Hasta La Gadget!

T-Mobile has announced a new service that gives users access to inexpensive unlimited prepaid plans. Call the GoSmart Mobile plans, they start at $30 a month, and are aimed at those who don’t want to be locked into a contract, and who want to avoid high monthly costs without sacrificing in their mobile usage. According to the Seattle Times, this is the first time T-Mobile has unveiled its own separately-branded service.

The service is aimed at consumers who make annually between $30k and $40k, as well as the younger consumer crowd that spends most of their mobile usage texting and checking Facebook. GoSmart’s marketing director Shailendra Gujarati said regarding the service, “We are looking at customers whose predominant needs when it comes to wireless are talking, texting or entry level data services.”

The service was already launched in nine markets in December, during which time it was tested. Today, however, the carrier has launched the service nationwide. Needless to say, it runs on T-Mobile’s own network, and two handsets are being offered under the service – a $49 cell phone and a $99 Android smartphone, in addition to an $8 activation kit and SIM.

The cheapest plan is $30 per month, which offers unlimited text and talk but no mobile data, while the best plan is arguably the $35 plan, which offers text, talk and unlimited data access at slower speeds for things like checking email. The most expensive plan is $45 per month, and is the same as the $35, except that web access is high speed for those who want to watch videos and stream music on the go. There’s a 5GB cap, at which point the speeds are throttled.

[via Seattle Times]

T-Mobile announces GoSmart Mobile unlimited prepaid service is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Verizon has once again earned top-slot for customer care and service, according to JD Power and Associates. This marks the carrier’s fourth year straight as #1, something it isn’t showing any signs of letting go of in the near future. The status is based on ample amounts of feedback and surveys, with online, telephone, and in-person customers all being considered.

JD Power and Associates determines its results based on feedback from a variety of customers, as well as information provided on surveys. Using both, a score is given for each carrier, with 1000 being the maximum. Verizon clocked in at 766, narrowly beating AT&T, which had 759. Verizon received the Power Circle Rating of 5, while AT&T received 3.

Sprint came in next at 746 with a Power Circle Rating of 3, likewise placing it just a bit under its nearest competitor. Then, with a relatively large drop, there’s T-Mobile, which scored 715, and received a Power Circle Rating of 2. All of these fall under the full service list, which includes a non-contract section for prepaid carriers.

In the non-contract section, MetroPCS came out on top at 733 with a Power Rating of 5, while Virgin Mobile came in just under that at 729 with a Power Circle Rating of 5 as well. Third place is the popular prepaid service Tracfone at a solid 700/3, followed closely by Boost Mobile and Straight Talk. At the bottom of the list lies Cricket, with a score of 671/2, and Net10, with a score of 633/2.

[via Android Community]

Verizon awarded #1 in customer care by JD Power is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

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Texting while driving is obviously really dangerous, and many states have already banned the use of mobile phones altogether while driving, with more and more states moving closer to that goal. However, with voice controls in smartphones becoming more prevalent, drivers are resorting to hands-free texting in the car, but recent studies show that hands-free texting is just as dangerous as hands-on texting.

California just passed a law that states that drivers are allowed to use mobile phones while driving, as long as its all done by voice. However, several groups, such as the National Safety Council for California, are begging the state to rethink the new law, saying that voice-texting while driving is still unsafe, and may be even just as dangerous as regular texting while in the car.

Researchers and psychologists have demonstrated in the past that people suffer significant impairment when they use a mobile phone while driving, and a study conducted by David Strayer of the University of Utah says that participants talking on a mobile phone had slower reaction times and were involved in more simulated accidents than when they weren’t on their phones — hands-free or not.

The participants’ cognitive impairment levels were around the same as those of participants who got in the simulator after drinking enough alcohol to register a 0.08% blood-alcohol content, which would be considered illegal in all 50 states. While hands-on texting certainly seems more dangerous than hands-free texting, studies have shown that sending a simple voice text led drivers to take their eyes off the road more often than usual, and they reported a higher mental demand during the experiment.

While you may be quick to retort that voice texting and chatting with people sitting in the passenger seat are the same thing, Strayer says that each of the two activities use different parts of the brain. Strayer’s research has shown that the mobile phone distractions in the car isn’t just physical, but also cognitive, meaning that drivers who use mobile phones “create weak memories of objects in the driving environment, suggesting a great deal of attention is drawn away from the road.”

[via The Atlantic Cities]

Hands-free texting while driving is still dangerous, according to studies is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

T-Mobile’s CEO John Legere just confirmed that it will be ending phone subsidies next year. So while it’s finally getting the iPhone, you’re looking at a $650 entry level iPhone, instead of the typical $200 price for it and other premium phones. More »