Hasta La Gadget!

The US Department of Defense told a Washington thinktank yesterday that it would spend $23 billion in the next four years to kick its cyber defenses up a gear. That’ll include building out a “secure 4G wireless network that will get iPads, iPhones and Android devices online by mid-2014,” according to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Martin Dempsey. The DoD recently approved Blackberry 10, iOS and Samsung Galaxy devices with Knox, and General Dempsey himself was packing a smartphone he said would “make Batman and James Bond jealous.” While there were no details about how such a mobile network would be locked down, he did say that all 15,000 of the Department’s computer networks would be consolidated into an enterprise cloud system to increase security. All that is to combat a “17-fold” cyber warfare increase in just over two years — no doubt including recent Chinese hacking that the White House took the rare step of recently highlighting.

Filed under: Wireless, Internet

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Via: The Verge

Source: US Department of Defense, The Brookings Institution

A year or two ago, mid-range devices were nothing to gush about at neighborhood barbeques. Fast-forward to 2013, however, and smartphones listed at those middling price points are much more desirable. After all, a large number of them would have been considered high-end flagships — had they launched last summer. The ZTE-made Sprint Vital may well have been one of those phones, given its specs: the handset features a 5-inch 720p display, dual-core Snapdragon S4 chipset, 13MP camera and solid battery. In short, the Vital is very much a 2012 phone trying to find its way in 2013. Sprint’s strategy, therefore, is to sell the device for the standard mid-range price ($100 for existing customers on-contract), and see if people are willing to spend the next two years of their lives with this curious piece of workmanship. Throughout this review, we’ll see for ourselves if it’s worth our time, energy and focus, especially as it goes head-to-head against headlining phones from LG and Samsung. Head beyond the break for those answers and more.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Sprint

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Verizon was the first US carrier to launch (and famously fumble) its LTE rollout back in 2010, but its long road to 4G nationwide coverage has finally come to a near close. As of today, the operator’s LTE footprint now blankets more than 298 million people in 500 markets across the US, with Parkersburg, West Virginia claiming that 500th market distinction. It’s a milestone Verizon managed to achieve in a little over two years’ time, as the company’s Chief Network Officer Nicola Palmer was quick to point out. The completion of this initial LTE rollout also brings Alaska into Verizon’s coverage map as early as next month — a territory that, before today, didn’t even have 3G — marking the carrier’s network as available in all 50 states.

With a full LTE expansion, however, comes network congestion problems, as subscribers in major cities like New York are already starting to experience. Palmer assured us that solutions are currently underway to shore up capacity in these LTE markets. Verizon’s AWS holdings, in particular, should serve to augment LTE reception in select areas starting in the second half of this year. The same goes for small cell site deployment, which Palmer stressed is an LTE-only initiative. News on the carrier’s plans for LTE-Advanced remain just as vague as ever, with Palmer positioning the standard as yet another tool to enhance current LTE capacity. Unfortunately, she wouldn’t commit to a timeframe for LTE-A nor address concerns about the potential for new pricing tiers when it does eventually launch. Still, Verizon subs will at least have VoLTE (voice over LTE) to look forward to next year — that is, when it eventually clears the company’s rigorous lab and field testing.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Verizon

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Source: Verizon Wireless

T-Mobile customers may have to sit tight for a little while longer if they’re planning to pick up a Nokia Lumia 925 or Sony Xperia Z. TmoNews has reportedly obtained a roadmap from the UnCarrier that has the two smartphones launching on July 17th alongside an unidentified (though likely budget-oriented) handset. While pricing isn’t mentioned for the Xperia Z, the Lumia 925 is expected to cost $100 down with a $579 full price. The apparent leak gives us a date to mark on our calendars, although we won’t base our lives around it — carriers tend to change schedules at the last minute, after all.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Sony, Nokia, T-Mobile

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Source: TmoNews

And with that, Dish is (seemingly) out of the running: following a decision to back away from buying Sprint, the satellite TV giant has also withdrawn its bid for Clearwire. The company is bowing out due to a “change in recommendation” at Clearwire — in other words, shareholders now prefer Sprint’s recently sweetened offer. Between that and Sprint’s lawsuit, we’re not expecting Dish to make another acquisition attempt, especially when Softbank’s acquisition of Sprint (and thus Clearwire) could close in a matter of weeks.

Filed under: Wireless, Mobile, Sprint

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Via: Bloomberg News (Twitter)

Source: Dish