So, not only do we have the new Storm2, the Bold 9700 and the Tour 9630 to gobble up on the market these days… It’s looking like AT&T (NYSE: T) may be slapping a new coat of paint on the Curve 8900 to push it out the door. Earlier this morning via BGR, I noticed said White BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Curve 8900. Of course, no pricing or launch details were made available, but what do you think? The 8900 is a solid device, would you pick one up in the new white livery when it becomes available? Or are the new offerings from RIM simply to good to go back to that ‘old’ 8900?
AT&T (NYSE: T) is adding two new touchscreen-equipped Samsung devices to its offering – Mythic and Flight, both which will be available on November 8th.
The first of the two, pictured on the left, comes with 3.3-inch display, 3.2-megapixel camera, Samsung’s well-known TouchWIZ UI, 3G, GPS, Bluetooth, and the ability to sing along AT&T Navigator, AT&T Mobile Music and AT&T Mobile TV services. The price is $199.99 on a contract after a $50 mail-in rebate.
As for the Samsung Flight, it’s a non-3G device that sports GPS, 2-megapixel camera, smaller touchscreen, and supports AT&T Navigator and AT&T Mobile Music services. This one’s obviously cheaper device, hence AT&T is asking $99, again on contract and after a rebate…
File this under “so not confirmed,” but it seems AT&T (NYSE: T) has found a way to fight Verizon (NYSE: VZ)’s attack of the Droids. Apparently, the carrier will offer its best-selling iPhone 3GS 8GB for $99. For that price, they may have a chance in the upcoming Christmas season. I can already see the commercial – hundred bucks buys you access to hundred thousand apps, beat that Verizon.
As I said, it’s not confirmed but definitely sounds logical. We’ll see…
AT&T (NYSE: T)’s Samsung Jack is blessed with the Windows Mobile 6.5 update. The Korean giant announced the upgrade saying existing owners of the full QWERTY keyboard-equipped device will be able to experience the improved UI latest Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)’s mobile OS brings, better Pocket Internet Explorer, access Windows Marketplace, and also get free access to AT&T hotspots around the country.
And that’s about it. To upgrade your Jack, simply follow instructions on Samsung’s website.
LTE, Long Term Evolution, 4G, whatever you want to call it, was designed to be a complete IP based system. Many of you may be surprised to hear this, but when LTE became a standard, it only supported data. That’s right, 4th generation networks didn’t have an interoperable standard for voice and SMS. Several solutions have been proposed, and I’ve extended my support to VoLGA, but it looks like Nokia (NYSE: NOK) has decided IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) will be the way going forward.
Who supports the decision? AT&T, Orange, Telefonica (many of you know them as O2), TeliaSonera, Verizon (NYSE: VZ), Vodafone (NYSE: VOD), Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU), Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Networks, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE). That’s a lot of companies. Their posse is called “One Voice Initiative” and now that the big boys have all decided on a standard, progress towards getting LTE networks up and running will start to pick up. Verizon and TeliaSonera are competing to see who will launch the world’s first commercial LTE network in 2010, but it’s going to quite a ways off until 4G coverage is equal to the current 3G footprint.
If anyone can point me (and IntoMobile readers) to a blog post or a book that explains how IMS works, that would be greatly appreciated. I’ve always avoided the standard since I thought it would never fly. Oh how wrong I am now.
Update: The One Voice spec has been published, check it out [PDF] if you’re a network engineer.
If you’ve glanced at your TV recently, chances are good you’ve seen those Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless ads mocking AT&T (NYSE: T) for having an allegedly spotty 3G network. The TV commercials play off those “there’s an app for that” iPhone ads, declaring that “there’s a Verizon Wireless 3G coverage map” to show you just why Verizon’s 3G network is better than AT&T’s. Today, AT&T reacted to the ads by filing a lawsuit against Verizon Wireless, asking the court for a temporary restraining order against Big Red’s ad campaign. “Verizon has stepped over the line of legitimate comparative advertising,” said AT&T.
The lawsuit, filed in Atlanta federal court, is aimed at stopping Verizon from using their “misleading” ads. At issue are the 3G coverage maps that Verizon is using to show AT&T’s 3G coverage area. AT&T claims that the white/blank areas of the coverage maps are misleading consumers into thinking that AT&T has no coverage whatsoever in those blank area. The company argues that AT&T customers can “fully use their wireless devices outside of a ‘3G’ coverage area and undisputedly have coverage in areas depicted by white or blank spaces on the maps used in Verizon’s advertisements.”
AT&T is asking for a temporary restraining order against VZW, until the court can pin down dates for injunction hearings.
What say you, reader? Is AT&T just trying to run damage control on a fair ad? Or has Verizon Wireless gone too far with their commercials?
We previously mentioned Gameloft’s Asphalt series when Asphalt 4 made its way to the N-Gage as well as on Verizon’s V-Cast service. Gameloft teased us at this year’s WWDC ‘09 with news they were bringing Asphalt 5 to the iPhone App Store later this year. Gameloft finally delievered as Asphalt 5 is now available for purchase on the iPhone App Store.
Asphalt 5 features over 30 cars from such notable manufactures as Lamborghini, Ferrari, and Audi that are fully customizable and more than 12 different locations you can race in. There are also 8 different racing events to take part in such as Cop Chase, Drift Contest, and Time Attack. When you think you’ve mastered Asphalt 5, take on some of your friends via Bluetooth or players from around the world via Wi-Fi connection.
To celebrate Asphalt 5’s release, Gameloft was gracious enough to send us THREE $10 Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) iTunes gift cards so you can purchase Asphalt 5 and have some left over to purchase some of the other titles from Gameloft (might I recommend Earthworm Jim or Dungeon Hunter?) Want to win one of the three $10 iTunes gift cards? Here’s how to enter:
Leaving a comment below (please leave an accurate email address so I may contact you if you win)
Retweeting this article by clicking on the “Retweet” badge located underneath this article
This giveaway will be going on for the next 24 hours, so be sure to get your entry in by Nov. 4th, 2009 at 3:00PM EST. While you’re waiting for the contest to be over, be sure to check out the trailer below of Asphalt 5 to see the game in action! Also, be sure to follow @Gameloft to get up-to-the-minute updates on their future games!
[UPDATE: The contest has officially come to a close. Thanks to all who entered and please be sure to check back often as we have some super sweet stuff to giveaway reeeeeal soon.]
In the middle of August, AT&T (NYSE: T) was on the receiving end of a class action lawsuit in Louisiana for not enabling MMS on the iPhone as they said they would by the end of the summer. Even though it ended up arriving September, another suit has bubbled up in Alabama. iPhone owner Clyde Bernard Franklin is launching the class action lawsuit on behalf of all Alabamans who picked up Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s smartphone on or after July 1 of last year and is seeking punitive and compensatory damages under the Alabama Deceptive Trade Practices Act. It’s a little late to be going after AT&T for this now, but you can hardly blame somone for trying to squeeze a few pennies out of them, considering the latest sales numbers.
Angry Mob Games‘ upcoming top-down, twin-sticks shooter Guerrilla Bob is one badass looking game. The main character wears a beret, has tons of weapons, and is named ‘Bob’. That right there is the recipe for badass, folks.
Guerrilla Bob will take players across a number of locations like canyons, deserts, and deserted towns. Along the way, he’ll most likely meet some opposition as well as “epic boss battles”. The game will also include multiple levels of difficulty, scoring system, and online leaderboards so you can compare with your friends who the best Bob is!
AT&T’s marketing machine is in damage control mode right now. Remember that post I wrote a few days ago about AT&T’s network sucking because the company didn’t configure it properly?
Check out the email I just got:
Hey Stefan,
Saw your post and wanted to get you a response – we don’t think there’s any merit to the observation you passed along. Would you mind adding this to the post? Feel free to attribute to me or the company …
Also, noted your comment about cell sites – we’ve talked publicly quite a lot about the improvements we’re making to the network (7.2 rollout, increased backhaul to our sites, etc.) – but we also said we plan to add more than 2,000 sites this year.
Thanks,
Seth Bloom
FH for AT&T Corporate Communications
“The AT&T (NYSE: T) wireless network is designed and engineered to deliver the highest possible levels of capacity and performance. Our standing as the nation’s fastest 3G network is validated by multiple third-party testing organizations on the basis of millions of drive tests annually.”
“We believe that recent online speculation regarding AT&T wireless network configuration settings is without foundation. Allegations in these posts regarding packet loss network settings are incorrect.”
To which I simply replied:
I’m not going to copy and paste your marketing message to my blog post. Good luck getting other blogs to follow your request.
Take Seth’s message with a few hundred kilos of salt. If you’re an iPhone customer, or just a plain AT&T customer experiencing network issues, leave a comment below.
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