The $99 Sony Xperia Ion for AT&T

CNET - 

The good: The affordable Sony Xperia Ion has solid call quality and swift 4G LTE that ties into Sony's vast entertainment empire.

The bad: Lackluster images and video belie the Xperia's claimed 12MP camera. It's also held back by an old processor and an outdated OS.

The bottom line: The $99.99 Sony Xperia Ion looks like a good Android deal but its weaknesses make it not worth even the budget price.

Read the Full Review

Verizon announces HTC Incredible with 4G LTE and ICS

Verizon Wireless subscribers will soon be able to get their hands on one of HTC's newest Android 4.0 devices, the Droid Incredible 4G LTE.

Verizon Wireless will soon be selling the Droid Incredible 4G LTE from HTC.

(Credit: HTC)

 

CNET - NEW ORLEANS, La. -- HTC announced a 4G LTE updated Droid Incredible for Verizon Wireless, which looks very similar to the HTC One S offered on T-Mobile USA.

The new Droid Incredible 4G LTE for Verizon is a variation of the HTC One S that HTC is already selling on T-Mobile USA. But there is one notable difference. This HTC device supports 4G LTE on Verizon's extensive network.

The device also comes with an advanced camera with an 8 megapixel resolution that can take up to three shots per second. It also has Beats Audio integration for improved sound quality. It runs Google Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich as well as HTC's own Sense 4 software. It has a 4-inch Super LCD qHD screen and a dual-core Snapdragon S4. It also has a 1,7000mAh battery and an expansion memory slot for up to a 32 GB microSD card.

Pricing hasn't been announced yet for the new Droid Incredible 4G LTE, nor is there an exact launch date.

The press release says it will be available in "coming weeks." Some rumors suggested the phone could cost consumers $299. But that sounds a bit high considering the T-Mobile One S, which is very similar to this device, is priced at $199 with a two year contract.            More

Leak: AT&T’s Confidential 4G LTE and T-Mobile Plans

Gizmodo - Last week, a partly redacted document about the AT&T-Mobile merger was oh-so-briefly posted on the FCC’s site by Arnold & Porter LLP, a law firm working on the deal for AT&T. Outlining some of AT&T’s confidential LTE plans, it was quickly taken down. Well, here it is.

The document essentially lays out AT&T’s plans for its 4G LTE rollout with a lot of very specific numbers squeezed in between the helpful bumpers [Begin Confidential Information] and [End Confidential Information].

The gist: Under AT&T’s current one-year accelerated plan, it’s going to cover 70 million Americans by the end of this year, 170 million by the end of next, 250 million by the end of 2013. And they’re going to do that by upgrading 44,000 nodes to LTE: 8,000 this year, 16,000 next year, and 20,000 in 2013. The 97 percent of Americans they’re promising to cover if the T-Mobile merger goes through? That’ll be within six years of the merger closing—so if it closes in 2012, you’re talking like 2018 as a deadline. (Oh and previously, AT&T didn’t plan to hit 250 million people covered until 2014.)              More