Recently, AT&T’s attempt to merge with T-Mobile received negative attention from the Department of Justice. The Department of Justice filed a suit that would block the deal, due to concern that such a large merger would give AT&T an unfair advantage in the US Market.

Amid the concerns of the anti-trust claim AT&T completely withdrew its application for approval with the FCC, stating that they wished to focus all their efforts into the Department of Justice case first.

Now it seems that AT&T is preparing to offer a deal that will divest as much as 40 percent of T-Mobile’s assets as part of the acquisition. At the moment it isn’t clear which parts of T-Mobile might be shed in the arrangement or even if the DOJ will consider the deal at all.

AT&T hopes that such a divestiture plan will qualm the government’s fears about the merger. You have to wonder who would actually want to purchase just ‘parts’ of T-Mobile, though. It seems even federal officials have similar concerns with the divestiture plan and are preparing to argue against it. The Justice Department is firm on the idea that even a merger with only about half of T-Mobile’s assets would be harmful to the market. They even scoffed at AT&T’s claims that the merger will help it roll out new 4G LTE services faster, thus creating more jobs.

It seems unclear what the future will bring regarding this merger. AT&T seems more than determined enough to make the deal come through, but the DOJ seems just as determined to keep it from succeeding. For now all we can do is wait and see.

To be published in the Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine journal, “Exposure Limits: The underestimation of absorbed cell phone radiation, especially in children” says that setting the exposure limits based on adult absorption may not be terribly appropriate. Using the industry-designed process for evaluating microwave radiation, the study found that children were taking in twice as much to their heads.

But there’s more. Further study revealed that the hippocampus and hypothalamus in a child’s brain could be absorbing up to triple what an adult brain absorbs, as well as greater absorption in the eyes and up to 10 times more in the bone marrow. Presumably, this is because children have generally thinner bones and fewer defense mechanisms.

The FCC standard is based on a “a large man whose 40 brain tissues are assumed to be exactly the same,” but the paper is pushing for a more varied approach for different ages, including pregnant women.

Chances are that if you own a smartphone sold in the last few years, it already has GPS in it. I know that’s true of everything from the Nexus S to the iPhone 3GS. However, there are still some folks out there with feature phones and “dumbphones” that aren’t as navigationally friendly. The FCC wants to change that.

It’s not official yet, but the FCC is trying to pass a ruling wherein all mobile phones sold in the United States must have GPS chips embedded in them by the year 2018. That gives cell phone manufacturers a solid six and a half years to get their stuff together, but seeing how so many phones already do the GPS thing, it really shouldn’t be that hard. It just means that they’ll have some added cost to lower end phones.

The rationale is that the GPS would be used in tandem with an enhanced emergency 911 service. When you call 911, the dispatcher can then track your cell phone location using GPS and get help your way even if you’re not entirely sure where you are. For your protection of course. That’s under an ideal situation, but we all know how well GPS can work if you’re buried under a multi-level parkade, under clouds, or inside a building… and there’s a strong possibility that you may need help when you’re in one of these situations. What then?

There you are with your 32GB iPhone, jam packed with apps, music, videos, pictures, and all sorts of other content. Don’t you wish you had some more room? It looks like Apple is finally ready to answer some of your prayers, because we’ve spotted a 64GB version of the iPhone 4 and it looks pretty darn real.

As far as we can tell, this is not a retail-ready version of the device. For starters, it has all sorts of “placeholder” markings on the back like XXGB for storage, XXXXX for model number, and BCG-AXXXXX for the FCC ID. This is not unlike the iPhone 4 that was originally “lost” in a bar ahead of the official announcement.

This is a working prototype, though, and they were able to bring up the settings screen to show that it is indeed a 64 gigabyte model. My guess is that Apple will start selling this alongside an iPhone 5 with some other new features, not unlike what they did with the 3GS when the iPhone 4 rolled into town.

If you must have the 64 gigs now, you can find it in the Hong Kong grey market for HK$13,500 (US$1,734). Yes, you’re paying that much more for some more storage space. Don’t you wish the iPhone had a microSD slot like just about every other smartphone on the market?

[MIC Gadget]

Having a mobile hotspot is pretty useful when you’re traveling across the country with your laptop (and iPad) in tow. Having a mobile hotspot capable of latching onto the 4G WiMAX network from Sprint is even better, and that seems to be happening with the Novatel-sourced Sprint 3G/4G MiFi 4082 pictured here.

At least we think it’s a real product shot and not some enthusiast’s attempt at PhotoShop. As you can imagine, the new MiFi will work in much the same way as the countless other MiFi devices that have now infiltrated the market. You turn it on, it connects to the cellular network, and you get WiFi access to the interweb on your preferred mobile device.

Aside from the obvious appeal of 4G connectivity, it’s also nice that the MiFi 4082 looks a little sleeker than the current plain plastic numbers making their way through most other carriers. It looks like you’ll get some brushed aluminum and a shiny chrome bezel, assuming this photo holds true. The indicator lights above the power button don’t look too bad either.

No word on price or availability, of course, but the Sprint 3G/4G MiFi 4082 has reportedly finishing jumping through the hoops at FCC, so it should be in the clear any day now. You know, assuming Sprint is ready to go.

[Engadget via ]

Having a mobile phone equipped with a solar panel isn’t exactly anything new, but it’s far from being the norm or even well-known around these parts. In fact, there has yet to be an official release of a solar phone in North America and that may change with the ZTE Coral 200FM.

The decidedly basic candybar phone has been submitted to the almighty FCC for approval, representing the first solar phone that may be sold through an American carrier. As you may already know, ZTE is a China-based mobile phone maker who is slowly making some headway into the North American market. It already has a sizable chunk of the market share in China.

Aside from the glaringly obvious solar panel covering most of the back of the phone, little else is known about the ZTE Coral 200FM. I don’t expect to find multi-touch, haptic feedback, an accelerometer or anything like that. Based on the images provided, it doesn’t appear to even have a camera!

Source: Intomobile