This is one of those rumors that leaves me scratching my head… The Boy Genius Report has been told by two sources that AT&T is prepping to release an 8GB iPhone 3GS for $99 to replace the current line-up that has an old-model iPhone 3G at $99. The hope, according to the rumor, is that this will draw some attention to the Droid Mania that is sweeping the world (okay, over-statement), and keep sales of iPhones up over the holidays.

Personally I just don’t get it. No, it isn’t that I don’t get why AT&T and Apple would do this. That makes perfect sense and might be a winning strategy. What I don’t get is… Continue Reading

Billshrink.com just did an analysis comparing the iPhone 3GS on AT&T,  the Palm Pre on Sprint, and Motorola Droid on Verizon.

If you are looking at an unlimited voice and data plan, you will spend $1,250 less over two years.  There are still substantial savings even with more limited plans.  The phones, on paper, have fairly similar specifications and capabilities and in terms of Network quality, speed, coverage ranking I would say Verizon, Sprint, AT&T in that order.

It makes it all the more painful why Sprint had such bad results as discussed earlier today. Sprint really is one of the best valued carriers at the moment.

Continue Reading

Wayne informed us this morning that the Blackberry Storm 2 is now available.

Verizon Wireless has also released its first commercial for the new device and they couldn’t help but take another shot at AT&T.

Take a look at the ad.

This is the tale of how I almost stopped using my iPhone as a GPS unit and how the right app and a better idea of how to use it changed my mind. Here is what happened.

When the iPhone gained its GPS capabilities I was excited to use is for navigation. Using Google maps worked well enough but certainly was not a replacement for standalone unit. Then a host of new third-party GPS applications began to appear and I became more excited about using the iPhone as my only GPS unit. That didn’t last very long. I was heading to a wedding I was officiating in New York when things went more than a bit array. Continue Reading

This is a joint review between Wayne and me. Wayne is primarily a Blackberry and iPhone user, and he has also dabbled in Android, Palm, Windows Mobile and WebOS. I am primarily an iPhone and Nokia / Vertu user, with an extensive background in Palm and Windows Mobile.

We were recently sent the new HTC Pure Windows Phone to review, because it is one of the first of several new Windows Phones to use the new Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system. Wayne’s comments will be the ones in black; mine will be in blue italics.

Continue Reading

AT&T just announced today that starting October 12 they’ll be expanding their unlimited prepaid GoPhone service beyond the cities that were serving as test markets for the last several months. For $60 prepaid monthly subscribers can now have a no contract phone that includes unlimited voice and SMS. This is slightly more expensive than Boost which went unlimited in January 2009 for $50 but pushes subscribers onto the arguably less robust Nextel towers.

ATT GoPhone via Engadget and Phonescoop

I am still a bit surprised by AT&T’s sudden decision to allow VOiP over 3G. Happy but surprised. Sure the decision might just be an attempt to deflect some of the mounting criticism over lousy service (30% of calls in NYC are dropped!!) and numerous conflicts over apps like Google Voice and Slingbox. But no matter what the reason, I’ll take.

AT&T has had a good couple of week. First they finally got MMS pushed out to iPhones. Now 3G VOiP. What’s next?? Perhaps tethering? NOPE! Don’t expect it any time soon.

Here’s why…

According to a Wall Street journal post, when asked about the possibility that tethering would be rolled out soon a spokesperson for AT&T said that tethering remains unavailable. S/he stuck with the company’s prior comment on this: “Whenever we offer new features, we want to offer the best possible customer experience. For tethering, we need to do some additional fine tuning to our systems and networks so that we do deliver a great experience.”

Translation- “Enjoy your 3G VOiP, now go leave us alone for a while.”

The big news thus far this week is AT&T’s decision to begin allowing VoIP services to access their 3G network on IPhone’s. It is a huge deal. It not only opens the door to greater choice for those of us who use iPhones but, hopefully, it means the beginning of wireless companies loosening up some of their restrictions and letting our handheld devices begin reaching their potential.

If we, the end-users, are happy about the decision I have to imagine that people behind services such as Skype are jumping for joy. Well, they aren’t exactly jumping for joy but it is clear that they’re quite happy. For example the Skype blog has this to say — Continue Reading

Okay, so it doesn’t rank up with the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, but a major barrier to communication just came down.  Until now AT&T refused to let customers use their iPhones to connect to services like Skype over 3G. All that changed in the blink of an eye, with AT&T making a surprise announcement.

Continue Reading

AT&T Wireless has announced, via a press release, the upcoming availability of the Garmin nuvifone G60.  The device will be available for purchase starting October 4th and it will be exclusively for AT&T Wireless customers only.

Back in April Wayne posted a video demo of the device in action.

The nuvifone G60 combines a top notch GPS navigation system, with voice, data and mobile web.  It’ll come preloaded with maps and tons of points of interest for the North American market as well.

The phone also features, 3G, Wifi, a touch screen Qwerty keyboard, 3 MP camera with auto focus, and more.

The G60 will sell for $299 with a two year agreement after a $100 mail in rebate.  Nuvifone Premium Connected Services which includes traffic updates, white pages, weather, movie, local events and fuel price content are available for $5.99/month after a 30-day trial.

You can read the entire press release here.

MMS Is Coming… and I’m still not sure what is so exciting about it. Admittedly I have never used MMS on ANY phone but still… why would I choose to use MMS over emailing images when emailing works just fine?

I am, however, open to finding out WHY it is such a big deal. So I turned to my friends in the hope that they would enlighten me. Here’s what they said…

Continue Reading

Sometimes a good title is all it takes. Take, for example, the title of a recent post over on CNET. It read-

“AT&T takes the phone out of iPhone“.

The title intrigued me. Better still, turns out the title was perfect for the piece. In it CNET’s Elinor Mills discusses the trials and tribulations of trying to make a phone call using a 1st Gen iPhone and AT&T’s service. It is, as she put it and far too many other know only too well, a hit or miss proposition.

What I most appreciated in the post was the she called out AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel when he tried to (once again) place the blame for AT&T lousy coverage on the data demands iPhones are placing on AT&T’s system. She writes, Continue Reading

Picture this: You live two and a half miles from your front gate, and you want to know who is entering or leaving your property; or you own a half million dollar mobile home that is kept at a storage facility, and you want to check in on it daily without actually driving to the edge of your city; or you own a vacation home that is only visited a few times a year, and you want to make sure that no one is squatting there when you are gone. Those are just three examples of why someone might need the new Brickhouse Security cellular-enabled Global Watchman.

Continue Reading

Are you an AT&T cellular subscriber suffering through poor signal coverage at home or in the office? Up until now there wasn’t much you could do except take the phone into the attic in hopes of catching an extra bar or two of signal coverage. For the last year (or two) T-Mobile and Verizon and Sprint all had offerings that boost signal coverage by way of an indoor signal repeater that’s attached to a subscriber’s broadband internet connection. Now AT&T is rolling out their own version. While there’s no pricing on their initial offering page the company appears poised to go live with 3G MicroCell coverage. Up to 4 users can share this portable signal repeater which you must initially place near a window so that the internal GPS can detect that you’re within an AT&T licensed coverage area (so forget about using this overseas). Unlike T-Mobile’s version (Hotspot@Home) the AT&T 3G MicroCell works with any AT&T phone. Check the site for information on when it will be coming to your area.

AT&T 3G MicroCell via Engadget

So, yesterday in my daily perusal of the web, I saw that AT&T had started silently rolling out MMS functionality for the iPhone in small batches.  It didn’t seem to have a rhyme or reason–some people on iPhone OS 3.0 had it, some on 3.01, and some on 3.1, all in different locations.

Some people in the Dallas-Fort Worth area were reporting working MMS, so the question at the forefront of my mind was HOW DO I GET IT!?  I’m an impatient girl, and I didn’t want to wait another 11 days for MMS on my iPhone if I could get it now!  A little more Googling and a few visits to the HowardForums gave me the answers I needed.  How can YOU get MMS working on your iPhone?  Well, I’ll show you.

Continue Reading