HTC Does What Google Wouldn't: Sell an LTE Phone That Sidesteps AT&T 290
schwit1 writes "You won't see it advertised on billboards or television, you won't hear it mentioned in a carrier store, and your less technologically-savvy friends most certainly won't know about it — but quietly, HTC's done something extraordinarily important this month: it's broken AT&T's stranglehold on its nationwide LTE network. It's a move that even Google, for all its money, power, and influence, didn't make with the Nexus 4. HTC is shipping both 32GB and 64GB versions of the One — an early contender for the best phone of 2013 — in a carrier- and bootloader-unlocked version that supports both T-Mobile and AT&T LTE. No strings attached."
Confusion? (Score:2, Interesting)
Wait a sec..
...bootloader-unlocked version that supports both T-Mobile and AT&T LTE.
What does the summary mean by AT&T LTE?
Does it mean that AT&T LTE is different from Other carrier's LTE? Why would a manufacturer make a phone that works only on a single carrier? Isn't LTE supposed to be a standard as opposed to a propreitary tech?
I don't live in the USA, so I wouldn't know.. Everyhere else in the world, people would practically boycott the carrier which sold locked down phones like that..
Re:Best phone for 2013 (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm genuinely curious, since that was about the worst sales pitch ever, what makes a wholly inferior smartphone from '09 the best phone in '13.
Whoop de flippity do (Score:4, Interesting)
What is it, exactly, that Google didn't do? Offer 32/64GB capacities? LTE?
Oh, wait: https://www.google.com/search?q=Nexus+4+lte [google.com]
I'm going with: whoopdedoo. Is it even possible to actually take advantage of LTE with SoC mobile hardware or typical network congestion? Even it is, what's the point if you hit your data cap after 5 minutes and get wallet-raped by your carrier?
I'm aware of exactly one regional carrier in all of Canada, and maybe one in the US that actually offer unlimited data in only specific areas, not nation wide (subject to arbitrary "excessive use policies" of course ... so it's not really unlimited so much as it's "unlimited"). Everyone else makes a big fucking deal about one whole gigabyte and it's absolutely hilarious how anyone thinks that is any real amount of data in 2013.
No, it most certainly was Google who started upsetting the status quo. The Nexus line has always been available unlocked straight from Google, and for an extremely palatable price. Pop in your SIM card, no plan restrictions*, no contract, it just goes.
I will admit that HTC's One is proportionately well priced. They also get kudos for a big fuck-you plainly directed at AT&T.
* I have my Nexus 4 on a voice & text plan (no data) because I can wait until the next available wifi signal or until I get home to check this or that and I don't need to post every damn meal I eat on shitsagram. Yes, I'm aware that some carriers will automatically tack on charges to your bill for features you never even used when they detect your phone model from the IEMI. Fortunately, the government here still seems to give a modicum of shit about us, as we have specific laws disallowing any carrier from adding adding features or changing plans without a customer's explicit consent.
Re:News at elleven (Score:3, Interesting)
It sure is: http://blog.khymos.org/2010/03/21/a-pinch-of-salt-for-your-coffee-sir/ [khymos.org]
Re:Looks great! Except, it needs a hole in its hea (Score:5, Interesting)
It is for me. Not only that my 16gb MicroSD card is almost full (offline navigation data, music), the micro USB port of my phone is broken. I can neither recharge it nor copy data through USB.
If I had one of the many smartphones without a card slot or a changeable battery, I'd be screwed. As the things are right now, I can continue to use the phone - a top of the line device few years ago - until something else fails. I can even still update the firmware without much hassle.
Re:Best phone for 2013 (Score:4, Interesting)
"Touchscreen typing is inferior to a keyboard no matter how limited."
I think this depends, if you're typing command line commands or code with lots of switches, brackets, braces and so forth then I think you're absolutely right.
In fact, I used to agree with you in general, but now I use swype on my Android phone I actually think it's far faster and far superior to typing on a phone sized keyboard if you're typing general text such as SMS messages, e-mails, Slashdot posts...
I'm certainly a convert in this respect to touchscreen keyboards, Swype is the only input device I've ever encountered that allows me to reach near full-sized keyboard input speeds when typing plain English text. I certainly used to think touchscreens would always be shit, but Swype and Swype like keyboards are genius and completely changed the touchscreen input game.
Re:News at elleven (Score:5, Interesting)
the iphone 4s and iphone 5 as well as many other phones have penta band radios in them that support All cellular bands and technology. Verizon is just being Scumbaggy by demanding that any phone they allow on their networks to be LOCKED to their networks forever.
It's an example of a company being highly dishonest and nobody calling them out on their dishonest behavior.
T-Mobile Frequency support incomplete (Score:4, Interesting)
Even though they mention T-Mobile support for LTE, if you look closer at the frequency support on the phone's specs [htc.com] at HTC's site, there is something important to note.
HSPA/WCDMA: 850/1900/2100 MHz
This will not support T-Mobile 3G in a number of areas where they haven't converted AWS from HSPA+ use to LTE use. For people considering this phone for T-Mobile, you may get stuck on 2G depending on where you live.
Re:News at elleven (Score:3, Interesting)
The FTC made a ruling last year that enforced with Verizon that this rule meant that they could not charge for tethering. http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/07/31/2139246/fcc-rules-that-verizon-cannot-charge-for-4g-tethering [slashdot.org]
When will some hungry lawyer actually take them to task in a class action lawsuit that demands that they not block other LTE devices?