Carriers - 35/216 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Nov

Sprint Spending $480 Million To Acquire U.S. Cellular Spectrum And Customers In The Midwest Area

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News, Sprint

Call it a new found boldness after the Softbank acquisition, or just an attempt to bolster its numbers in the continued fight against AT&T and Verizon, but Sprint is not letting up. Today, the nation's number three carrier announced it's going to buy up some of U.S. Cellular's spectrum and customers in mid-west states including Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri and Ohio. Among the newly Now Network'd markets are Chicago and St. Louis.

The spectrum offerings that the company is picking up will be used to bolster LTE service for the markets that Sprint is taking off U.S. Cellular's hands. It's not a monumental deal, by any means, but given that the Softbank-owned carrier could use any advantage it can get as it races to compete with the near-duopoly, it's definitely a good sign.

Nov

Sprint Galaxy Note II Gets Its First OTA Update (Build L900VPALJC), Brings Multi-Window And More

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Galaxy Note II, News, Sprint

Note II early adopters on the Now Network, time to head into the Settings menu and check for updates - Sprint just announced a new OTA is rolling out for its iteration of the phablet. This update brings a few meh changes, like GPS lock setting enhancements, email fixes, and improved text message notifications while talking on the phone. But it also brings one major feature: Multi-Window. It's good to see this feature start rolling out to U.S. handsets, as it's been on the Korean and International versions for several weeks now.

^{Start around the two-minute mark to see Multi-Window in action.}

Nov

Sony Xperia Miro Review: The Ford KA Of Phones - You'll Get From A To B, But The Ride Might Be A Little Rough

Posted by John Thompson in Phone Reviews, Vodafone, Xperia miro

It was only a couple of months ago that Sony introduced its new budget smartphone - the Xperia tipo - but after implementing a few spec boosts and increasing the size of the screen, they're ready for round 2, and this time they've brought the Xperia miro into the ring.

There's no doubt that the miro is still very much a budget smartphone, it's available for £150 SIM-free, but Sony has managed to make it look and feel the part thanks to a nice plastic material covering the back, and an LED which shines between the screen and capacitive touch buttons each time you turn on the display.

Nov

Verizon And HTC Announce November 13th Event, Of Course It's The DROID DNA

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

The DROID DNA (or DLX ... or DIX) is a phone we've seen running around in leaked photos and Verizon MAP spreadsheets for some time now, but the date of an official launch has generally been elusive. Evleaks suggested early December, and given today's announcement of a Verizon/HTC event next week, that seems to be an increasingly likely timeframe.

The DROID DNA is largely believed to be a DROIDified version of HTC's J Butterfly, a 5" 1080p, quad-core Snapdragon-packing beast of a phone. Of course, the "J" in J Butterfly stands for Japan [only], so it looks like for the first time in a while Americans may be getting a top-tier HTC phone before Europe, or even Taiwan.

Nov

Verizon Finally Killing VCast App Store In January 2013

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in News, Verizon Wireless

It is profoundly unlikely that when you think about getting apps, you consider heading over to Verizon's VCast App Store. Apparently no one else was doing so either, because Big Red has announced via its developer site that it is shuttering the VCast store in January. I will give you a moment to silently weep before continuing.

The VCast Apps storefront was delivered to a handful of Verizon's Android devices starting back in late 2010. At the time the idea was that users would charge app purchases and subscriptions to their monthly bill, which was not supported by the Android Market client at the time.

Nov

AT&T Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 With LTE Launches November 9th

Posted by David Ruddock in AT&T, Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, News

Starting Friday, you can get your hands on an LTE-enabled variant of the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 for AT&T, for $500 sans contractual obligation. And, if you buy a Samsung Galaxy smartphone (read: a Galaxy S III) with a new 2-year agreement on AT&T, they'll give you $100 off on a Tab 2 10.1. And that... might be of interest to you. This AT&T edition is also $50 cheaper than Sprint's. As for specifications:

10.1" 1280x800 display
1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon MSM8960
1GB RAM
8GB built-in storage, microSD card slot
3MP rear camera, VGA front camera
Android 4.0

And if you have an AT&T Mobile Share plan, you can add this tablet onto your existing data plan for $10, which is certainly one advantage of shared data buckets.

Nov

[Update: Press Shots Leaked] Leak: This Is The Sprint Flash By ZTE (N9500)

Posted by David Ruddock in Flash, News, Sprint, ZTE

Update: The ever-vigilant evleaks has leaked some press-quality shots of the Flash, and wow is the back of this thing ever ugly:

ZTE Flash (N9500) for Sprint twitter.com/evleaks/status…

— @evleaks (@evleaks) November 2, 2012

We had some internal documents regarding the upcoming Sprint Flash, a mid-range Android 4.0 handset by ZTE, leak yesterday. Today, we've got some actual pictures of the phone itself, which has a front fascia that absolutely screams "NEXUS!" (and no, it's not a Nexus).

The device model number, N9500, can be found over at the FCC complete with Sprint branding on the FCC label sample, as well.

Nov

LG Optimus L9 Arrives On T-Mobile, Available From Wirefly For $50, Or $80 Directly From T-Mobile

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News, Optimus L9, T-Mobile

Sure, it's not a Nexus 4, but not everything can be a flagship, right? If you're shopping around on T-Mobile and you want to save a bit of money, the LG Optimus L9 has arrived to give you another option. Starting at $80 (after mail-in rebate) on T-Mobile's website, or $50 via Wirefly, this mid-range device still nets you a decent 1Ghz dual-core processor, a 4.5" qHD display and a relatively beefy 2150 mAh battery.

Here are the specs:

4.5" qHD display with Gorilla Glass 2
1GHz dual-core processor
1GB RAM
4GB storage
2,150mAh battery
Android 4.0

It's not going to win you any super nerd cred, but for the price it's not a bad piece of hardware.

Nov

[Update: Price And Release Date] Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 LTE Making Its Way To Sprint In The Near Future

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, News, Sprint

Update 11/1/12: The tablet will come out on November 11th for $549.99.

Another day, ten new Samsung device announcements. We've already taken a look at the Galaxy Music this morning, and now the Korean manufacturer has announced the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 is coming to Sprint's growing LTE network.

This is Sprint's first LTE-powered tablet, and packs a bit of a spec boost over the Wi-Fi model:

10.1" 1280x800 display
1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon MSM8960
1GB RAM
8GB built-in storage, microSD card slot
3MP rear shooter, VGA front camera
10.1 inches x 6.9 inches x 0.38 inches, 1.29 lbs.
Android 4.0

Like most other recent device announcements, there's no word on pricing or availability, only that it "will be announced at a later date." Cool.

Nov

[Update: Price And Release Date] Sprint Announces Mid-Range LG Mach - 1.2GHz Dual-Core Processor, QWERTY Slider, And ICS

Posted by Cameron Summerson in LG, Mach, News, Sprint

Update 11/1/12: The Mach will come out on November 11th for $99.99:

Sprint's on a roll here lately with the 4G LTE device announcements. We already know the company is getting the powerhouse Note II, as well as its first LTE tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, and LG's newest flagship, the Optimus G.

Of course, they want to cater to the needs of all customers. We all know there's a market for QWERTY sliders, and the newest member of Sprint's smartphone family brings just that to the table. Dubbed the LG Mach, this is a solid mid ranger with a seemingly outstanding form factor:

4" 800x480 display
1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon MSM8960 processor
1GB RAM
8GB built-in storage, microSD card slot
5MP rear shooter, VGA front camera
QWERTY slide-out keyboard
4.64" x 2.56" x 0.48", 5.92 ounces
1.700mAh battery
Android 4.0

Unfortunately, there's no word of when the Mach will be available or how much it'll cost, but we'll let you know as soon as the information is available.