Carriers

HTC may have vaulted to glory in recent years with its selection of Android phones, but last month at CES the company broadened its portfolio just a bit with the new Freestyle quick-messaging phone.

The Freestyle, which goes on sale from AT&T this Sunday, February 13, lacks the high-end features of the new HTC Thunderbolt and its simple design won't stand out in the cell phone crowd. Yet, for users who don't need a lot, the BREW-powered Freestyle should deliver.

The aluminum body features a 3.2-inch touch screen with just a few navigation controls below. … Read more

Best Buy announced today that it will have an exclusive on the upcoming HTC Thunderbolt for Verizon Wireless. Though it won't arrive in stores until the middle of this month, customers can preorder the Android smartphone starting today.

The Froyo-powered Thunderbolt, which first saw light last month at CES 2011, will be Big Red's first commercially available 4G LTE phone. On the outside it sports a candy bar design with a 4.3-inch WVGA capacitive touch screen and a virtual keyboard.

Other features include a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, messaging and e-mail, an 8-megapixel camera with HD video capture, … Read more

Good news, T-Mobile lovers! All T-Mobile phones will be offered for free at T-Mobile retail stores this Friday, February 11, and Saturday, February 12, just in time for Valentine's Day. Of course, you have to sign up for a new two-year contract, so it's not completely free. But it's still a great deal, especially if you want a fancy new HSPA+ phone like the T-Mobile MyTouch 4G. Do note that mail-in rebate cards might apply, and that the deal is only applicable in select locations.

Now that Verizon finally has the iPhone 4, we know that you have one question at top of mind. And it's not, "So what's the Wi-Fi hot spot like?"

Rather, you want to know how well Verizon's handset performs. And better yet, is it better than the AT&T iPhone 4? We don't blame you for asking either question, particularly in light of the widely held belief the AT&T iPhone experience is great until you need to make a call. I've never agreed with that theory completely, but CNET editors … Read more

By now the Verizon iPhone is well-steeped in a potent mystique brewed of anticipation for an additional carrier on one hand and a bitter distaste for AT&T's coverage shortfalls on the other. Tomorrow, the once-fabled Verizon-powered iPhone will land in the hands of existing Verizon subscribers before opening up to new customers next week.

As wildly as the American populace has envisioned Verizon's iPhone to cure all mobile ills, there's still plenty that Verizon's iPhone 4 lacks on its newfound carrier.

1. 4G Verizon launched its 4G LTE network this past December, but the … Read more

Just a couple of days ago, we reported that the HTC Inspire 4G for AT&T would launch on February 13. Aside from being the carrier's first 4G smartphone, it's also the first device to feature AT&T's Mobile Hotspot application. No pricing information was available for the service at first, but we have it now.

AT&T announced today that the feature will cost $45 per month for 4GB of data when bundled with the Data Pro data plan, which is required on all smartphones. Broken down, the Data Pro data plan costs $… Read more

If you use your phone primarily for making calls, you might not need unlimited text and data services. If so, you might be the sort of customer who would buy Virgin Mobile's latest handset, the Kyocera S2100, recently launched under its cheaper PayLo prepaid service. The S2100 is as basic as it gets, with only a VGA camera and Bluetooth, though it does allow limited Web and e-mail functionality with Yahoo Mail, Gmail, AOL, and Windows Live mail access.

The Virgin Mobile PayLo plan lets you have 1,500 anytime minutes, 500 messages, and 10MB Web access for $30. … Read more

After two years of lightly treading in the Android waters, AT&T is finally ready to start swimming for the deep end of the pool. And almost as if it were pure coincidence, the carrier's broader ambitions come into light as it prepares to lose exclusivity of the iPhone.

Looking ahead, AT&T has plenty of Android on the roadmap for 2011, confirmed by a recently leaked internal document. The details uncovered by Phandroid indicate that the carrier plans to offer at least 12 new devices in the coming year, including a pair of exclusive smartphones.

Looking at AT&T's current lineup of Android phones, it's hard to get very excited. Sure, the Captivate is a great device, but it doesn't stand out from the other Galaxy S models of its time. The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 is fantastic hardware, but it's hindered by the outdated software. The rest of the roster is a lesson in smartphone mediocrity with assorted handsets from HTC and Motorola.

The near future looks to take sharp turn for the positive, however, with three new phones deserving of your attention.… Read more

Verizon Wireless today rolled out an update to its Samsung Continuum Android smartphone. It's not an OS upgrade, but you do get an impressive array of feature improvements and interface tweaks. We'll let Verizon's official list (PDF) speak for itself, so check it out below. As with other over-the-air updates, it will go out to users in stages. But if you'd rather not wait, you can initiate (PDF) the update yourself from your handset's Settings menu.

Reply/Forward Visual Voice Mail audio files as attachments using a variety of e-mail providers.

Improved Visual Voice Mail … Read more