If you have ever spent any time in a major Chinese city, you would be under the impression that everyone is connected to the Internet in some way or another, whether through mobile phones or Internet cafe’s or home Internet. And you would be right, as the majority of Chinese do have access to Internet, but there is still (a lot) of room for growth.

For 2013, China has pledged to increase home broadband coverage by 70%. The new initiative plans to bring extra connectivity throughout China’s more rural areas and schools, and will see the erection of 180,000 new 3G base stations along with 1.3 million addition Wi-Fi hot-spots.

[ Source ]

The post China planes to grow broadband coverage by 70% appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Are you in the market for a new Android tablet? Do you want something bigger than the 7-inch display on the Nexus 7 and do you need to have wireless data connectivity? A pretty great deal has popped up on the Internet for the Motorola Xoom. It’s unlocked and ready to do the 3G thing with your GSM carrier of choice and, better yet, it’s selling for just a touch over half price!

You might remember my review of the Motorola Xoom Android tablet last year. It’s a seriously solid Android Honeycomb tablet which can be updated to ICS. This version comes with both Wi-Fi and 3G to go along with its 10.1-inch display and 32GB of internal storage. Power comes by way of a dual-core 1GHz Cortex-A9 OMAP 4 processor, 1GB DRAM, and integrated NVIDIA graphics.

When you consider that this 3G-enabled tablet originally listed for $699.99, the current sale price of $379.99 sounds pretty darn good. That’s $320 (47%) off the list price and it comes with free super saver shipping too. Having it unlocked certainly helps too, especially if you plan on doing any sort of international traveling.

The post Unlocked 3G-Enabled Motorola Xoom Android Tablet for Half-Price appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

What if I told you that you could get an unlocked smartphone outright for the same price (or less) than you’d be paying for a locked smartphone on a two-year contract? That’s exactly the case here today with the Nokia C6-01. This is a factory unlocked quad-band GSM smartphone that will happily work with you in North America and abroad. And it’s selling for half price.

Granted, this phone isn’t quite as new and shiny as something like the Galaxy S III or the HTC One X, but it can certainly still hold its own, especially given the price. You get pentaband UMTS/HSDPA, supporting 850/900/1700/1900/2100, meaning that it should work with both AT&T and T-Mobile, as well as with international GSM carriers. There’s an 8MP camera on the back with 720p HD video support, as well as GPS with free Ovi Maps Navigation, microSD expansion, Bluetooth stereo support, and a 3.2-inch LCD touchscreen.

Some people may decry the Symbian^3 OS, but it’s actually not so bad once you start using it. The homescreen widgets make accessing yoru contacts and messages super easy, and you can even get live updates from Facebook and Twitter. There’s a full HTML browser with RSS feed support, multiformat media player, and an FM radio.

Pick it up today for $179.99 outright in your choice of black or silver. As always, that includes free shipping too.

The post Daily Deal: Unlocked Nokia C6-01 US Smartphone for Half Price appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

It seems that a new iOS 5.1.1 error message has shown up that leads the tech world to speculate that Apple is considering implementing FaceTime support over 3G. The warning message is for when you enable or disable Wifi. When you first disable 3G it will tell you it might end your current FaceTime session, but obviously it doesn’t affect it at all. The same happens when you go to re-enable 3G.

FaceTime is a great way to talk to other users using video and the front-facing cameras on your favorite iDevice, but there has always been one limitation- you absolutely must use WiFi to use the service. Steve Jobs had originally stated that the service would be limited to WiFi until it had mobile carriers that were actively interested in the service. Perhaps the time has finally come? It’s hard to say at this point, but if you really want to use FaceTime over 3G now, it is certainly possible, provided you have an unlocked device and make use of a special download that, obviously, isn’t authorized or approved by Apple.

[ source ]

The post Apple Adding 3G Support To FaceTime? appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

After an uproar caused by the Verizon nationwide 4G/LTE network outages and more protests against Verizon’s intention to effect a so called “convenience” fee, the embattled carrier takes a defensive position in explaining their mishaps. Under unprecedented pressure and a threat of action from the FCC, the “convenience” fee was dropped to great relief of Verizon customers. However, according to many comments of disgruntled users of the Verizon network, sporadic service drops still occur.

To justify the network’s downtime, Verizon issued a press release with an explanation about what has been going on, and did it as early as December 29, 2011. That is, a day or two after nationwide outages of Verizon data networks (both 4G/LTE and 3G) were reported. According to the carrier, these problems are happening because Verizon is a pioneer when it comes to LTE, and so there are a lot of problems that are unforeseen:

Why have these issues occurred with our 4GLTE Network? Each incident has been different from a technical standpoint. Our engineers have successfully diagnosed those past triggering events, and they have not re-occurred. We also work diligently to rectify technical problems in the Network before they affect any customers.

Our 3G and 1X Networks continue to reliably process calls, texts and data for customers with 3G devices and, when necessary, 4GLTE devices. It continues to perform at the high level that established it as the nation’s largest and most reliable 3G Network.

Another important statement in this Verizon press release is this:

Among the numerous measures we have taken or will take are: geographic segmentation, which enables us to isolate, contain and rectify network performance issues, and maintain service to the majority of customers when an issue does develop; and software fixes that we have developed, tested and applied regularly – and will continue to do so. Both will improve performance and reliability.

It’s good to know, but it also should be noted that so called “triggering events” being different in nature for many locations may not be eradicated on anytime soon. Additionally, a proposed “geographic segmentation” may equate to a total overhaul of the entire Verizon 4G/LTE network. Which also can’t be made overnight.

The post Verizon Explains Recent Outages: 4G/LTE Network Needs Overhaul? appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Although Republic Wireless’ announcement of their $19 per month unlimited plan last month made everyone jump through the roof with joy at first, the rest of the deal seemed to be a downfall. But now, the upstart carrier has made another announcement which will allow you to fix your roof once again. From now on, the promised unlimited will be truly unlimited.

Just to refresh your memory, Republic Wireless came out last month and announced their $19 per month plan that promised unlimited talk, text, and data. The deal required a customer to buy the $199 LG Optimus S handset.

But the problem was that the handset was tweaked by the carrier in such a way that it uses Wi-Fi whenever possible for data and calls.

Access to 3G via the Sprint network was available but 3G usage had to be kept to a minimum. If a customer crossed the 3G usage limits the carrier could terminate the service. Therefore a customer could enjoy unlimited stuff, provided the bulk of it was via Wi-Fi.

But all that is changing now with the carrier’s announcement that they are eliminating all usage thresholds.

This is what Republic Wireless has to say:

“Rather than revising our fair use policy, we’ve decided not to have one at all. There will simply be no thresholds, and no risk of losing service. We’re doing away with all of that to keep all of the focus instead on where it really belongs: Creating a new wireless future together. A future that is simple to understand, unfettered to use, and an amazing value for all. That’s what we started down this path to do. That’s where the power of this vibrant community, dynamic Wi-Fi ecosystem and revolutionary technology should be invested. We’re all-in”.

This new move is certainly a big surprise, especially since the service is still in beta. But the phone will still be trying to use Wi-Fi whenever possible. But we don’t think there will be any problem with that. VoIP calls can be done quite well via Wi-Fi, and you will get 3G service for the incredibly low price.

Head here to check out the carrier’s full announcement.

The post Republic Wireless Goes Fully Unlimited appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Since the International Telecommunications buckled under pressure from cell-phone companies and redefined their definition of 4G to include any technology faster than what they had in 2009, cellular providers across the U.S. have been taking advantage of pretty words and undeserved titles to class up what is in fact not 4G. And it’s not just one or two companies.

According to testing done by PC Mag, 4G on AT&T’s network is actually slower than their 3G – which in turn is faster than what MetroPCS LTE 4G, which is focussed on low cost rather than high speed. On the other hand, Verizon’s LTE is faster than the majority of in-home broadband connections.

T-Mobile has already admitted that two of their 4G phones, the myTouch 4G and T-Mobile G2, are not 4G at all.

AT&T also confessed to “crippling the upload speeds” of both the Motorola Atrix and HTC Inspire, according to PC Mag, although the cause or reason is still unknown.

The patchwork of technologies covered by the collective label of “4G” is making the term more or less meaningless. Though Verizon’s earned the title with their ultra-fast LTE, AT&T seems to be doing all it can to discredit the notion that the technology is superior to 3G.

It may be better off to wait until 5G to upgrade your phone. Or at least until there’s a more universal, results-based definition of 4G.

Until then, if your phone takes more than a couple of seconds to load the next Mobile Mag article, just remember that the signal from your cell phone is going to space and back. That fact in itself is deserving of a little patience – if not awe.

[PC Mag]

The post AT&T 4G A Network Of Lies appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

The guide comes by way of Hexxeh and it’s pretty straightforward. As with any of these kinds of modifications, though, you’ll want to proceed at your own risk and know that it could “break” at any time. This is experimental, after all.

1. Pop your SIM card into the slot under the battery (must be a full-size SIM, microSIMs you’ll just lose in there, fine if you use an adaptor though)
2. Make sure you’ve enabled developer mode – do this by flipping the switch under your battery
3. Once you’re booted into developer mode and logged in, press Control-Alt-T
4. This opens crosh, a limited command shell. Since we’re in developer mode, we can get a full shell. Type the word shell and press enter.
5. You’ll get a shell that starts with ‘chronos@localhost / $’. Once you’ve got this, we can type in the command that flips over to GSM.
6. Type the following command: modem_set_carrier “Generic UMTS”
7. Wait a couple of minutes, then you can exit the shell by typing exit twice.
8. Your 3G should be usable assuming you have an active service plan on that SIM card, and that ChromeOS knows your APN settings.

It won’t be able to show you usage details, so be careful with whatever data plan you intend on using. You’ll also need to make sure that your APN details are already hardcoded as part of the list in flimflam.

Based on early tests, the GSM is working and people are able to get up to 4Mbps down through AT&T.

[Hexxeh.net]

The post How to enable GSM data on CR-48 Chrome notebook appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

The Motorola Atrix 4G and Motorola XOOM tablet might be taking center stage, but you shouldn’t forget about the Motorola CLIQ 2 either.

As you may have heard, this is the official follow-up to the original CLIQ and it’ll be heading in the same magenta-hued direction of T-Mobile on January 19th. I went hands-on with the device and it’s pretty much what you would expect with a 3.7-inch display, Android 2.2 Froyo, and the MOTOBLUR custom UI.

No, it’s not the slimmest phone in the world, but I really thought they took an interesting approach with the slide-out keyboard. It’s almost in a honeycomb-like layout (though, since it’s not a tablet, it’s not running on Android Honeycomb), with soft bouncy keys. Each key is slightly domed, giving you a better feel for where you are. It was remarkably comfortable to use, but I almost wish the keys had a little more “clack” to them. That’s just a personal preference.

The hardware doesn’t feel particularly high-end, but you have to realize that the CLIQ 2 is supposed to be more of a mid-tier device. It has good weight and responsive touch controls, but I still think I’d opt for the T-Mobile G2 (Desire Z) if I was going for Android on T-Mo. Or, you know, just go 4G.

The post Gettin’ up close with Motorola’s CLIQ 2 at CES appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Skype has grown to be a popular alternative of communicating between friends and family that are separated by long distances, due to the fact that it is both free to use and it wisely utilizes the webcams and microphones that are standard on almost all laptops and netbooks.

Up until yesterday the mobile Skype application had been limited with features and did not included video-calling like its desktop counterpart did. Skype released the latest update for the iPhone and iPod touch, among the improvements is the addition of video-calling for the iPhone 4, it allows a user to make video calls on either WiFi and or 3G network connections. Its ability to make video-calls over 3G is a surprise because Facetime from Apple is still restricted to making video-calls over WiFi.

The update will allow owners of the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and 4^th Gen iPod touch to use the two-way calling feature to other devices or to Skype desktop users. Users on iPad and 3^rd Gen iPod touch will only be able to receive video. To say that this is a welcomed update may be an understatement, and I am certain that everyone will find value in this new development; regardless of the minimal downtime Skype experienced earlier this week.

Improvements:

• Make Skype to Skype video calls on WiFi and 3G*

• Call Skype desktop users (Mac OS X or Windows) and other iPhone users.

• Two-way video calls supported on iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod touch 4th gen.

• Receive only video supported on iPad and iPod touch 3rd gen, with no camera.

• Make video calls in portrait and landscape.

• Skype video calling requires iOS 4.0 or above.

*Additional Data charges may apply

[Tek Goblin via iTunes]

The post Skype update allows video-calling over iPhone 3G appeared first on Mobile Magazine.