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T-Mobile USA quietly eliminated its $ 30 per month unlimited data plan for smartphones, notes Fierce Wireless. Instead, the operator is promoting four new plans. If customers go over their allotted data cap they will not incur overage charges but instead will have their data speeds throttled down to 100 Kbps (or less).

T-Mobile’s new HSPA+ smartphone plans now include:

• $ 10 for 200 MB per month
• $ 20 for 2 GB
• $ 30 for 5 GB
• $ 60 for 10 GB

T-Mobile now has Individual Plans, Family Plans and Prepaid Plans.

T-Mobile’s two new No Annual Contract 4G plans start at $ 50 per month.

• $ 50 per month: Unlimited talk, unlimited text and unlimited Web with the first 100 MB of data at up to HSPA+ speeds
• $ 70 per month for unlimited talk, unlimited text and unlimited Web with the first 5 GB of data at up to HSPA+ speeds.

According to a T-Mobile spokeswoman, customers will be notified via a free text message when they exceed their monthly data threshold.

Related Dailywireless articles include; Virgin Broadband: $ 20/month, Verizon Expands LTE Network,US Cellular: LTE This Year

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New research from the app analytics company Flurry indicates there are 500 million smartphones and counting, reports Paid Content.

While Android is adding more devices daily than Apple — 400,000 versus 375,000 — Apple still has a larger installed base.

Flurry is a joint solution with comScore that provides insight into mobile application user behavior.

Flurry Analytics provides accurate, real time data to developers about how consumers use their mobile applications, as well as how applications are performing across different handsets.

Flurry’s AppCircle service, analyzes a user’s phone apps and makes recommendations for other apps that the user will probably like.

Don’t expect the ad revenue in mobile games to be the major driver of sales, says GigOm. Juniper Research indicates that ad revenue in mobile games will rise tenfold from $ 87 million in 2010 to $ 894 million by 2015, but it will still be dwarfed by people spending on downloads and in-app purchases.

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In a statement made at MWC, Eugene Kaspersky (co-founder of Kaspersky Labs) said that he believes Android OS will consume 80% of teh smartphone market, leaving RIM and Apple to fight over the last 20% remaining, with Microsoft eating the crumbs off the table essentially. We know that Android has been hot and out-pacing many other mobile platforms in popular growth and activations as well, which may lend itself nicely to this type of prediction.

Eugene also said,”I believe that if Apple, BlackBerry, Microsoft don’t change their strategy very soon we will soon have the same mobile operating system landscape as we have with computers.” What he meant by that was the industry adoption of Windows PC’s, which left OS’s like Linux and Apple in the dust. Stephen Elop of Nokia mentioned that Android is a “black hole for innovation” for the wireless industry, but I’m sure he was just mad cause Google wouldn’t let Nokia mess with Android. I mean, why would you want to radically change something that is obviously out performing your own OS (symbian)?

Basically, it’s early to see if Eugene’s prediction come to light, but Android has definately been on pace to suggest those claims. Time will tell the tale.

Android will own 80% of smartphone market predicts Kaspersky Co-Founder

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Huawei made it known that they were going to be announcing their IDEOS X3 and X7 at MWC. Indeed, they held true to their word, releasing the news this morning that the devices will be available second quarter of this year is various European and Asian markets. Full press release after the break.
Read More…

Huawei Introduces IDEOS line – X3 Smartphone and X7 Tablet

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The Umeox Apollo smartphone from Intivation is a fresh new look at how mobile technology can be fused with Green technology. This little device has a solar-powered back, built-in flashlight, and runs Android 2.2. All packed in this neat little body is 320×480 capacitive touchscreen in a 3.2 inch display (about the size of an HTC Magic /T-Mobile MyTouch), bluetooth 2.1, 3 megapixel camera on the rear, 3.5mm headphone jack, MicroSD support, 1GB storage, and 512MB RAM. Also, it’s only 100g weight. thats what you get when you take out those big batteries I guess.

Pretty nice looking device, and a cheap price! $100 is all you’ll need to grab one of these, but don’t expect it to be a super fast device, basic smartphone usage will be lots for it to handle.

Intivation Umeox Apollo Solar powered Android smartphone

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Here is the new Acer Iconia Smart running Android 2.3, and looking long and slender. The look of the device is pretty nice, the fact its running Gingerbread is pretty sweet too. I’m just not sold on the size of this device. I’ll get to that in a second.

The Acer Iconia Smart has an 8 megapixel rear end with a 2 megapixel front, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, and 1024×480 resolution at 21:9 ratio, 720p video playback and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Pretty good specs right? I know. It’ll cost you about $499 and should be in Europe first around April, then the US by June/July.

Now, back to the sizing. It’s a long 4.8 inches…I mean, I have a 4 inch screen with 800×480 resolution and that feels big enough in my jean pocket. The press release says its “100% Smartphone, 100% tablet”…umm, no, I don’t think so. Remember Dell tried that with the Streak at 5inches, and it really didn’t fair well for them, they decided to go to the 7 inch and 10 inch models instead. I’m really not buying the 1024×480 resolution, great for internet usage, and reading ebooks, but terrible for games and watching videos cause you’ll have these blank areas of screen on either side. The UI is much nicer than the Dell UI however with some changes to the notification bar being on the bottom and what not, but the size man! I can’t get over how awkward it’ll feel in my pocket, unless MC Hammer pants come back, then fine.

What do you think?

Click here for the full Press release below.

Acer Iconia Smart – 4.8inch smartphone or tablet?

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The HTC Inspire 4G is an excellent addition to AT&T’s somewhat bare lineup of Android phones, but PCWorld had a hard time achieving ’4G’ speeds in our tests.

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A recent survey conducted by research firm uSamp has uncovered some startling news. Among Verizon’s current Android and BlackBerry users, 56 percent are planning to switch to Apple’s iPhone when it launches next week. Additionally 26 percent of AT&T’s iPhone users also plan to make the move. We just aren’t buying it, and here is why.

The survey conducted polled a total of 727 people chosen from uSamp’s database. That number includes both AT&T customers and Verizon customers interviewed. Assuming that it breaks down evenly, that means that only roughly 364 members of the poll were actual Verizon smartphone users, a mere 0.004 percent of the 9.3 million smartphone subscribers added last year alone. While we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume their polling methods are fair and true, such a small sample size really can’t be representative of what half of Verizon’s smartphone subscribers will really do.

Remember, many users are locked in on two-year contracts and don’t plan on paying the fees it would cost to break such a contract. By the time their contract runs out, who knows if they will even want the iPhone anymore or if they will have been enticed by some other new Android or BlackBerry handset. We’re just not buying that over half of Verizon’s users of those handsets will jump ship for the iPhone, merely on the economics of it alone.

But don’t let our opinion be the true measure, we want your voice to be heard. Do you plan on ditching your current Verizon smartphone for the iPhone?

[via uSamp]

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T-Mobile delivers a few jabs and a big right hook to Verizon and AT&T. T-Mobile releases a few statistics and graphs from network tests in Atlanta and New York City.  Already having 4G available, T-Mobile completely decimates AT&T’s and Verizon’s current data speeds, which is no surprise. With AT&T having their IPhone and Verizon unleashing theirs, T-Mobile stays on top of their game letting you know they’re not only less expensive, and they’re also offering 4G right now. Although Verizon is coming out with 4G, as is AT&T, they do not offer it on their IPhones. T-Mobile’s data plans start at $10 with 4G as opposed to AT&T’s at $15 and Verizon’s at $29.99 which are only 3G.  Currently offering 3 Android devices that are 4G capable and having over 200,000,000+ customers that can  utilize their 4G network it’s clear T-Mobile is a very strong contender in this market.

Source: T-Mobile

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AT&T announced Wednesday that it will soon add Mobile WiFi tethering. The $20 feature will first be available February 13, with the HTC Inspire 4G. Smartphones can be bundled with the $25 AT&T 2 GB data plan, for a total of 4GB for $45 per month.

AT&T’s mobile tethering plan will be an option on the company’s upcoming HSPA+ 4G smartphones, such as the HTC Inspire 4G, Motorola Atrix 4G, and the Samsung Infuse 4G. “We are working on bringing it to the iPhone,” an AT&T spokesman said by e-mail. “But we have nothing else to share at this time.”

Currently AT&T charges $25 per month for 2 GB of metered data. The new $20 monthly tethering fee, however, does not eat out of the same 2 GB data cap each month. It adds an extra 2 GB of data, so, for $45 a month, you get a total of 4 GB of metered data plus the ability to tether.

Verizon’s tethering plan also costs $20 per month and includes a 2GB data. But each additional gigabyte of data, costs twice as much on Verizon — $20 per GB vrs $10 per GB under AT&T’s plan.

It’s still no bargain.

The chart (above) shows my Clear WiMAX usage last month. My $40/month mobile WiMAX plan has replaced my DSL service. It’s truly unlimited. No overages.

• On AT&T’s HSPA network, my 55 MB/month usage would cost; $25 for 2GB, then $20 for an additional 2 GB on the tethering plan. If I used 50GB over that 4GB, that’s $10 per GB or $500. My cost would be: $45 + $500 = $545/month.
• On Verizon’s (slow) EVDO Rev A tethered service, my 55 MB/month usage would cost; $30 data plan + $20 2GB tethering option ($50 total). If the overage were 50GB, that’s $20 per GB or $1,000. My cost would be: $50 + $1000 = $1050/mo.

Clearwire delivers 4G speeds (3-6 Mbps). The cellular operators only deliver 3G at 1/10th the speed (300-500 Kbps), and price it astronomically.

The actual bill of materials and manufacturing cost of today’s high end smartphone is less than $150. The average US smartphone consumer pays some $2400 for a two year smartphone service contract. But early termination fees often extend to 36 months. Verizon’s Average Revenue Per User is $105/month. ARPU is lower in Europe, and much lower in developing countries.

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Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Google has confirmed that dreadful and unwanted news of Honeycomb not coming to your smartphone.  A company spokesman was asked the question whether or not Honeycomb 3.0 would make its way to handsets, Andrew Kovacs said “no…Google’s Android 3.0 or “Honeycomb” is a tablet-only OS, for now.”

It kind of makes sense though, doesn’t it?  According to various portions of the SDK, it was clear that some aspects of the source code was clearly optimized for larger form factors.  It raised numerous questions as to how this could possibly be delivered to handsets.

In an article by PC Magazine, Kovacs further states: Read More…

Android 3.0 Honeycomb Won’t Be Coming To A Smartphone Near You, Just For Tablets, Says Google

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Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) is for tablets only, right? That has been the word so far, with the Honeycomb operating system only seeing its home on as-of-yet unreleased tablets. But while digging around in the Honeycomb SDK, something interesting was uncovered. When you switch the default emulator screen resolution from the WXGA 1280×768 default to a more smartphone friendly WVGA, a new UI shell is triggered looking much less like a version of Android built specifically for tablets and a little more like something we’d see on a smartphone.

It’s hard to tell if this is a sign of early work being done to bring the current Android 2.x line of smartphone operating systems into sync with Android 3.0, or merely left over vestigial traces of the OS Honeycomb was built up from. The actual Android launcher crashes, so a replacement like Launcher Pro is needed to even explore this down-sized version of Honeycomb.

Gone are most of the tablet-friendly additions and back is the standard smartphone lockscreen. The new browser works fine, however, despite a lack of visible tabs. That status bar returns to something looking even pre-Gingerbread, so it is possible what we are seeing is just the starting-off point from which Honeycomb was born.

What do you guys think? Is this a sign of things to come or merely a sign of where we have come from? More images at the source below.

[via Engadget]

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Research firm Strategy Analytics reported on the overall sale of smartphones in the last quarter of 2010 compared to the same timeframe the year before. In the last 3 months of the year, 94 million smartphones were sold, which is a 75% increase over the last quarter of 2009. Sales of RIM and Apple devices were up slightly, but the main reason for the large increase was the sale of — you guessed it — Android devices. Between Samsung, Motorola, HTC, and LG, Android phones were counted in the “other” group, which accounted for 37% of all smartphone sales.

Not surprising that basically 1 in every 4 phones sold in the last quarter was a smartphone, and a large percentage of smartphone sold were Android. This is great for Android owners, and it draws in the development community, and gets us more, higher-quality apps on our favorite platform. And while Verizon’s iPhone launch may shake things up a bit, Android sales really seem to be in a very stable position. The upcoming year will be interesting to watch.

[via MobileBusinessBriefing[

Smartphone Sales up 75% Last Quarter, to Reach 24% Overall

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What do you get when you put voicemail, phone calls, and text messages into an Android App blender? You get HeyTell for Android, which will turn your smartphone into a Walkie Talkie! With this app, you can send voice messages to other HeyTell users just like you would send a text. It’ll go to their phone and sit just like a voicemail until they decide to listen to it later. Pretty cool app for people who don’t want to be bothered actually having to call someone and get stuck on a longer call than expected. Or even for those who don’t like to text because their thumbs are too big!

The app is Free for regular use, and has some added features available for purchase through the app such as voice effects, broadcast a message to multiple recipients, etc. Setting up your list of friends can be tricky, but once you got them added (usually by email invites), it’s gold.

Give it a try by scanning the QR below or hitting the link.

Android Market Link

HeyTell for Android turns your smartphone into a Walkie Talkie

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Any time a big announcement or event is coming up, companies involved love to tease us. HTC did it before CES, and with Mobile World Congress coming up in just a few weeks, it’s not surprising that we’re starting to see some hints dropping of what may be in store for us. This time around, it’s LG giving some previews of what we might expect to see announced at MWC…and in this case, it seems to be 3D handsets.

LG’s invitation to their showing at MWC teases the line “Into the New Dimension,” and when you couple that with their statement at CES that 3D handsets would be making an appearance “sooner than we might expect,” and it’s almost a certainty that 3D handsets will be shown off at MWC in a couple of weeks.

To add a little more fuel to that fire, several sites are reporting on short-lived ad on a Dutch retailer’s website for the LG Optimus 3D. While any of these indicators alone could easily be dismissed as unsubstantiated rumor, all of them combined makes it seem pretty likely that we’re gonna see our first 3D handset in Barcelona. We’ll be watching for the announcement, and we’ll bring you any information we can get our hands on as soon as possible.

LG Expected to Intro 3D Smartphone at MWC Next Month

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A few images have been leaked out over the possible new look of HTC Android handsets. They all look very slick, and no doubt will have great specs for mid-range to top of the line smartphones. These are of cource renders, and not “official” images. We’ll likely see many more official announcements with specs and images at the MWC conference in barcelona taking place on February 14-17 2011. But you can have a look at the images below and tell us what you think.

New HTC Android smartphone images leaked before MWC

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On January 19th T-Mobile will yet again launch one of their pretty enticing promotions.  All HTC devices, for qualified customers, will be given a 50% discount when you opt in for their Unlimited Web Plan.

Eligibility details are as followed:

• - You must be on a Individual or Family Plan Even More/Legacy Plan (Even More Plus cannot participate in this promotion)
• - Purchase one of the following HTC handsets with a 2-year contract upgrade: HTC HD7, T-Mobile G2, T-Mobile myTouch 4G, or T-Mobile myTouch Slide
• - Subscribe to the Unlimited Data Web Plan (obviously, the 200MB 4G Web plan does not qualify)

If you meet all of the above requirements, then you’re all set.  You’ll then qualify for the $100 refund by mail in rebate (sent via a visa gift card).  So, yes, sorry folks, it’s going to cost you out of pocket up front for the deal.  But we’re pretty sure T-Mobile is good for it.  The offer is valid through T-Mobile Premium Stores, Retail Store locations and via Customer Care.  The deal runs from January 19th through March 8th.  The promo offer is not valid in the states of Rhode Island, Connecticut and Dade County (FL)  Does this sound like a sweet enough deal for you to run out and buy that HTC device you’ve been dreaming about?  Let us know what you think in the comments in below.

HTC Smartphone Promo At T-Mobile on January 19th, 50% Off Phones

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