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T-Mobile’s new plan gives you an incentive to pay off your old phone for an upgrade
You can upgrade in as little as six months under the new Go5G Next plan
If you’re tied to a contract, you know how disappointing it can be to miss out on the latest phone, especially when you’re in need of an upgrade. T-Mobile has given itself the title of “Un-carrier,” boasting customer benefits ranging from unlimited data plans to transparent pricing. To expand upon its marketing efforts to entice potential customers, the company is launching a new type of plan that allows you to upgrade after six months. The only catch is that you’ll need to pay off half of the balance due on your existing phone first.
Weekend poll: What's the longest you've ever held onto a smartphone?
Are you buying every year or waiting as long as you can?
When you head out to buy a new phone — be it from a carrier, a retailer, or online from the comfort of your living room — you probably have a lot on your mind. You need to consider display sizes, camera quality, storage and RAM allotments, and so much more. While it might not take top priority in the moment, software update reliability is just as essential as those hardware specs. After all, you don't want to get stuck on an outdated or broken build of Android.
The Pixel 4a will have the longest life of any budget Android phone
Three years of guaranteed OS updates and a future-proof camera mean you won't need to upgrade anytime soon
The Pixel 4a has it goin' on. It's affordable, its camera is truly outstanding, and it's got great battery life for a small phone. But Pixels come with another key perk: long software support is part and parcel of Google phones, even the less expensive ones. The 4a is going to have incredible staying power for its price point.
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Google has announced a couple of significant changes to Play Movies & TV that will have a considerable impact on owners of 4K televisions. Starting today, some previously-purchased movies will automatically be upgraded to 4K quality once it's available. The price of newly-purchased 4K content on the platform is also going down.
Timely software updates are all the rage these days. From security and stability to new features, there's always a marketable reason to prefer a rapid upgrade cycle. Plenty of OEMs like Samsung and LG have committed to frequent updates, and now the latter company is stepping things up, reiterating its commitment to consumers with a new "Software Upgrade Center" office in South Korea.
In the smartphone world, things can change a lot within a short span of time. As a result, those of you who have to have the latest and greatest thing in your pocket might be inclined to keep buying phones and, consequently, take losses on them when you sell them. T-Mobile's JUMP! On Demand plan previously allowed phone junkies to switch devices three times a year, but the policy has now been changed to once every 30 days.
Google has made small tweaks to Glass throughout the Explorer program, but today the company has announced a real spec bump. All Glass units shipping from now on will have 2GB of RAM instead of 1GB. There will also be a new viewfinder mode when taking pictures and some more cards. It's not all sunshine and lollipops, though. Current Glass Explorers should take a deep breath – Google won't be swapping out the old version for the new one.
AT&T Changes Upgrade Advantage Program – Subsidized Pricing Available After 24 Months Instead Of Only 20
Two-year contracts are a drag for all sorts of reasons, but AT&T just found a way to make them even more annoying. The carrier has quietly altered
Two-year contracts are a drag for all sorts of reasons, but AT&T just found a way to make them even more annoying. The carrier has quietly altered its upgrade terms to stipulate that customers have to wait for the full 24 month term to be up before getting subsidized pricing on an upgrade. You can see the before and after versions of Ma Bell's upgrade page below.
Deal Alert: Sprint's LG Optimus G Now $0.01 With New Account, $29.99 With Upgrade From Amazon Wireless
Just over two weeks before LG's likely Optimus G2 announcement, Sprint's variant of the Optimus G's received another price drop. Amazon Wireless is now
Just over two weeks before LG's likely Optimus G2 announcement, Sprint's variant of the Optimus G's received another price drop. Amazon Wireless is now offering the Nexus 4's manufacturer-skinned cousin for just a penny with a new account, and just $30 on upgrade or when adding a new line.
Deal Alert: $50 Off Sprint Galaxy S4 Upgrades On Amazon ($199.99)
After a short delay, Sprint is now ushering Samsung's highly anticipated successor to the popular Galaxy S III to store shelves, but how much does it cost?
After a short delay, Sprint is now ushering Samsung's highly anticipated successor to the popular Galaxy S III to store shelves, but how much does it cost? New customers can pick up the Galaxy S4 with a two-year contract for $149, but existing customers looking to upgrade must plop down $249 to bring home the same phone. This isn't the best of news for current Sprint customers, but there is now another option available.
Most of the time when we post a good deal – especially on a free phone – it's typically for new customers. In a rare event, though, Wirefly has turned that deal on its head by making the RAZR HD free for upgrades only. New customers will still have to shell out $50 for the same devices. It's a pretty good deal either way, but it's particularly killer for existing Verizon customers.
If you follow AOSP code drops long enough, you're eventually going to hear about JBQ (as well as a ton more acronyms). Jean-Baptiste Queru, Technical Lead of the Android Open-Source Project took to Google+ today to talk about Android update rollouts, as well as to praise one of the manufacturers that he sees as leading the pack in aiding the AOSP: Sony.
The newest version of Sprint's weekly "playbook" has been sent around to employees, and as usual, we have a copy. Sadly, this week's edition doesn't exactly inspire confidence for the future of the nation's third-largest carrier - in fact, one of Sprint's primary benefits, the Premier program, will be disappearing down the drain shortly. It's not all bad news, though, so let's dig in and see what's up and coming in the world of Sprint.
Today, U.S. Cellular announced that it would be bringing 4G LTE services to about a quarter of its customer base in certain areas of Iowa, Maine, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wisconsin before the holiday season this year. Some of the cities that will be included in this initial rollout are Milwaukee, Madison, and Racine in Wisconsin; Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, and Davenport, Iowa; Portland and Bangor, Maine; and Greenville, North Carolina.
On May 22, T-Mobile will be lifting the figurative data gate on its web70 and web50 plans, offering users unlimited data to go along with the unlimited talk and text that is already a part of the deal. As it stands right now, the web70 plan has a 2GB data cap, while the web50 plan only allows for a measly 100MB of data usage. While the latter will get the benefit of unlimited data, there will still be one restriction: the speed will be throttled after 100MB. Fortunately for web70 users, that plan will not suffer the same effect, so you'll be able to surf and download at 3G/4G speeds to your heart's content.
How terribly boring were the last 2 months with regards to picking yourself up a new Android handset? We've seen hundreds of exciting announcements but practically no products to actually buy - end of December and January always seem to be those kinds of months. However, things are picking up, and one of the first new devices on the market fresh out of the oven is the HTC Inspire 4G for AT&T.
Fragmentation is often brought up as one of Android’s bigger flaws, and despite Google’s promises, it doesn’t look like it will be going away any time soon. Google has said that Froyo is supposed to help bridge the gap between OS versions, and help stem fragmentation, but I haven’t been able to track down exactly how that’s supposed to happen.