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Sprint Slashes Prices on Unlimited Plans to $60 a Month

3.23.09Horizontal_Full-color_on_whiteWe seem to be in the middle of a carrier price war.

After landing a new CEO, Sprint has been focused on appropriate pricing, after admitting their network can’t quite compete toe to toe with VZW or AT&T. The first step was offering up a new Family Shared Data plan which undercuts the big carriers.

Now they have T-Mobile in their sites with a new unlimited data plan. At $60 a month per line, it’s $20 a month cheaper than T-Mo’s unlimited offering.

“People know Sprint for Unlimited,” said Marcelo Claure, Sprint CEO. “We have long been the leader in offering customers unlimited data and that leadership continues today with our new $60 unlimited plan. Unlimited talk, text and data for $60 is the best unlimited postpaid plan available. And, we’ve listened to our loyal customers; we’re making the Sprint $60 Unlimited Plan available to both new and existing customers.”

Sprint__60_Unlimited_Compeititive_Comparison

The beauty of this announcement is how it catches T-Mobile by surprise. John Legre snarkily announced a new “Free Data” promotion meant to upset Sprint’s Shared Data Plans. Sprint’s move here goes completely un-addressed. Looks like Sprint’s new CEO Marcelo Claure is already making moves to change the perception of the company.

…customers can save $120 over two years versus T-Mobile’s promotional price…and they don’t have to jump through T-Mobile’s hoops and recruit their friends.

While Big Blue and Big Red duke it out in the major leagues, Lil’ Yellow and Lil’ Magenta are getting scrappy.

Full Sprint PR below.

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Walmart Clearing iPhone 5C Inventory by slashing Contract Price to 97 Cents

iphone 5c walmart saleA new iPhone will be announced soon, and stores are trying to clear out existing inventory. Walmart is making a move to push out the somewhat unpopular 5C model by cutting the on-contract price to only 97 cents. At “near free” one would hope it would finally give the aged 4S a run for its money.  Walmart has also cut the price on the 5S to $79 with a two year contract.

Consumers were right to be a little cautious with the 5C. It was a brand new phone line, which wasn’t compatible with many accessories designed for the 5/5S. It was unclear how it would be supported by third party manufacturers and by Apple itself. Would it receive software updates like the iPhone 5 or will it continue receiving support like the 5S? Will Apple launch a follow up “Cheap” model alongside the iPhone 6?  Those ecosystem questions are becoming more and more important to consumers.

Though if you’re looking for a good deal on iOS, 97 cents is hard to skoff at. Still, someone might want to teach the Walmart web designer how to use a decimal point… Looks like the 5C is 97 DOLLARS… Just sayin…

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LG Brings Two “L Series” Smartphones to Emerging 3G Markets

LG_L_BELLO(left)_and_L_FINO(right)_500Borrowing the design language of the G3, LG is introducing two new “L Series” phones built for emerging 3G markets. Following in the footsteps of Motorola and Nokia, It’s another attempt at building out a higher quality experience at an entry level price.

The L Fino features a 4.5″ screen at a resolution of 800×480 powered by a low power 1.2GHz quad-core, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of storage, and a 1900mAh battery.

The L Bello bumps up all of those numbers with a 5″ screen (854×480), a 1.3GHz quad-core, 8GB of storage, and a 2400mAh battery.

Both phones will feature 8MP rear cameras, with LG boasting best in class camera performance, and will run Android 4.4.2 KitKat.  HSPA+ (21Mbps) radios will power the 3G connection. Not a bad collection of specs, and just reinforces our stance that the next area of hot smartphone growth will be at the entry level as the premier flagship market is pretty well mature.

They’ll launch first in Latin American markets, followed by countries in Europe, Asia, and CIS following shortly after. Pricing and availability will be announced locally. Full PR below.

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Cupertino Will Be First City In California to Get Gigabit AT&T U-Verse

Fiber roll outs are starting to spread!

AT&T is announcing plans to introduce their “Gigapower” U-Verse service to more areas. The first city in California to receive full duplex gigabit broadband?

Cupertino!

Yes Apple’s home town will be getting data speeds 10 times faster than the beefiest cable offerings around these parts. Specific locations and dates will be announced soon, and San Jose, CA is also in consideration for a future fiber roll out.

Any company want to light up Los Angeles? Any one?  Full AT&T PR below.

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Barnes & Noble Teams with Samsung for $179 Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK Tablet

samsung nookB&N scored some early critical successes with their previous Nook tablets and e-readers. Standing up to Amazon at a time when the Kindle was one of the highest selling “Android” tablets on the market.

Barnes & Noble is partnering with Samsung now for their next Nook, a customized version of the seven inch Galaxy Tab 4. This Nook will have full access to Google apps and services while also including B&N’s Nook store.

The tablet sells for $199, but the bookseller is offering up a $20 instant rebate, and including “$200 worth of content” on the device with free e-books and TV show episodes, plus a $5 gift card to get you started in the Nook store.

Have you been rocking a Nook? Will this partnership with Samsung interest you in their offerings? Drop us a comment, and read Barnes and Nobles full press release below.

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PhotoJoJo Wide Angle Lens on a Lumia 1020 at the Petersen Auto Museum (4K Review)

As part of my Birthday WEEK celebrations, I finally got to take a tour of the Petersen Automotive Museum in LA. For the trek I paired a PhotoJoJo Wide Angle Smartphone Lens with my Lumia 1020, and here are the results!

More info on PhotoJoJo products.

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AT&T Confirms They Will Carry The “HTC One M8 For Windows”

Apparently Verizon’s claims of exclusivity weren’t entirely accurate, as we’ve just received a press release from Big Blue that they too will be carrying the Windows Phone flavored HTC M8.

The HTC “W8” will join the most complete collection of Windows Phones offered up by any USA carrier, and should give some of those Nokias a run for their money.

htc one w8 adWhile I’m really looking forward to see how HTC customizes the WP8.1 experience, I still think the name of this phone is tragically confusing. As I said in my VZW write up, “M8 FOR Windows” makes it sound like some kind of accessory for a Windows PC. I was really hoping to see a sleek sophisticated ad where the “M” in the M8 title flips upside down to become a “W”. Sigh… But I digress…

AT&T PR below.

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Verizon Shows Off HTC One M8 for Windows in Teaser Video

The phone is real. The phone looks good. The name is still kinda dumb.

Sorry Big Red, I just can’t bring myself to call this “The HTC One M8 for Windows”. I mean “HTC One M8” is already clunky enough, but “For Windows”? FOR Windows??? It makes the phone sound like an accessory FOR a Windows PC. Even “With Windows” sounds better. From here on out I will now be referring to HTC phones as the M8 and W8. No more “One” this and “For” that.

That said, the W8 looks like a great crossover to the Microsoft side of the fence. HTC’s build quality is second to none, and the changes made to the Windows Phone OS (allowing manufacturers to more easily swap over Android hardware) appear to be working.

Plus, many of the apps developed by HTC already have that modern minimalist look, which should help them blend in with Live Tiles. Blinkfeed for example already looks like a Metro app.

Lastly, it’s just nice to see another company giving Nokia a little competition in this space as we wait to see if Microsoft and Samsung will ever settle their licensing squabbling.

We’re you considering switching to a Windows Phone? Does an HTC W8 sweeten the deal for you? Drop us a comment! And catch Verizon’s teaser vid below.

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