Hasta La Gadget!

The HTC Status (formerly known as the ChaChaCha, the ChaCha, and “the Facebook phone that’s not a Facebook phone”) is inching ever closer to its AT&T debut. It’s already been pictured, sashayed its way through the FCC, and now it’s been revealed for all the world to see, appropriately enough, on Facebook. As we were already aware this social networking-focused, QWERTY candybar has had its CPU bumped up to 800MHz, but otherwise it’s the same Sense and Gingerbread packing device we saw back in February. Unfortunately, all we can tell you is that the Status will land on AT&T shelves at some point — price and availability are still as much of a mystery as ever. There’s some refresher PR after the break.

Continue reading HTC Status for AT&T announced on Facebook, risks being tagged in embarrassing pics

HTC Status for AT&T announced on Facebook, risks being tagged in embarrassing pics originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Jun 2011 14:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nearly six months after his arrest, one hacker pleaded guilty to charges that he exposed the email addresses of over 100,000 AT&T iPad 3G users. It’s been a year since Daniel Spitler and his compatriot, Andrew Auernheimer, coaxed Ma-Bell servers into delivering the goods, with a brute force script they lovingly named the iPad 3G Account Slurper. The hacker’s plea agreement suggests a 12 to 18-month sentence, which is a lot more lenient than the 10-year maximum we hear he could face. Spitler’s collaborator is apparently still in plea negotiations with the prosecutor. Both men initially claimed they were just trying to draw attention to a security hole, but maybe next time they’ll think twice before embarking on such altruistic endeavors.

Hacker pleads guilty to AT&T iPad breach originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Jun 2011 03:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon's iPhone debuted with an unlimited data plan, but Verizon has confirmed that it soon will transition to tiered data plans. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Unlimited smartphone data plans are going the way of the dodo bird.

Verizon Wireless confirmed on Monday it would soon be changing its wireless data pricing plans in July, ending its longstanding unlimited data plan option for smartphone users, priced at a very affordable $30 monthly.

“We will move to a more usage-based model in July,” a Verizon Wireless spokeswoman told AllThingsDigital in an e-mail. “We’ll share more later.”

In other words, Verizon is moving to a tiered data pricing model, just like its rival AT&T did last year.

Although Verizon didn’t expound upon the exact details of the new pricing model, the mobile blog site Droid Life claims to have received inside information on the new tiered usage plan. Expected to debut on July 7, Droid Life claims the new model will cost $30 monthly for 2 GB, $50 monthly for 5 GB, and $80 monthly for 10 GB of data.

With the rise of smartphones over the past three years, mobile access to data connections has grown tremendously. U.S. smartphone data usage has spiked at an 89 percent increase from last year, according to research from Nielsen. Most users, however, are essentially paying the same amount for their data plans as they were a year ago. Effectively, this means a decrease in cost per megabyte of data — about half of what it once was.

And the carriers, of course, want to get paid more, so they’re altering their data plans to give customers less bang for their buck. AT&T ended its unlimited data buffet last year. In May, T-Mobile introduced a tiered pricing structure to high-speed data access that throttles your connection speed after reaching your allotted amount.Verizon pulled the data-throttling maneuver earlier in the year, although it tried to sweep it under the rug in an unpublicized memo. And now Verizon is getting ready to kill its unlimited data plan, too.

Sprint is currently the only carrier to offer an unlimited data plan. The company hiked its rates slightly at the beginning of this year, however, tacking on a $10 “Premium Data” plan fee for any customer who purchases a smartphone. The fee applies to both 3G and 4G Sprint phones purchased or upgraded during or after mid-January of 2011.

And then there’s tethering – the ability to share your smartphone’s 3G or 4G internet connection with another device, such as a computer. If you want to add tethering capability to your phone, prepare to shell out even more dough. AT&T charges you an extra $20 a month to enable tethering on your smartphone. Verizon may give you a better deal, although it’s still not cheap: According to Droid Life, an extra $20 a month to Verizon will get you tethering capability, as well as tack on an additional 2 GB of data to your monthly limit. Not a bad way to outdo AT&T.

Confused? Don’t worry, you’re supposed to be. Luckily, we’ve got an explainer chart below for some clarity on who’s offering what data plan, and for how much.

Update: Edited at 6:20 PST to reflect change to AT&T’s tethering rate policy.

It looks like Google will be able to bid on Nortel’s patent portfolio after all, now that the Department of Justice has weighed in on the matter. According to the Wall Street Journal, El Goog’s $900 million bid has passed a governmental antitrust review, just a few days ahead of next week’s auction. Rivals like Microsoft, AT&T and Verizon had previously filed complaints with the DOJ, arguing that the sale of Nortel’s 6,000 patents would give an unfair advantage to the auction’s winner by providing it with a fresh arsenal for patent-infringement lawsuits. Google, however, claims it needs the portfolio to defend itself against legal challenges, since it has comparatively few patents to its name. The DOJ apparently sees nothing illegal with this argument, having determined that singular ownership of Nortel’s intellectual property would pose no threat to market competition. This is obviously music to Google’s ears, but the battle isn’t over yet. Sources tell the Journal that both RIM and Apple are interested in filing their own bids for the patents, and have already begun discussing the matter with the Justice Department. None of the companies involved have commented on the story, but it’ll all go down on June 20th, when the auction finally gets underway.

US DOJ greenlights Google’s $900 million bid for Nortel patents; Apple, RIM also interested originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Jun 2011 13:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oh, we’ve been fairly certain for a while now that we’d see the sexy Samsung Galaxy S II saunter on over to AT&T, but now we’ve attained what appears to be the first official photo of the handset. Samsung’s Singapore division has a series of professional shots of planned accessories, including this “Samsung Galaxy S II Desktop Dock,” a handsome pyramid stand sporting HDMI and 3.5mm stereo-out jacks — and of course, an AT&T logo on its comfortably cradled smartphone. We’re still not quite sure when Samsung’s flagship will hit the US, but it had better get a move on — we’re slated to see a Galaxy S III by this time next year, after all.

Update: We should probably note it looks like the Galaxy S II’s seen a bit of a makeover for AT&T, gaining the four familiar capacitive touch buttons and generally appearing more like the Infuse 4G.

[Thanks, Solomon T.]

Samsung Galaxy S II for AT&T ratted out by its own HDMI dock originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 11 Jun 2011 14:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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