Hasta La Gadget!

You can slow ’em down, HTC… but you can’t stop ’em. That’s the message that xda-developers is sending loud and clear today on news that the T-Mobile G2 has graduated from a temporary root solution to a permanent one, despite HTC’s attempt to lock it down tight in hardware. Interestingly, the solution involves starting with the already-tried-and-true temporary root and applying a few additional steps; as always, you want to be careful with these sorts of things, but we’ve no doubt there are thousands of G2 owners out there who’ve already beaten us to the punch. Let us know how it goes, won’t you?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

T-Mobile G2 gets a permanent, honest-to-goodness root originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Nov 2010 11:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AT&T’s Windows Phone 7 handsets drop today, but if you navigate past the company’s big splash page, you’d never know it.

That’s because like most other phone retailers, AT&T’s online store drills down by manufacturer and device type (e.g., smartphone, feature phone, tablet/computer), but not operating system. The only smartphone OS it currently separates out is Android, grouped with categories like “free,” “slider” and “refurbished.”

While tech-savvy consumers increasingly think of smartphones in terms of competing operating systems, wireless companies still think of their own relationship with their subscribers first, manufacturers second and platforms a distant third.

It’s even starker if you’re an existing customer looking to upgrade a mobile phone; an AT&T customer trying to find an Android phone has to navigate a long list of smartphones, while Apple and Blackberry’s models jump to the top.

Verizon Wireless’s online store does break phones down by operating system if you mouse over the “Phones & Devices” menu. The choices are Android, Apple iOS, Blackberry, Palm WebOS and “Windows phone” — the last something of a misnomer, since Verizon only offers older Windows Mobile devices, not the new Windows Phone 7.

This arguably benefits companies like Apple and Blackberry, who enjoy high name recognition and whose platforms are only available on their own branded devices. It also benefits particular smartphones, like Motorola’s Droid on Verizon, who are featured prominently on store websites and network advertisements.

But the balance is tipping in favor of the operating systems. With Windows Phone 7 now offering devices from multiple manufacturers on AT&T and T-Mobile, Verizon selling iOS devices like the iPad (and perhaps soon the iPhone) and Android’s share of the market growing an extraordinary rate, wireless companies will be hard-pressed not to put a device’s operating system front and center — not buried at the bottom of a tech sheet next to its Bluetooth spec and its camera’s megapixel count.

AT&T has made a big bet on its support of Windows Phone 7 — I wouldn’t be surprised if we see those menus get an upgrade soon.

Images: screenshots from AT&T Wireless Store by Tim Carmody.

See Also:

• Why Windows Phone 7 Will Make Android Look Chaotic
• How Microsoft Hit CTRL+ALT+DEL on Windows Phone
• Microsoft Announces First Windows Phone 7 Handsets
• Android Gains While iPhone, BlackBerry Lose Share
• Android Beats iPhone in Smartphone Sales
• WSJ: Verizon iPhone Debuts Early 2011
• AT&T Sees No Threat in a Verizon iPhone
• Verizon CEO Throws Wet Blanket on iPhone Rumors
• Fortune: Verizon iPhone Debuts Early 2011

Check it Microsofties, it’s time to get back into the game. While some phones have already launched in Europe and beyond, today is the first day that you can put down cash in the US for a Windows Phone 7 device all your own. The Microsoft online Store just loosed the HTC HD7 (T-Mobile), HTC Surround (AT&T), and Samsung Focus (AT&T). Rumor has it that the 4.1-inch Dell Venue Pro (T-Mobile) will be out on shelves at Microsoft retail locations today as well. So why not use that extra hour of wakefulness that Apple provided to think it over?

Update: Prices drop to as low as $149.99 at Dell Mobility (which still doesn’t list its own Venue Pro) and $99 at Amazon Wireless when purchased with new service plans. The LG Quantum is up for pre-order too with Amazon claiming an 8 to 9 business day delivery.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Windows Phone 7 now on sale in the US

Windows Phone 7 now on sale in the US originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Nov 2010 00:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You’ve got to admit, this is a little weird: we’ve received a number of tips today about T-Mobile USA customers being shipped Micro SIMs rather than the typical Mini SIMs. We’ve gotten a picture of just such a module (see above), and you can plainly see it’s not a hybrid — it can’t be snapped out as a Mini SIM, meaning that unless you’ve got an adapter lying around, you need to head into the store to get it swapped out for the right kind. The only consumer devices out there in any measurable quantity right now that make use of Micro SIMs are, of course, the iPad and iPhone 4 — and when you pair this up with the fact that T-Mobile stores are starting to sell iPhone cables right now, the situation is starting to get wacky. Now, we still want to stop short of suggesting this means T-Mobile is getting either the iPad or iPhone any time soon; after all, Apple would have to provide a new hardware variant that supports AWS 3G, and it’s totally reasonable to think the carrier could be offering other phones in the near future that’ll use Micro SIMs. We do love us a good conspiracy theory, though.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: We’re hearing it’s for the Galaxy Tab. Mystery solved!

Update 2: Our own Richard Lai notes that the European version of the Galaxy Tab uses a Mini SIM, but we’re hearing some pretty strong evidence that T-Mobile’s will be Micro for whatever reason. That’d be an odd thing to switch up, yes — but if any major manufacturer could quickly churn out umpteen different versions of a device with moderately different internals, it’d be Samsung. Guess we’ll know soon enough.

T-Mobile customers being mistakenly shipped Micro SIMs, just begging to get shoved into iPhones (update: Galaxy Tab!) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Nov 2010 19:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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T-Mobile claims the largest “4G” network in the country. Verizon’s launching its “4G” LTE network later this year. And Sprint loves talking about “4G” WiMax. Thing is, none of these networks are actually 4G. Not by a long shot. More »