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If your city is one of the many that’s part of Sprints ongoing LTE rollout (or will be soon), then the network’s just announced three tri-band mobile broadband devices for your consideration. The hope, it seems, is that as different parts of Sprint’s LTE spectrum become available (including spectrum from Clearwire), coverage and network performance of the devices will improve. The hardware offerings are Novatel’s MiFi 500 LTE, the Netgear Zing Mobile Hotspot and 341U USB dongle, and are slated to be available by summer. No confirmed availability dates or prices just yet. Sprint also hints at tri-band LTE phones from Samsung and LG to follow. In the meantime, however, you’d better get set up with your Data Link and Static IP.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Sprint

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Via: Phonescoop

Verizon is continuing to roll out its 4G LTE in more locations across the US of A by hitting many of the smaller cities and towns in between of the larger cities that they’ve already hit. Doing so will soon see them reaching the 500-market milestone. The carrier already has the largest LTE network in the US, and they expect to completely blanket their 3G network with LTE in just a couple of months.

Verizon launched LTE in 6 new markets today, including locations in Kentucky, Michigan, and Colorado. This brings the total number of markets that are equipped with Verizon 4G LTE up to 497, which is just three shy of hitting that illustrious 500 mark. AT&T is in second, but they still have work to do in order to catch up, and T-Mobile just launched their LTE network, so they’re still spring training, so to speak.

Verizon plans to cover its 3G network entirely with LTE by the middle of this year, and they carrier said that their 3G network is already 95% covered by their LTE, so they only have a little ways to go at this point. If you’re wondering if you’re city has LTE, it most likely does, but if you’re not sure, Verizon has a full list of LTE-equipped markets in the US.

Last year, Verizon blew past its year-end goals for 2012, covering 417 markets by the middle of October with a year-end goal of covering 400 markets. That’s quite an accomplishment and proves that not only is Verizon willing to casually meet their goals, but they aim to exceed them.

Verizon celebrated the 2nd birthday of its LTE network back in December, and announced that 440 markets had the carrier’s faster LTE speeds. Currently, more than 40% of Verizon’s smartphones run 4G LTE, as well as 63% of all internet devices sold from Verizon. Plus, over half of all of Verizon’s mobile network and data traffic is over LTE speeds. That’s quite impressive to say the least, and while there will be an equilibrium with AT&T eventually, Verizon is making sure they stay on top for as long as possible.

VIA: Android Community

Verizon 4G LTE nearing 500 markets across US is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Verizon has increased the data caps on its 3G prepaid plans, increasing them to 2GB and 4GB of data on its 3G service.

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To this day, relatively few wireless carriers offer LTE at its loftiest 150Mbps speeds. We’ll soon get to count NTT DoCoMo among those ranks, however. Alongside the launch of its summer phone lineup, the Japanese network has firmed up some details of its Xi speed-up plans. The initial rollout will focus on the major centers of Nagoya, Osaka and Tokyo, all of which should have 150Mbps access by the end of the year. While NTT DoCoMo hasn’t settled on the frequencies it will use, Impress Watch understands that this could involve reusing 1,700MHz FOMA 3G bands to get around local spectrum limits. Regardless of the speeds, there should be a tangible improvement in coverage — the provider hopes to more than double its Xi base stations from 24,400 in March to 50,000 by the end of 2013. Most of us won’t reap the rewards of the upgrade, but it’s good to know that Japan’s biggest carrier will soon be a first-class 4G citizen.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

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Via: Impress Watch (translated)

Source: NTT DoCoMo (PDF)

Nokia has officially announced the Lumia 928, its Windows Phone 8 smartphone for Verizon, and the device it has been steadily teasing over the past week. Packing a 4.5-inch OLED display and an 8.7-megapixel PureView camera, along with Verizon LTE 4G support, the Lumia 928 also has three high-audio-amplitude-capture microphones for better audio recording. It’ll also arrive with an impressively competitive price.

There’s wireless charging, as you’d expect from a device based on the Lumia 920, and NFC. That means the phone can be easily paired with wireless speakers and such, using Bluetooth 3.0 to squirt music across. Other connectivity includes WiFi a/b/g/n (2.4/5GHz) and microUSB.

Verizon Nokia Lumia 928 demo:

Nokia throws in HERE Maps, HERE Drive+, and HERE City Lens for easier navigation, along with the camera enhancements such as panoramic photos and animated GIFs. Optical image stabilization is included, just as Nokia demonstrated recently by strapping the phone to a remote-control helicopter, as well as a Xenon flash and Carl Zeiss optics. As for video recording, that’s supported at up to 1080p resolution.

The display, meanwhile, uses Nokia’s ClearBlack technology, and runs at 1280 x 768 resolution. It has a high-brightness outdoors mode, running at 500nits, and the super-sensitive touchscreen which can be used by gloves. The battery is a 2,000 mAh pack, and there’s 1GB of RAM paired with the 1.5GHz dualcore MSM8960 processor, and 32GB of user-storage.

Connectivity is impressive, with the Lumia 928 coming “Global Ready”: that means quadband GSM and UMTS HSPA for when you’re abroad, and EVDO/Rev.A and LTE for when you’re in the US on Verizon’s 4G network. It’s unclear whether Verizon will supply the phone SIM unlocked, however, for international use.

The Nokia Lumia 928 will hit Verizon on May 16, the company says, priced at $99.99 after a $50 mail-in-rebate, and assuming a new two-year agreement.

Interestingly, the Lumia 928 had been expected to debut at Nokia’s London event next Tuesday. Exactly what will be the star of that show remains to be seen, though SlashGear will be there to bring you all the details as they’re announced.

Verizon Nokia Lumia 928 gets official: 4G 4.5-inch OLED Windows Phone is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.