unlock

The 404 1,280: Where we dig up the truth (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Film crew to dig up Atari landfill site, maybe score 3.5 million copies of E.T.

- The opposite of standing desks: the computer workstation for the person with everything.

- Unlocking The Truth is the most brutal sixth grade metal band ever.

- Hatebeak: a death metal band fronted by a parrot.

- Ex-military snipers called into shoot feral goats from helicopters to protect Galapagos Tortoise population.… Read more

HTC selling unlocked HTC One for $574

Smartphone buyers willing to shell out some cash to grab an unlocked version of the HTC One now have their chance.

HTC is selling an unlocked edition of its new flagship phone for $574. The unlocked flavor comes with 32GB of on-board storage and sports the same features found in the carrier-based version.

The unlocked phone comes on the heels of the debut of the HTC One Developers Edition earlier this month. That model costs $649 but comes with 64GB of storage and includes an unlocked bootloader for people who want to root and modify the phone with custom ROMs.… Read more

Smartphone innovation: Where we're going next (Smartphones Unlocked)

The HTC One has a gorgeous chassis and a ton of camera tricks, the Samsung's Galaxy S4 pauses and unpauses video when you avert your gaze, and in the Lumia 920, Nokia was one of the first to introduce wireless charging and an ultrasensitive screen you can control while wearing gloves.

Yet compared with the real meat of what you do with a phone -- things like communicating with people, browsing the Internet, snapping photos, and playing games -- today's top phones are mostly all on par. Software and hardware extras that extend beyond the basics, while impressive, … Read more

German court invalidates Apple slide-to-unlock patent

In a legal victory for Google and Samsung, a German court has reportedly invalidated all patent claims related to Apple's "slide to unlock" user interface.

Today's ruling by Bundespatentgericht, Germany's federal patent court, is a setback for Apple, which has pressed the patent against Google's Motorola and Samsung in courts across Europe in attempts to secure injunctions preventing the companies' devices from being sold. However, the decision is appealable, according to Foss Patents blogger Florian Mueller, a paid consultant for several tech companies who was first to report on today's ruling.

The ruling, … Read more

T-Mobile said to provide LTE on unlocked iPhones on April 5

Unlocked iPhone 5 owners on T-Mobile's network might be able to update their devices to LTE a bit earlier than expected. According to TmoNews, the carrier is said to be sending out an update on April 5 that will enable LTE, Visual Voicemail, and more.

"The T-Mobile Carrier Update is a minor iOS software update that enables official iPhone support by T-Mobile," a notice sent to TmoNews says. "When installed, the software update enables a handful of capabilities like Visual Voicemail, MMS Settings, and Network/Device optimizations that customers do not have access to today. On … Read more

Prepaid or postpaid?: The fight for your cell phone dollars (Smartphones Unlocked)

This article originally published 11/11/2012 and was updated most recently on 3/25/2013.

Now that T-Mobile has smashed into the center of the no-contract wireless game, the tussle for your business between the contract and no-contract carrier model is even more urgent.

There's no question that the prepaid model is designed to save you money over a two-year contract agreement, but how much do you really gain by going prepaid, and what might you lose from the subscriber experience?

For the sake of comparison, I'm going to break down the cost of ownership over a … Read more

AT&T: Ban on unlocking phones won't affect our customers

AT&T said today that its customers shouldn't fear the law against unlocking phones because the carrier will do the unlocking for them.

As part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the Library of Congress has ruled it illegal for people to unlock their own phones, a decision that has irked consumer advocacy groups and prompted a petition to the White House to throw out the ban. The law, however, won't have any effect on AT&T customers, the company said in a blog post today.

"While we think the Librarian's careful decision was … Read more

Lawmakers join effort to legalize cell phone unlocking

A day after the White House endorsed cell phone unlocking, several lawmakers voiced support today for legislation to legalize the process.

The Obama administration threw its support behind an Internet petition yesterday that asks the Library of Congress to change its stance on the legality of smartphone unlocking. The process became illegal earlier this year when the Library of Congress, which has the responsibility of reviewing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act every three years, opted not to renew the exemption for unlocking phones.

The change, which prevents prevent cell phones from being used on other carrier networks, caused quite a … Read more

What the DMCA cell phone unlock ban means to you (FAQ)

There has been a lot of talk lately about about how it's now considered illegal to unlock your smartphone without your carrier's permission.

The change comes as part of a three-year cycle for renewing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (PDF). And in this cycle the Library of Congress, which has the job of approving exemptions to the law, decided not to exempt the software locks that carriers put on devices that prevent them from being used on other carrier networks.

The change has caused quite a stir in the wireless community since it took effect in January. An … Read more