature. Thus, the root process for this version of the Optimus G was a tricky one.

A backdoor found by Android hacker giantpune will be used, which allows the bootloader to be unlocked, a modified boot.img to be flashed, and some security features to be disabled – ultimately allowing root access to be achieved.

Now that you have the basic idea down – a couple of noteworthy things:

Graphical glitches will occur while in the bootloader.

Jan

Verizon Pushing A Small Security Patch To The Galaxy Note II, Likely Fixes The 'Exynos Bug'

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Galaxy Note II, News, Verizon Wireless

Note II owners on Big Red, an OTA update is coming your way. Don't get too excited, though – it's just a small security patch that fixes the dreaded Exynos bug. Thus, if it's anything like the Exynos patch for the Galaxy S III, you can also expect a new bootloader. That usually means bad news for the root community (especially when it's a Verizon phone we're talking about), and it's likely no different in this case.

However, it's probably safe to say that the Exynos vulnerability is far more troubling to many users than losing root access, so you may want to go ahead and pull this one as soon as it's available.

Jan

AT&T Is Going Shopping For A European Carrier To Buy Or Merge With, Says WSJ

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in AT&T, News

AT&T has a problem on its hands. It's big, but is it big enough? If you're a CEO of a major corporation the answer to that question is always "no." However, the carrier has difficulty expanding on the home front. An overwhelming majority of U.S. citizens have phones with one carrier or another, so there's very little wiggle room to grab new customers. And gaining in market share when you (and all your competitors!) are dead set on locking people into two-year contracts is very difficult. In short, growth isn't much of an option outside acquisitions, and those haven't gone so well.

Jan

Leak: Sprint Offering $400 Device Credit If You Port In A Family Plan With At Least 3 Lines Starting January 18th

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Carriers, Deals, News, Sprint

There might be more appealing national networks to run your phone through, but Sprint is hoping to lure in more customers with some free money. A leaked internal Sprint doc indicates that a previously popular promotion is coming roaring back on January 18th. If you meet the qualifications to take advantage of this deal, it can mean big savings on a couple new smartphones.

Before you get too excited, you have to be opening a new account with Sprint, along with the following eligibility requirements:

IL [Independently Liable] customers activating 3-5 new handsets [read: phones only] on new lines of service
At least one line must be a port-in from another carrier
Customers must activate all phones on an Everything Share or Simply Everything Share plan

The independently liable stipulation is just referring to a line that you own, not one handled through an employer.

Jan

Sprint Galaxy Nexus Android 4.2.1 OTA Update (GA02) Available For Download Right Now From Google

Posted by David Ruddock in Device Updates, Galaxy Nexus, Jelly Bean 4.2, News, Sprint

The official OTA update to Android 4.2 for the Sprint Galaxy Nexus has just hit Google's servers, and you can grab the build (GA02) right now. Here's a direct download link, originally found on XDA. Sextape at SXTP Developers posted yesterday indicating that a leaked version of this build would end up as the final OTA release. Here's the detailed build info:

post-build=samsung/mysidspr/toroplus:4.2.1/JOP40D/L700GA02:user/release-keys

md5: 4a023ce78c17c8256dfec8ae0615707f

File size: 102,838,616 bytes

So, now you're wondering how you go about flashing this build, right? Well, you can do it now, but it's not a one-step affair. I've placed instructions below, but proceed at your own risk - the OTA update will probably be going out through Sprint fairly soon, too.

Jan

[Deal Alert] Amazon Drops Price Of DROID DNA To $99 For New Customers ($149 For Upgrades)

Posted by David Ruddock in Deals, DROID DNA, News, Verizon Wireless

The DROID DNA is a phone I have little trouble recommending to most people, even if I can't say it's my very favorite piece of hardware out there. A 5" 1080p display, quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, great build quality, Verizon's near-ubiquitous LTE coverage - there's a lot to like about this phone. At $200 on contract, I might even say it's kind of a good deal already. But that wasn't low enough for Amazon. After dropping to $150 on contract back in December, Amazon has slashed another $50 off the DNA's price tag for new customers. You can pick one up for just $99 if you're a new Verizon subscriber, and if you're upgrading, the price remains a reasonable $149.

Jan

T-Mobile Set To Launch LTE Network Within Days In Las Vegas, To Be Followed Soon By Kansas City

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News, T-Mobile

Have you heard that T-Mobile is working on an LTE network? It's true. According to an interview with the carrier's USA EVP and CTO Neville Ray over on FierceWireless, the company is "days away" from flipping the switch on its new towers. The initial rollout will take place in Las Vegas (where T-Mo had hoped to debut in time for CES, but was delayed), followed closely by Kansas City.

The carrier intends to follow a similar rollout plan as its initial HSPA+ expansion. The first round of cities included Baltimore, Houston, and Washington D.C., followed by others like Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Portland and many more.

Jan

Sprint Announces 28 New LTE Markets Going Live 'In The Coming Months'

Posted by David Ruddock in 4G, News, Sprint

LTE is probably like getting a glass of ice water in hell for Sprint customers after the flop that was WiMAX, so announcements of expanded 4G coverage are doubly welcome on the Now Network. Sprint let fly today that 28 new markets will be getting the four-gees in 'the coming months,' and here's the list.

Albany, GA

Anderson, SC

Bay City, MI

Branson, MO

Bremerton/Silverdale, WA

Columbus, GA

Columbus, MS

Decatur, AL

Florence/Muscle Shoals, AL

Gadsden, AL

Gaffney, SC

Gettysburg, PA

Glasgow, KY

Homosassa Springs, FL

Hot Springs, AR

Lake City, FL

Lake Havasu City/Kingman, AZ

Midland, MI

Nacogdoches, TX

Opelousas/Eunice, LA

Oxford, MS

Paris, TX

Pittsfield, MA

Saginaw, MI

Spartanburg, SC

The Villages, FL

Waycross, GA

Winona, MN

This particular portion of the LTE buildout seems focused on the southland, though there are a few outliers sprinkled in there as well.

Jan

T-Mobile's Galaxy Note II Getting A Bug-Fix OTA, Patches The 'Exynos Exploit'

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Galaxy Note II, News, T-Mobile

If you have a stock Note II on T-Mobile, it's time to hit the "check updates" button, because a fix for that nasty Exynos bug is on its way. If you're not familiar with said bug, it basically allowed any app to root and gain full access to any Exynos 4-powered system. And that's a bad thing.

Fortunately, Samsung recognized the issue and started working on a patch almost immediately. It has already rolled out to the Galaxy S III in the UK, and now it's coming to the Note II on T-Mo. Hopefully other carriers will follow suit shortly.