Hasta La Gadget!

The details have finally come: the LG Optimus G on AT&T will be coming to stores beginning November 2nd, and will go for $199.99 after a two-year commitment. Eager early adopters, however, will be able to head over to the carrier’s website to pre-order the device. Let’s recap what you’re getting for your hard-earned money: a 4.7-inch 1,280 x 768 True HD IPS PLUS display, Android 4.0, a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4, 8MP camera (rather than the 13MP module on the global and Sprint models), 2GB RAM and dual-band AT&T LTE. We have a feeling it will be joined in close succession by several other hard-hitting smartphone giants, which means you may have to modify your holiday wish list pretty heavily over the next few weeks.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, AT&T, LG

LG Optimus G for AT&T will be available November 2 for $200, pre-orders begin tomorrow originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Oct 2012 14:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rumors of Sprint’s $12 billion acquisition by Softbank weren’t exaggerated, they were understated: according to CNBC, the Now Network will announce a $20 billion transaction with the Japanese network on Monday, granting Softbank a 70 percent stake in the company. According to people familiar with the matter, Softbank will purchase $8 billion in shares directly from Sprint, snagging an additional $12 billion in stock at $5.25 a share from other shareholders. The Japanese firm’s payout would net Sprint $3 billion, money CNBC supposes it might use to regain control of Clearwire. Softbank’s cash may also be used to bolster Sprint’s ongoing LTE rollout, which is poised to light up in over 20 markets in the coming months. The details are said to be officially announced tomorrow morning, but we’ve reached out to Sprint for a comment in case it wants to spill the beans early.

Update: Just heard that the announcement is due at 4am Monday, so we’ll likely learn more then.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

CNBC: Softbank to pay $20 billion for a 70 percent stake in Sprint originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Oct 2012 17:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC’s Droid Incredible 4G LTE gave us a pleasant surprise by providing a capable Android phone that didn’t have to be supersized. It’s gone largely untouched since its mid-year introduction, though, which makes a new and imminent update all the more important. The upgrade’s biggest trick is support for Isis mobile payments that more officially throws Verizon’s hat into the NFC payment ring. Anyone living beyond Isis’ coverage will still want to check for the update when it’s ready — the patch switches on global roaming, allows remote technical support, makes Tango video chats useful and improves LTE connection quality. No matter what you’re looking for, Verizon’s tendency to start over-the-air updates within days of posting documentation leaves a likely short wait before the most recent Droid Incredible gets a breath of fresh air.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC, Verizon

HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE update to bring global roaming, Isis wallet originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Oct 2012 16:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon is moving insanely quickly with the growth of their 4G LTE network, so it may make you wonder when the carrier will flip the switch to shut down its 3G network and have its users rely solely on its 4G LTE. It’s going to happen at some point, obviously, but Verizon says that it’s going to shut down its 2G and 3G networks by 2021.

If you’re still relying on the carrier’s 3G network, you have approximately nine years to make the switch to 4G. which shouldn’t be too much a problem for most users. If you have an iPhone, then you’re still using 3G unless you recently upgraded to the iPhone 5. But if you’re on Android and you’ve upgraded phones within the past year or so, chances are you’re already good to go.

Vice president of global strategy for M2M at Verizon, Aparna Khurjekar, said that the carrier is “giving a decade worth of pre-warning” before it starts to shut down its 2G and 3G networks. This is certainly more than ample time, and we’d be surprised if most users weren’t using 4G LTE by then.

Verizon plans to cover its entire 3G network in the US with 4G LTE coverage by the end of next year, so the new data technology will easily become mainstream well before the planned 2021 shutdown of 3G. I’ll still be relying on 3G, though, well after the end of next year, since my iPhone 4S contract doesn’t end for another year-and-a-half.

UPDATE: Verizon has gotten a hold of us regarding some “inaccuracies” on the 2G/3G shutdown. The proposed 2021 date is merely just a “guideline” to give enterprise customers time to plan a transition over to the carrier’s 4G network. They said they plan to keep their 2G/3G networks up and running in order to support customers who have “mission critical projects.” Read the full statement below.

“The Verizon Wireless 2G and 3G networks will be available into the foreseeable future. Recently published dates are guidelines that we are giving customers who have to plan, fund, and transition large enterprise projects to the faster speed networks. The Verizon Wireless 2G and 3G networks will be available as long as necessary to support customers who may have mission critical projects on those networks.”

[via FierceWireless]

Verizon to shut down 2G and 3G networks by 2021 [UPDATE] is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Verizon has been busy rolling out 4G LTE network coverage over the past couple of years, an indication that 4G is most definitely the next-gen network that mobile users can look forward to in the near future as more devices become compatible with it. So what happens to 2G and 3G networks when 4G LTE becomes the dominant network of choice in the future? Well as far as Verizon is concerned, they have announced that come 2021, the carrier will sunset both 2G and 3G CDMA networks. This is a little less than a decade away so for those on 2G devices, you guys are still “safe”, at least for now.

This heads up from Verizon is apparently aimed more at machine-to-machine applications, rather than the end user but at the rate the carrier has been rolling out 4G LTE coverage, it is safe to assume that the bulk of their customers should have already moved onto their 4G LTE network with LTE compatible devices by 2021. When that happens, we guess we can then start to look forward to 5G networks where research into the technology has already begun in the UK.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Verizon’s double data LTE offer to end 5th of June, Verizon rolls out more 4G LTE coverage to new and expanded markets,