PhoneNews.com: Providing complete coverage of the wireless industry, cell phone news, and future 4G

Time 2021-05-26 06:11:42

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PhoneNews.comProviding complete coverage of the wireless industry, cell phone news, and future 4G technologies. Microsoft Offers OneDrive Grandfathered Data Must Act To Save Your 30GB StorageBy PhoneNews.com Staff on December 11, 2015 Microsoft has relented after massive outrage. The company has set up a special web site where you can opt-in to preserving your current free 30GB storage.The company recently announced it was withdrawing plans to offer unlimited storage for Office 365 customers, and worse, was reducing all free accounts to 5GB. Previously, Microsoft offered 15GB of free storage, and customers that enabled OneDrive s mobile phone photo sync feature received another 15GB, for a total of 30GB of free storage.Microsoft claimed the changes were sparked by PC users backing up extremely large files. OneDrive client sync allowed for large files, even DVR recordings, to be automatically stored on OneDrive. But the reduction of free plans was considered brash by many as those plans did not cost Microsoft nearly as much, and many competitors like Box have routinely offered free 50GB plans.At 30GB, OneDrive was one of the largest free storage solution of all the major OS/cloud platform vendors. Also Office 365 customers who had backed up terrabytes already, are being forced to reduce to 300GB of storage, or being forced to pay for storage.You must sign up immediately for the grandfathered data promotion.EmailTweet Posted in Microsoft HERE Maps: No Plans to Update Original Gear S Navigation AppBy PhoneNews.com Staff on December 3, 2015 The Samsung Gear S2 brought a lot of new features to the Tizen smartwatch implementation of HERE Maps. Most notably, and long asked for, is the ability to do driving navigation autonomously from the watch. The original Gear S could do offline maps, and autonomous navigation, but curiously it would only do that for mass transit (autonomously) and walking directions (when paired with a Samsung phone) it does not provide navigation for driving your own car, even when paired to a phone.With the Gear S having the same Tizen app compatibility range as the Gear S2, and some preferring the curved/larger screen of the original Gear S, many wanted to know if HERE was going to update the Gear S version of the app.Sadly, the answer is no. HERE today confirmed to PhoneNews.com that driving directions, and all the HERE Maps enhancements in the Gear S2 version, will remain exclusive to the Gear S2. Driving directions will only be available for the Gear S2 was the brief statement that HERE provided to us on the subject.The Gear S is now available in refurbished form for as little as $150, complete with unlocked 3G radio and GPS. But without app providers maintaining support, Gear S owners may be in for an isolated existence.Android s fragmentation framework provides more traditional support for older devices, by making it simple for older Android System versions to be supported with newer app upgrades. It appears that Tizen may not have the same kind of backwards compatibility, despite its rootings in the Qt framework.This may not completely be HERE s fault, however. HERE Maps is a system app, and can only be updated with a Gear S firmware update. Considering the costs of updating firmware (including carrier approval, needed on the Gear S on all four carriers), Samsung may not be interested in subjecting an updated HERE Map app to carriers for scrutiny particularly on a device that they no longer sell.This bad news comes as Samsung is racing to improve adoption for the Gear S2. It was revealed this week that Samsung may be working to implement iOS support, similar to Android Wear for iOS. The Gear S2, unlike the Gear S, already works with non-Samsung Android phones natively.EmailTweet Posted in Navigation, Samsung, Tizen | Tagged Gear S, gear s2, gps, here, Here Maps, Samsung, Tizen RingPlus Returns 1GB Free Plan for Limited, 8th Time, Later Today Nexus iPhone OnlyBy PhoneNews.com Staff on October 9, 2015 RingPlus is yet again offering their 1,000 minute, 1,000 text, 1GB data plan for free with the usual random strings attached.The Sprint Freemium MVNO typically offers truly free data plans ranging from 100 to 300MB. Additional free plans, like this one, require a one-time deposit of $5, followed by mandatory overage reloads so if you go over on talk/text/data, your credit card will be directly billed.This Future 8.0 plan, is the eighth time they ve offered this very coveted free plan. As with each of the seven times in the past, there s a catch The Future 8.0 edition is only open to people bringing in a Nexus or iPhone device, such as from another carrier. A user will sign up at https://store.ringplus.net beginning at 12 PM Pacific, later today. You will enter the IMEI/MEID of your Nexus 5, Nexus 6, or iPhone 5c, 5s, 6, 6 Plus, 6S, or 6S Plus. Sprint-branded/sold iPhone and Nexus devices are also included in the offering.You will then be offered a RingPlus SIM (UCCID, in Sprint speak), for $25. Add in another $10 for the required minimum account balance, and for $35 you can convert your Nexus or iPhone device into a truly-free every-month Sprint phone.Oh, and you re required to tweet or post on Facebook with the #ringplus after signing up based on the honor system in their words.RingPlus, as we ve mentioned in greater detail in the past, is valued because of their broad compatibility with most Sprint 3G and 4G phones, dating all the way back to the Sony Ericsson T608 and other 2003-era phones all the way up to 4G LTE phones of today.Roaming is also available, but you must link a checking account for direct billing to opt-in.Normally, users can bring their own device, and you still can get a free plan. Even more-basic devices like the $39.99 Sprint Prepaid Moto E (available at Best Buy) can use 4G LTE data on RingPlus s standard-trim plans.And, likewise, if you don t need that much talk, text, and data, you can purchase your own blank Sprint UCCID for around $20 at any Sprint corporate retail store, and then log on to RingPlus.net and activate it on a free plan.For those that miss out, fear not. It appears RingPlus is racking up quite a large amount of cash from these $10 minimum account balances it s quite likely they will continue to offer the Future plan to current customers (as they have done in the past, already).RingPlus AnnouncementEmailTweet Posted in Sprint, Virtual Operators (MVNOs) | Tagged ringplus, sprint, sprint prepaid, Virtual Operators (MVNOs) | 2 Responses Sanrio Yanks Hello Kitty Android Wear Watch Face from Google PlayBy PhoneNews.com Staff on October 8, 2015 Google spent thousands promoting the launch-day coup of a Sanrio official Hello Kitty, Android Wear tie-in. Now that watch face has vanished.One of the major features of Android Wear 5.1 that puts it above Apple Watch, and its watchOS 2, is that (since launch) their watch faces have been user-customizable. Anyone can create their own custom watch face, and submit it to the Google Play Store.Apple today, in comparison, only allows pre-defined watch faces, including a tie-in with Disney. Disney previously had exclusive product tie-ins with Nokia in the 1990s that are credited for helping make Nokia (at the time) the world s largest phone maker.So it s a little odd that Sanrio, whose Hello Kitty rivals Mickey Mouse in global notoriety, has vanished from Google Play. Google heavily promoted the Hello Kitty tie-in with Android Wear advertisements in online and traditional media. The free watch face is currently only available to those that downloaded it prior to being pulled publicly.It s not clear why the watch face has been removed. Neither Google nor Sanrio has even acknowledged the removal. However, it may come down to cost. With millions downloading the free watch face, Sanrio may have had a change of heart with offering it for free. Most Hello Kitty mobile wares, outside of fremium games, have had at least a $.99 charge tied to them.It s also possible the free watch face was bought and paid for by Google, and now that the launch festivities have ended, Sanrio may offer the watch face later as a paid download.Apple offers a similar ability for existing downloaders to continue to use some apps that have been taken off the App Store. However, that is not always the case. It is up to the app publisher. In some rare circumstances, Apple and others like Amazon have even gone as far as to remove an app completely even for those that bought and paid for that.The Sanrio mystery is a great example of why sideloading and the ability to physically back up app purchases is important. While Google is still offering the app available for download (to existing/grandfathered users), that isn t always the case. By being able to sideload apps and back them up physically users can ensure that a product going dark online doesn t mean the users can no longer enjoy them.EmailTweet Posted in Android, Google | Tagged Android, Android Wear, Google, google play, hello kitty, sanrio, sideloading, watch face Google, Motorola Limiting Band 12 on Behest of T-Mobile Until VoLTE E911By PhoneNews.com Staff on September 30, 2015 You may have noticed that the Moto X Pure Edition, Nexus 5X, and Nexus 6P all lack LTE Band 12. And, they do lack the band indeed temporarily.Considering the Nexus 6, a year ago, broke ground on supporting Band 12, there has to be another reason for the frequency being absent from these high-end devices.As we mentioned in our last breaking article the real reason for T-Mobile demanding compliant VoLTE stacks on all devices bearing LTE Band 12. The reason is a planned VoLTE-only roaming agreement with US Cellular (read the exclusive here), one aimed at giving T-Mobile vastly superior voice and data coverage in rural markets, virtually overnight.The only catch being, you must have an LTE Band 12 phone, and you must have a rock-solid VoLTE implementation that can cross carriers, for all voice phone calls. Oh, and E911 too since a significant portion of T-Mobile s rural map will actually consist of VoLTE-only roaming on US Cellular.Android is very close to that, but not quite. Google has been working tirelessly to satisfy each carrier s demands in the standard AOSP stack. For example, Verizon HD Voice 1.0 (their early VoLTE stack) for Nexus 6 phones. This is different from most Android Lollipop phones, which use an alternative app entirely when facilitating such calls.Since Android Marshmallow will improve this, and it is launching with the Nexus 5X 6P, it was not possible to achieve T-Mobile VoLTE certification simultaneous with building new hardware, and a new generation of Android at the same time.Hence, Google proactively disabled LTE Band 12 in firmware. The Nexus 6-based Moto X Pure Edition also followed suit.The gameplan here is pretty clear. Google will ship the LG Nexus 5X Huawei Nexus 6P with Marshmallow, and then begin the work to certify their VoLTE with T-Mobile. This will almost certainly require an Android System update, and that update will unlock Band 12 simultaneously with VoLTE.T-Mobile has confirmed that Wi-Fi calling will automatically enable itself, once a Nexus 5X or 6P is registered on the network, and that the carrier plans to sell both devices indicating that T-Mobile is continuing its strong relationship with Google.On the contrary, both AT T and Verizon have indicated they do not intend to sell the Nexus 5X and 6P. This step back comes after a tumultuous relationship on both carriers with the Nexus 6 which took nearly six months after launch, to ship on Verizon.Furthermore, Nexus devices have run afoul of AT T and Verizon s ban on bootloader unlocks, even when the devices prominently alert the user that the bootloader has been disabled. PhoneNews.com has recommended (for years) that customers on AT T and Verizon only use Nexus (or other carrier-free) devices, to protest this move. With the Nexus 5X returning Nexus phones to the sub-$400 price range, this is a viable recommendation once again.EmailTweet Posted in Android, Google, Huawei, LG, LTE, T-Mobile Sources Indicate US Cellular, T-Mobile Roaming Pact ImminentBy PhoneNews.com Staff on September 29, 2015 US Cellular has been teasing LTE roaming for ages, but they ve been extremely quiet on who. New evidence, and sources, point to T-Mobile.In late July, US Cellular announced that LTE roaming would initiate within 60 to 90 days but still wouldn t say which carrier, at the time. US Cellular is the fifth largest carrier today, focusing on rural footprints, but has maintained a strong national coverage network via roaming agreements with Sprint and Verizon for CDMA 3G coverage.And Sprint and Verizon jointly have benefitted from having free roaming on US Cellular often times, if you re wondering why your phone drops to 1x or EV-DO coverage out in rural areas, it s because you re actually roaming on US Cellular. So how does T-Mobile fit into all this?T-Mobile is a GSM/UMTS carrier, so US Cellular roaming on 3G is not going to happen. There is however one thing that T-Mobile and US Cellular devices do agree on, and that s LTE Band 12.LTE Band 12 is what has powered T-Mobile s resurgence in rural coverage areas. If somehow happen to have T-Mobile today, and you live in a rural market, it s pretty essential that you get a phone that supports LTE Band 12. There aren t many today, but that will change to the point, we suspect, that T-Mobile will begin offering customers in rural zip codes free (or discounted) phone upgrades to Band 12 devices.T-Mobile was rumored to be working with US Cellular, but implementation was a real concern. The two carriers are vastly different in configuration.Moto E Was the Dead GiveawayAwhile back, we (more than just) noted that T-Mobile was blamed by Motorola for a firmware update that revoked LTE Band 12 from the Moto E. This really isn t legal behavior in the opinions of many removing features from a device retroactively, after purchase, can get a company in hot water.At the time T-Mobile (through Motorola, oddly) claimed that only T-Mobile devices can use Band 12 if they support VoLTE. We noted at the time this didn t make a lot of sense as there are various other scenarios that can cause LTE-only coverage, and VoLTE devices aren t required there.So we wondered what was so important about Band 12, that T-Mobile would require VoLTE to use it? Sources at T-Mobile have confirmed that it will be a roaming pact with US Cellular.It also explains the LTE Band 12 redaction on Moto E. Without VoLTE on the second-gen Moto E, the phone would be constantly roaming for free on a (typically, stronger) US Cellular signal in rural markets, unable to make voice calls.VoLTE Bridges the Platform GapBy using LTE Band 12 for roaming, with compatible VoLTE stacks on both sides, T-Mobile and US Cellular can offer cross-carrier roaming, despite the CDMA-GSM platform divide.This is an even bigger win for US Cellular customers. Customers with a VoLTE Band 12 phone on US Cellular, can now enjoy the coverage of nearly every network in America save for AT T.A US Cellular VoLTE phone, if this deal is implemented, will be able to access US Cellular domestic coverage, free roaming on Sprint and Verizon CDMA networks, as well as voice and data on T-Mobile Band 4 and Band 12.This is a major coup for both T-Mobile and US Cellular. It ensures T-Mobile phones will work vastly better in rural markets, and it ensures US Cellular phones will enjoy 4G LTE speeds in metropolitan markets.This doesn t leave Sprint and Verizon out in the cold, however. Sprint has begun adding LTE Band 12 to its devices, and Verizon has begun to see Band 12 phones trickle in as well.The major difference there may be cost it appears the T-Mobile/US Cellular alignment is a relatively fair trade, possibly to the point that money may not be changing hands. But, US Cellular, Sprint, and Verizon may be in a less cozy position than they once were as a result. This could result in higher roaming rates for Sprint and Verizon to offer rural LTE coverage, for customers traveling on those networks.However until a cross-carrier VoLTE solution is implemented in device firmware, it s questionable if today s Sprint and Verizon phones (aside from a select few like Google s Nexus 6 and iPhone 6) will be able to utilize US Cellular VoLTE. For most Android devices (aside from T-Mobile and US Cellular VoLTE devices), cross-carrier roaming VoLTE will begin in the Android Marshmallow era.EmailTweet Posted in LTE, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular | Tagged lte roaming, roaming, T-Mobile, us cellular, VoLTE | 2 Responses

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