The Sony Xperia ZL has been available from the Sony website since March, but if you have been waiting for their Xperia Z, then your day has come. The handset is now available through the US Sony Store.

The device is available unlocked, in black, white, and purple colors, with a price tag of $630. But, it will only work on AT&T’s HSPA+ network, there is no LTE.

Fortunately, Sony has decided to ask the same price for its Xperia ZL. So for $630 (down from $760), you can choose the ZL with LTE and the same hardware as the Xperia Z, though no water-resistivity. Or you can simply wait for an official LTE version to launch on AT&T, although there is no certainty about that happening. There have also been rumors and leaks about the Z heading to T-Mobile.

So, are you going for one of the Xperia phones? Or are you interested in the S4’s extra power under the hood? Maybe our comparison will help you to make a decision.

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Starting on September 5, T-Mobile USA will offer a truly unlimited data option where you get to stick with the company’s 4G speeds regardless of how much data you consume. Go ahead and stream that Internet radio and watch YouTube clips to your heart’s desire. This truly unlimited data option rivals what MetroPCS announced just yesterday. Keep in mind that both Verizon and AT&T cap their data, so that leaves Sprint as the only other major carrier to have unlimited data.

To get unthrottled unlimited data with T-Mobile, you’ll need to tack on an additional $20 fee on top of the existing $49.99 unlimited plan. That brings you up to $69.99, which is still cheaper than the totally unlimited plan from Sprint. Now if only T-Mobile could figure out a way to get the iPhone 5 as part of its lineup…

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The post Truly Unlimited High-Speed Data Coming to T-Mobile USA, No Really appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

As far as American carriers are concerned, it looks like at least T-Mobile and Sprint are getting it, but there’s no official mention or word for Verizon or AT&T yet. The Sprint version will likely be equipped with the ability to use the upcoming 4G LTE network, whereas the T-Mobile version could make use of their HSPA+ network instead. It has been postulated that the T-Mobile version will be the only one with a quad-core chip, since the LTE versions would require either an external 4G LTE modem or a non-Samsung dual core chip with LTE (likely the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4).

Given the history, we’re expecting the LTE version to arrive at all of Canada’s big three (Rogers, Bell, and Telus) some time this summer, which should be the same launch window for T-Mobile and Sprint.

In case you missed it, here’s a rundown of some of the key specs and features: 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED 720p display, Android 4.0 ICS, 8MP rear camera, 1.9MP front camera, S Beam, AllShare Play, AllShare Cast, S Voice, burst shot mode, Smart Stay, Social Tag, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, GPS, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, 16/32/64GB storage, microSD expansion (up to 64GB) and a 2100mAh battery.

The post Samsung Galaxy S III Headed to T-Mobile and Sprint appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Up here in Canada, the Galaxy Note is available from the big three: Bell, Rogers, and Telus. In the United States, though, the massive phablet is exclusive to AT&T. What if you’re on T-Mobile and you want some 5.3-inch AMOLED goodness? Well, it looks like you can do that too, even if it’s a little unofficial.

The interesting thing about the AT&T version of the Samsung Galaxy Note is that it really is capable of using T-Mobile’s bands right out of the box. You just have to let it do that. In order to get the Note on Old Magenta, you need to load up a custom modem software that lets the phone latch onto those T-Mobile HSPA+ airwaves.

Naturally, the Galaxy Note must first be rooted before you can do any of this kind of tinkering and, even after that, dealing with the modem configuration files can be a little daunting for the uninitiated. If you’re willing to take that leap of faith, though, you’ll find that voice and data work just fine on T-Mobile, albeit at weaker than normal reception levels.

The full instructions can be found on XDA Developers.

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So, what exactly can we expect from the new iPad and how does the real deal stack up against the rumors that had been swirling around. First, the Retina Display has indeed come to fruition. The new 9.7-inch panel boasts a resolution of 2048×1536, quadrupling the pixel count of the iPad 2. That results in a pixel density of 264ppi.

Instead of an A6, Apple did go ahead with the Apple A5X processor with a new quad-core graphics processor. That’s supposed to be “four times” as fast as NVIDIA’s Tegra 3. Also as expected, the camera got an upgrade too. The new iSight camera is a 5MP shooter with backside-illuminated sensor and 1080p video support. The front camera for FaceTime is still VGA, falling short of the 2MP rumors we had heard.

4G LTE and HSPA+ are both in tow, resulting in models that’ll play friendly with the faster networks on AT&T, Verizon, Rogers, Telus, and Bell. If your carrier chooses to support it, the new iPad will also have a built-in wireless hotspot function too. Battery is being claimed at ten hours, but there’s a trade: the new iPad is fatter and heavier than the iPad 2.

While earlier rumors said that the new iPad could cost about $70 more than the iPad 2, that didn’t hold true at all. The 16GB Wi-Fi model holds steady at $499, whereas the 4G capable version is $629. If you want more storage, a bump to 32GB is $100 more and a bump to 64GB is $200 more. That means that the 4G model with 64GB tops out at $829. Preorders start today in Canada, US, UK, France, Germany, Switzerland and Japan with the official launch slated for March 16. About 100 more countries will join the new iParty a week later on March 23.

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While the official rollout across “several provinces” happens on February 10, your local mileage will likely vary somewhat. The new LTE network will supplement the existing HSPA+ network and it should be accessible by 25 million customers by the end of the year. The initial launch cities include 14 cities: Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Kitchener, Waterloo, Hamilton, Guelph, Belleville, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, Yellowknife and Halifax.

Not surprisingly, the LTE rollout needs to coincide with some LTE compatible products. We already know that the Samsung Galaxy Note will be arriving next week, for example, in addition to devices like the LG Optimus Black. They’re claiming speeds of between 12Mbps and 25Mbps with a theoretical maximum of 75Mbps. It will be interesting to see how the speeds compare to Rogers and Bell.

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The post Telus Joins the Canadian 4G LTE Party appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

T-Mobile hasn’t announced much about their upcoming Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G (pictured above). What we do know is that the handset will come with a 1.5GHz Snapdragon S3 processor, Android (most likely Gingerbread) and a “brilliant Super AMOLED touch screen”. Yes, no Super AMOLED Plus or HD.

And we are not seeing a “II” after that “S” anywhere on the press release. From the looks of things, the carrier is most probably going to launch a reworked Galaxy S 4G. Hopefully they will release an HD variant of the Galaxy S II.

But whatever the carrier is launching, the device will have access to T-Mobile’s 42Mbps HSPA+ network.

And speaking of network, the carrier has also announced that they have doubled the speed of its 4G network in 12 additional markets. Now, 184 million Americans in 175 markets will be covered with HSPA+ 42. The carrier has also expanded HSPA+ 21 to nine additional markets, now covering 217 markets across the US.

For those who are looking for a Windows handset from T-Mobile, the Lumia 710 will be available from today, Jan 11, at T-Mobile retail stores, select dealers and retailers nationwide, and from the carrier’s website. It’s coming with a price tag of $49.99 after a $50 mail-in-rebate and a two-year contract.

The post CES: T-Mobile Announces Galaxy S Blaze 4G And Network Expansions appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

First, this isn’t just a regular TouchPad; it’s the HP TouchPad 4G. That signifies connectivity with AT&T’s 4G network. Unfortunately, it’s 4G as in HSPA+ and not 4G as in LTE. Secondly, they’ve bumped the processor from the stock 1.2GHz unit to a faster 1.5GHz CPU.

I imagine that’ll give you an edge in performance, but it might bite away at the battery life. Rounding out the feature set are the same things you find on the regular TouchPad, like the 9.7-inch display, GPS, and 32GB of storage. Pricing and availability have not yet been revealed, but if they want to stay competitive, the TouchPad 4G can’t come at much (or any) of a premium over the regular one. I don’t think it’s the speed or connectivity that’ll hurt the TouchPad 4G; it’s the relative lack of apps in the HP App Catalog.

The post HP TouchPad 4G from AT&T rocks upgraded 1.5GHz processor appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Let’s forget for a moment what it really means to have a 4G network and just go with AT&T’s FauxG definition. The wireless carrier says that its HSUPA network offers 4G speeds. Fine. However, it’s not allowing any of its devices to access said network.

Wait, what? Let’s take the Motorola Atrix 4G as a prime example. It’s right there in the name; this phone is supposed to do the 4G dance and if you were to tear it apart, you’d find that it has all the necessary chips and tiddly-bits to do the 4G thing on AT&T’s HSUPA network.

But it doesn’t. Why? As it turns out, AT&T has been going around crippling the 4G radio through software on these smartphones. As such, the supposedly 4G happy Atrix is only maxing out with 300Kbps uploads, which is nowhere near the 5.5+ Mbps uploads that HSUPA is supposed to offer. The HTC Inspire 4G is suffering a similar fate.

And guess what? Both the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4 are also HSUPA-capable, but neither is rocking the AT&T version of 4G either. Maybe this is why AT&T wants to buy T-Mobile so badly; at least Old Magenta is delivering on what it markets as 4G, right?

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Photo: ETC@USC

The post AT&T Disabling 4G Access on 4G-Capable Smartphones appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

The total deal sounds like it is worth $39 billion with about $25 billion coming in way of cash and the remaining $14 billion in company stock. That gives Deutsche Telekom, the current parent company of T-Mobile USA, about an eight percent stake in the now significantly larger AT&T. Combined, they expect to earn nearly $80 billion per year.

Forgetting for a moment about the convoluted past of AT&T (being split up only to recombine again), we are left asking what is going to happen to the two GSM networks. T-Mobile uses AWS 1700 bands for its 3G service and AT&T does not. Based on some comments on HoFo, it sounds reasonable that the bigger firm will essentially combine the two 3G networks into a mega-network, not unlike what Rogers did when it acquired Fido. This should help with the already congested AT&T network.

Also, it will create pressure on manufacturers to make more pentaband chips, which may or may not be good for consumers. It does help for Canadian importers, though, since you can import one phone and have it work on both Wind/Mobilicity and Rogers/Telus/Bell. And let’s not forget about their LTE plans moving forward too.

It’ll be interesting to see how the federal governing bodies rule on this deal. Could we see a mega-AT&T only to see it split up (again)… only to see it recombine (again). Makes you think of T-1000, doesn’t it?

The post AT&T to Buy T-Mobile, Creating Pentaband Network? appeared first on Mobile Magazine.