Hasta La Gadget!

The recent ruling that effectively bans third-party phone unlocking has ruffled more than a few feathers, and the people have spoken with their electronic signatures — 114,322 of them, to be exact. Now the petition to the White House, which asks that DMCA protection of phone unlockers be reconsidered, has finally received an official response, and it appears that it’s for the positive. The author of the letter is R. David Edelman, Senior Advisor for Internet, Innovation and Privacy.

“The White House agrees with the 114,000+ of you who believe that consumers should be able to unlock their cell phones without risking criminal or other penalties,” Edelman writes. All told, the response matches that of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which wrote a letter to the Librarian of Congress in support of extending the exemption last year.

So what does this mean for us? Edelman states: “The Obama Administration would support a range of approaches to addressing this issue, including narrow legislative fixes in the telecommunications space that make it clear: neither criminal law nor technological locks should prevent consumers from switching carriers when they are no longer bound by a service agreement or other obligation.” We’re not going to see immediate change, but it appears that a chain of events is now in motion in which the FCC and Congress potentially play a huge role. We’re not out of the woods yet, but it’s relieving to see such a positive response — along with a call to action — from the government.

Read the response in its entirety below.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

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Source: White House

The One Laptop Per Child team hasn’t always been punctual — see the XO 3.0, née XO-3 — but it should be right on time with the XO-4. In step with March production plans, the ARM-based portable has passed through the FCC’s approval in both conventional and touchscreen flavors. All models share 5GHz-capable 802.11n WiFi as well as Bluetooth; there’s no cellular surprise lurking underneath, if you’re curious. More than anything, the filing is good news for students in the developing world, who are that much closer to touchscreen laptops at a time when the technology is still fresh for just about everyone.

Filed under: Laptops

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Source: FCC

Bad news travels fast, so by now many US phone buyers ought to know about this country’s depressing u-turn on phone unlocking. The latest policy — which makes it illegal to unlock a phone without a carrier’s permission — looks to be set in stone for at least three years, but that isn’t stopping people in high places from voicing serious reservations about it. The latest to pipe up is FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, who told TechCrunch that the “ban raises competition concerns” and “innovation concerns.” Genachowski said the FCC will look at whether it “can and should enable consumers to use unlocked phones” but he also admitted he isn’t sure what kind of authority he has over the issue. It all feels a bit late in the day, frankly, especially when the FCC appears to have largely stood aside while the unlocking policy was being hammered out.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Source: TechCrunch

Pantech introduced their first smartphone that has an HD touchscreen in the US just last month, in the form of the Pantech Discover for AT&T. Well, it seems that the smartphone company intends to gain a larger footprint in the lower-midrange handset market without breaking the bank with yet another variant of the Pantech Discover, coming in the form of the Pantech Perception for Verizon Wireless. Needless to say, it will also be priced to please, and it the Pantech Perception has already arrived at the FCC, gaining approval in the process – meaning, it should soon be ready for public purchase.

The FCC did snap photos of the Pantech Perception from various angles, and the overall build quality does seem to lean more towards the high end side of things. There were no Verizon branding spotted in the FCC photos, but chances are pretty high that this will change when the Pantech Perception is finally released. We do expect to see such Verizon livery located above the screen, and the back area should see it stamped near the 4G LTE logo. Rumored hardware specifications of the Pantech Perception consist of a 720p HD touchscreen, a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, and perhaps it will arrive before the end of next month.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Kyocera Torque From Sprint, Ubuntu Touch Ported To Galaxy S3,

Huawei’s first attempt at rolling out a Windows Phone 8 smartphone to the masses appears in the form of the Huawei Ascend W1, where it debuted at CES 2013 earlier this year. Thing is, the Huawei Ascend W1 is not equipped to function like a high end device simply because this is an entry-level handset, and we have good news. Having passed through the tests that have been put forward by the FCC, this means that the Windows Phone 8-powered Huawei Ascend W1 will no longer be limited to countries such as Russia, China and India, and those of us living in the US ought to be able to grab hold of it soon.

In fact, the Huawei Ascend W1’s recent FCC approval was spotted with a rather obvious TracFone branding on it, and it does seem as though it will be hitting the markets under the guise of the Net10 low-cost brand. It will only feature HSDPA connectivity instead of 4G LTE, but assuming the Huawei Ascend W1 commands a relatively affordable price tag to suit its place in the smartphone hierarchy, the hardware specifications do seem to be in line with its pricing territory.

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