Hasta La Gadget!

Competition can be a beautiful thing. AT&T’s Next upgrade pricing hasn’t looked good when compared against Verizon Edge in the weeks since launch, but today is a different story: the carrier has quietly lowered the monthly payments for some devices. While the company hasn’t said which hardware is cheaper, the Galaxy S 4 and iPhone 5 have dropped from $32.50 per month to $27. Prices are down for BlackBerry and Nokia devices as well, a tipster says. As MacRumors notes, the bargains are rather convenient. While AT&T isn’t offering as good a deal as T-Mobile, a 16GB iPhone 5 now costs $1 less through one year of Next payments than it does with a similar Verizon Edge plan. You’ll want to act soon if you like what you see, too. AT&T tells us that this is a promotion; although there’s no firm end date for the discounts, we wouldn’t count on these rates lasting forever.

[Thanks, Anonymous]

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

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Source: AT&T

Quickly following AT&T’s footsteps, Verizon Wireless is throwing its hat into the early upgrade ring with a few unique twists and turns of its own. The program, known as Edge, will offer you the ability to pay the full retail price of your phone on a month-to-month basis, with the cost spread out over 24 months (as opposed to AT&T Next’s 20 month). However, you’ll also be able to upgrade your phone via trade-in after the first six months, provided you have paid off at least half of your phone’s total price. Unfortunately, also like Next, you won’t see any change in how much the standard wireless plans cost, so while you’re saving the upfront cost and switching phones more often, you’re also paying a lot more per month for the privilege. We’ve got Verizon’s blog post past the break if you’re looking for more details.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Verizon

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Source: Verizon WIreless

Could it be that T-Mobile’s efforts aren’t going unnoticed in the wireless community after all? Less than a week after John Legere unveiled Jump — and just hours after we heard rumors about Verizon’s forthcoming upgrade program — AT&T has taken the wraps off of AT&T Next, an upgrade program that begins on July 26th. Next takes some elements of Jump and the UnCarrier’s monthly installment model and adds its own spice to it. So here’s how it works: instead of paying for a subsidized phone or tablet and agreeing to a two-year contract, the retail price of the device gets split up into twenty separate monthly payments that get added to your standard bill (so yes, it’s still technically a financial commitment — just done in a different manner). You can pay off the phone faster, if you prefer, or just stick out the 20-month period. As an example, the Samsung Galaxy S 4 will cost you $32 a month on top of your standard wireless plan. While that doesn’t sound like a bedazzling option, AT&T is hoping to sweeten the deal by letting Next customers trade in their current handset or slab after the first year of use and swap it out for a fresh model. This won’t cost you anything up front, but it resets your monthly payment plan back to month zero.

We asked AT&T if these plans will come with any other hidden restrictions or if certain features will be shunned in favor of the traditional contract, and we were assured that they would remain the same across the board; we even confirmed that grandfathered unlimited data plans are still allowed on Next. As for other matters of fine print, all tablets and phones (including the iPhone) are available through the program, and you won’t have to worry about upgrade or activation fees, though the standard credit check applies. Small business customers won’t be able to take advantage of Next at the time of launch, but AT&T tells us that it’s coming and we’ll have it by the end of the year. It also appears likely that this isn’t meant to be an eventual replacement to the existing two-year contract option. Your move, Verizon.

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

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T-Mobile’s been grabbing a lot of headlines lately with its consumer-friendly handset deals and upgrade programs, but it appears that Big Red has similar ideas. The folks at Droid Life have acquired a Verizon document detailing a new VZ Edge program that’ll allow folks to trade in their phones once they’ve paid off 50 percent of the purchase price. To join the program, Verizon will merely require a monthly fee of unknown amount, and in return, folks can get their upgrades early fee free and sans contract. When will customers get the option to do so? According to the doc, launch is scheduled for Q3, August 25th, to be exact. So, if Verizon can stick to its schedule, its customers are just under six weeks away from being free from the tyranny of the new every two upgrade cycle.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Verizon

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Source: Droid Life

American LG Optimus G Pro owners no longer have to look on with envy as their Korean friends take advantage of the Value Pack: the update is now available to AT&T subscribers over the air. As in other countries, the upgrade brings Smart Video to pause playback when looking away, a Dual Camera mode for photo shoots and Pause & Resume Recording for Vine-like video cuts. LG has also upgraded the Quick Remote for better Smart TV control, added emoticons to its messaging apps and opened up customization of the home button’s LED alerts. The Value Pack isn’t the same as getting a G2, but it will help the G Pro keep up with the Joneses.

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

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Source: AT&T