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Here it is folks!
This is the Samsung I’ve been most excited to play with! Let’s take a first look at the Galaxy S5 Active and take it out into the field to see how it holds up!
Continue reading “First Impressions! The Samsung Galaxy S5 Active on AT&T – Rugged and Waterproof!”
Playing with this year’s flagship devices, it’s been great going back to see how good our phones were last year. In an era of premier phones all sporting 5+ inch screens, the HTC M7 stands as one of the last high end phones with a SLIGHTLY smaller screen. It’s a joy to use one handed, so that makes updates like these even more enjoyable.
HTC has really stepped up on the support front, and are following Google’s example in separating apps and services from full OS updates. The M7 is now getting updated to the newest version of Sense (the skin HTC developed to customize their phone experience). Now services like Blinkfeed and HTC’s TV remote app can be updated through Google Play. This brings much faster support to the ecosystem, as individual services can get updates and bug fixes without having to push OTA updates through carriers.
The M7 gets a great new Blinkfeed, it adopts the nicer camera app from the M8, and a few other goodies alongside the normal slate of patches and bug fixes. It breaths a little more life into on of the best Android’s from last year, and should prove to keep the phone running current software longer into the future.
You can check to see if you have the update by jumping into your settings, and AT&T’s changelog is below.
Continue reading “AT&T HTC One M7 Updated with Sense 6 – New Blinkfeed and Camera App”
AT&T has finally taken the wraps off of their next rugged Galaxy Smartphone. Following in the footsteps of the Rugby and the Galaxy S4 Active, the Galaxy S5 Active improves upon the line by offering up a more ruggedized experience with none of the previous compromises made by other “tough” phones.
The S4 Active was similar to the regular S4, but had an LCD screen instead of Samsung’s juicy AMOLED display, and the camera was an 8MP shooter instead of the normal S4’s 13MP shooter.
The normal Galaxy S5 is already water resistant, capable of surviving being completely submerged for short periods of time. This means very little re-engineering needed to happen to toughen up the S5 Active. It’s the same terrific AMOLED display with the incredible new 16MP camera sensor capable of shooting 4 video. This new Active is the same hardware, but bulked up in a more rugged shell. A little thicker, a little wider, but capable of taking more abuse.
The hardware navigation buttons also make a return. These have proven to be terrifically handy, allowing you to partially operate the phone when water or muck is on the screen, or when the phone is fully submerged. Capacitive touchscreens don’t work well with water, especially when they’re under water.
If the S5 is Bruce Banner, the S5 Active is the Hulk. It’s available now as an AT&T exclusive for $199 on contract, and customers can receive a $50 credit if they buy one with a Gear Fit smartwatch.
Related:
Galaxy S4 Active Review
Galaxy S5 Review
Love them or hate them, Carriers are looking for “value added” partnerships and updates like these provide opportunities to expose consumers to new applications and services.
Like the recent update for the Galaxy S5 (which did actually help improve my battery life, but included additional apps which can’t be uninstalled) the M8’s update includes some fixes and enhancements to Bluetooth and an Extra Power Savings mode to give more run time.
Interestingly, the update also includes the FitBit application. HTC doesn’t make an app like Samsung’s S-Health which can track fitness and sleep. M8 owners will need to invest in some kind of FitBit to make use of the app, and it looks like a strategic partnership between AT&T and FitBit to offer up a solution for HTC customers.
If you own a Galaxy, you can pick up one of the many Gear smartwatches, but HTC hasn’t entered that market yet, so while shopping accessories, it’s up to AT&T to provide a solution both in-store and on-device.
Of course, if you’re not into fitness apps, or use a competing service, many will chalk this up to “more bloat”.
Full update press release below.
Continue reading “AT&T Pre-Loads FitBit app During HTC One M8 Update”
When you start or answer a call, you might notice that your phone drops from LTE to “4G”, 3G, or 2G (EDGE/1XRTT). Carriers are looking to improve call quality, and that means needing more “room” for a higher quality signal. The hottest area for growth right now is LTE, so it only makes sense to eventually push all communication over that single pipe.
Starting May 23rd, in Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Wisconsin AT&T will be rolling out their “HD Voice” service on the Galaxy S4 Mini. Similar to how Skype works, a digital signal will carrier voice communications over data instead of traditional voice channels.
The long term goal being a reduction in the various radios and frequencies built into each phone to support text and audio communication, and the ability for carriers to consolidate the number of towers supporting 2G, 3G, and LTE communications equipment. When all of the spectrum a carrier supports can be dedicated to one wireless standard, it should help improve connectivity for consumers.
The full PR is below. Continue reading “AT&T Introduces HD Voice in Select Markets”
Competition is good.
AT&T is looking to bring 1Gbps fiber internet connections to over 100 cities and municipalities. On the list are 21 major metropolitan areas including my current home city Los Angeles.
“Californians are inventing and adopting new technologies every day. With today’s announcement, we stand ready to work with local leaders to bring AT&T U-verse with GigaPower to our state. This incredible technology will enable California entrepreneurs to innovate like never before and will give consumers the choice of an ultra-fast fiber network connection,” AT&T’s California President, Ken McNeely said.
Comcast has been upgrading connections to 100Mbps (one tenth the speed of gigabit fiber), Verizon has been stagnant with its FiOS offerings, but apparently the slow pressure building from Google Fiber was enough to move Big Blue to start offering up “GigaPower” to more consumers and businesses.
Whoever can run a line to my house first wins my business and some fresh baked brownies. You can read the full press release below.
Continue reading “AT&T Looking to Bring 1Gbps Fiber to 21 Major Metro Areas”
Have it your way! Even online!
The home of the Whopper is turning to AT&T to upgrade all of their restaurants with faster hi-speed data and WiFi in all of their locations. The biggest upgrade for the platform is a streamlined set up and connection process for faster data consumption during customer’s fast food consumption.
Full PR below. Continue reading “Burger King partners with AT&T to provide in-restaurant WiFi”
Competition is good. Even the threat of competition from companies like Google is spurring more traditional carriers and ISP’s to step up their game. Pricing is getting better in “threat” areas, and speeds are starting to improve. Google doesn’t even need their own Fiber service to be profitable for this experiment to be successful, so long as potential Google customers have access to the next generation of web, media, and advertising services.
Case in point, AT&T is already putting out rumblings of offering their GigaPower Fiber to another community outside of Texas. Residents in North Carolina might soon their broadband increase to 1Gbps over the next two years. This investment should also improve their LTE and WiFi hotspot offerings in the area.
Coming on the heels of Google’s announcement that they were examining expanding Fiber to 33 new cities over the coming years, traditional ISP’s are starting to take the threat seriously. It’s no longer a passing oddity, and are starting to proactively respond. Consumers only stand to benefit so long as competition is increased.
Full AT&T PR below.
Continue reading “AT&T to Beat Google in Offering Gigabit Fiber in North Carolina”