Mobile — Mobile | GigaOM

Mobile

In a bid to encourage more customers to use their mobile phone as a wireless hotspot, Sprint has revamped its mobile hotspot tethering services on smartphones. There’s a new lower-priced plan but it will cost more per gigabyte. So will the new $50 plan. Read More »

Apple may be planning to add 3G data support for FaceTime on iOS devices, based on some recently published screenshots. Many have wanted FaceTime on a mobile broadband instead of Wi-Fi networks. But I’m not sold that it’s a good idea. Here’s why. Read More »

 
 

T-Mobile is the per GB charges for its no-contract data plans.The overall price of the low-capacity one week plan is now rising to $15, but customers it provides 3x the amount of broadband. There is also a new middle-tier plan, making for three monthly plan options. Read More »

This probably won’t shock you, but tablets connected to 3G and 4G networks consume a lot more data than their smartphone equivalents. However, on Tuesday video optimization vendor Bytemobile reported exactly how much: iPads eat up three times more data than iPhones over the cellular network. Read More »

The number of new LTE devices is up 76 percent in the past three months but tablets, not smartphones, are driving more of this growth. Carriers are mistakenly feeling the strong need to fight back against lower-priced, no contract Wi-Fi slates as tablet sales rise. Read More »

Approximately 90 percent of all tablets in the U.S. relied on Wi-Fi over 3G mobile broadband last year, according to industry analyst Chetan Sharma. The data suggests that carriers aren’t a needed distribution chain for slates for several reasons: long-term contracts and redundant data plans. Read More »

An Apple store in China.

After leading the world in smartphone sales, the U.S. reign is over. China will take over the top spot this year and has no plans of looking back. India and Brazil are also moving up, bringing a “second coming of the smartphone” to the world. Read More »

Your LTE phone is just as adept at eating battery power as it is at eating bandwidth. Last week, I wrote about the many ways that LTE devices are far more power hungry than their 3G predecessors. Now let’s look at what’s being doing about it. Read More »

LTE phones are the fastest things on the airwaves, but they can also suck a battery dry in a few hours. Here are five reasons why your new Samsung Galaxy Nexus or HTC Vivid is going dead right after lunch time. Read More »

Mobile VoIP provider Rebtel crossed key milestones on Friday, indicating that the VoIP market is growing. Rebtel, which offers low-cost and free calls over 3G and Wi-Fi, cracked the 15 million user mark and claims its average revenue per user is three times greater than Skype’s. Read More »

The FCC is trying to get rural Americans online, and to help, later this year carriers can apply for part of a $300 million fund to bring wireless broadband to the heartlands. Only it’s not the heartlands, as the nifty interactive map shows. Read More »

On average, 100 million people watch the Super Bowl. With connected devices everywhere, we’ll be tweeting about it and sharing thoughts on social networks. So will fans at the game. Here are some staggering numbers showing how Super Bowl 46 is ready for such mobility. Read More »

More Must Reads

Mobile data is picking up momentum in Latin America as the number of 3G connections in the region doubled in 2011. Operators in Latin and South America are shutting down their CDMA networks, replacing them with UMTS systems, resulting in a huge surge in data adoption. Read More »

Next month, consumers in smaller towns and cities across the U.S. will have access to their first LTE network as U.S. Cellular ramps ups its commercial 4G service. The regional CDMA operator will start selling a tablet in March and a Galaxy smartphone in April. Read More »

T-Mobile may soon begin restricting roaming data usage to cut down on the amount of packets its customers consume off the carrier’s networks. If true, the new caps could affect many of T-Mobile’s customers, though the size of the impact on each customer may be small. Read More »

Super Bowl 46 is around the corner, and Verizon is taking huge steps to ensure the mobile broadband flows as fast the beer at Lucas Oil Stadium. Here’s a video look at the effort, which includes a 600 antenna Wi-Fi system for up to 28,000 people. Read More »

China is closing in on the 1 billion mobile connections mark, according to a new Wireless Intelligence report. China has always been a world power in wireless, but it’s set to become more significant still as its huge population embraces mobile data services. Read More »

Virgin Mobile will begin to reduce the mobile broadband speeds of smartphone users on March 23, following a similar path as T-Mobile, AT&T and others who have offered unlimited plans. Facing huge demand for mobile data, the days of truly unlimited plans appear numbered. Read More »

According to a Verizon executive, Big Red will no longer accept smartphones and tablets unless they have LTE connectivity. The revelation shows just how aggressive Verizon is pushing its 4G strategy and almost certainly indicates the next iPhone will have LTE. Read More »

The Galaxy Nexus will finally get Google Wallet, though it will have to wait until mid-year when Sprint launches its LTE service. When Sprint unveiled its future LTE device portfolio at CES, it revealed that its Nexus will come with the mobile payments software embedded. Read More »

Qualcomm CEO Dr. Paul Jacobs shared his mobile vision at CES Tuesday, with much of the focus on emerging markets. With half of all smartphones expected to be sold in emerging markets by 2015, it’s no wonder the chipmaker is looking to innovate beyond traditional borders. Read More »

Sprint is walking back comments from CEO Dan Hesse on Thursday about Sprint throttling data speeds of its heaviest data users. At a conference Thursday, Hesse clearly stated Sprint was reining in bandwidth for its greediest smartphone customers, but Sprint maintains unlimited remains unlimited. Read More »

Google announced that last year’s Nexus S handset will start to get Android 4.0; the GSM models first over the coming month. Those who can’t wait for Android 4.0 on a CDMA smartphone can get one as Verizon’s Galaxy Nexus with LTE support launched this week. Read More »

News of a rumored smaller iPad made the rounds on Friday as Asian supply channels indicate a 7.85-inch model will arrive in late 2012. With iPhone sales rising, there’s less of a need for the iPod touch line, paving the way for less expensive Apple tablets. Read More »

While mobile device usage has been steadily growing for years, 2011 was the year that mobile took over the world. This two-minute video from MobileFuture illustrates this view, recapping key mobile datapoints: 8 trillion texts this year and 26 Instragram photos shared every second, for example. Read More »

My Galaxy Nexus smartphone is now capable of receiving free voice calls and making low-cost outbound calls on a data-only mobile broadband plan. How can you send and receive calls on a smartphone without a voice plan? Android’s native SIP integration is a big help. Read More »

The HTC Titan arrives on Nov. 20 as AT&T’s largest phone yet, thanks to a 4.7-inch display. Priced at $199 with two-year contract, the Titan runs on Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7.5 platform and offers the same mobile broadband capabilities as Apple’s iPhone 4S on AT&T’s network. Read More »

Introduced in 2009, Novatel Wireless’s MiFi sales topped the 3 million mark on Monday. The big number is no surprise because of the MiFi’s simplicity and utility: press a button and share a mobile broadband connection over Wi-Fi. Smartphones and software could mute future sales, however. Read More »

MiFi mobile hotspots aren’t new, but not everyone wants the two-year data contract that comes with one. TruConnect launched a new 3G MiFi on Monday for $90 that uses Sprint’s 3G network, doesn’t require a contract and costs $0.039 per megabyte; great for a Wi-Fi tablet. Read More »

Imagine buying your SIM-free mobile phone from a local electronics store, logging in as soon as you turn the phone on for the first time and having the phone ready to use immediately. In the future, even the phone number itself will disappear. Read More »

Windows Phone 7 sales have been slow, but Microsoft is steadily building up the platform with more apps and features. The latest is the ability share a mobile broadband data connection in the Mango software update, but it appears carriers will have control over its use. Read More »

Android and iOS phones lead the world, but Alibaba thinks China can use another smartphone OS. The Aliyun platform is a cloud OS that’s also runs Android apps. China still has massive room for smartphone growth, so the device may actually have a chance to succeed. Read More »

Verizon’s newest Android tablet arrives in stores this week and supports the operator’s 4G network. But wait, haven’t we heard that before? The Motorola Xoom is still waiting for its upgrade to use Verizon’s LTE network, but the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is ready to roll. Read More »

Zinio now supports Google Android handsets, bringing content from 1,000 digital magazine publishers to smartphones and small tablets running Android versions 2.2 and 2.3. A first look at the new software shows a positive experience, but it may be better suited to devices with larger screens. Read More »

While the choice of Via Technologies is not critical if restricted to this one model, if a similar switch away from Qualcomm chipsets occurred across all Samsung’s CDMA phone models, it would represent a real challenge to the market’s status quo. ABI Research VP of Engineering … Read More »

AT&T is getting ready to launch its LTE network, and the first two devices that can use it have been introduced. One is a mobile hotspot, while the other is a USB data stick, but both should handle seamless transitions between 3G and 4G networks. Read More »

Nearly half of the page views from Apple iPhones come through a Wi-Fi network as does 91.9 percent of iPad web browsing. Android device users use more mobile broadband, but why? Here are four reasons that explain this broadband phenomenon, which is unlikely to change soon. Read More »

The number of HSPA subscribers is set to top 500 million globally by the end of this month and is expected to double by the end of next year. Network operators will have to invest more than $100 billion through 2015 to meet this growing demand. Read More »

Verizon Wireless today announced an April 28 launch for the HTC Incredible 2, a successor to one of the carrier’s most popular Google Android handsets from last year. Although the handset can’t use Verizon’s 4G network, it may appeal to frequent travelers due to GSM support. Read More »

The number of U.S. smartphone users is on the rise: 29.4 percent of Americans have one says comScore. Oddly, the amount of people using smartphones for data-intensive activities is very low, indicating that new smartphone owners are paying for the networks that tech-savvy people are using. Read More »

Eleven years ago Britain’s auction of 3G wireless spectrum broke records by raising more than $36.7 billion. So today, when the news broke that the even faster 4G spectrum will be auctioned off next year, why were analysts so underwhelmed? Read More »

Can Wi-Fi draw potential shoppers into a traditional retail store? According to a survey of 1,088 consumers, yes it can: 80.5 percent say they prefer a store with Wi-Fi. That allows them to research products reviews without having to worry about mobile broadband data caps. Read More »

Unless you have an unlimited data plan for your Android device, you’ll want to check SPB Wireless Monitor, a $10 app that watches data use and alerts you at configurable intervals. Alerts are based on bandwidth or costs and it tells which apps are data hogs. Read More »

Only 7 percent of customers recently polled are interested in a mobile broadband data dongle, down from 20 percent just three years ago. Wi-Fi and the Mi-Fi are reducing demand for single-device data sticks, but smartphones with mobile hotspot capabilities show potential of a larger impact. Read More »

Google Voice has long been tied to Android devices, but now a free iOS app I’m testing on my iPod touch brings voice calling to contacts over Wi-Fi or 3G. Talktatone is also a multitasking Google Talk chat client and allows location sharing with your friends. Read More »

loading external resource
Click to log in with: Not you?
Comment as guest:
By continuing you are agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Submitting comment...
results