Hasta La Gadget!

HTC Director of PR Tom Harlin has confirmed that there are still no plans to launch the HTC One on Verizon’s network, or rather the company hasn’t “made any official announcement” about the device coming to Verizon. Harlin says that when HTC and Verizon decide to release a new product, you’ll certainly know about it, since it’ll be a “big deal” for them.

Harlin says that the company’s DROID DNA is still the “HTC hero smartphone at Verizon,” and he claims that the DNA’s features “still compete with products in 2013,” which hints to the possibility that HTC may skip over Verizon this year, since they think that the DNA will last into 2014 before the company will need to release a new phone on Verizon.

The HTC One is been released on all major carriers except for Verizon, which is leading to so many questions and rumors on the Verizon version of the new device. Frankly, we’re not sure why the company isn’t releasing the phone on Verizon, and if they eventually do, it’ll way later than all the other carriers.

The HTC One is one of the newest Android devices to release this year so far, and it comes with an aluminum unibody shell, which is something that we rarely see on an Android device. The Samsung GALAXY S 4, which also was recently released, comes with the traditional plastic shell that Samsung used on its Galaxy S III.

Verizon HTC One comments make “big deal” of future release is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We’re still a week away from LG’s Optimus G Pro from officially releasing in the States, but as promised, pre-orders for the new handset have officially begun. The AT&T-exclusive device is available now for purchase, with a ship date of May 7 in the hopes that you’ll get your new Optimus G Pro on your doorstep in time for the May 10 launch.

The new phone will cost you $199 after signing a new two-year contract, or you can shell out $549 for the off-contract version if you so desire. Early adopters will also get a free LG black folio case to keep their new device safe from the elements, but it seems AT&T only has a handful of these, so if you’re going to pre-order the phone, there’s no better time than right now.

The Optimus G Pro looks to take on the Samsung GALAXY S 4, the HTC One, and the Galaxy Note II with a 5.5-inch full HD IPS display that has a resolution of 1920 x 1080. On the inside, there’s a 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor, coupled with 2GB of RAM to keep things going along smoothly.

The $199 price of the Optimus G Pro will land you 32GB of storage, with the ability to slap in a microSD card if you ever find yourself with not enough space for all those movies and music files. On the back you’ll spot a 13-megapixel camera with a 2.1-megapixel front-facing camera that can record 1080p video. Check out our complete photo tour of the phone to get a better sense of the Optimus G Pro’s camera.

AT&T LG Optimus G Pro pre-orders now live is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS merger is final, with the new T-Mobile US combo-brand set to hit the New York Stock Exchange today. The combined carriers amass a total of 43m subscribers, with 200m potential customers set to be covered by LTE service before the year is through. By bringing together the individual spectrum holdings, however, T Mobile US says it’s in an even better position for its 4G roll-out in 2014 and beyond.

However, it’s the potential for industry-disrupting price plans and off-contract service that CEO John Leger believes will really help the carrier stand apart. “Together, as America’s Un-carrier, we’ll continue our legacy of marketplace innovation by tearing up the old playbook and rewriting the rules of wireless to benefit consumers” he said today.

The deal is expected to also save both carriers money, with a potential saving of $6-7bn; there’s also the potential for pushing the MetroPCS brand into more areas, taking advantage of T-Mobile’s spectrum. MetroPCS’ shareholders approved the deal late last month.

While T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS may now be living happily under the same roof, for subscribers there won’t be much in the way of difference based on what they see on their phone screen, at least. The two brands will be operated separately, though eventually shift to a common network infrastructure, and sharing support.

T-Mobile US born as T-Mo and MetroPCS merge is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

AT&T released its Q1 2013 quarterly earnings today, and the carrier added quite a few customers to its user base. 1.2 million smartphone customers signed on with AT&T during the quarter, with 296,000 postpaid customers being added on as well. As for financial results, the company netted $3.7 billion off of $31.36 billion in revenue.

Breaking down its customer base, AT&T says that 72% (or approximately 48.3 million of its customers) of the carrier’s on-contract subscribers are wielding smartphones. Overall, AT&T says that this has been the best first quarter that the company has ever seen as far as smartphone sales are concerned.

As for how AT&T earnings compared to the same time last year, the company experienced drops all across the board, but nothing significant. However, the company did see a rise in net income with a 3.2% gain compared to last year. As for total operating revenue, that was down 1.5% from $31.8 billion from a year ago.

AT&T’s wireless business saw big leaps, however, with a 21% rise in revenue compared to the same time last year. Total revenue for the carrier’s wireless business was $16.7 billion for the quarter, and net income was $4.66 billion, which is a 4% gain compared to last year. Overall, it seems AT&T made it through a rather successful quarter, especially for being a first quarter.

AT&T adds 1.2 million smartphone customers in Q1 2013 is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

2011 sure doesn’t feel like that long ago, but it’s evidently long enough for Verizon to realize that demand for innovation is booming in Silicon Valley. Not quite two years after the company cracked open the doors to its San Francisco-based Innovation Center, it’s already looking to expand. During a briefing today at its other Innovation Center — the one located just outside of Boston — we were told that plans are underway to expand the SF facility. Presently, the Waltham, Mass. center is the vaster of the two, and it’s Verizon’s goal to stretch the California edition to (roughly) match the original location.

We were also told that the company has looked at a variety of other cities where potential Innovation Centers could be planted, and while “three to four” undisclosed metropolises are in play, the company wants to nail the execution of its first two before hastily expanding into new locales. According to Praveen Atreya, director of Verizon’s Innovation Program, there’s just too much involved in the incubation and launch process to not devote the proper amount of manpower to it. In other words, there’s more to launching a product than just design and manufacturing; a lot of TLC goes on in order to make something have a successful shelf life.

Filed under: Cellphones, Networking, Mobile, Verizon

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