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AT&T is upping its Unlimited game, now offering two different options

Matt Adams
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The carriers are going crazy. For the past few weeks, we’ve seen Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and U.S. Cellular all release brand new unlimited plans or update current offering. Now for a second time in two weeks, AT&T is giving its customers more options.

Starting Thursday, AT&T will change how it offers its new unlimited plans. The more expensive of the two unlimited plans dubbed AT&T Unlimited Plus will offer unlimited talk, text, and data as well as 10GB of tethering. Prices start at $90 a month for a single line and will cost $185 a month for four lines.

AT&T is also leveraging its recently acquired DirecTV service to give customers more value. Customers who subscribe to one of AT&T’s video services, DirecTV, DirecTV NOW, or U-Verse TV, will also receive a $25 credit every month. That means AT&T Unlimited Plus customers with DirecTV Now will pay $100 a month ($90 for service + $35 for DirecTV Now – $25 bill credit) and customers who have full DirecTV service will pay as little as $115. A family plan will pay $195 for four lines and DirecTV Now and as little as $210 for four lines and DirecTV.

In addition to its Unlimited Plus plans, AT&T is also introducing a new plan with slower data speeds called AT&T Unlimited Choice. With Unlimited Choice, you get unlimited talk, text, and data with a max speed of 3Mbps and streaming video be capped at 480p.

A plan for four smartphones will run $155 a month, so $40 less than the faster Unlimited Plus plan, with single lines starting at $60. All of those prices are after autopay and paperless bill discounts.

This certainly seems a lot like the T-Mobile One plan that T-Mobile offered with limited streaming capabilities. T-Mobile recently did away with that plan to get more competitive, but it looks like AT&T is going to take it and run with it. It’s honestly a good idea to offer a lower cost option to those who really don’t care about streaming HD video on their phones so we’ll have to see how this works out for AT&T.

Huawei’s first Wear 2.0 watch is the obviously-named Watch 2.

Donovan Jeska
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The Huawei Watch was announced two years ago at MWC – it was released in September of the same year, and was generally regarded as the first of the truly premium Android Wear smartwatches. At 512mb RAM, 4gb ROM, Snapdragon 400 processor, and a hefty price tag of $349, it was impressive but rather cost prohibitive.

Fast forward two years, to MWC 2017. Huawei just announced the successor to the Watch; the Watch 2. I know, I know; bold naming convention. The specs are just a small step up from the original Watch: 768mb RAM, 4gb ROM, Snapdragon 2100 Wear processor, and that same crazy $350 price tag. IP68 ingress rating means you really shouldn’t need to worry about water or dust intrusions, unless you plan on deep sea diving with it on.

The real difference maker here, though, is the Android Wear 2.0 that comes pre-loaded. To take advantage of the autonomy that Wear 2.0 grants to the watch, a SIM slot has been added to the chassis to enable data when not connected to your phone. Watch 2 also has GPS, Bluetooth, and NFC for Android Pay interactions. Wear 2.0 also brings Assistant to Wear Smartwatches, and Watch 2 is no exception.

The Huawei Watch 2 launches in April for $349.

Motorola announces new mods for its Moto Z line

AndroidGuys
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One of the biggest pulls for someone to purchase one of the Moto Z devices is the ever growing list of Moto Mods. Today, Moto announced some new mods that may intrigue some new and existing users of the Moto Z line.

The most notable announcement is the Amazon Alexa mod integration. This will allow users who purchase the add-on to control their Amazon Alexa directly from their phone. So simple tasks such as checking the weather, setting a reminder, or adding to your grocery list are all accomplished directly through Alexa.  It ended this piece with a teaser that there is more to come with the relationship between Motorola and Alexa.

The tech giant also announced new mods such as the PowerPac mod, which will extend the battery life/capabilities of your device; Wireless charging mod; and aTurbo-power mod. It also mentioned a GamePad mod which, as you probably guessed, adds physical controls and additional battery life to your device to allow for a better mobile gaming experience.

Moto ended the announcement by stating that this will not be the end of the mod development. What mods would you like to see them release? What would you like to say to motorola about their current mods? Leave you thoughts below for the world to read.

ZTE looks to the future with its 5uper generation smartphone

AndroidGuys
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If you couldn’t already tell, MWC is in full swing and the day one announcements keep coming. ZTE has released some of the details of its new Gigabit smartphone. This would drastically increase the network speed possibilities of our beloved mobile devices. ZTE has chosen to put the Snapdragon 835 to the full test, making it the heartbeat of this new endeavor. We have not received too much about the device But here is what we do know.

Spec’s we know:

CPU: Snapdragon 835
Modem: Snapdragon 16x LTE
Antenna: 4×4 MIMO

Enhancement of Life:

In ZTE’s press release it calls out how network speed changes will “change human life” for the better. It makes the assertion that network speeds of this magnitude with bring HD to all mobile users. It will make cloud storage more viable to the mobile community, allowing users to step away from broadband WiFi connections to make large data transfers.

We look forward to seeing the developments that ZTE makes in the coming months, as well as what else it might release at MWC from the 5G development team.

What are your thoughts about 5G connections? Are we ready? Will it be a benefit or a detriment to our societies? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Nokia makes a grand comeback at MWC 2017

Alexandra Arici
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Do you still remember your first mobile phone? Not your first smartphone. I do – it was a Nokia 3310 and that’s why I am so terribly excited to be here at the phone maker’s MWC 2017 event, which is hosted in partnership with HMD.

The Finnish company with 150-years history is well-known for its ability to reinvent itself. It has stood by Microsoft and its Windows Phone ambitions, but that chapter is in the past. Now Nokia with HMD at its side is finally giving fans what they’ve been asking for all along – a Nokia phone with Android onboard. Actually three phones and a surprise guest star.

The first Nokia comeback phone with Android was released last month in China, but now the company announced it will be making it available globally. The phone is manufactured from a single block of 6000 series aluminum and bundles a smart audio amplifier with dual speakers and supports Dolby Atmos.

The Nokia 6 will become available for €229 in Europe (approximately $241). It will become available in Matte Black, Silver, Tempered Blue and Copper. However, on the global market Nokia will also offer a Nokia 6 ARTE version with a glorious piano black finish. The special edition features 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. It will cost €299 (approximately $315).

If you want to check out the full specs of the “average” Nokia 6 check out our in-depth article on the topic.

The Nokia 5 is a bit smaller than the Nokia 6 and its 5.5-inch display. It features a 5.2-inch screen and Snapdragon 430 processor. It’s available in Matte Black, Silver, Tempered Blue and Copper. The Nokia 5 will be available globally for €189 (approximately $199).

Last but not least comes the Nokia 3 which has a 5-inch display and a pretty hefty 8MP selfie snapper with wide-angle. Like its brothers – the phone has a metal body. Nokia believes that not only flagship phones should look good, so it has designed stylish handsets you won’t be ashamed of taking out of your pocket. The Nokia 3 will retail for €139 (approximately $146).

Nokia 3, Nokia 5 and Nokia 6 all run Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box and should become available in Q2 2017.

Nokia 3 in the wild

Nokia is quite excited to be part of the Android family. The company says customers can count on Nokia smartphones to be “pure, secure and updated.” The Finnish icon even had a guest from Google come up on stage and welcome Nokia to the Android bandwagon.

So basically you have 3 stylish looking phones with moderate specs and clean Android out of the box. Is Nokia trying to become the new Nexus maker? It’s an exciting scenario to consider.

Nokia also mentioned the  is coming to its Android phones and more, so it seems like the partnership between the Fins and Google is a strong one.

At the event, the Finnish company made happy quite a few nostalgics by unveiling the 2017 version of the super popular Nokia 3300 feature phone. The newcomer is colorful, comes with a larger display and offers 22 hours of talk time. And just for old time sake, the phone includes the Snake game.

Speaking of which the Snake will be available in Facebook Messenger too. Going back to the new feature phone, the device will retail for €49 / $62.

Aside from phones, Nokia also launched the Health Mate app – which allows users to have a personalized health care adviser – not just a fitness coach. Nokia says it cares about people becoming healthier, hence its push into health and fitness products alongside Withings. By the way, all Withings products will be sold under the Nokia brad from now on. Basically Nokia is trying to create its own ecosystem.

However, the company was mum about any upcoming flagships. Hopefully the Nokia P1 is still on track and waiting for the Snapdragon 835 to become available to other OEMs.

 

Samsung releases the Tab S3, Galaxy Book 10.6″ and 12″

Matt Adams
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As you probably by this point, Mobile World Congress 2017 is well under way over in Barcelona, Spain. We’ve seen announcements from LG, Motorola, and more at the industry’s largest trade show. Samsung took the stage today not to release the new Galaxy S8, but the Tab 3 and Samsung Galaxy Book.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S3

The Tab S3 is the newest in Samsung’s tablet portfolio. It seems like Samsung is really the only one producing Android tablets at this point. The specs stack up nicely against the competitors. Here they are:

  • Display: 9.7″ AMOLED 2048 x 15436
  • Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 Quad core 2.15GHz + 1.6GHz
  • Memory: 4GB of RAM
  • Storage: 32GB, expandable up to 256 with micro SD cards
  • Connectivity: WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, 2X2 MIMI, LTE CAT.6, Bluetooth 4.2
  • Camera: 13MP main camera, 5MP front-facing
  • Battery: 6000mAh with Fast Charging
  • Operating System: Android 7.0 Nougat

Samsung is marketing the Tab S3 as a tablet built for work and play. The tablet will support the newest version of the S Pen and come with the Samsung Notes application.

The presumably beautiful Super AMOLED display supports 4K playback and the tablet has quad-stereo speakers tuned by AKG by Harmon for “premium visual and listening experiences”. Whatever that means.

Samsung Galaxy Book

The Galaxy Book is Samsung’s first foray into Windows convertibles. The Galaxy Book is designed to be a powerful work centered tablet for on-the-go professionals that are looking for a computing experience not tied to a desktop. This seems like a direct response (albeit late) to the Apple iPad Pro.

There will be two sizes of the Galaxy Book, a 10.6″ and 12″ size. The 10.6″ is a little more compact with leaner specs. It has a TFT 1920 x 1280 display, while the 12″ version has a Super AMOLED 2160 x 1440 display. The smaller of the two will be powered by an Intel Core m3 dual-core processor clocked at 2.6GHz, while its big brother is rocking an Intel Core i5 dual-core 3.1GHz processor.

Both tablets feature 4GB of RAM and micro SD card slots. The smaller tablet has the option of either 64 or 128GB of storage while the larger has 128GB standard and the option to go up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Both feature USB type-C 3.1 slots with the larger tablet featuring a second slot.

If you need to video conference on the go both tablets have 5MP front-facing cameras while the 12″ Galaxy Book also has a 13MP camera on the rear of the device. Both tablets support WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/AC, 2X2 MIMO, Bluetooth 4.1 BLE, GPS, and are powered by Windows 10. The 10.6″ tablet has a 30.4W battery while the 12″ Samsung Book has a 39.04 battery and both support Fast Charging.

BlackBerry unveils its latest attempt at reincarnation with the KEYone

Donovan Jeska
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After two utter failures to break back into the smartphone market in the form of the Priv and Passport, BlackBerry – or more specifically, hardware partner TCL – has stormed back onto the scene with the KEYone, a 4.5″ device complete with Blackberry security and a touch-sensitive signature Blackberry keyboard.

Let’s take a look:

  • Snapdragon 625
  • 3GB RAM
  • 32GB Internal Storage (expandable up to 2TB via MicroSD)
  • 3505mAh Battery w/QuickCharge
  • 4.5″ IPS LCD Gorilla Glass Display
  • 12MP Rear/8 MP Front Cameras
  • Touch sensitive keyboard w/Fingerprint Sensor

I’ve seen a lot bloggers panning the KEYone for using an older, less-powerful processor, but I think it’s very important to be cognizant of the target market for a BlackBerry device. Generally speaking, the niche market for BlackBerries, the people responsible for making BlackBerry THE phone in the corporate marketplace, are – shockingly, I know- business professionals. As such, these people are – again, generally speaking – not as invested in having the latest and greatest inside their phones; they’re interested in having a device that gets the job done. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 625 certainly does that, and does so efficiently. Combine that with a 4.5″ screen, 3GB RAM, and a 3505mAh battery, and you get a device that balances versatile performance with strong battery life. It may not be a powerhouse, but it doesn’t need to be.

Tangent Time: People are so obsessed with every phone coming out being the latest, greatest, and most powerful thing on the market. But frankly, not everyone needs a flagship phone, and not everyone has $700+ to blow. The KEYone targets a very specific niche market – the thing that made BlackBerry great in the first place. It isn’t interested in competing with Samsung or LG for the title of Biggest, Baddest Badass on the market. BlackBerry just wants to hit its market and become relevant again.

Now; let’s talk about that keyboard. If it works half as well in practice as it sounds in theory, it’s going to be quite the selling point. Each key can be assigned to a custom shortcut, and it also acts as the traditional BlackBerry trackball; flick upward to add predictions when typing, or navigate web pages with scrolling gestures. Like I said – great in concept. I wanna see it in action.

The KEYone will release in April and retail for $549. I, for one, am pulling for ol’ BlackBerry, even if just for nostalgia’s sake.

Motorola debuts the Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus at Mobile World Congress 2017

Matt Adams
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The announcements are heating up at Mobile World Congress 2017. Motorola has taken the stage to release the newest entry to its Moto G lineup, the Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus. The budget-friendly phones are spruced up this year with an all new metal design and a premium camera while still remaining light on the wallet.

Headlining the spec sheet is 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage for the Moto G5 and 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage for the Moto G5 Plus. Both devices will feature 1080P displays with the Moto G5 measuring in at 5″ and the G5 Plus stretching it out to 5.2″.

The two devices have only slight differences in battery and camera. The G5 features a 12MP shooter and a 2800mAh battery while the G5 Plus has a 12MP camera and a 3000mAh battery. Both devices will support fast charging and come with a 10W rapid charger in the box that is capable of charging up the battery with hours worth of juice in only a couple of minutes.

While the Moto G5 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor, the G5 Plus will be powered by the Snapdragon 625 which has featured in the Moto Z Play and Blackberry KeyOne. The G5’s SD430 will be clocked at 1.4GHz, while the G5 Plus’ SD625 will be clocked at 2.0GHz.

On the software front, the G5 and G5 Plus will feature the popular Moto Display. The G5 Plus also has the option to navigate through screens using only the fingerprint reader. After playing around with on the Pixel, we’re very excited to see more phones incorporating it. Google Assistant also comes on board out of the box.

Both of the devices will now be made of metal and will be available in Lunar Gray or Fine Gold and will be available in March in various countries across Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and North America. The Moto G starts at $200 with prices rising up to about $300 for the Moto G Plus.

ASUS’ poorly spelled ZenFone 3 Zoom delayed in the U.S.

Donovan Jeska
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ASUS announced on Facebook (Thanks, GSM Arena) Thursday that the ZenFone 3 Zoom (be still, my Spelling-Nazi heart) has been delayed until Q2 2017 (between April and June) instead of the previously announced Q1 (January through March).

Now, product delays are nothing new in the technology world; as complex and ever-evolving as the market is, it’s only natural that companies run into manufacturing snags, design problems, etc. When it comes to phones, though, manufacturers generally don’t hold back their releases, preferring instead to rush the job and meet the deadline than do the job right and not have their batteries explode. In case you’ve been living under a rock or don’t read thinly-veiled shots well, that’s me casting a shade-laden sidelong glance at Samsung.

In a world of razor-thinned phones, the thick-bodied, massive-batteried phone that can go all day and night is King.

ASUS decided to take the PR hit by delaying its product in order to improve the specifications and make it a more competitive device. It didn’t announce any specific changes or a release date for the ZenFone 3 Zoom, but I have to give ASUS credit for acknowledging a problem and taking steps to give it’s customers a better product.

For those of you that may not have heard much about the ZenFone 3 Zoom, here’s a quick rundown of what the phone was originally going to be (keep in mind, though, that these specifications are likely to change):

[graphiq id=”9lLtg5lYNtb” title=”Asus ZenFone 3 Zoom” width=”600″ height=”548″ url=”https://w.graphiq.com/w/9lLtg5lYNtb” ]

Google Assistant is coming to a phone near you soon

Matt Adams
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One of the biggest selling points for the Google Pixel and Google Pixel XL has been the inclusion of Google Assistant. The conversational personal problem solver has sometimes felt like a beta product but has been useful enough for Google to continue the endeavor instead of killing it like so many other products in its lineup.

Now, it’s coming to even more devices. Starting soon, all devices on Android 6.0 Marshmallow and Android 7.0 Nougat will have access to Google Assistant. With just a long-press of the home button or shouting “Ok Google” Assistant will pop up ready to help.

Google Assistant on the Samsung Galaxy S7, LG V20, and HTC 10

Starting soon, Assistant will roll out to English users in the United States followed by Australian, Canadian and UK English users and German speakers in Germany. Google says that it will add more languages over the coming year. To be eligible to use Google Assistant you’ll need to have Google Play Services installed on your device as well.

Google has been expanding the reach of Assistant recently. Up until recently it only came baked into Google Home, Google Allo, on the Pixel, and in Android Wear. Now we’re going to see a massive expansion of the assistant, and hopefully, a massive expansion of functionality too.

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