Hasta La Gadget!

While Qualcomm let the Snapdragon out of the bag a little early, LG’s now caught up and launched a (Korean-only) teaser site for its next LTE smartphone. Promising a second-generation quad-core experience, the new flagship device will offer better power management and graphics performance thanks to the Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset beating away at its core. There’s space on the site for another five videos, which should hopefully give us a little more detail than what we’ve been able to glean from FCC filings. Thumb your Korean dictionary ready and check out LG’s first taster after the break.

Continue reading LG teases its new quad-core superphone: Snapdragon S4 Pro is awesome, device still vague (video)

Filed under: Cellphones

LG teases its new quad-core superphone: Snapdragon S4 Pro is awesome, device still vague (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Aug 2012 08:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon received the Department of Justice’s blessing for its cable company spectrum purchase last week, and now it’s the FCC’s turn to rubber stamp the plan. The agency has followed Chairman Julius Genachowski’s recommendation and voted that Verizon can snap up the relevant AWS airspace as part of its LTE network expansion. Some riders are attached to the deal, although they’re not all weighty. Verizon has to make an “unprecedented divestiture” of spectrum to T-Mobile in addition to its swap with Leap, promise certain coverage levels in the newly acquired zones at 3- and 7-year milestones, guarantee some roaming deals and provide updates on how its DSL service adoption is impacted by all that 4G. That Verizon has 45 days to finalize the T-Mobile deal gives some idea of how quickly everything has to move, although it could be a long while before we see AWS-ready Verizon devices in the shops.

To no one’s surprise, advocacy groups are still upset: the Alliance for Broadband Competition believes the FCC decision “does not go far enough” to keep a level playing field, for example, and wants to voice its problems to the FCC. Anxiety still exists that just about any deal concentrates too much spectrum in the hands of Big Red. Still, there’s a sense among groups like these that Verizon has had to at least partially address worries over unfair competition.

Continue reading FCC approves Verizon deal to buy cable company spectrum, asks for concessions

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

FCC approves Verizon deal to buy cable company spectrum, asks for concessions originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Aug 2012 18:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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4G LTE can pull some pretty impressive speeds on your phone, allowing you to stream video and audio pretty much flawlessly. Unfortunately this usually comes at the expense of your phone draining battery faster, plus less choice when it comes to compatible devices. While 4G might be the buzzword of the season, it seems that in a recent poll that was conducted by Piper Jaffray, it was revealed that out of 3,000 participants polled, a good 46.8% did not seem to care that much for 4G, while only 15.1% said that they prefer 4G LTE.

These results seem a little odd given how much effort that carriers are putting into expanding their networks and providing more 4G LTE coverage, plus the fuss that everyone seems to be making over how Apple’s next-gen iPhone could possibly sport 4G LTE compatibly as well. Then again the poll is only a sampling so safe to say, it does not speak for everyone, but what are your thoughts? Is having 4G LTE that important to you? Or are you perfectly happy with using 3G at the moment? In the meantime if you’re still unsure what 4G networks are and what are the differences, you can check out our great write-up here for the details!

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Pantech Flex 4G LTE handset teased for AT&T, 4G LTE Blackberry Play could be headed AT&T’s way,

If the “unlimited” data currently offered by T-Mobile that gets its speeds throttled down all too soon has failed to satisfy, there may be relief on the way. TMoNews has obtained pictures of a flyer indicating the carrier will introduce a new Unlimited Nationwide 4G Data add-on ($30 for Classic talk and text customers, $20 for Value) that allows for actually unlimited usage of 4G data. There is of course always a fly in the ointment, and in this case it’s that it doesn’t alow for Smartphone Mobile Hotspot usage, so if you’re hoping for official tethering support you’ll need one of the other packages. The materials suggest it plans to upsell current 2GB package subscribers by pointing out the can get an unlimited and uncapped experience for just $10 more per month. We’ll have to wait and see if this comes true (along with all the other highly anticipated September 5th reveals) but if it does, would it be enough for you to switch to the remaining major carrier that doesn’t directly offer LTE (yet) or the iPhone?

Update: In a quick turnaround, this has just gone from rumor to officially confirmed. Check the press release after the break for the details, but it’s all just as we’d heard.

Continue reading T-Mobile launching ‘truly unlimited’ 4G data service add-on September 5th (Update)

Filed under: Cellphones

T-Mobile launching ‘truly unlimited’ 4G data service add-on September 5th (Update) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Aug 2012 23:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The UK telecoms regulator Ofcom has this week made a ruling that will allow the group Everything Everywhere to begin offering up 4G services ahead of a scheduled 4G spectrum auction next year, this against the wishes of several of their rivals. Everything Everywhere is the company that runs T-Mobile and Orange in the UK, and with this decision letting them start up their 4G services before a collection of competitors, their September 11th, 2012 start date may lead to a major change in the mobile market.

The “4G” spectrum that Everything Everywhere already owns runs along 1800MHz, and outside their own camp, Ofcom’s decision to give them the go-ahead has been met with some unsurprising dissent. An O2 spokesman made it clear this morning that they were amongst those groups that are not really happy about the decision.

“We are hugely disappointed with today’s announcement, which will mean the majority of consumers will be excluded from the first wave of digital services. This decision undermines the competitive environment for 4G in the UK” – O2

Similarly, the folks at Vodafone have been quite vocal about the situation.

“The regulator has shown a careless disregard for the best interests of consumers, businesses and the wider economy through its refusal to properly regard the competitive distortion created by allowing one operator to run services before the ground has been laid for a fully competitive 4G market” – Vodafone UK

The upcoming auction of 4G spectrum will be bringing on both 800MHz and 2.6GHz to the party, while each of the groups mentioned above already own at least two different kinds of spectrum in the 2G/3G/4G universe. Vodafone and O2 are the proud owners of 900MHz, 1800Mhz, and 2.1GHz spectrum while Everything Everywhere also owns the two higher spectrums 2.1GHz and 1800Mhz. It’s not entirely clear why the other two companies have not yet been granted the ability to offer up their own 1800MHz spectrum.

[via ZDnet]

Everything Everywhere gains early rights to 4G in the UK is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
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