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Samsung is now rolling out the September security patch to multiple T-Mobile phones
A continuously updated roundup of all Samsung phones with this month's patch
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Samsung has been pretty quick to update their devices with the latest security patches in the past couple of years, and it looks like not much is going to change for the month of September. The company is continuing to update its lineup of phones from the past few years, starting with the Exynos Galaxy Note9.
Samsung Galaxy A51 5G on sale at AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon
The Galaxy A71 5G is available unlocked
If you took a look at this month's Unpacked announcements and found yourself sweating at how expensive those phones are, Samsung wants you to know that it's got you covered with 5G phones that don't break the bank. We actually saw a 4G version of the Galaxy A51 come out a few months ago with the promise of a 5G version later on in the summer. Well, that time has come.T-Mobile customers were first to be able to buy a Galaxy A51 5G on August 7 for $504. Metro by T-Mobile got the phone at some point, too, for $500. Verizon received a special version that will work on its millimeter wave or Ultra Wideband network on August 13 for the limited-time promotional price $360 on a 24-month installment plan — it's also available on Samsung.com as well for its full retail price of $550. AT&T and AT&T Prepaid round out the list with availability from August 21 with the postpaid operation offering a promotional price of $150 on a 30-month device installment plan.For context, the 4G A51 has an MSRP of $400.This is basically a Galaxy A51 with 5G radios — that means the same 6.5" 2400 x 1080 AMOLED display with an optical fingerprint sensor beneath the screen, a selfie camera right at the top of it, and four cameras (led by a 48MP unit) at the back. A couple of differences here come in the memory with RAM going up from 4GB on the 4G phone to 6GB here and microSD capacity jumping from 512GB to 1TB, though the 128GB internal storage remains the same.
T-Mobile is getting three new budget phones this summer, and two have styluses
Well, it's Metro, Sprint, AND T-Mobile
Three new budget phones are headed to the carriers of the New T-Mobile — two of them with styluses. You'll be able to get a couple of them from Metro by T-Mobile starting today and from Sprint and T-Mobile starting later this week.
T-Mobile introducing $15 plan in wake of coronavirus (Update: Fine print)
Metro offering temporary $15 rate, other deals
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One of the many concessions T-Mobile promised if it were allowed to merge with Sprint was that it would offer super-cheap wireless plans starting at $15 per month. Since then, however, the novel coronavirus has forced many customers out of work. While ISPs are accepting deferred payments for monthly bills, that may not be enough for people whose budgets continue to shrink. So, T-Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile have decided to roll out those new rate plans starting this Wednesday, March 25.
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- SIM swaps are now free on Metro, see this post for more details.
Back in September, the T-Mobile-owned MetroPCS was rebranded to 'Metro by T-Mobile.' Along with the name change, the carrier refreshed its available plans, which looked great on paper; $60/month gets you unlimited LTE data, 100GB of Google Drive storage, Amazon Prime, and other goodies. However, there's a new catch if you plan on switching — you'll have to pay $15 any time you put your SIM card in a new device.
It was announced that MetroPCS would become Metro by T-Mobile a couple of weeks ago, the re-branding coming with some enticing perks like free Amazon Prime membership. The shift took place today — and apparently award-winning actor and producer Keegan-Michael Key is the new service's first customer.The newly-christened Metro by T-Mobile offers four relatively easy to understand rate plans that cost between $30 and $60 for a single line. The $50 and $60 plans each include unlimited data as well as Google One membership at the 100-gigabyte level. The $60 plan also comes with a subscription to Amazon Prime for new Prime members. Sign-ups start today at Metro stores around the US.Keegan-Michael Key introduced the service today at a Metro pop-up event in New York.[EMBED_YT]https://youtu.be/ivLPT6V2XVU[/EMBED_YT]In a press release, T-Mobile announced that Metro will have 5G plans available in 2019, making it "the first prepaid wireless service provider to commit to 5G service." If you're in New York and really excited about prepaid wireless service, you can stop by the Metro event at Grand Central until 6 tonight and tomorrow from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The last several months have been busy for T-Mobile. There are the ongoing merger machinations with Sprint, a new customer support model, and some 5G announcements thrown in for good measure, too. But the carrier has more up its magenta sleeves: it announced today that sub-brand MetroPCS is becoming Metro by T-Mobile, and gaining some new plans. The refreshed offerings include unlimited data and, at the $60 tier, Google One and Amazon Prime.
There aren't very many good budget phones in the United States. There are a few standouts, like the Nokia 6.1 and Moto G6, but most pale in comparison to budget devices sold in Asia and parts of Europe.
Securus Technologies is a Texas-based company, specializing in providing and monitoring calls to prison inmates. Securus came into the spotlight earlier this month, when a former Missouri sheriff was found using the company's service to repeatedly track people without a warrant. The New York Times reports that between 2014 and 2017, former sheriff Cory Hutcheson used the service at least 11 times, allegedly tracking a judge and members of the State Highway Patrol.
The holiday season is upon us, and that means it's time for big deals on this year's crop of smartphones. T-Mobile has an attractive offer starting tomorrow (November 17th) on multiple phones. Just buy one phone, and you can get another from the same manufacturer free. Well, free after rebate.
A couple of months back, MetroPCS offered two unlimited LTE lines for $75. That was already a pretty great deal, but today Metro announced an even better one: four unlimited lines for a stunningly low $100. And for every line you port in, Metro will give you a free phone.
At 11:50 PM local time on Thursday (4:50 AM GMT), an 8.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Mexico, near its border with Guatemala and Belize. The tremors were felt in Mexico City, hundreds of miles away from the epicenter, and caused extensive damage in the southern cities of Juchitán, Oaxaca, Chiapas. In response to this disaster, several US carriers are making calls and texts free to Mexico.
ZTE phones are well known for delivering great bang for the buck - the Axon 7 and $99 ZMAX PRO immediately come to mind. Now, there's a new ZMAX phone on the block, the Blade ZMAX, and it offers quite a few flagship-level features for only $129.
MetroPCS isn't seriously considered by many because of its reputation as a second-tier, prepaid carrier, but it's now offering some pretty enticing deals on its unlimited plans. Two lines with unlimited LTE for $75 is a pretty good deal, and the T-Mobile subsidiary has decent pricing on other plans as well.
A few months ago, T-Mobile introduced new measures to deal with scam callers for anyone on the network. Scam ID tells you if a call you're receiving is from a number that's likely to be a scam, giving you a heads-up before you answer. Furthermore, you can have Scam Block cut out those calls altogether before they even reach your device. These features are completely free to T-Mobile customers, and now MetroPCS subscribers are getting the same treatment.
Unlimited smartphone data is back! Roll out the barrels, re-download Netflix, and disable all those "Wi-Fi only" settings options, happy days are here again. But don't throw away your data meter just yet: the new batch of unlimited data plans from American carriers isn't what it used to be. A lack of limits now comes with an asterisk, like your favorite sports star "enhancing" his performance. So the question is no longer, "which mobile unlimited plan is the best?" Instead, it's "which carrier is going to put the least amount of petty restrictions on my so-called unlimited data?"
Not everyone demands a high-end phone that costs as much as a computer. Maybe you only need a basic smartphone that'll let you poke around on the web and send some WhatsApp messages. If that's the case, there's the new LG Aristo on T-Mobile and MetroPCS. The price is low, but so are the specs.
Kyocera is one smartphone manufacturer that could care less about beating the competition on specs. It makes cheap phones that either won't receive updates or won't get them until long after you've given up hope. But the handsets are affordable, and many of the later models tend to be pretty rugged.
Have you guys heard about Listen? It's a pretty rad service for T-Mobile and MetroPCS customers that lets users set custom ringback tones, be it music or a custom message for callers to listen to instead of a ring. It's got some other neat features as well, like Drive Mode, which automatically detects when the phone is in a moving vehicle and plays a message letting callers know that you're currently traveling. It can also auto-reply to SMS messages if you'd like.
As T-Mobile and Sprint increasingly compete with one another to reduce how much folks pay, the pressure continues to rise on prepaid brands looking to entice customers with their low-cost service. For a limited time, MetroPCS is dropping the price on its $40 1GB plan to $30 (edit: as a few commenters have pointed out, this is a separate plan, one than provides 4G, not 4G LTE), a reasonably compelling deal considering it comes with unlimited talk and text.