Hasta La Gadget!

It’s getting pretty clear that T-Mobile is rethinking its mobile data strategy, what with all the prepaid plans, data throttling and WiFi calling going on, and TmoNews says it isn’t done shaking things up — the carrier will reportedly introduce a 200MB data plan specifically for smartphone owners at $10 a month. Before you voice your hatred of tiered data pricing, know that Magenta will reportedly retain the existing $30 unlimited data plan, unlike its blue-and-white rival, and customers who pick the cheaper option will apparently be able to upgrade on the fly. If and when the option debuts in November, it could make that next batch of smartphones all the more accessible. Perhaps you’ll be able to afford an LG Optimus T for the young’uns after all.

T-Mobile to intro $10 data plan for smartphone data lightweights? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Oct 2010 01:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There are fewer places to go to for consumers seeking access to unlimited data on their smartphones. T-Mobile plans to reduce data speeds for those consumers who use more than 5 GB of data in a single billing cycle, according to the Tmonews website.

The move will kick in this weekend and T-Mobile claims less than 1 percent of its customers will be affected.

T-Mobile’s decision is just a step short of the data caps announced by other wireless carriers. In September, Verizon said it plans to stop selling unlimited data plans to new customers and will, instead, introduce two service plans with monthly data caps. A few months earlier, AT&T decided to retire unlimited 3G-data plans. Sprint has said it will have to reconsider unlimited data for its 4G network if data usage increases significantly.

Consumers today are using their smartphones for more than just voice and e-mail. The rise of social networking sites and mobile video and apps has led to a tremendous increase in the amounts of data being sucked through wireless devices.

Average data consumption increased to 298 MB a month in the first quarter of this year, from about 90 MB a month for the same period last year. That’s a gain of approximately 230 percent in a year, according to research by Nielsen Mobile. And, so far, it hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down.

T-Mobile has said only “extreme data users” will feel the pain. The company plans to send text messages warning users about their data speeds if they reach the limit.

This is not the first time T-Mobile has tried to throttle data speeds for power users. Earlier, the company capped usage around 10 GB but it seems to be reducing the threshold now.

For consumers this makes for a difficult choice. They can either get limited data from AT&T and Verizon and pay heavily for exceeding that or get “unlimited” data at T-Mobile and see their data download to a trickle after a certain point. Either way, it’s clear–the days of unlimited data on mobile devices are over.

See Also:

• AT&T Adds iPhone Tethering, Kills Unlimited Data for iPad
• Verizon to End Unlimited-Data Party
• AT&T’s Data Limits Rein In Cloud-Based Media Services
• What AT&T’s Limited Data Plans Mean for You
• Data-Gobbling Android Users Will Likely See Bandwidth Capped

Photo: (Shawn Mclung/Flickr)

Come October 18, T-Mobile USA will be shaking things up in the prepaid market with a handful of new options that finally acknowledge users — yes, even those on prepaid plans — are gobbling data in droves. Unlimited voice and text with 2GB of data will run $70 a month; the same plan with just 100MB of data will run $50, and for $30, you’ll be able to get a pretty interesting concept that includes any combination of 1,500 minutes and text messages plus 30MB of data. For $1.49 per day, you’ll be able to sign up for a Web DayPass, which gives you unlimited browsing capability on any data-capable phone; T-Mobile tells us BES isn’t currently supported, but that shouldn’t be an issue for most.

If straight-up data is more your thing, you’ll want to check out the T-Mobile Jet (pictured), T-Mobile’s first dedicated prepaid data stick. The new modem commemorates the launch of a handful of prepaid data options, including $10 for a weekly allowance of 100MB, $30 for 300MB monthly, and $50 for 1GB monthly. We’d hoped that T-Mobile would resist the urge to cap data and follow through with the bandwidth throttling option instead, but then again, we suppose things work a little differently in the prepaid market. Look for the Jet to hit retail online on the 18th of this month, followed by in-store availability on the 20th. Follow the break for the full press release.

Continue reading T-Mobile busts out new prepaid plans with data options, mix-and-match voice and text

T-Mobile busts out new prepaid plans with data options, mix-and-match voice and text originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Oct 2010 14:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It almost sounds too good to be true, but apparently some G2s are getting an official (if stealthy) OTA update from T-Mobile that adds the inexplicably withheld Android 2.2 native internet tethering back into the phone, along with the UMA WiFi calling T-Mobile plans to offer on all of its forthcoming Android handsets. What’s not to love? Well, so far our G2 hasn’t been offered the update, which is, like, totally unfair. Also, if you’ve been messing around with a “soft root” on your G2, you’ll probably want to hold off for now. Still, if this is legit and meant for the masses it’s a pretty major score for current and prospective G2 owners: WiFi calling is basically a beautiful dream short of a desirable handset, and of course tethering is becoming a requirement in this Android-age.

T-Mobile G2 getting an OTA update to add WiFi calling and tethering? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Oct 2010 11:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You see that? That, comrades, is what happens when Lightning strikes! Or, you know, when Venue Pro strikes. So, it doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, but no matter what you call Dell’s Windows Phone 7 portrait slider, it’s downright awesome. We got a chance to play around with an early build of the phone a few weeks ago — as you’ll hear us say in the video below, it was still codenamed the Lightning — and we haven’t been able to get it out of our minds since. The handset has a very similar look and feel to its Android brother, the Thunder — its rounded chrome sides are reminiscent of an iPhone 3G/S, the black contoured back has a nice grippy feel, and the curved, WVGA AMOLED, Gorilla Glass screen is just stunning. The 4.1-inch capacitive, multitouch display is joined by additional back, home and search touch-sensitive buttons, all of which seemed responsive in our short time with the device. The back is also home to a 5 megapixel cam with flash while there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack on the top of the device and a micro-USB port on the bottom edge.

But obviously, it’s that glorious slide-out QWERTY keyboard that makes the Venue Pro, well, so pro. The rubber-feeling keys remind us a lot of those on the Droid 2 — though, they feel a bit firmer — and the slider mechanism felt sturdy when we slid it open and closed a number of times. On the spec front, we were told it was packing a Snapdragon processor, and while the phone seemed to briskly run an early build of WP7, we didn’t get to test much out as Dell was lacking both a SIM and a nearby WiFi network. We’ll be hoping to grab some more time with the T-Mobile version today, but from what we’ve seen so far we’re fairly confident that Dell’s struck pretty darn close to gold here. Oh, and don’t forget to hit the break for a short video walkthrough of the hardware and keyboard.

Continue reading Dell Venue Pro (aka Lightning) first hands-on!

Dell Venue Pro (aka Lightning) first hands-on! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 09:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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